Visi Alumnae are College Leaders!

I received an email today that two recent Visitation graduates were recently elected to serve in the Trinity College Student Government Association.

Rose Lichtenfels, AA President for the Class of 2010 was elected Senator at- Large and Carolina Galdiz, Gold Team Captain for the Class of 2010, was elected Budget Committee member!

Check it out here!

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National Letters of Intent and Verbal Commitments

If you are a junior who is in the midst of athletic recruiting or hope to pursue athletics in college, you should be very well versed in all of the terminology that coaches, colleges, and the NCAA use throughout the process. It's important to remember that no matter what kind of conversation you have had with a coach, you are not formally accepted to a college until you receive a letter from the admissions office.

• A Verbal Commitment is the phrase used to describe a college-bound student-athlete’s commitment to a school before he or she is able to sign a National Letter of Intent. A college-bound student athlete can announce a verbal commitment at any time. While verbal commitments have become popular, they are NOT binding on either the college-bound student-athlete or the school.

• National Letter of Intent is the document a prospective student-athlete signs when he or she agrees to attend the designated college or university for one academic year. According to the terms of the National Letter of Intent program, participating institutions agree to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year to the student-athlete, provided he or she is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules. An important provision of the National Letter of Intent program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs a National Letter of Intent. This prohibition requires participating institutions to cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once a National Letter of Intent is signed with another institution. FYI, National Letters of Intent do not guarantee admission and if a student is not admitted to a school where they have signed an NLI, the NLI is obviously not binding.

The definitions above are from the NCAA website.

 Even more info on the NLI:

A note on the Ivy League:
Bause Ivy League Universities do not offer athletic scholarships - only need based financial aid - they do not offer National Letters of Intent. Sometimes they send out "likely letters" to athletes in the fall of senior year.

Here is an outline of the Ivy League Athletic Recruiting process.
http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/information/psa/index

If you have questions about athletic recruiting talk to your college counselor and Ms. Zarchin in the Athletic Department.

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Curve Ball Interview Questions

One of my seniors just filled me in on her recent Nightmare College Interview. As opposed to the usual questions about current events, favorite books and hobbies, the interviewer asked:

"If you could be any kitchen utensil, what would you be?" and

"If could destroy one thing in the world but save another, what would they be?"

Um.

I'm just wondering about the interviewer's intent here. To torture a 17 year old who is already dealing with the roller coaster of the college admissions process? To add more pressure to the process by asking odd questions? To watch someone think on her feet?

It sounds like things went as well as they could possibly go given the circumstances and I'm proud of the student for holding her own and getting through what sounds like a tortuous 30 minutes. Of course it's easy to come up with witty responses to these kinds of questions when you have some time on your hands, but I cannot imagine it's much fun in the moment.

I think I'd like to fancy myself as an old school Mr. Coffee machine. A reliable device that everyone is happy to see first thing in the morning - not fancy like an espresso maker, but good at what I do and trustworthy. A coffee maker is an appliance rather than a utensil though, so that's probably not a very impressive answer.

I might like to destroy the SAT but save the college essay.

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If You Are Deferred!

It's the news that nobody wants to get. You are not accepted, but you are not denied. If you are in deferral limbo and wondering what to do, here are a few tips.

• Pay attention to what the college has asked of you. Some schools provide advice for deferred candidates. If a school recommends sending an extra of letter of recommendation, do so. If they indicate that they only want you first semester grades, do not bombard them with extra paper!
• It's never a bad idea to write a letter or an email (the format depends on the school - ask your college counselor) that provides updates to your application since you sent it in back in the fall and reaffirms your interest in the school. Your letter need not be long - one paragraph is fine- but it should be thoughtful and sincere.

Here is an example:
Dear Ms. Admission Officer,
While I am disappointed that I have been deferred from First Choice School, I continue to be extremely interested in attending next fall. Since I applied in November, I finished a winning season with my field hockey team (we won the Independent School League Championship!) and my varsity basketball season has begun. I just finished up mid-semester exams and I've earned my highest GPA (a 3.7) to date. My favorite classes continue to be AP Literature (we have finished our study of Anna Karenina and are moving on to Beowulf) and AP French. While my Calculus class is challenging and math has never been my strongest subject, I am enjoying derivatives much more than limits and functions! I have applied for summer internships at the National Gallery of Art and National Geographic and plan to continue with my summer swim team as well if time permits.

I sincerely hope to receive an offer of admission from First Choice School in the spring and will definitely attend if offered admission. First Choice School has been my first choice since I walked through the green gates during my tour. Thank you for considering my application and I will be counting the days until April 1.
Sincerely,
Visi Girl
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UVA and UNC to release EA decisions this week!

Almost every school with an Early Action deadline has released their decisions but there are two biggies that are still finalizing decisions. We have learned that UVA will release their decisions online this Friday night and UNC Chapel Hill will release their decisions "within the next week."

Wondering about the numbers?
UVA received 11,753 Early Action applications and has a total of 28, 235 applications (that's compared with 23,900+ last year).

UNC Chapel Hill received about 13,000 applications for early action and an additional 16,000 for regular decision.

Good luck to everyone waiting for the news! Let us know when you hear.

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