Merry, Merry!!!

I've been getting ready for Christmas (nothing like the excitment of my four year old as she waits for Santa- pictured here) and I've been receiving more than a few emails of the following nature:

1) Why aren't my school forms for FILL IN THE BLANK SCHOOL DUE JANUARY 15th completed?

2) I got in to X!

3) I didn't get into X!

4) I thought I submitted my application but I just realized it didn't actually submit it. What do I do?

Items number 1 and number 4 make me feel like making announcements at class meetings and sending you guys emails is futile. Please remember that we have submitted credentials for applications due through January 5th. Everything else will go out the first week we are back. There are reasons for this! A lot of conditions have to be met before we can send out apps (teacher forms need to be completed and you need to have the common app school on your list are two examples) AND past experience has shown us that over the holidays, many seniors take schools off their lists. Either they burn out of all the writing and submitting or they get in somewhere that makes them happy and the list becomes a lot shorter. So, we wait until the first week we are back for those later January applications to be ready to go and make sure they haven't been crossed off the list. For item number 4, you will need to contact the college directly and find out what to do. Please be careful when submitting apps!

For those of you who have received acceptances, Congratulations!!! It's such a nice early Christmas present and we hope it takes some pressure off and puts the irrational fear of "will I get in anywhere?" in it's place! One of my previous students told me that she had a recurring nightmare about being stuck in AP Calculus FOREVER because she didn't get into college. Yikes!

If you haven't received an acceptance and aren't expecting anymore news until the spring, try to hang in there. I know it feels like everyone has good news, but in truth it's usually about half of the class that has received an acceptance by Christmas (we haven't looked at the numbers yet this year). I know, I know - you would much better be in the half that it is IN. But I promise you that just as surely as Easter, spring rain, and incredible humidity the first week of June that makes us all fret over how hot your graduation ceremony will be (just as long as it doesn't rain! will be said again and again) comes every year, so will your acceptances. It's as certain as Mr. Kerns in his red jacket for the first fire drill of the year. And so, if you are fretting, try to put it out of your head and enjoy the last Christmas for most of you that you will be a permanent fixture in your home as opposed to being a visitor for a few weeks before you go back to your "new home." Wherever that is! Merry Christmas everyone!

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Katie Hartley '09 talks about how to stay warm @ BC!

Why I chose BC:
A gut feeling.

What I like about BC:
I love BC’s beautiful campus, which always makes my day. I also love the cold weather (colder than I have ever experienced!) and being surrounded by the Jesuit-Catholic atmosphere. One of my favorite things to do on campus is also to go to sports events: football, hockey, and basketball – Go Eagles!

College is better than high school because:
I can go wherever I want whenever I want!

But I miss ___________ about Visi:
Visi Theater.

Classes I am taking next semester:
Adult Health I: Lecture, Adult Health I: Clinical, Adult Health Lab, Pharmocology, Painting 101, and Modern History I. (I am a nursing major).

Favorite place on campus: Bapst Library.

Stuff to do off campus:
Shopping on Newbury Street, Red Sox games at Fenway Park, Going to the movies at Fenway or the Boston Common, going out to eat at the North End (Little Italy of Boston)—all accessible by the T (the metro), which is right next to campus.

What do you wear to class?
Now that it’s cold – jeans, a sweater, uggs, scarf (plus jacket, gloves, and earmuffs). If you are going somewhere cold, invest in some earmuffs! They are amazing!

Best and worst thing about having boys around:
Best: guys make great friends, and can be so heartwarming. Worst: Boys are stupid.

Anything else you think the girls should know or we should have asked:
I think some of the biggest factors that affect your experience at a school are size and location (size meaning big or small, location meaning in the city or not). I know that sounds pretty basic, but in my opinion, if you try and find what you like in those two options, you can be happy just about anywhere!

Thanks Katie! If you would like to be in touch with Katie, ask your college counselor for her contact information! She will be visiting campus on January 6th during lunch to meet with any juniors or seniors who are interested in Boston College.

College Admissions Myth #472 Debunked!

Not to be a broken record when it comes to quoting the UVA Blog, but I was thrilled that Dean J finally addressed the Urban Myth that it's good to get your application in months ahead of the deadline because the application readers will "be in a better mood" or "have more time to spend" on your application. She addresses this myth on today's UVA blog entry:

Students routinely ask us when they should submit their applications. The easy answer: by the deadline. However, we know what they are really asking. There are rumors that would lead you to believe that you have to strategize when it comes to the date that you hit submit.

At UVa, there is no benefit to the application who submits their application early. There is a benefit to us in that we are able to spread processing of applications out a little more widely when applications come in early. The first few weeks of January are pretty crazy around here since most students submit their applications at or right around the deadline.

Our processing staff would love it if you were able to hit submit early, but from where I sit, I don't want you to hit submit until you are confident that your application is the best it can be. If that happens on December 31st, we will manage just fine.

There! Straight from the source! - Now do you believe us? :)

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A Cautionary Tale

The great thing about being a college counselor is that there is always a new problem to solve, college to learn about, and question that has never come up before. When I came to Visi nine years ago, the technology wasn't quite as advanced as it is now (I get my voicemail on my email!) and students never brought their laptops to meetings with me. These days, it's pretty normal for a student bring her laptop to a meeting and log into a college application so that we can troubleshoot submission quirks, edit an essay on the spot, or just look things over.

For the first time I can recall, not one but two seniors missed November 1 Early Action deadlines because they did not actually submit their applications. In both cases, the students thought they had submitted them correctly - and in one, case the student had submitted the application supplements, but not the actual app. They only found out because they happened to be on their Common Application account doing something else and noticed that their applications were not submitted. YIKES!!! Since this had never happened to my students before, I chalked it up to a technical glitch with their computers or with the Common App website. And then I happened upon this news bulletin on the Stanford admissions site:

Last year, nearly 1,000 would-be applicants to Stanford mistakenly believed they successfully submitted their applications via the Common Application Web site when, in fact, they did not. These students completed their applications online and paid their application fees but failed to actually "submit" their applications online by the deadline. As a result, we were unable to consider their applications for admission.

Applicants who have successfully submitted their applications can check whether or not their applications were submitted and downloaded by Stanford by checking the Common Application Web site (under MY COLLEGES). An email receipt from the Common Application for your application fee does not mean that your Common Application was successfully submitted to Stanford. Be sure to check the Common Application Web site to verify your submission.

As we did last year, we will not consider any applications submitted after the deadline (even for students who experience technical difficulties with the Common Application Web site) and applicants should be aware that our offices will be closed beginning December 18 for the winter holidays. While we will be open to receive mail and to process materials, we will not be open to assist candidates with technical difficulties associated with the Common Application Web site. As a result, it is important that applicants not wait until the deadline to submit their applications successfully. While there is no rush in getting your teachers and counselor to submit their materials to us before January 1, you should make an effort to finish your Common Application and Stanford Supplement well in advance of the deadline.

Ouch!!!! Don't let this be you. Make sure you are diligent in confirming that your application was submitted properly!

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