Julie Shields Rutyna: [00:00:00] Well, welcome everyone. My name’s Julie Shields Rutina, and I am the Director of College Planning, Education and Training at MEFA. And I am joined by my colleague, Shaun Morrissey, the Director of College Relations. And we’re here tonight to, uh, talk with you on the topic of college admissions. So let’s go through a few logistics.

I will be presenting and Shaun will be behind the scenes answering any questions that you have. So if you have questions, you should put them into the Q&A on your screen. We’ve disabled the chat so that everything would be in one place. So put those in the Q&A. And you have access to your own audio controls, and if you would like to use, uh, closed captioning, hit the CC Live Transcript button on your screen and it will share the words that [00:01:00] we’re- we’re speaking.

If you need to leave early for any reason, just know that we will be sending a link to this recording as well as the slides tomorrow. So you’ll have everything you need, and you can share that with other people who maybe weren’t able to join you tonight. So a few words about MEFA. Uh, MEFA has been around since 1982, and we are a state authority created by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Um, and we were created with the mission of helping families plan, save, and pay for college, and we’re doing the same thing today. So, um, a few, a few things we do, we have private loans, private educational loans for families who need that type of financing, um, if, if financial aid from the colleges isn’t quite enough.

We also have three college savings plans, uh, the, the U.Fund, which is the [00:02:00] 529 plan, the U.Plan, a prepaid tuition plan, and the Attainable program, which is for, uh, someone with a disability to save. So we have all of that, and then everything else we do is we provide free guidance to families, to schools, to colleges, and, um, at whatever stage you’re in in this college process.

So, um, assuming that you all tonight are probably, um, you probably have maybe a junior or senior in high school as you’re thinking about the college admissions process. So tonight we’re gonna talk about the current trends in college admissions, we’re gonna talk about a student building their college list, a few words about campus visits, and then we’ll get into the application and the application process.

And at the end we’ll touch upon financial aid and all of our free resources. But please know that we have another hour-long presentation [00:03:00] about all the nuts and bolts of financial aid, so that would be another great webinar to, to watch.

All right, so let’s talk about the trends in college admissions. So one trend that has, uh, it’s be- it’s been a trend for a while and it, it keeps ge- getting more so, is that students apply to a greater number of colleges these days. And part of the reason for that is that, uh, there is that Common App application which allows students to more easily do that.

If they, you know, are applying to six schools and then they think of a few more they want to add, they can, they can do that pretty easily through the Common App, and we’ll talk about that. But that’s one of the reasons that students are applying to a greater number of schools. But then also because, [00:04:00] um, it is very competitive to get into some colleges these days, and so for that reason, uh, the more- The more competitive s- colleges that s- the student is applying to, probably the more colleges they’re applying to in general, just to make sure that they have, um, good choices to make, um, during their senior year.

So those two reasons make for, uh, students tending to apply to more schools. Now, students applying to more schools also brings to light the second trend, which is called demonstrated interest, and demonstrated interest being a factor in the college admissions process. So what is that? Well, that is that, you know, a while back when students didn’t apply to as many colleges, if a student applied to a college and the college received that application, they had a pretty good belief that that student really wanted to go to [00:05:00] that college, and if they were admitted, they would go there.

Um, but with students applying to more colleges, when a college receives an application from a student, they aren’t quite as confident, uh, that that student will definitely come if admitted. And so they’re trying to figure out how to build their class, and so they’re trying to figure that out a little bit.

And the way they do that is through demonstrated interest, and that just means that they take a look at the student’s interaction and engagement with the college. Has the student visited? Or if the student hasn’t visited, have they, um, done an online presentation, an online tour with the admissions office?

Um, have they called and asked some questions? Um, there are so many ways that a student can interact with a college, and some colleges will look at those, those interactions and use that a little bit in the decision of if they’re [00:06:00] going to admit that student. Now, some colleges don’t look at that at all, so we’ll be clear about that, but um, but some do.

And so the bottom line here is that, as a student, if you are interested in a certain college or hopefully all of the colleges on your list, s- interact, interact with them. You know, make sure you visit. Make sure you, uh, go on a campus tour, or you virtually interact online. Um, you, you go to a presentation, you call the office with questions.

Make sure that you interact in a, in a good way and that you’ll be covered for that demonstrated interest. Now, social media. I saw that one of you wrote in some questions about social media too. So what I would say about social media is that, um- Even though the statistic we show here, uh, that 67% of admissions officers believe checking out applicants’ social media posts to [00:07:00] learn more about them is fair game.

The truth is, college admissions officers are very busy, and they have a lot to look at with a student’s application. So generally, they are not spending a lot of time on social media looking at students’ profiles. So I’ll just say that to start with. However, they absolutely can do that, and I think the, the important thing that a student should know is if an admissions officer looks at some of their presence online, you just want to make sure that that presence is exactly how the student would want to portray themselves to, uh, to a college admissions person, to a future employer, to, um, anyone.

You just wouldn’t want to find anything that’s, um, out there online that would raise a question of whether or not that student should be admitted. So that’s one thing. Other than that, social media is a great [00:08:00] way to interact with colleges and learn a lot about what’s happening on campus. So all colleges have social media accounts.

You can see what events are happening, um, see what’s being posted, and you can interact that way. So, um, just make sure, uh, students’ own profiles are as they would want them to be. Uh, cost is a big factor in the college admissions process, and it’s, um… We’re hearing from families that it is becoming even more of a, of a, a large factor.

And, and in a way, that’s a good thing. It’s not a, a good thing that college is so expensive, but it’s a good thing that parents are paying attention to that and taking, taking cost and affordability into consideration, and helping their students make good decisions. So we’ll talk a little bit about that, and again, MEFA has a lot of information about financial aid, applying for it, paying for [00:09:00] college.

Um, you know, I, I have to keep, stop from keep going back to COVID, but during that time period, uh, colleges had to switch it up and, and put a lot of virtual resources, uh, out there for students, and so they did that. And even though now colleges want students visiting campus, uh, want to interact in person, um, they’ve kept a lot of those resources such as, um, virtual tours and virtual presentations and, um, all of that.

So if a college is very far away from you and you, you really aren’t sure you can visit all of the colleges you want to across the country, you can do so much virtually with colleges these days. Um, also there are more test optional schools and more applicants to those colleges because of that. So what does that mean?

That means that, uh, while some [00:10:00] colleges do require a standardized test, namely the SAT or ACT, um, many, many do not. Many, um, call themselves test optional or test blind and will not look at or receive a test. So we’ll talk a little bit more about that, but that’s just good to know that, that, um, while there are colleges that require that test, there are many that do not.

Um, also with more students applying to more schools and the competition being fierce in some cases, um, there are longer wait lists. So if you get on a wait list, um, we- we’ll talk about it, you might need to make another decision because there’s no guarantee you’re going to be moved from the wait list.

And lastly, there is a, a newish trend over the last few years, which is called direct admissions. And that is when a college, um, that might have [00:11:00] some information from you, either because you, um, put your information into the Common App form or because you took an SAT, um, so they know something about you, and they might look at the limited information that they see and say, “Hmm, I think this student would be a good fit at our college,” and they may send an admissions letter to you before you even apply.

And without knowing that, that might seem crazy or shady or it just wasn’t how things were done, but it’s becoming extremely common. So you may receive an admissions letter from a college, um, that you didn’t apply to yet or weren’t even thinking about, and just know that that is part of a new direct admissions trend.

And in those cases, many times the college will say, “We think you’d be a great fit. We’d like to admit you to our college. Just please fill out this short form. You don’t even [00:12:00] have to pay a fee, and make sure you do the financial aid application, and then it can all get confirmed.” So there usually is still something you need to do as a student, but the process can be a lot shorter with direct admissions Um, another overarching thought I’ll say is just to stay organized with this process.

Um, there are, there’s a lot happening senior year when all of this is going on, and it’s easy to, uh, not keep up with all the details. So for example, MEFA has this college application manager on our website that you can download, and you can list the schools that you’re applying to, the deadlines for admissions and for financial aid, um, what forms are required, and any notes if you took a campus tour and you have some notes.

You think you’ll remember everything, but you might not. So we modeled this after spreadsheets that we saw parents bringing to presentations. [00:13:00] So you might have your own. Maybe you can just make your own spreadsheet, or you keep things in your phone, or you have a big whiteboard in your kitchen. However you do it, um, it’s really good to stay organized with this process

All right, so sometimes we get questions about how do I even begin to think about where I might want to go to college. So that first step is just to research colleges, and I like to think that this part could be really fun for students, where you can take a look at some of these websites. The first two, College Navigator and College Scorecard, are federal sites, um, which have a lot of information about colleges all over the country.

And you can see to the right, this is UMass Boston, and it starts out by giving a little information. It’s a four-year college, it’s public, it’s in the city. Um, and then the data gets more, more [00:14:00] detailed, like what’s the graduation rate, and what’s the average annual cost, and what’s the median earnings of students graduating from this institution?

So, um, it gets pretty granular, and there’s a lot of information that you can look at, uh, to learn more about colleges, and you can do that right online. Um, the last two, Big Future, is a website of the College Board. Um, also another great source to, uh, find out more about a variety of colleges. And MEFA Pathway, that’s MEFA’s own, um, database where you can do the same thing.

And with all of these, you tend to start by putting some information about yourself into, into the, uh, tool. I am, you know, hoping to go to college in Massachusetts. I would like to be a, um, a biology major, and I enjoy [00:15:00] soccer, something like that. And then it will… The tool will pull up colleges that fit your criteria, and you can start to look through, start to weed out.

But that helps students maybe find schools that they weren’t thinking about. Maybe, you know, they, their school counselor recommended a college, maybe they’re looking at where their parents or their cousins went to college, maybe where, where their friends are applying. But this might allow a student to, um, to learn more about colleges that they didn’t know so much about, and this is how you can begin And when students are thinking about a college that they want to apply to, um, students have to maybe learn a little bit about themselves, and they might not learn a little bit until they start going through the process.

Like one big factor in choosing a college is the size and location of that college. But if a student hasn’t spent a lot of time researching colleges and visiting colleges, [00:16:00] maybe they don’t know if they’d prefer to go to a large institution or a small one, or if they’d prefer to go in the city or in a rural area.

But once they start researching and maybe visiting, um, all of those things hopefully will become clearer. So for example, with the institution size and location, um, that size piece they may not know, but once they get on a campus, maybe they go to a class, and maybe they realize that in high school they like to be in classes where there’s a lot of discussion.

They like to sit right up front, be in a discussion, and so they would prefer slightly smaller classes. Um, whereas the other thing they might realize is they’re the type of student that just likes to sit, take it all in, and then study, do homework. Um, so that type of student might like larger classes at college.

So those are the things that, that they’ll be able to figure out [00:17:00] as they begin this process. Um, academic fit is key, and really that is finding a college, um, where they’re gonna be ac- Learning with students who are like them academically. So, um, they want to find a college, of course, that’s going to be challenging, where they’re gonna learn, but they also want to be in an atmosphere where the students, you know, uh, like to s- study about the same a- a- a- much as they do.

Um, that they, you know, there might be a student who really that’s the focus, academics, and they want to study all the time, and there might be another student who really wants to make sure that the college has some fun activities on the weekends, and so they want to make sure they have a place to go hiking, or there’s a football game on Saturdays.

Um, so those are the type of things that they want to find themselves in an academic atmosphere that, [00:18:00] that is suitable for them. They clearly want to pick a college that has their intended major, unless they’re flexible, which they may be. Um, learning style is important. I mentioned that a little bit as far as class size, but, um, that- those are good questions they can ask faculty when, um, when visiting a campus or, you know, can send an email.

And then things like campus culture and activities. Um, all campuses have things going on, but they might just want to visit the campus and get a sense of, um, w- you know, what it feels like to be there. Is there a religious element, and can you really feel that when you are on campus? Is there a big sports element?

Maybe you really feel that a lot, and that, that is, uh, what happens on the weekends there. Um, and if you do have certain activities that you’re interested in, you might want to make sure that there’s access [00:19:00] to those activities. And finally, all colleges have study abroad programs and career and internship services, but if you have interest in certain types of programs and, uh, want to learn more about how career services can invol- be involved and help you, you want to talk to those offices on, on a campus as well.

And then affordability is a big factor, and that’s another reason to ensure that you’re applying to a, a variety of colleges, possibly at different, uh, costs so that, um, you make sure that is, that is a factor and you choose a college that is good for you, um, from an affordability perspective as well. I’ve mentioned, uh- Campus visits, key.

They can be key to really learning and understanding about a college. Um, you can always go visit a college campus at any time [00:20:00] and walk around. You can go to a sporting event, you can go to a theater show, a, um, a concert, all of those things, and just see what it’s like on that campus. But once you get to be a junior in high school, I think it’s important when you are on a college campus to stop into the admissions office, make it a formal visit, maybe go to a presentation, take a, a formal tour, um, so you can really see the college.

They usually have a college student take you around and take you to all kinds of places and be able to answer your, your questions. That’s a, a great way to get to know a college And if a college is on the other side of the country, it, it probably doesn’t make sense to, uh, necessarily be visiting all of those colleges unless, um, you can.

So a way to get to know colleges without having to visit them is to go to, um, a local [00:21:00] college fair, and you can do that right here at home. And there are fairs that have 300 colleges from across the country that, um, where you get to meet representatives from that college, ask specific questions, um, and learn a whole lot, and they get to know you too.

So, um, NACAC and NEACAC, um, are great organizations for that, and the websites are listed here, and you can attend one of those, one of those college fairs And hopefully then as you’re learning so much about different colleges you might be interested in, you do have to start weeding it out and deciding, “Okay, here are the colleges that I’m going to apply to.”

And you really want to make sure that a number of the colleges that you’re applying to y- you will likely be admitted. And you can learn that because you’ll be asking questions, you’ll understand the [00:22:00] types of students that do get admitted to that college. Um, y- colleges usually show the statistics of the last class that was admitted, um, what their, their high school GPAs were and if they’re, if they do accept a required standardized test, you can see what those scores are.

And if you’re on campus or if you talk to people in, in the admissions office, you get a sense of the type of student that they’re accepting. And so you want to apply to a lot of colleges where it’s likely you will be admitted, because you want to have good choices to make senior year. Um, but then some colleges, I mentioned the competition, are just very competitive.

And so there might be colleges where you, your profile fits, you could definitely be admitted, um, but because they receive more applications from eligible candidates than they can admit, then it- it’s just really possible that you, you’ll be [00:23:00] admitted. So you probably have a few of those colleges on your list, where it’s very possible you’ll, you’ll be admitted, but no guarantee.

And lastly, you might have a college, um, that really is a reach. You know, it’s just academically it’s, it’s superb, um, competitively it’s, it’s difficult to get in for numerous, numerous reasons, numbers being one. Um, but you still might want to have a college or two on your list like that, but you need to balance that with likely and possible colleges.

So one example is all Ivy League colleges are reaches. You could have perfect GPA, perfect test scores, uh, you could have invented something and you still might not get in because, um, the competition is so fierce and they can only admit so many people, and they usually admit them from all over the world.

So, um, so those colleges are just a reach for [00:24:00] everyone

Jonathan Hughes: Julie, I just have a quick question

Julie Shields Rutyna: Yeah.

Jonathan Hughes: Um, um, are you familiar with niche.com as a site for researching colleges, and is that a good site to use?

Julie Shields Rutyna: Oh, that’s great. Thank you, Shaun. Yes, I, I am, especially because I think it was my own kids who introduced me to niche.com.

So, um, yes, I guess what I would say is a- absolutely, you can get a lot of information from there as well. M- my feeling is to, um, yeah, sort of collect as much information as possible, and you can learn a lot from Niche, um, a- and not just use one source. You know, if you were interested in a college and you, you read something somewhere that turns you off from that, don’t just make that change your mind.

Research it further yourself in [00:25:00] all the sites we mentioned, when you get on campus. But absolutely, I think that is, um, that, that is another site that will give you a lot of information about colleges, and a lot of details too, to help you make your decision to either apply and/or accept. Yeah.

Anything else that we should address or- That’s

Jonathan Hughes: it. Thank you, Joy.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Oh, okay, great. So let’s talk about the college application types. So, um, the regular admissions process, and I’m gonna put quotes around it because, um, because all of the other ones are getting used these days too, but the regular admissions process usually has, um, a midwinter deadline, and then you find out if you’ve been admitted or not, um, sometime in the [00:26:00] spring, sometimes as late as March or April.

And then you have to let the college know by May 1st if you’re going to accept the offer or not. So that’s kind of the regular decision process, and that’s still in place, um, at, at most schools. However, there are a couple of other processes that allow students to apply earlier, and the first is early action And what that is is that if you apply early action, you just apply earlier.

You usually have an early action deadline of November or December, and then you can find out if you’ve been admitted or not sometimes before winter break, which is such a nice thing for students to maybe feel a confidence of, “Oh, okay, I, I got accepted to this school. That’s exciting. I still have others I’m waiting to hear on, but, but at least I know I was accepted.”

That feels good. That can feel very good for students. So if students are [00:27:00] prepared and ready to apply to some colleges early, um, they can do that through the early action process. And with that, you still don’t let, have to let the college know that you’re going to accept until May, but it just, you know, it helps you feel like you’re, you’re moving on the process.

So, um, I know a lot of students do some of both of those. And then there’s another process called early decision. Now, this is something a little bit different. This also, if you want to apply early decision, you can only apply to one college early decision, and the deadline’s usually in November, maybe December, or actually there is early decision one and early decision two, so usually November, December.

But this is a binding agreement. When you apply early decision to a college, what you are saying to that college is, “If you admit me, I will come.” So you’re telling them upfront. So let’s talk [00:28:00] about the pros and cons of that. One, I mentioned demonstrated interest and how that can be helpful in the admissions process.

Well, I mean, by saying to a college, “If you admit me, I will attend,” that’s demonstrated interest in a big way. So that is good. That can be helpful. Colleges like to receive early decision applications because that makes their process easier. They, they know they can count on that. If they admit you, they know you’re gonna be a, filling a seat on their campus.

So that’s nice and positive. But- That is a binding agreement, and if you agree to that, if you are admitted, you need to withdraw your applications from all of the other schools, and you will never find out what financial aid you might have received at any of those other colleges. So I usually say you want three things to be in place when, to apply early decision.

Number one, it, it should be the [00:29:00] student’s far and away top choice above all. Number two, you should have a reasonable understanding that you can afford it and that you can pay. So you’ll want to use calculators, al- get all that information from the college ahead of time, and we’ll share what some of those are, to, to, to get an understanding, is this going to be affordable for me?

Will I get enough financial aid? Will I be, you know, willing to pay the rest? You have to kind of do some of that work upfront to make sure that you, you think it’s going to be affordable. And number three, you have to be comfortable with the fact that, um, that even though you might think, “This is great, I can, we can afford this,” that you may…

Some of those other college applications that you’re gonna be withdrawing, you might have received 20,000 more in financial aid from some of those places, and you’ll never know. But you [00:30:00] just have to be comfortable with the fact that you’ll never know and, um, that’s okay with you. You have figured out you can afford this one college, and you’ll go there.

So that’s… You gotta think, think carefully about applying early decision, but if you, if all of that is true, that can be, um, a good way to apply to a college. Lastly, um, well I guess there are two. One, also some colleges have rolling admissions. They might just say, “As of November 1st, you can apply any time,” and, and then you just apply during the year whenever you want.

I would encourage you, if you are applying to a rolling decision college, um, apply as early as possible. You might as well. And then there’s open admission. So that is a college that admits, admits most students for most programs any time, and a good example of that is our community colleges. So community [00:31:00] colleges, um, will admit almost everyone, um, if you have a high school transcript, all of that.

However, um, sometimes community colleges have some programs that are smaller or more competitive, so it doesn’t necessarily mean you can get into every single program. Um, but it does mean that you can get into community college, um, to start your college journey, which is great. That’s a very good option, too.

So let’s talk about all the application forms and, and h- how you’re gonna put your application together. So there are a few types of forms. I’ve mentioned a few times the Common App. So that is, um, a form where you can… Many, many colleges use this form. You go to commonapp.org. It opens for the y- new year on August 1st, and you can start putting [00:32:00] information in there.

And the nice thing about the Common App is that you put all your information in there, and then you can choose to send that information to many colleges. So it just makes it easier, where you’re not mailing separate applications to separate colleges. Um, so that’s terrific. And then there are a couple of others like that.

The Universal College App works similarly, as does the Coalition App. And some colleges ask for one of those forms, some ask for a couple of those forms, and you can choose. Um, so that really is up to you. You just want to make sure you submit a form that the college accepts. Um, a few colleges have their own, um, college application, and you’ll, they’ll tell you that.

And, um, I think there might still be a couple of paper applications out there, maybe for some community colleges. Um, but anyway, you want to find out what form the colleges require and complete [00:33:00] that one. And then that’s the application form, but a college application usually consists of, um, some of these, these requirements.

So the form itself, the application form, always. Your high school transcript, always. Um, standardized test scores if the college requires it, and again, I mentioned many colleges don’t. Um, many require letters of recommendation, anywhere from one to three. Uh, many require an activity list or a resume. Right in some of those application forms you can, you can put some of that as well.

And then many require a personal essay, um, from you. The last three are less common, but I’ll just mention them. Um, one is an interview, so [00:34:00] s- uh, some colleges require an interview, either in person or virtual, but many do not. And then, um, an audition would be if you were applying to a, a, a college, um, in, to a theater program, um, or a music program.

And then a portfolio might be required if you were applying to a program in visual arts or something like that. So those are less common, but if you’re applying to a certain type of program, you’ll be doing that as well So what are colleges looking for when they are looking at students? Well, the first thing that they’re looking for is are you academically ready?

Are you going to come to our campus and are you going to take classes, learn and thrive? That’s what they want. They want to make sure that you can do college-level work, and it’s gonna go well for [00:35:00] you, and you’re gonna thrive, and you’re gonna graduate and, you know, move on with your life and career. Um, so they really look at your academic readiness.

It is the most important factor. And so what does that mean? It means they’re looking at your high school transcript, they’re looking at your grades. One question we always get asked is, is it better to have good grades or challenging classes? And the truth is, you know, they want both. But, um, they do like to see a student challenge themselves.

So students, if in your high school you have an option to take some honors classes or advanced placement classes, um, it’s great to be able to take those and show that you have tried to challenge yourself, um, at least in a few areas or, or an area. Um, you don’t have to kill yourself [00:36:00] in high school to take, you know, all the most challenging classes and be, and be overwhelmed and worried about grades, all of that.

That’s not the point of it. The point of it is to challenge yourself, um, and show that you can work hard, in some cases do college-level work, like with an AP class, um, and colleges like that. Um, but they, they want- so they want to see that you’re doing well and challenging yourself. Um, they also understand improvement over time.

So let’s say you get one bad grade as a freshman, um, but then you improve it and you do well, you know, through high school, and colleges understand those types of things. They like to see that you exceed minimum requirements, again, challenge- challenging yourself, showing that academically you are enthusiastic, engaged.

Um, for some programs, if, if you’re going into, um- You know, a pre-med [00:37:00] program or something, they’re gonna wanna see how you did in those classes that might be relevant to, to that type of a program. So, uh, are you strong in the sciences, things like that. And there is a sliding scale for Massachusetts public colleges and universities.

You can look that up online just to make sure at, at different colleges and universities that you have to have a certain grade point average or if your grade point average isn’t, doesn’t quite meet the standard, you have to show that you’ve, that you’ve taken a standardized test that brings you up there.

So you, you can look at that online as well And so now we were talking about standardized tests. What are we talking about? So, uh, the PSAT is really a practice test for the SAT, and students usually take that junior year or even sophomore year. And really, that’s just practice, and the good news about that is you get your score back and you can see what you need to practice a little more [00:38:00] on.

So, um, so that’s a great test to take to prepare for the SAT and/or the ACT too. The ACT has, um, a test like that called Plan. Um, but the bottom line is you probably want to take a practice test of both the SAT and the ACT, see how you do, see how it feels. It’s, you know, a timed test, kind of go through and then pick which one you liked better and st- you know, practice that one, and then take that one and send that to the colleges that require a standardized test.

Um, they’re, they, they’re both timed. They’re slightly different, but you might just get a feel for one that you like better. Um, and then an AP exam is after you take an AP class in high school, you get to, uh, take an exam and get a number to show how well you, you know, know that [00:39:00] information, and that really look, can look good on a college application because that shows that you are able to take a class and do well, um, at sort of a college-level class.

That’s what Advanced Placement exams show. Um, but then as you can see below, fairtest.org is a, a website that lists 2,100 test-optional schools in the United States. So there are lots of colleges that won’t require a test, but if you are applying to one that does, then, um, then you’ll have to send, send along a test.

If the college is test-optional, then if you do really well on the test, you might want to send your, um, your score. But if you do sort of average or below, you won’t want to send your score because if they say they’re test-optional, that means if you don’t send a test, they just… That’s not [00:40:00] part of the application, so you’re fine.

So you only really benefit if you do really well to send it to a test-optional school.

And then, you know, colleges will usually have room for this. Again, I mentioned it’s on the Common App, um, an activity list and a resume. And what this is going to show a college is what you do with your time outside of, um, school. Do you have any extracurricular activities? Um, you might want to show that, yes, you became a, a, a captain of, of a sports team or that you became a co-chair, uh, for an organization that puts on events.

Um, you might want to show that you’ve had a job, or maybe you have family responsibilities. You take care of a, um, a sick parent, a, a grandparent, uh, your younger siblings, uh, or you do some [00:41:00] community work. All of that is great and just gives a, a more rou- well-rounded picture of you on your application. Um, there is no reason to just fill up your life with activities for the purposes of the college ed- uh, application.

Uh, colleges really want to see what, what you enjoy, what you’re engaged in, um, and what you have maybe shown some leadership skills in. So, um, something like that that has some depth is much better than just a long list of, of, uh, clubs that you’ve joined

And the essay. So the essay tends to be something that, that, um, students feel nervous about or something. But really the essay is just a chance for you, the student, to share a little bit something more about yourself [00:42:00] that can’t be found anywhere else on the application. So you, you, you get to share, you know, your feelings about different things, you get to share how you interact in the world, what you enjoy doing, what lights you up, what you might bring to campus.

Um, and you can really write about anything, and it’s so much better to write about something that, uh, that excites you, that is going to show up in your writing. Um, let me just go to the next, and we’ll come back to this. These are the Common App, that’s that, that overarching application, essay prompts for fall 2027.

So let me just read a couple of them. “Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has gratitude affected or motivated you?” And here’s another one: “Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of [00:43:00] yourself or others.”

So, um, those are just a couple. You can read all of these, but you can see the last one just says, “Share an essay on a topic of your choice.” You really can write about anything. Um, you just wanna make sure it’s something that you actually are interested in, because that will come across in your writing. So something meaningful, personal.

And, you know, start writing early, and then leave plenty of time to edit it yourself, put it away for a couple of days, go back, reread it, change it a little bit, maybe share it with a couple of people that you trust to give you some good feedback. Um, and you never wanna plagiarize, obviously, and you, you just wanna have time for careful proofreading so that it- things are spelled correctly, it’s, it’s, um, you know, grammatically correct.

So give yourself time. Um, and, you know, you shouldn’t really let people tell you you need to write about this topic or not write [00:44:00] about that topic or write it for you or any of those things. You really… It should be your own, and, um, it should be meaningful to you. And, um, if it is, it will come across that way to the person on campus who is reading it.

And then most colleges are going to ask you for one to three recommendations. The, uh, general advice is to, you want to find adults who know you well and can offer a perspective on your strengths. Um, usually, uh, one of your junior year high school teachers in a, one of the core subjects, English, Math, Science, History, Foreign Language.

Um, but that’s not 100%. Generally, that- that’s who you might look to first, but [00:45:00] if you have another adult who knows you, who has worked with you on a community project in the school or something, and knows you and can speak to those things and knows you well, that’s fine to choose that person. Uh, because it really is good if the person does have an understanding a- and can share things about you.

Uh, ask early, and then thank the people that you have asked and that write those recommendations for you. And, um, when you ask, if you can give some information, “I’m applying to these five colleges, I’m interested in this, these types of programs,” the more information you can give them, um, the easier it will be, because they have a lot of to do sometimes writing a lot of recommendations for students.

So try to help them as much as you can. And then the interview, um, again, is a face-to-face conversation that allows the college to get to know you a little better, or a person [00:46:00] at the college to get to know you a little better. And it’s only offered by a s- small number of colleges. So we usually say that, uh, interviews are either informational or evaluative.

Informational, uh, means you sit down with someone, you ask a lot of questions, they ask a lot of questions, you have a nice conversation just so that you, you can learn more about the college, they can learn more about you, and it’s n- it’s just, it’s not, it’s loosely, um, included in this process, but it’s not a definitive factor in the admissions process.

Whereas some are evaluative, where, you know, you are sort of scored on how the conversation goes and, um, that is part of your admissions application. So you can find out whether it’s evaluative or informational. But either way, if given the chance to do an interview, I would suggest that [00:47:00] you do it, because you will have a chance to learn a lot, and they will have a chance to learn about you, and you can stand out that way.

Um, and really, the people who do these interviews are people who are, who love talking to 18-year-old students. You know, they really enjoy that. That’s why that’s part of their job. Um, and so just be prepared to answer open-ended questions. You know, “What’s the last book that you read? What do you and your friends do after school?”

Um, and then also have done your research about the college so you know a lot, and ask genuine questions that, that you’d really like to know. And other than that, just really relax and be yourself. This is a chance to have a great conversation.

So we’ve talked about a lot of things, and what it all comes down to then is the admissions decision. Um, so as I mentioned, somewhere [00:48:00] at the very latest, you know, late spring, March or April, you will receive an admissions decision, maybe earlier. But it could be that you are admitted, which is the best, right?

You’re accepted. Um, be aware though, these days sometimes you could be accepted, but they might say you have to start spring semester, which could be a factor in your decision. But in general, always good to get that admit letter. That feels, that just feels good. Um, there is another one, deferred, and what that might mean is you applied early action or early decision and you receive a letter or response that says, uh, you’re not admitted early action or early decision, but we’re gonna consider you in the regular pool.

So that’s not a no by any chance, it just means they’re not admitting you early. So be prepared that you could receive that. And then there’s deny, and I guess all I’d say is we all know this as human [00:49:00] beings, it never feels good to get a denial. Un- unfortunately, you’re not admitted. That feels bad, it just does.

But the bottom line is please, you can… You know, you might feel bad no matter what for a moment, but k- keep in mind that the… It’s just part of a process. Colleges, as I mentioned, uh, there are many colleges that h- have about 2,000 students in them, and that means that each class is 500 students. So that means there are some colleges who only admit 500 students, and they admit them from all over the world, all 50 states.

Um, you know, they receive sometimes quadruple or way more, 100 times the applications that they can accept for perfectly eligible, qualified, wonderful students, but they can only accept so many. So when you apply to college, you are just part of that process in that year and how many students [00:50:00] apply and what, uh- A- attributes those students have.

Um, they, you know, some students fill the sports teams, some fill the band, some fill the biology department. You know, you’re part of a process, and so a denial i- it doesn’t mean anything bad about you. It just means that, that you didn’t get admitted to that school that year because the process worked out that way.

So I just like to prepare you for that, ’cause it, denials happen to most people. Finally, you could be wait-listed, and that’s, that’s kind of hard, too, because that means that you’re not accepted, but you are on a wait list, so if students don’t end up coming, you might get accepted off the wait list. Um, you sort of need to do two things at that point.

One, you need to formally accept and say, “Yes, thank you, [00:51:00] please keep me on the wait list. I’m still interested.” But you also need to move on, because you may not get accepted from the wait list, so you really need to look at your other colleges that have admitted you and mentally move on and start preparing to make a decision for one of those.

Um, so it’s a tricky spot to be in to be on that wait list sometimes. But, um, then on May 1st, you do need to let a college know that you’re coming. Uh, if you do get accepted off a wait list after that, you might lose your deposit where you deposited, but, um, that’s a hard one. But if you want to stay on a wait list, you just keep telling them, “I’m gonna stay on.

I still am interested if, if it works out.”

So I’m gonna stop for a moment because then we’re gonna just say a few things about college affordability. Any other questions, Shawn?

Jonathan Hughes: Um, I just have one question that if you’re denied, can you apply [00:52:00] for another admission cycle in subsequent years?

Julie Shields Rutyna: That’s a, that’s a great question. So you can. You can. Um, I guess what I’d say is it’s har- it’s a little bit harder, right? Because so much of this process is focusing on you finishing high school, your high school transcript.

Um, so there, there is a piece of that that, um, I think it can be a little bit harder. Now, you might decide to take a, a gap year and, and, and, and, and apply later. It’s possible, um, and you definitely can do it. So the answer is yes, but I think sometimes it’s a little bit harder because, um, you’re doing it on your own without all of your, your peers.

But, um, but sure thing, you, you can. And, and admission cycles do change from year to year, as [00:53:00] I, as I mentioned. Um, the number of students they’re accepting, what the pool looks like, all of that. Um, so yeah.

All right. So we’ll move into the financing piece, and again, I’m gonna say it again, MEFA has so much terrific information about college affordability, applying for financial aid, uh, paying the college bill, all of that. So please stay in touch with us and, and join one of those webinars that talks about that topic as well.

Um, but here are some things to help you get started with college affordability. You wanna find out what the cost of attendance is at the different colleges that you’re looking at, and the cost of attendance is tuition, fees, room and board if you’re gonna be on campus, books, supplies, maybe transportation to get there.

So it’s that, that large cost. Um, [00:54:00] and you also wanna research what financial aid applications are required and when do they need to be submitted. You might wanna learn a little bit about how the school awards financial aid. Is it need-based, based on your financial situation, or is it merit-based, based on, you know, student attributes?

Um, and are there different deadlines for that? Most colleges offer a mix of need-based and merit-based aid, but some colleges, such as the Ivy Leagues, just award need-based aid. And you can also start looking for outside private scholarships. So you know, good idea to just check in with your employer. Do they have any, um, scholarships for you or a student in the family, things like that?

Um, you can start looking toward any, any organizations you’re involved with, uh, the scholarships you can apply there, and then you can also [00:55:00] apply using some of those online scholarship searches And I’m gonna go back again just to connect this. What is the cost of attendance? That’s a good number to know.

Um, however, I think a more important number to know is how much you might have to pay. So these calculators are on every website, and they’re called net price calculators, and you can go in and put information about your finances and some academic information, and these calculators will give you a sense of how much financial aid the student might be able to receive at your institution.

And the reason that’s important is it’s, it’s an estimate, but it will tell you the cost of attendance is this, but you might get this much financial aid, so you have a sense of what you’re gonna be expected to pay, which I think is a [00:56:00] more important number than just that large cost of attendance. So keep that in mind and play around with these calculators as you will.

You can see here Bo- UMass Boston, um, it just says, you know, $21 million in merit scholarships were awarded. The average freshman grant scholarship award was $17,000. Um, 1,700 students work on campus, so that gives you a little bit of a sense about the affordability of the place. So when it comes to applying for financial aid, this happens right around the same time that you’re going through the admissions process.

It’s not admissions first, financial aid. It’s they happen together. So to apply for financial aid, every college requires the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It’ll be available October 1st, senior year. Uh, so this year it will be available October 1st, [00:57:00] 2026. And you go to fafsa.gov, and you complete it online.

It will ask you about your 2025 income, so it’s looking at income that taxes have been done, done and closed. Um, so you have to do the FAFSA, and I would, I would say get it done as early as you can in October, and that way you will meet all of the deadlines, uh, coming up for- that different colleges might have for financial aid deadlines.

And then some colleges require an additional form in addition to the FAFSA called the CSS Profile. It’s a form of the College Board, and about 200 colleges and universities require that. Um, so you would go to cssprofile.org, and that also opens on October 1st, and you can find out which schools require that.

And on the websites of the colleges that [00:58:00] you’re applying to, it will let you know if they require the CSS Profile, and you will complete both forms if the college requires both. And again, MEFA has lots of help with doing all that. Some colleges might have their own financial aid application, which you would be able to find on the website.

I’m seeing fewer and fewer of those. And then let’s talk about, uh-

Financial aid here in Massachusetts from the state. Um, one thing that’s really exciting that’s new is that the community colleges in Massachusetts are free tuition and fees for everyone, um, and maybe a potential book allowance as well. Free for all students. Um, so that’s exciting. You do need to complete the FAFSA, that Free Application for Federal Student Aid, in order to be eligible for, for that free tuition and fees and [00:59:00] potential book allowance.

So just know you still need to complete the FAFSA, but to have no cost at those two-year community colleges is, is really a, a, a life… can be life-changing and a great option for many, many students. Um, also, um, MassGrant, which is the Massachusetts grant, um, has been expanded, so even for, um, low-income families whose students go to the four-year public universities, um, can potentially have tuition and fees free there as well, so just something good to know.

Um, also, uh, Massachusetts has a tuition equity law, so while, um, students who are Are not documented, who are not Mass- uh, not, uh, United States, uh, uh, citizens or permanent residents are not eligible for federal [01:00:00] student aid, but can receive Mass state aid. And those students would complete a form called the MASFA, M-A-S-F-A, and that website is there.

You can find that form there. Um, and that would allow a student who was not eligible for federal aid due to cit- citizenship status to be able to possibly receive some Massachusetts state aid. So that’s, that’s nice, too. And then let’s go down through the other two programs. MassTransfer is a program so when a student starts at a community college and goes two year and then they want to transfer to a four-year public Massachusetts college, um, there are some really affordable options to do that.

That makes college, um, much less expensive than it would otherwise be. So that’s a great option. And lastly, TuitionBreak is a website of the New England Board of Higher Education, and that lists lots of programs [01:01:00] that are in neighboring states, so in New Hampshire, in Connecticut, um, in Rhode Island, in Maine, that have programs that allow Massachusetts students to pay Massachusetts in-state tuition versus the out-of-state tuition in some of those programs.

So it’s worth taking a look at that list, and if your student is eligible, is, uh, interested in certain programs, uh, that possibly we don’t have here in Massachusetts and, and that’s why they’re out of state, or just certain programs that qualify, um, you could potentially pay, um, in-state Massachusetts costs, which are a lot less expensive.

And then this is a, uh, calendar that just helps you keep track through junior year into the fall of senior year, into the winter. And you can see that along with all the things we talked about, uh, we put in there all of MEFA’s webinars [01:02:00] that fit. So in the fall we have MEFA’s Financial Aid 101 webinar. Um, and then in the spring we have webinars that are entitled, uh, MEFA’s Financial Aid Offers and the College Bill.

So, um, these are all great ways you can continue to educate yourself throughout the process. Uh, MEFA Pathway, I mentioned it at the beginning as a way to research colleges. Um, this is a free tool that, um, you can do a lot of exploration. You can take skills and interest assessments, do some career exploration, a college search.

There’s financial aid information in there. So you can go to mefapathway.org, and you can get started for free if you… Um, maybe your high school uses this, or if not, uh, you can use it on your own as well So here are a few webinars that will be coming up soon this fall, Financial Aid [01:03:00] 101, Understanding the FAFSA, What to Know About the CSS Profile, Ask an Expert All Your Profile Questions, Financial Aid Offers on the College Bill, and many more.

So you can go to mefa.org/webinars and, uh, register for those. And these are all the ways that you can find us on social media. I’ll, I’ll mention that on Instagram we post a lot of scholarship information. People send us information about scholarships and ask us to promote that, and we put that on our Instagram feed.

Uh, we also have a podcast called the MEFA Podcast, which has lots of great topics, um, featuring our colleague and podcast host, Jonathan Hughes, and lots of videos online, lots of LinkedIn content. So th- those are all the ways you can connect with us. And you can always connect with us by calling 1-800-449-MEFA or emailing [01:04:00] [email protected], and we’re happy to answer questions, give you help all along the way.

So with that, let me leave that up

I’m gonna just put that at the end

And see if there are any last questions.

Jonathan Hughes: There aren’t currently any open questions, but we did have one comment that I thought might be worth mentioning, is that there was a high school English teacher who teaches seniors, and he said that they do a college personal essay preparation as part of their fall work.

So that’s another good resource for students, um, to take advantage of if maybe offered in their English classes at the high school level.

Julie Shields Rutyna: I love that. I love that. Thank you. Yes, we do see that a lot, and I think [01:05:00] absolutely that is so great to get started that way and get really good feedback. That…

Perfect. Thank you

Well, terrific. So please stay in touch with us, and, um, good luck with all of this. Have fun. And we’ll see you again soon

Thanks everyone