Applying to School Starts Now

Summer is halfway over.
Already.
Can you believe it?
Your senior year starts in a month.
Woooohooo!!!
Tell me the truth. How long have you been waiting to be a senior? King of the school? Cruising to the finish line???
Well, not exactly the finish line.
It is more like the start line.
The start line for school.
No. No. No. No and no. It is NOT the start line for the rest of your life. Your life is a journey. Just listen to your valedictorian's speach in May if you don't believe me. Your SAT scores, GPA and every other test you take DO NOT dictate your success or what kind of person you are or will become.
Now, I do not mean to imply by any means that tests and grades are not important. They are. But so is the rest. Leadership. Communication skills. Community involvement. Sports. Arts.
This is the rest.
And the rest is what needs to shine on your applications.

That is where I come in.

I have spent 14 years managing people for an HR consulting firm. I designed our new hire training program. I organized and managed our new hire interviewing process. I hired and I fired. Along the way, I raise the "newbies" - how to manage time, projects and people.
I also interview the college hopefuls for my alma mater - Cornell. Each year I interview prospective high school students and submit the interviews to Cornell as part of the application process.

Now I am sharing all the tidbits, the "pearls" of wisdom I gathered, with you.

So where to begin? Ahh yes...we're we started.

It's mid July. Do you know what you should be doing?
Perhaps you have a part time or even full time job. Perhaps you are traveling with family. Or perhaps you are just enjoying the lazy days of summer.
Well, in your free time, it's time to start thinking about which college is right for you AND which college you, in turn, are RIGHT for.
How do you do this?
You may have visited schools in the spring with your parents/guardians. That is a good starting point. Here is some questions to answer about yourself.
1. What is my gross budget (college tuition goes up every year, so develop a catchall figure).
2. Will I be relying on financial aid and/or loans? How does that impact my gross figure?
3. Who was my favorite teacher. Why?
4. Who was my least favorite teacher. Why?
5. What was my favorite subject. Why?
6. What is my least favorite subject. Why?
7. Do I want a big school - greater than 10,000 undergraduates, medium school (5,000 - 10,000) or small school (<5,000)?
8. Do I want to travel or be near home. If I am "going away" to school, what is the cost of travel? Have I included that in #1 above?
9. Do I want a city school, rural school or something in between?
10. And finally, based on the list above, what is the BEST school I can get into - perhaps a reach but that's ok.
THAT IS YOUR GOAL. Get into the BEST school that YOU can get get into.
If that is the only thing you take away from my advice, then I am happy. The BEST school - based on the list you created - will be the best fit for you and the one to which you will contribute the most.
Why?
You will be stretched. You will have to work hard at studying and balancing school/sports/extracurricular/social activities.
Because that is real life. Life is about being stretched. About balancing your priorities.

And remember, your entire life and your potential successes, do not rest on the choices you make here. But what you make of these choices.

Send me your questions about this process. Please! I want to help.

Thanks,
Stacey