The Path to Acceptance: The College Interview

For our third and final installment of our Path to Acceptance series, we wanted to focus on the college interview. The college interview can be an important part of the acceptance process, as it is a chance for you to speak outside the confines of the application box and reveal aspects of yourself not readily seen from the application itself.

Some colleges require an interview, in which case you will often be contacted by an alum who lives in your hometown. At other schools, such as St. Mary’s, the interview is an optional but recommended part of the application process. We suggest that you try and schedule interviews at each of the schools that you plan on applying to during the fall of your senior year.

Already scheduled your interview? Here are some tips to make the best of it:

1. Dress comfortably but professionally. 

This may seem completely obvious, but sometimes you have a combined visit with an interview and tour, so you need to be comfortable to walk around campus. On the other hand, it is always better to be overdressed than underdressed. You know how they say to dress for the job you want, not the one you have? Dress for the college student you want to be, not the high school student that you are.

2. Turn off your phone. Please.

Or just leave it in the waiting room with your family. Enough said.

3. Be prepared to brag about yourself!

We know that it can be uncomfortable to brag about yourself, but this is the time to do it! Admissions counselors are looking for students with certain strengths and characteristics that would fit in well at their institutions, and the interview is one way for them to find out what yours are. What is your greatest academic strength? What are your best qualities? Have lots of volunteer experience? Are you a sports star? Written the Great American Novel already? Tell us about it!

4. Be honest about your shortcomings. 

You should also be ready to own up to any shortcomings, academic or otherwise. Not so great at math? It’s okay to admit that. Wish you had taken harder classes your sophomore year? It’s okay to admit that too. Admissions counselors will run into those things in your application anyway, so it’s best to get everything out in the open now.

5. Come ready to answer questions about the following topics:

class schedule, academic interests, summer activities, community service, dream college characteristics, standardized tests, career goals, and extracurricular activities

Any of these topics are fair game in an interview. Make sure you have at least a few talking points for each. We want to see that you have thought critically about your future and what you want in a college. Oftentimes, the interview is also a good place to expand upon any of your internships, jobs, clubs, or meaningful volunteer experience.

6. Have a handful of questions for the interviewer. 

^^and that one doesn’t count! Besides being a time for admissions to learn more about you, interviews are also a time for you to get real answers about some of the questions you might have about the college. If you have a specific program or major that you’re interested in, this is the perfect time to ask more about it. Have food allergies? Have a question about the dorms? Want college essay advice? Feel free to ask away at the end of the interview!

Hopefully the above tips will make you feel more confident when going into a college interview. Remember, the interview is just one part of the application process, but it can really be a place for you to shine. Good luck!

The Path to Acceptance: The Campus Tour

Hi everyone! Welcome to the second installment of our “Path to Acceptance” series. Today we will be focusing on one of the most important first steps to choosing a college: the campus tour.

The first thing to do is to register for a campus visit. Many colleges offer online calendars where you can sign up for a specific tour time. Most admissions offices are open Monday-Friday for tours, and some even offer select Saturday visit days.

You can visit a campus at any time of the year, but there are few things that you might want to keep in mind. One, many high schools offer a certain number of excused absences for college visits during the week, so check with your school’s guidance office. Two, summer is a great time for most families to take college trips, but usually the campuses are empty of the majority of their students. If you DO schedule a summer visit, you might want to also plan to come back during the school year for a second look. Three, colleges usually have a different break schedule than most high schools, so if you want to visit the campus when it’s bustling, make sure to ask the admissions office if the students are on break or not!

Once you’ve scheduled your campus tour, we have a few recommendations to make it productive and fun!

1. Wear comfortable shoes and weather-appropriate clothing.

This seems so obvious, but we see students arrive for tours all of the time in inappropriate footwear or dress. At St. Mary’s, for example, our entire campus is connected by a brick path, so stiletto heels are not a safe or practical sartorial choice. Most campus tours last about an hour, and are completely on foot, so you want to be comfortable! They are also usually 50% outdoors, so weather-appropriate outerwear is a must. Many offices (ours included!) have umbrellas for emergencies, but it’s best to be prepared.

2. Map out the route to the campus on GPS the day before.

We cannot stress this enough. You do not want to start your campus tour in a bad mood because you just spend 2 hours in a car arguing with your mom about which turn you missed.

3. Plan to arrive about ten-fifteen minutes early.

Most admissions offices have some paperwork for you to check or fill out, and you might need a few minutes to chill out from the drive as well. Use the restroom, grab a coffee, read the student paper (a great way to see what the students really think about their school!) That being said…

4. Call ahead to the office if you will be late or have to cancel your visit.

This is especially important at a small campus like St. Mary’s. We created our tour schedule in order to keep the groups small and the tours personalized, and we rely on families to show up on time to keep the schedule running. We can’t, for example, hold the rest of the tour group fifteen minutes waiting for you to show up. On the other hand, if we have advance notice that you are running behind, we can plan accordingly. And please call if you cannot make it that day! Think of a campus tour like a doctor’s appointment: you would call and cancel one of those, right?

5. Ask lots of questions!

This is the most important tip! Student tour guides LOVE to answer questions.They’re also extremely knowledgeable: that’s why we hired them! No question is stupid, and could be beneficial to other families in the group. On the flipside, feel free to ask personal questions about your tour guide’s experience on campus, but stay away from questions about their high school GPA or SAT score, religious preferences, or other invasive topics.

6. Ask for your tour guide’s contact information at the end. 

They can be a great resource for you throughout the college search process. They are usually more candid than admissions officers, and can connect you with other students and faculty that might share your interests.

7. Debrief on the car ride home.

After each campus tour it’s good to talk about what you liked and disliked about the college. Was it too big? Too small? Do you need a non-bricked campus path where you can rock stilettos to your heart’s content? Whatever your experience was, a candid talk about the vibe you got from the school can really help you narrow down your final choices. Had a really great or really bad campus tour? Let the admissions office know. We rely on feedback to train our tour guides and craft our campus visit programs.

The campus tour can be the most important part of your college search process. You can find hidden gems, realize that dream school that sounded good on paper isn’t for you, or find your future home, all from visiting

The Path to Acceptance: The College Fair

Hello! As the new year is off to a start, so are college plans for high school juniors. Over the next few months, many of you will start to compile a list of dream schools, visit campuses & college fairs, take your SAT/ACTs, solicit recommendation letters, and complete college interviews. But don’t worry: we are here to help!

Throughout the next few weeks, we will be publishing guides to some of the most important first steps in the college application process. In honor of “Friends” being released on Netflix, we decided to enlist Monica, Chandler, Rachel, Ross, Joey, and Phoebe to help us down this path to acceptance.

STEP ONE: THE COLLEGE FAIR

Maybe your high school is holding a fair in the cafeteria one evening. Maybe it’s a big national fair that you can take the day off from school to visit. Either way, a college fair is a great way to get your first look at colleges and universities. Sometimes though, with so many schools represented, it can be challenging to figure out where to even start. That’s why first you need to…

1. Have a game plan.

Make a plan with your family before hitting the fair. What are you looking to do once you get there? Split up, or stay together? If this is your very first look at college, make a list of characteristics and types of colleges that you want to look for. If you already have some schools in mind, make a plan to visit their booths first.

2. Introduce yourself to the college rep and shake their hand.

College reps talk to a lot of students during these fairs, and you want to try and stand out. The best way to do this is to introduce yourself by name, and shake their hand while making eye contact. This shows that you are confident, professional, and ready to take the next step towards college.

3. Have a list of important questions to ask each college rep. 

^^No, not that kind of important question. Something about the major you’re interested in, the size of school, the tuition, etc. Think smart when asking questions: the reps don’t have time to have an in-depth conversation with you (that will happen during your college interview). On the flipside, the reps are here to talk to you: so don’t feel embarrassed to ask about something that it important to you!

4. College reps are people too (and they can both see and hear you!)

Sometimes it can seem like there is an invisible wall between you and the college reps during fairs. This is not true. We can hear you, and we definitely see you deciding whether or not to come up and talk to us. Just remember, when your parent suggests you go talk to the rep from _____ University, if you’re not interested, don’t make a face or say “Ew, no way.” It hurts our feelings! We also don’t bite: it is okay to come closer and just look at the board without having any questions.

5. Fill out an inquiry card before you go.

This is a great way to get on the college’s mailing list, and keep up to date with their information. At universities that use demonstrated interest (more on that later), this is also a way to record that you met the rep at a fair. You can always call or email the college later and ask to be taken off the mailing list.

6. Make a folder for all of your college materials.

This might seem like an obvious tip, but you’ll walk away with a lot of material from a college fair. It’s good to keep it all in one place. Also feel free to take a break for a few days and then come back and look over your treasure trove of brochures and pamphlets.

If you’re interested in attending one of your first college fairs, there are a variety of national college fairs across the US throughout the year. You can visit nacacnet.org to get the complete list of fairs for 2015-2016. We hope to see you there!