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Julie Shields Rutyna: [00:00:00] Welcome everyone. My name is Julie Shields Rina, and I am the director of college Planning education and training at MEFA. And this is a webinar with, uh, on the, on the topic of college admissions, everything, college admissions. So I have my colleague John Hughes with me tonight, and he is going to be behind the scenes answering any questions and, um, but we, and he can share some with me, we can ask some out loud if they’re pertinent to the moment.

Otherwise, we’ll, we’ll end up getting your questions at the end, so we’ll cover all of that. So please put your questions in the q and a.

All right, let me just talk a little bit about [00:01:00] logistics. Um, you have control over your audio settings, so hopefully you can hear, well see the screen well. Um, we’ve disabled the chat feature just so that you can put your questions in the q and a section. So there aren’t two places we need to be looking for those questions.

Um, if you would like closed captioning, just hit the live transcript button and you’ll be able to see the words that I’m speaking come across your screen. And if you need to leave the webinar for any reason, of course, that’s fine. Um, and just know that tomorrow, um, we will be sending you, um, the recording of this webinar so it’s being recorded and the slides will be attached, uh, to that when we send that to you tomorrow.

So I’ll start by telling you a little bit about MEFA. Uh, MEFA is a state authority. We were created, uh, way back in 1982, and our [00:02:00] mission since then has been to help families plan, save and pay for college. So we do that in so many ways. Um, we have a terrific website. We have lots of webinars on, lots of topics, so you can check that out on our website anytime.

And we also have, uh, we’re on social media. Actually. Jonathan is the host of the MEFA podcast, and I, I joined him whenever I can. Uh, so that’s, that’s another great way to get information. Uh, lots of tools, calculators, all of that on our website. And you can always call MEFA, um, or email MEFA. And I’ll send, I’ll give you those, those places to do that at the end.

Uh, but with, you know, one-on-one, we can get one-on-one help. We’re happy to talk through any of the college process with you. So tonight we’re gonna talk about college admissions and we’re gonna talk about the current trends. [00:03:00] We’ll spend some time on how students begin to develop their college list.

We’ll talk about campus visits, the application process, and at the end we will touch upon financial aid, um, and I’ll be sharing free resources throughout. Let me say, I will touch upon financial aid because there is a lot to talk about with financial aid, but we have a whole webinar, an hour long webinar about financial aid.

It’s called Financial Aid 1 0 1. So I would say that after this webinar, go and find the dates for that webinar. Um, we’ll actually as soon as we have one, it’ll be recorded. We’ll have that on our website. You can listen to that, watch that because there’s a wealth of information there. But tonight we’re talking about admissions, touching on financial aid.

All right, so what are the trends in college admissions? Uh, one is that students are applying to a [00:04:00] greater number of schools than ever before. That has been increasing over the years, but that’s for a number of reasons. And, uh, one is that, uh, the application process can be competitive at certain, certain institutions and.

Also, you know, financing is a, is a, is a, a, a big important piece of this for families. And so, um, students find themselves applying to a greater number of schools to make sure that in the application process, um, once they receive those admissions offers in the spring, that they have choices. They’re admitted to a number of places and they have choices, um, as to the institution that they will attend.

So, uh, just know that, I know the question we sometimes get is how many schools is a good number of schools and there is no magic number. You know, maybe, maybe five or six, but many students apply to a lot more than that. And I [00:05:00] guess I’d say, uh, the more competitive the students, the, the, uh, or selective the colleges are that you’re applying to, perhaps the longer that your list can be.

Um, and then what that has brought into play is something called demonstrated interest. So it used to be when a student applied to a college, the college would know, oh, this student sent in an application they want to attend here. And that made it easy for colleges to sort of plan out their class. But that’s really not true anymore because students applied to so many colleges.

Um, they might have a friend who applied to one and throw an extra college on the list or something like that. And so when a college receives an application from a student, they don’t automatically trust that the student definitely wants to come there. It could be a fifth or a sixth choice, or a seventh or an eighth choice.

And so because of that, some colleges really look to other factors on the [00:06:00] application and through the, throughout the process too. Try to determine how interested a student is. And, and many of those factors really have to do with engagement and contact that you have with the school. So what I would say is that if a student is very interested in attending a certain college, they should certainly, uh, go visit the college.

If that can be done, um, take a tour, um, go for a presentation, do that online. Um, maybe contact the admissions office to have a conversation with an admissions counselor. Follow the school on social media. There are lots of things to just show that engagement so that the college can see that. Now there are some colleges that don’t look at that at all, but some do.

So if a student is interested in a college, stay connected. Um, and then a few words about social media. Uh. Really, you know, talks here [00:07:00] about making sure that a student’s profile on social media apps is one that they would want the college to see. They might want a future employer to see. They might want a grandparent to see, just so that, um, there’s nothing out there that could ever make a college make a negative decision about them because of something on their social media profile.

So that’s one thing to be aware of. But the other thing I would say is social media is terrific in that it is a great way for students to engage with colleges now, follow the page, see what, what colleges are posting, and they can learn a lot about the colleges by looking at social media accounts. So, um, there’s a, there’s a give and take there.

Um, cost is a bigger factor. Cost is a significant factor for families and, um. The thing is, it’s not great that college is so expensive, but it is good that families are paying attention to that because you really do need to [00:08:00] pay attention to finding an affordable option as well as an option that’s going to be good for the student in every other way.

Um, during the pandemic when students weren’t allowed on college campuses, college admissions offices did a lot to, um, put out virtual tours, um, webinars, virtual presentations, and then they never stopped doing that. So while students are very welcome on college campuses these days and colleges really want them to come and visit and tour the campus, if you can’t do that because of distance or whatever reason, the nice thing is you can always go to the admissions part of the website on a college and there’ll be lots of other ways to interact with the college virtually.

So that’s a great thing. Something else that is a trend is that there are more test optional schools and more applicants at those schools. So, [00:09:00] um, test optional being S-A-T-A-C-T, those, those, those national tests, um, many colleges are not requiring them anymore. And so we’ll talk a little bit more about that.

And there are longer wait lists because more students are submitting more applications to more colleges. Um, many times they’re qualified students who aren’t admitted to a school in a certain year just because of numbers. Uh, but they could be put on the wait list. And so wait lists are a little bit longer these days.

And there’s one more trend that’s really very new. It’s been, it’s been really in increasing the last few years, and it’s called direct admissions. And what that is is that, um, from students submitting information on the common app, and we’re gonna talk about that, it’s a, a national, uh, form that a lot of students use to submit their college [00:10:00] admissions application.

Um, colleges receive a little information about students upfront, and they might be able to tell by the few things that they see on that application, such as grade point average and, and or test scores. They might have a good sense that, hmm, this student would probably be admitted to our college. So students may now find that they receive letters from colleges saying, you’ve been admitted.

We conditionally admitted we’d love to have you apply. Um, you just need to fill out. Have your application sent to us. Fill out the financial aid form and we’ll put together, um, you know, a package for you. So that’s happening more and more. And really all it means is that, that a college saw something about you and thought you’d be a really good candidate, their school, so [00:11:00] much so that they’re giving you a conditional admission.

So students with high grades might receive some of those letters. So, um, be aware that that might happen. And when I first started hearing about that, having been in this work for so long, I didn’t know whether to trust it or not. I wasn’t sure if I liked it or what was going on with it, but we learned a lot more about it.

And many colleges are, are doing this as a way to help students, um, in this process and make things a little faster and easier. And so it is a real thing. So I’ll share that upfront. Something else I’ll tell you about the admissions process is just stay organized with it. So have your student be organized there, there are so many pieces of it.

MEFA has something on our website called the college Application Manager. You can download that, use that it looks like the picture on your screen. You can also just use a, another [00:12:00] spreadsheet. Maybe students have some kind of app on their phone, they keep track of, um, big whiteboard in your kitchen. I don’t know.

But, um, just keeping track of all the colleges that the student is interested in, what the deadlines for admission are, what the deadlines for financial aid are, um, things like that. And any notes. Um, because going through this process, you think you’re gonna remember everything, but sometimes you don’t. So it’s really good to stay organized and especially stay organized with deadlines.

And so the fun part of this process really can be research in colleges, thinking about where, what colleges might I like, where might I like to apply? And so here are some websites that can help you do that. You know, write at home easily. Um, the first two, college Navigator and College Scorecard are government websites, but they’re really terrific.

So [00:13:00] they allow you to go in and say, I’m interested in applying to schools, public universities in Massachusetts, and I wanna have them to have an engineering program. And then you’ll get a list of schools that meet that criteria, and then the student can delve in and look into those schools a little more deeply.

Location, graduation rate, the average cost. Median earnings of graduates. Um, so none of this will be exact or perfect, but just some good data to help in that decision making. So those are, those are great sites. And then Big Future is a site of the college board. So big future.college board.org also has a college search where the student puts criteria about themselves into the search.

And then the search will bring up a number of colleges that meet that criteria and the student can really delve deeper. And this is a [00:14:00] nice way to learn about new or different colleges that maybe they haven’t been thinking about. And then our own MEFA pathway. MEFA Pathway is a free web portal for students in grade six through 12.

Uh, MEFA pathway.org is where you go and the student can just set up a free account and there’s lots of great information and tools in there. And one of them is a. College search. And so they can do the same thing as I’ve just described, put in what they’re interested in, and get a list of schools that meet their preferences.

And when a student is thinking about, you know, what, what do I, what factors am I interested in a college? Here are some of them. Um, so institution size and location, that’s really big. But a student might not know what that even means. Um, but I think a student should, should really learn about larger institutions [00:15:00] and smaller institutions and learn about institutions that might be in the city or in a rural area.

And this is where a college visit is really great too. In fact. Even if your student is interested in, um, a college, in a big city across the country, maybe visit one of the colleges in, in a big city close by near you, uh, just to get a sense of what that type of a campus looks like as opposed to one in a suburb or more rural area.

Um, and the size is important too. Maybe. Maybe the student, uh, wants to be in a college where they will never know everyone and each year they’ll meet new people. Or maybe they would like the idea that after they were at the college for a couple of years, they would almost feel like they knew everyone was a familiar face on campus.

And so students can think about some of those things. Of course, they [00:16:00] want it to be an academic fit. So what that means at, at this point is, um, does the, uh. Does the college have a program that they’re interested in? So they might have an intended major or they might not, but if they have some idea of the types of courses and programs they might be interested in making sure that the colleges they’re applying to have that, especially if they really know, like nursing or engineering, then they should make sure the colleges they’re applying to have have those majors.

And basically students want to study with students who, who are, who are like them academically. And that doesn’t mean exactly like them, but you know, there are some students who really want to study all the time, won’t put up with anything less than an A. Um, and if they’re getting an A minus, they’re looking for help and in making sure that they master every subject [00:17:00] all the time.

And so that student is probably gonna feel most comfortable at a college where his or her peers. Are doing the same thing. Um, but then there are other students who of course, wanna do well in college. They want to, you know, they wanna like their classes, they wanna take things they’re interested in, but they also may want to, uh, play a sport, or they may like to go for hikes on weekends.

And, you know, maybe they’re, they’re happy with, with a b plus, um, or, you know, some mix of As and Bs. Or some students might even be happy with an occasional C so. They’re gonna feel comfortable if they’re in a college with students who are, who, who study relatively like them. So important to maybe look at the student profile at the, of the different colleges and see what’s the average SAT score, what’s the [00:18:00] average GPA of the last incoming class?

Um, those are all helpful, helpful tools to help, uh, a student find a really good fit, um, learning style, you know, in, in high school has, does the student like to sort of sit in the back, take it all in, and then, you know, go home and, and study on their own and take tests, you know, after that? Or does the student really like to sit in the front and have discussion type classes?

Um, different colleges will have different size classes, different places where students can do, um. You know, choose larger classes, smaller classes. So it’s good for the student to understand their learning style and make sure that that’s going to be supported on the college campus. And campus culture can be anything from, is there, um, is, does the college have sort of a religious, um, [00:19:00] culture?

Um, or does is the student a, you know, a big football college and Saturday, Saturdays on campus are all about that in the fall or, um, many other, many other things. But that’s also a good way for a student to, um, when they visit the campus to kind of, kind of see what that’s all about. Talk to some students, um, to find out what, what is the culture like, what, what’s it like on a Saturday?

Um, are people up studying late during the week at the library or do people studying in their dorms? Those kinds of things. And then most co colleges have lots of activities to choose from. Most have studied abroad programs, career and internship services. So it’s just a matter of, um, maybe when visiting campus or when talking to someone in the admissions office to ask about the things that, that you’re interested in, um, knowing [00:20:00] that those services are on all campuses.

But, um, make sure you have some interaction if some of those things are really important to you. And then the affordability piece, um, we’re gonna show you some calculators, but it is important and especially when you’re putting together a college list, that you have some colleges on your list that you know you’ll be able to afford, uh, whether that means that one is close to home and you could commute, uh, or it means a community college, which community colleges are now free in Massachusetts, um, or.

College where through some calculators that we’re gonna show you, you see that you’re gonna receive a good amount of financial aid. So make sure that you have some, uh, a mix of colleges and, and some that you’re sure will be affordable to you.

And John, I’ll just stop for a moment in case there are any questions or anything that I,

Jonathan Hughes: no, no question so far.

Julie Shields Rutyna: [00:21:00] Okay. So let’s talk a little bit about campus visits. Um, let me say, you can always. Walk onto a college campus, um, walk around, maybe attend a sporting event or a theater show. Um, just walk The grounds of many college campuses are, are very pretty.

Um, and you can always do that. And I think that’s a nice idea once you get to be a junior in high school. I think it’s a good idea when you walk on a college campus to stop by the admissions office. And, um, if you have time, take a tour, talk to someone in the admissions office, watch a presentation, um, just have them log in that you visited.

We talked about that demonstrated interest. So I would say it’s a good idea to do a formal visit once you’re a junior. In high school and campus tours will take you to some academic [00:22:00] buildings. They will take you to a dorm. They’ll take you to the, uh, dining hall. You can ask questions of a current student.

Many students give those tours or work in the admissions office, and, um, will really give you a good perspective on what it’s, what it’s like, pros, cons, um, great things about the college, things that might be a challenge. All of that. And another place you can get good information about a variety of colleges is at a college fair.

So sometimes your student might be interested in, in some colleges. You know, out of state or far away. And it can get expensive to be traveling a lot for these college visits. So you can go to a college fair and the two main organizations that hold these are NACAC and niac a c. So you can go to those websites and see the list of [00:23:00] local college fairs.

And when you go to a college fair, there’ll be just booths of colleges from sometimes all over the country. And you can go up and talk with a representative and learn a little more, and you can do that very close to home. So, um, I, I would say that’s a great idea. I know John and I have been involved with the NACAC Fair, a large one in Boston in the spring at the World Trade Center.

Um, and that. Has, you know, hundreds of colleges. So that’s when you can, you can think about attending and that’s a nacac fair. Sometimes these reps, when they’re near, when they’re, they’re in your state, also make appointments with your high school. And so if reps come to your high school, that’s another place you can sign up for those meetings and get to ask questions from representatives at colleges that might not be so close by.[00:24:00]

So after the student does a lot of exploration, and I do always say students, as much as you can, try to keep an open mind. Don’t have your heart set on one college because that could end up, oh, you might, what if you don’t get, get in? You wanna kind of like a lot of colleges or a good number? A few. So, and same with parents.

Parents. You might have a hope for your student to attend one college, but. Um, also keep an open mind. There are so many terrific colleges. Um, so keep an open mind, but eventually in the fall of senior year, you’ll probably have to develop. Final list of the colleges that you’re going to apply to, and you just should have a mix of these type of colleges on your list.

Likely meaning you looked at the profile of the, the former [00:25:00] class you’ve maybe visited or talked to the admissions office. You feel that it’s likely you will be admitted. You definitely wanna have a few colleges on your list where it is likely you will be admitted because you wanna have choices in the spring of senior year.

Then you probably will have a few colleges on your list where it’s possible. You basically, as a student, you fit the profile. Your GPA is sort of in the, the same neighborhood as, as the average GPA from the former class. Um, when you, you know, went to an admission session or visited campus, it seemed like.

You would fit in well, so you have a good chance of admissions. So you’ll have some possibles on your list. And then you might have some reach schools on your list because there are those schools that we, um, really do fall in love with. And, um, us many of those schools, I’ll just say, say like the [00:26:00] Ivy League colleges, they’re a reach for everyone.

So you really can’t guarantee because they’re admitting students at such a high level, uh, that uh, many, many qualified students still aren’t able to get in just due to numbers and the admissions process. So it’s kind of a reach for everyone. But you’ll have some reach colleges on your list and that’s terrific and you’ll wanna do your best to put together a great application, but, um, you don’t want the those to be the only colleges on your list because you want to have good choices.

And let’s talk a little bit about the timeline for admissions. So there’s, um, regular decision and that is that colleges usually have an early January deadline. And so you prepare your application in the fall and submit it by the deadline in early January, and then you usually find out if you’re admitted or not in, uh, late [00:27:00] March or April.

And also Mo it’s very common that most colleges now also offer an early action deadline. And really all that means is they have an an another deadline that’s earlier, usually in November or December. And students can put in their application early. And that means they usually hear about their admission early.

Sometimes they even hear before the winter break. Um, but they definitely hear earlier, but that’s the only difference is just that a student can hear earlier. Sometimes it’s nice to do a couple of early action applications and hear maybe before winter break because that maybe makes the student feel calm about the process of, oh, I got into this really good school.

I’m not sure I still wanna hear from four or five others, but that’s good that I know I can go there and I think I would like it. So that can be a very [00:28:00] settling feeling for a student. And then there’s something called early decision ed, and sometimes there’s Ed one and ED two now that this is something special.

So early decision is a really a binding agreement with the college. So the deadlines for early decision are in November and December and. When you submit an application, early decision to one college, you are basically saying to the college, if you admit me, I will come. That’s, that’s what that binding is.

And a binding agreement gets signed by your counselor and by your parents and by the student to the college sort of making that promise that if you admit me, I’ll come. So while on one hand that can be really great because we talked about that, demonstrated interest, I mean, talk about demonstrated interest.

The college [00:29:00] knows when they get that early decision application, okay, this student really wants to come here. They’re telling us that they will, that if we admit them, that they’ll come. So that’s a good thing. But I would say as a family, there are a few things that need to be in place before you go forward with an early decision application.

And so the first is that the student would need to make sure that far and away, this is their top choice way above everything else. Because essentially the student is also saying, if I am admitted, I’m withdrawing all my applications from everywhere else I am coming. So they’ll, the student will never know about the other colleges that might’ve admitted and what the financial aid was and all of.

And so there’s the third piece. You have to be fairly sure that you’ll be able to pay for it, that it’ll be affordable and we’re, we’ll show you some calculators. You can work with the school in [00:30:00] advance to get a fairly good estimate of what type of a financial aid package you would receive or will receive.

Um, because you really want to know that you can afford it because you’re making a promise. And I say this too, not only do you wanna know that you can afford it, you also wanna know that you are willing to potentially give up thousands and thousands of dollars that another college might have given you in this process because you will never, again, you’ll never find out the other colleges that would admit the student and the other college financial aid packages that would’ve come to the student.

But you just have to be okay with that. You have to say, we can afford it. And we don’t care what, what other monies we would’ve received. This is the one school. So that’s a, that’s a lot to be in place for early decision, but, um, but if all that is in place, that can be a, a great way to show your interest in a college.

Jonathan Hughes: Julie, let me [00:31:00] break in just for a minute here. Yeah. And um, and I know you spoke to this a little bit, but I wonder if you just, um, reinforce, somebody asked the question, do early action or early decisions stand a higher chance of acceptance?

Julie Shields Rutyna: Yeah. So, great. Jonathan. So early decision I think a little bit.

Yes. Yes. Because again, it’s, it that’s, it’s kind of a ahoo in, it’s, it’s great for a college to, with their planning to be able to see when they’re going through that pool. Oh, if they have great qualified candidates who are saying they’ll come, that that’s good. That can help a little bit on the admission side, early decision camp.

Um, early action. I, I think not so much. Um, I think not so much. I mean, I guess sure you’re applying early. That can be good. It’s definitely not a bad thing, but I don’t know that there’s as much of a, um, you know, [00:32:00] I don’t know that it affects the admissions decision as much as it might with, um, with early decision.

’cause again, early decision is like a binding agreement promise and that that’s good for colleges. So there is a slight chance you’ll have an up in the admissions process. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks. And then rolling Admission just means that a college opens up their admissions, um, and you can apply any time.

November through May. All I’d say is if you know you’re going to apply to a rolling admissions college, why not apply on the earlier side, um, just in case there’s financial aid that happens to, um, get used up. Um, so when, when, you know you wanna apply, maybe the earlier the better, but, um, but that goes on through the course of the year.

And then there’s open admission, which is just, [00:33:00] uh, colleges that admit most student for most programs, anytime. A good example of that is our community college system. Um, however, it doesn’t mean at, at, even at a community college that you’ll, you’ll get into the exact program you want to get into because maybe some programs have have limits.

Um, and so maybe they have to, you know, take the top students for those. But, um. But you can always get into the community college. So, um, so that’s a great thing.

And now let’s talk about the forms. How does this whole process work? Well, I mentioned common app already, but there’s a form called the Common App, and you find [email protected]. And many, many colleges use this or accept this application form, I guess is a better way to say it. So a student [00:34:00] would go into the common app, do one application, and then have that application sent to the different colleges you want to send it to.

Makes it nice and easy. So you’re not doing separate applications for every college. Sometimes there are supplemental questions. One college might have an extra, you know, let’s say all the colleges have an essay question, but then some colleges have an extra question like, why. Holy cross y bu and there might be an, an extra essay like that or a few extra essays for some colleges.

So, um, but you can do it all through the common app and the common app opens the August, August 1st before your senior year. You can sort of go in and start to complete that application online and then choose when you want to send it to the different colleges. The Universal College app, the coalition app, they [00:35:00] work very similarly and so there are some colleges that accept, you know, one or two of these types.

So just look online, see what the college accepts, and then you can choose to do one or the other of these applications. Some colleges, very few still have their, their very own college website, applic. So do check that out too. And if a college has that, then you do need to do a very specific application for that college.

And then some colleges have a paper application. I have seen this with community colleges, kind of a one pager that you can complete, um, mostly online these days, but you might be able to find a paper application too.

And so then what are the components of an application? A whole college application. Um, every college will have their own [00:36:00] requirements, so that’s why that’s good to have that organizational sheet where you keep track of everything you need to do for each college. Um, so I’m just gonna go through all of the possibilities Okay.

Of what an application at a college might include. So the first. That you’re gonna find almost everywhere is the application form, whatever that is. It might be the common app, it might be the coalition app. It might be the website app. A paper app. But most colleges, I think all colleges will have some type of application.

So you’ll do that. I think all colleges also will request your high school transcript. So those are two pieces that are pretty standard across the board. But then many colleges require standardized test scores, like the SAT or a CT. And so if they require that, then the student needs to take one of those tests and send the results [00:37:00] to the colleges that require it.

But again, not all colleges require that. So that’s a sum college. Component. And then many colleges require letters of recommendation anywhere from one to three, and we’ll talk about those. But you’ll see that, uh, many colleges require an activity list or a resume. Many require a personal essay, and we’re gonna talk through all those components.

Um, the last three are usually for very specific types of programs. So interview. So some colleges require an interview, it’s fewer than you might think. Um, but we’ll get into the details of, of that. And then an audition or submitting a portfolio are usually for very specialized programs. So music, do you need to, um, audition, [00:38:00] you know, play, play your instrument in front of, in front of the, um, admissions folks.

Uh. Do you need to audition for a theater program? Um, do you need to submit a portfolio of your artwork for, um, for an art major or a graphic design major? So, uh, those may be only very specific to those types of programs.

And then what are colleges looking for in a student’s application? Well, number one, they’re looking for rigor. They want to see that the student worked really hard in high school, challenged themselves. Got good grades. Um, so that’s number one. And the reason for that is colleges want to bring students to campus who are going to succeed.

So they all know the level of work that happens at their oncologist, and [00:39:00] they need to make sure that your student will be up to that. So rigor is very important. One question we get is, is it better to get an A in a regular class or a b in an honors class or an AP class? And, you know, basically colleges tell us that they like to see that a student is challenging themselves.

So they like to see a student taking an honors class or an AP class. Um, they like to see that the student really tried to choose the, uh, the, the. Most challenging curriculum. So with that said, that means that if the student doesn’t get a perfect a in a class that was challenging, that still looks okay, and the college is like that.

Although, you know, if a student is getting a C or a B minus, you know, maybe it’s not worth it. Maybe the student should take a class that’s, that they’re, they can succeed [00:40:00] in. So there’s no reason that a student needs to just take, take all aps, all honors, um, if, if it’s very stressful and if they can’t keep up and it’s not really for them, um, it’s better to, um, pick and choose a thoughtful curriculum that is also challenging.

Colleges like to see improvement over time, so they will be forgiving of a grade freshman year that isn’t so perfect. Uh, they do like to see students exceeding minimum requirements and they do like to see. Students do well in certain classes, like a biology class, if, if they’re going to, you know, be a science major.

Um, and then you can look up the sliding scale for mass public colleges and universities. But the different colleges have, um, a certain GPA requirement and if the student doesn’t meet that but they take a standardized test, they can balance that out. So, um, that’s something you, [00:41:00] you can look into as well.

And so then a few words about standardized tests. So I’ll start with on the bottom, fair test.org provides a list of 2100 test optional schools. So not all colleges require a standardized test anymore, but if a college does require a standardized test, that that means they usually require the SAT or a CT and they don’t care which one.

Uh, the PSAT is the practice test for the SAT and a CT has some practice tests online as well. So what we’ve heard from test experts is it’s probably a good idea to have students take a practice test. Well, they’ll take the PSAT maybe in 10th grade and that will be their practice for the SAT practice with the a CT and, and take a full timed test and see what they feel more comfortable with.

And if, if one of the tests [00:42:00] stands out over the others, then they should just really practice for that and they can study for that. They can take a test, see what they got wrong, go back study, and. So much of taking these tests is sort of test strategy about getting through large numbers of questions in a short period of time.

And so the more they practice, um, the better they will do on these tests. And there are prac ways to practice on both of the website and, um, for some for free too. Um, so I guess that’s what I’ll say. And I’ll, what I’ll say is if a college requires a test, you have to send the score. If a college does not require the test, but they accept a test, the students should wait and see how they do on the SAT or a CT and decide whether to te send their test score or not.

Because if their test score isn’t going to boost their application, like it’s better than the average test score at that college, [00:43:00] they probably don’t wanna send it if it’s. Anywhere below the average SAT score at a college, they definitely don’t wanna send it, um, unless it’s required, if it’s optional, if it’s accepted, optional, they only wanna send that test score if it’s going to be a boost to the rest of their application.

Um, AP exams, so students can take AP classes in college, in high school, um, and then they can take the test and they can share that to the colleges. And what that does is show that these students can do college level work. So that looks very good on an admissions application. And then sometimes it can allow the student to bump out of some intro classes when they arrive on the college campus.

Jonathan Hughes: Julie, let me break in with a question or two here from, from the folks. Um, do you, first of all, do you need to [00:44:00] submit your AP test scores? Someone someone wants to know if colleges ask for them, and then the second que Well, I’ll let you answer that question. Yeah. You

Julie Shields Rutyna: do not need to submit an AP test score, but if you do well on the AP test and it’s going to enhance your application

Jonathan Hughes: mm-hmm.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Then you wanna send it in.

Jonathan Hughes: And then someone else had a question about, uh, their, their student attends a high school that doesn’t calculate weighted GPA, so they do the un weighted GPA. And is there a standard formula on how, uh, uh, a weighted GPA is calculated?

Julie Shields Rutyna: Colleges, um, colleges know that. Usually from a high school.

So colleges, we’ve, we’ve, um, met with our admissions administrators at colleges over time and they tell us that they really, you know, if a, if a, an admissions officer recruits in a certain area, he or she really gets to [00:45:00] know the high schools and how they do their calculations and so that they have that understanding.

So there, there is not a standard way. Different colleges do things differently, um, but they promise us that they have a sense of how those GPAs are calculated at the different high schools and that the high schools, you know, share that. Um, I guess it’s also a profile. It’s a little bit different, but the college, the high schools share that information with the colleges so that the colleges have a sense of what they are looking at.

Jonathan Hughes: Then one more that just came in. If you don’t submit your SAT or a CT test scores, uh, even to test optional schools, does that exclude you from financial aid options?

Julie Shields Rutyna: Yeah, that is a good, that is a good question because there are some institutions that tie some merit aid to your test scores, but I [00:46:00] think, I believe that would mostly be on the req on the schools that require the SAT and a CT.

But I can’t say that for certain, ’cause I don’t know every single institution, but those that require the SAT or a CT sometimes tie their merit aid to that. But you would be required, so you would be submitting it. I guess I would ask that question. Of some of the institutions that you’re applying to when you visit, or if you call the admissions office, just just ask if SAT and a CT are test optional, if you’re test optional, will, will that affect any financial aid or merit scholarships?

Jonathan Hughes: Thank you.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Thank you John. Good questions. Alright. And then I mentioned that, um, most colleges require an activity list and resume. Um, what I’ll say about that is that, [00:47:00] um, students should not feel like they need to pad their list with 17 activities each year, um, and join every club on campus and just to make sure they have a big, long list.

That’s really not what it’s about. What a college wants to see, is that a student. Uh, actually what they wanna know, because they’re looking for a lot of different types of students, what they want to know is what does the student do when they’re not doing schoolwork, when they’re not in school and not doing schoolwork?

What, what else do they do? That’s really the answer that they’re trying to, um, gather from this. And so what they can see is, oh, this student does extracurricular curricular activities. This student plays a sport and is a captain. Wow. That’s, that’s great. That shows, you know, they’ve really, um, they’ve really had to work hard.

[00:48:00] Um, or they say, oh wow, this student works after school and works, you know, five days a week. Um, that’s amazing. And they must have good time management school, you know, skills to be able to get all of their homework done. Um, this student has family responsibilities, has to take care of younger siblings. Um.

That’s, you know, that says a lot about a high schooler who has those type of responsibilities. Um, the student does community service and organized a food drive. Um, so it doesn’t really matter what the activity is. It just, they wanna know that the student is, um, you know, has another side other than the academic side.

That gives them a sense of what they might bring to the campus. Um, it does, it is helpful. Let’s say I mentioned playing a sport, being a captain, the leadership piece there, that can be important. Um, [00:49:00] a job, maybe they got a promotion. Um. That, that can be important. Um, maybe they, um, didn’t just participate in, um, a clothing drive, but they had the idea and organized it.

So having that slight, um, additional piece about being a leader, being an initiator, um, can, can be helpful because those, those are great, great skills. So that’s what I would say. It’s better to have, um, to really be able to share about, about those outside activities. But you don’t have to have a list of 20 or three.

Alright. Your essay, so you’re gonna have this application and it’s going to have your high school grades and it’s gonna have possibly test scores. It’s going to have a list of activities and, um, [00:50:00] recommendations from a teacher. Um. It’s going to be what it is at some point, you know, I mean, students can work, keep working harder all year long, but once you submit this application, it is what it is.

But the essay is a place where the student really has control about sending something that is going to add to the application. And so you really want your essay to share something about you, something positive about you that, that the reader can’t see from all of the other parts. They can see, okay, you’re smart, you, you worked hard, um, you got good grades, um, but you wanna share a little bit s something else to make your personality shine or your, um, interests shine or your goals shine.

So students should really think about writing about a topic that. [00:51:00] Excites them, that makes them feel good about writing it, sharing something personal, meaningful. Um, and I think the way to do that is to start early. So if you could start sometimes English classes in junior year, we’ll have you start on that.

That’s great when you can do that. Otherwise, you can start in the summer, and I’m gonna share a bunch of essay prompts with you in a moment. But have the student try writing about a few different things to see what’s, what’s gonna hit, what does the student feel good about writing. Um, and the student should really make it theirs.

They should definitely maybe share with a teacher or a peer or a parent, uh, to have other people read it and maybe give some feedback. Um, but the feedback shouldn’t be, you know, don’t write about that. This is what you should do. The feedback should be, oh, well you talked about this job here, but then you didn’t get into.

In depth about what you learned at that job to take you to the next, you know, some feedback [00:52:00] there that we can help students with, but, um, really it should be the student’s own. And you wanna have a lot of time for careful proofreading, no plagiarism, all of that. Um, and here are just a couple of little tips.

We have a, a great, uh, admissions colleague who shared this, which is that if the student reads their, um, own application out loud, sometimes in a mirror, um, think about it, student. How does that make you feel when you read it? Are you excited? When you read it, does something make you laugh? Does it make you smile?

Does it make you feel emotional? You know, is it, is it important to you when you’re reading it? Because if it is, the reader is probably gonna feel some of those same things. Or do you read your essay out loud into the mirror and it bores you to tears? Because if that’s the case, the [00:53:00] reader is probably gonna feel the same way.

So really play around and try to come up with, um, with a topic that’s that’s going to interest you and you feel good about writing about.

And here are the common app essay prompts. Um, but I will say they really are just prompts. So let me just read two of them. Some students have a background identity, interest or talent that is so meaningful that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you share your story.

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you? So these are really, you know, open, allowing the student, but the student could read through these and think about what, what rings true with them.

Discuss an accomplishment event, a realization that [00:54:00] sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. So really big. Let students read through these and see what, what if this helps them decide on what to write about. And you can see the very last one is just share an essay on the topic of your choice.

So there’s no, in this general essay, you have a lot of liberty to write about what you want to write about.

And then letters of recommendation. So students will probably ask a teacher, um, the general guidelines are to ask a teacher from junior year in one of the main subjects, and that would be English, math, science, history, foreign language. Um, that’s sort of the, the recommendation. But [00:55:00] many students do break free of that.

They might have a coach or, uh, a teacher who, that they worked with closely on a community project or something. So the key is it should be a, a, an adult that knows the student well and can speak to the student. Um. And share some things about the student that will be useful to the admissions committee.

So, uh, high schools usually have a process for this, so students should touch base with their counselor to find out what the process is. Sometimes there’s a form and they bring it to a couple of teachers in the spring, uh, of junior year to give the teachers a long time to write. Sometimes the teachers who are the most loved get asked by every student to write a recommendation.

So you just wanna give those teachers a lot of time. And then the students should on the form, share a little bit about what their plans are to just, you know, jog the, [00:56:00] the teacher’s memory, or even to say, um, I loved your history class last year. It, it made me consider, you know, studying history in college.

Just, just so that the teacher has a sense of, of what the student’s plans are. And then always think the teacher.

And I mentioned that interviews are less common, but, uh, there are two types. One is called informational and one is evaluative. So some colleges do have informational interviews available, and that just means when a student is on campus, or they can probably set one up over Zoom. They can have an informational interview where they meet an admissions person and they ask questions and the admissions person asks questions, questions of them and can just learn a little bit.

And that is usually where that stays. It’s usually not, um, part of the actual application, but some colleges have an evaluative, uh, [00:57:00] interview. And if it’s required, students should definitely do that, has to, and then know that that will be part of the application. But look on this, on college website, if they have an evaluative interview schedule, make sure you look at that early and don’t miss it and, and do that interview.

Um, but students should try to not be too anxious, not too nervous. Just be prepared to op answer open-ended questions. You know, the, the, um, interviewer might ask, you know, what do you and your friends do on weekend? Did you read any good books last summer? Um, what type of movies do you like? Uh, what’s your favorite class?

Things, things like that. So the students should just take some time in advance to think through answers to some of those questions. Um, so that if, if they get asked a [00:58:00] question, they won’t think, oh, I, I hadn’t thought about any of this. So do that. And the students should also really brews the college website and.

Come up with some good questions that they really have about the college. You wouldn’t wanna ask a question that they could answer on the front page of the college website. So make sure the student knows some things about the college too, and really can come up with some good questions. And then other than that, these interviewee interviewers are used to talking with 18-year-old students and they like it, and that’s why they do that job.

So, uh, they think it’s fun. So hopefully the student can enjoy that process too.

So then we’ll get into the admissions decision. So once the application is in and the committee has met and has made decisions, the student could receive one of four [00:59:00] answers, admitted yay deferred. So if a student applies through one of the early processes. The college could say, we’re not accepting you early action or early decision, but we’re just gonna bump your application to the regular pool.

So that’s what that is, that they’re not, they’re not gonna make that commitment early. They’re gonna bump and see who else is applying in the regular pool, or they could be denied. The student is not accepted. And I will just share that most students get a denial and they really shouldn’t take it too hard and feel like it’s such a personal thing.

It never feels good, right? Never feels good for any of us to be denied something. But you know, the application process is competitive. Many institutions are very selective. Uh, most in institutions could take two classes of qualified students, but they can’t. They have to take, maybe some [01:00:00] classes are, you know, freshman classes are just 500 students, and that’s from all over.

So part of it is just a process, and so the students should really understand that if they get a denial, it’s just part of the process and not take it too personally and then be able to move on and look at where the, where they’ve been admitted. And then waitlisted, that’s a hard one because the student is not yet accepted.

Um, but they’re told you’re on a wait list. But some wait lists are long. They might never get accepted off the wait list. So the students should do a couple of things. One, they should say right back to the college and say, yes, I’d like to stay on the wait list. I’m still interested. But then on the other hand, they need to be preparing to possibly.

Um, you know, accept an admission at another college and then the deposit deadline. National Admissions College Admissions Day is May 1st, where most of the [01:01:00] time students have to put a deposit at one school.

So before we move into college, affordability, just a teeny bit. Um, anything else, Jonathan, on the admissions side?

Jonathan Hughes: Yes. Um, I have a couple of things. The, the first one is about the letters of recommendation and I, I answered it, but I wanna know how close your answer is to mine. Um, and that is, should a student prompt the person that they’re asking about what they want the recommendation to highlight or just sort of let that person write, you know, what they choose to write?

Julie Shields Rutyna: Well, I think, um, if, you know, the student is writing to a teacher mm-hmm. Or filling out a form to a teacher, um, that, as I mentioned, some of those teachers who have so many recommendations to write, that if a student can help the teacher write the letter by saying, you know, last year in your [01:02:00] class, I, I struggled at the beginning and then I learned X, Y, and Z and really ended up succeeding.

Um, maybe you can share that. I, I think a teacher would love to have that little prompt, you know, how we all feel about when you sit down with a, with a pen and a piece of paper or on the computer, you sit down to write something and uh, to have some help with that, I think would be welcome. I mean, I don’t think a student can say.

Uh, it can tell a teacher what to write, but anything like that about why they’re asking that teacher because of the experience they had with that teacher, anything you can share I think would be helpful for the teacher to, um, to put the letter together.

Jonathan Hughes: Great. I’m glad I asked. And, and now the last one I have, did we have

Julie Shields Rutyna: a close answer, Joan?

Uh,

Jonathan Hughes: not, not exact. A little clo close, but not exactly the same. So I’m glad that I asked you. Um, I. I got this one. I want to save it to the last one. [01:03:00] So I, I’ll, I’ll, before we go into affordability, because I feel like this probably speaks to a lot of people’s concerns, somebody wrote that, what about regular sort of incoming seniors who know that they wanna go to college, but they’re doing well in high school, but they’re not, you know, presidents of a club or doing aps or anything.

All this kind of can sound a little daunting, like there’s not gonna be a place for them, or that they’re going to have limited options. And I wondered if you could speak to that.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Oh, yes. And we hear this all the time. Um, I’ll even share that. I’ve lived it. I have two kids now through college, but yes.

Right. This whole process seems so daunting. I just got goosebumps even talking about it. It sounds so scary. The selectivity, the test scores, GPAs, the truth is. Yeah, and to get into some of those very selective colleges, you really have to have all of that just [01:04:00] because of the numbers and the selectivity.

But there are so many excellent colleges who have, let me say like above average, great students, uh, average great students, a mix of students with a mix of skills and talents and, and things they can bring to the college. That as I feel like I’m an insider a little bit and. I really know that’s true, but when you’re learning about this process and all of the ways to, to be the best you can be, it, it does sound scary.

But the truth is there are lots of terrific colleges, um, that are great fits for lots and lots of students. And, um, I, I wish, I wish in some way we could get that message that I’m saying right now. And I wish I could even be more eloquent about it. [01:05:00] I wish we could get that out to more students and then parents so that you wouldn’t be as worried for them.

Um, and you know, the counselors can help your students look at schools that they might not be thinking about. Um, you can use some of those search tools and, and look at a variety of colleges. You’d be surprised. We have spent a lot of time on a lot of college campuses and there is great stuff happening on most college campuses.

So, um, the. The options are wide and your students, um, are wanted and desired at so many of those colleges. And, uh, really that should be more of a focus, um, than some of the, some of the stuff we end up talking about just because, you know, people ask a lot of questions about the, uh, the, the highly selective colleges.

But, um, there are lots of colleges who want, want your student [01:06:00] who’s a mix of a mix of everything.

Jonathan Hughes: Great, thank you.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Alright, so college affordability, again, this is gonna be short and sweet. So go MEFA.org/events and find the financial aid 1 0 1 seminar and that will tell you everything you need to do senior year to apply for financial aid. Um, so. What you can start doing now though, is you can find out the cost of attendance at these different colleges that you are seeing your student be interested in.

And that cost of attendance can be tuition, fees, room and board, books, supplies, transportation, the whole, the whole amount. And, but also know, and we’re gonna show you a calculator in a minute, also know that these colleges all have some financial aid. And so really less than what the cost of [01:07:00] attendance is, what you are more interested in is what am I gonna be expected to pay?

And that’s the cost of attendance minus any financial aid available. So, we’ll, we’ll get you to that number. Um, you wanna also know what financial aid applications are required and when. So not just admissions, what’s required for admissions. But there are couple of types of financial aid applications.

All colleges require the fafsa, we’ll talk about that. And some require a form called the CSS profile in addition. So if a college requires both, you have to do both. One, you can just do one. And then you can read on a college website in the financial aid section about do they have need based aid? Do they have merit based aid, need based being based on your financial circumstances and merit being based on the students’ academics or other talents.

Um, and just find out is there a mix of that? There usually [01:08:00] is, and you can start looking for private scholarships early. And two of those websites we showed you earlier, big Future and Mefa Pathway also have scholarship searches in them. Alright, so this I keep telling you, we’re gonna tell you about a calculator.

Net price calculators are on every college website. You can just type net price calculator into the search bar. I’m looking at that typo on UMass Boston. That’s funny. I don’t, I don’t know where that’s coming from. But, um, you’ll go type net price calculator and you can put information into that calculator later, as you will on a financial aid form senior year.

And what will pop out is a number that’s called the Student aid index. So you’ll, you’ll see what that aid index is, and then you’ll probably see, you know, if, if all this is accurate, an estimate, here’s an estimate of the [01:09:00] financial aid you might be able to receive. And then show you sort of a package where you can see.

Do we get any grant, scholarship, you know, money that we won’t repay? Do we get, is any of that merit maybe based on an SAT score? Um, will I be eligible for loans, work study, things like that. So you can get a sense, and you’ll be able to see when you do do those calculators from, for a few different schools, you’ll be able to see there are some colleges that put more money into financial aid or less.

And, and that will give you a little bit of a, a sense. And then these are the two I mentioned to apply for financial aid. You do that October of senior year. So this year the fafsa, the main form free application for federal student aid will be available October 1st, 2025. And, um, you go in and you do that online.

Every college requires that. And then the CSS profile, some colleges require [01:10:00] this additional form CSS profile. So if your college requires it. You have to do that. And that’s also available October 1st of your senior year. And then I have to say, I just wanna mention about there’ve been some big increases in aid for Massachusetts, so I just want to talk about those.

So, um, and to apply for aid for Massachusetts, it’s just the fafsa. The FAFSA gets you federal aid and aid for Massachusetts and aid of Colleges. Um, community college is free for everyone. Everyone. So that’s huge. That’s just a couple of years old and it’s really wonderful. So a student can also, you know, start at a two year college, community college for free for two years and then transfer to a four year college, having gotten general requirements out of the way and not paid for two years.

So it’s a tuition fees and a small. [01:11:00] Book allowance possibly. And you do have to file the fafsa, complete the FAFSA to be eligible just because they wanna make sure the student is eligible for federal aid first before Massachusetts kicks in. But all students are eligible for free community college. And then one of the big mass grant programs, uh, is mass Grant plus.

And it’s been expanded, so even the four year colleges and universities have more money for, um, for students this year. So, uh, low and middle income students can also receive free and reduced tuition and fees, and a small book allowance at the four year colleges and middle income is defined at about $80,000.

So if a, if a family has income about $80,000, the student could potentially also go to a four year [01:12:00] college tuition and fee free. Um, the other pieces are tuition equity law. Now some undocumented students can receive mass state aid. Uh, mass transfer is just the program that allows a student to go two years to a c to a community college and then transfer to a four year institution.

And tuition break is actually a program of students who want to go out of Massachusetts to college, to one of the neighboring states and have in certain programs, um, a student can end up paying in-state Massachusetts tuition, even if they’re going out of state. So that website can take you through the programs that qualify for that.

And here is a. Calendar to keep you on track. So you’ll be able to get this when we send you the presentation, um, link tomorrow. But spring, summer, junior year, you’ll be researching colleges, maybe visiting campuses, [01:13:00] taking the S-A-T-A-C-T, asking for those letters of recommendation. And if you can start writing your college essay, that’s great.

In the fall of senior year, you might retake the SAT or a CT. Secure those letters of recommendation. Finalize that essay. Definitely attend Mefa s Financial Aid 1 0 1 webinar, and complete all of your applications. And then submit those financial aid forms, the FAFSA and CSS profile. Continue to submit those applications in the winter.

Maybe send in mid-year grade reports if the colleges require that. Apply for any private scholarships, and then in the spring you’ll receive those admissions and financial aid offers. MEFA has another program in the spring called, um, understanding Your Financial Aid Offer. Paying The College Bill MEFA will help you all the way along with this, I promise.

And, uh, you can attend some open house programs to really get to know the colleges even [01:14:00] better, to help you make that decision. And then you’ll probably choose a college by May 1st. This tool I mentioned at the, at the beginning for the college search. But again, a free tool for all students in grades six through 12.

And students can take skill and interest assessments, they can do some career exploration. There’s a college search, a scholarship search, um, and students can sort of go in, they can write a, create a resume in there and just save it all so that they sort of have a digital portfolio to help them in the future.

So, um, mm-hmm. We can, we can share that with any students who are interested in, in using that. So after this, go back, see what other webinars MEFA has for you. You’ll start that research in college’s process and begin the process of creating that college list. And [01:15:00] here are all our social media handles.

One thing I’ll say is that on Instagram, that’s where we put, uh, a lot of our scholarship information that we receive. If an organization sends us information about a scholarship and asks us to share, a lot of times we put it out on, um, on Instagram as well as in our emails. And I mentioned that John is the podcast host, and so that’s a, that’s a good listen.

Jonathan Hughes: Mm-hmm.

Julie Shields Rutyna: And you could always call us or email us with quick questions, long discussions, anything that’s gonna help you with this whole process. And we really, um, we love it and we are so, so happy to help in whatever ways we can. So, thank you.

Jonathan Hughes: Don’t have any current open questions, so,

Julie Shields Rutyna: okay. Well then I will just say thank you and know that this is, this is the beginning [01:16:00] of a little bit of a process.

So we hope to see you again and we hope you will reach out and know that we are a resource for you all the way through. And John, thank you.

Jonathan Hughes: Uh, thank you very much and I appreciate it.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Alright. Good night everyone.