A little more than a month ago, a previous blog post focused on Mother Nature’s nastier side in the form of Hurricane Sandy and its impact on, among many things, the college application process. Today we get a glimpse of Mother Nature’s friendlier side: a 3-inch snowfall followed by a cloudless blue sky here in Appleton. Enjoy this morning’s meander around campus.
Not every critic is a genius.
As we head into the final weekend before the first of a succession of big college application deadlines across the country (our Early Decision deadline is Nov. 1), this post should give all college applicants—especially those polishing their college essays—some comfort, perhaps even some confidence before they hit “submit.”
“The 13 Worst Reviews of Classic Literature,” compiled by Publisher’s Weekly from the forthcoming Rotten Reviews Redux (release: November 2012), shows us that even the best writers had critics, and that some of those critics—despite having the “authority” of being critics—were, um, occasionally off the mark. Consider this gem:
“Whitman is as unacquainted with art as a hog is with mathematics,” courtesy of The London Critic in 1855 in its review of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.
Like we said: not every critic is a genius. (Read the other 12 off-the-mark reviews to see what we mean.)
So to you college applicants, whether you’re just sitting down to write your essays, or you’re putting the finishing touches on that masterpiece, consider these tidbits:
Write on!
In this morning’s Today Show, we were presented with yet another variation on what has become an all-too-familiar story running with increasing frequency in the heat of the college application season: “Is college worth it?”
We’ll save you the suspense. The answer—like it usually is for these stories—is “yes”, but first you must pass through a haunted house of drama and factoids.
First act: Usually these stories start with a liberal arts major (in this case, a French major) who graduated into a world reluctant to hire her because of “her limited skill set.”
Second act: The recent graduate, faced with a college debt of $50,000, “settles” for a job that does not employ the skills she learned in her major (in this case, working as a customer service rep for an awning company).
Third act: Cut to the reporter (in this case, financial expert, Jean Chatzky) back in the studio summarizing the state of affairs for the host (in this case, Matt Lauer), who serves as a proxy for the target audience (in this parents of college-bound students). The exchange usually goes like this:
And there, in a three-minute story, you have some one-size-fits-all advice on college and major selection.
We cannot ignore an economy that continues to present significant challenges to all of us. We cannot ignore that there are students out there taking on extraordinary debt to attend college. (In news stories, there is generally a direct relationship between the size of the debt and the level of tension in the story.) We acknowledge that there are a number of in-demand majors, such as those listed above, that have clearer prospects (though certainly no guarantees) for employment than others. There is comfort in certainty.
But what if you’re not interested in those majors? What if you are one of those students for whom a liberal arts major at a liberal arts college is the right fit?
Take heart: the college investment for many people is not simply an investment in job training for your first gig out of college. As we mentioned in an earlier blog, an investment in a place like Lawrence University is an investment for a lifetime, which will comprise, quite likely, more than your first job out of college: perhaps a trip to graduate or professional school; a career change or two; and a host of experiences that will call upon your abilities to find common ground with people who look, think, act, and believe differently than you do. It’s our job to prepare you for all of these by pushing you to become: a nimble, lifelong learner; a strong compelling writer; a creative problem solver; a critical thinker; a competent arguer; and a person equally adept at independence and collaboration. In other words, an eminently employable person.
And one last thing for you budding liberal arts majors out there: Matt Lauer pursued a telecommunications major at Ohio University, a liberal arts college. Jean Chatzky earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in—wait for it—English.
On Tuesday, we welcomed our new students to Lawrence, who spend the week participating in activities to get themselves oriented to life at Lawrence before classes start in earnest on Monday, September 10.
Of the many traditions at Lawrence University, one of the favorites among the members of the Lawrence admissions team is the Welcome Convocation. It’s the one moment where we get to see all of our new students and their families—people we have been working with for months, sometimes years—together under the beautiful roof of the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.
It looks like this:
(Yes, I snapped that shot from the podium, where a cavalcade of speakers addressed the assembled students, including the president of the sophomore honor society, the president of the alumni board, the provost, the dean of admissions & financial aid, and the president of Lawrence University.)
The admissions guy’s job for the evening, as the set-up man for the president, is to introduce the class to itself and then present them to the president. Below are some of the highlights of the class that I shared with them.
OK, now I’ll turn my attention on our reason for being here… YOU. Let me tell you a little bit about yourselves:
The 417 of you who are freshmen represent the second largest freshman class in Lawrence University history. You have come to us from 324 high schools. For those of you keeping score at home, the two schools that sent the largest number of graduates to Lawrence this year are Whitefish Bay High School and Warren Township, each with 7. Five members of the freshman class were homeschooled. However, a really interesting number to note is that 257 of you are the only ones from your high school, which makes you the majority. So get out and start meeting each other.
34 of you are transfer students who have come to us from colleges as near as the University of Wisconsin right here in the Fox Valley and as far away as Hanoi, Vietnam.
In addition to the 451 degree-seeking freshmen and transfers who become Lawrentians today, four of you are international students who do not plan to seek degrees from Lawrence, but are here just for this year, visiting from Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria, and the Russian Federation. 18 of you are from Tokyo, here as part of our special year-long exchange program with Waseda University. We are happy that you are all here.
You hail from 38 states, the District of Columbia, and 24 countries.
Our largest contingent—about 30% of you—come from the cities, towns, and rural areas of our home state, Wisconsin. The next largest groups come from Illinois, Minnesota, New York, California, Colorado, and New Mexico.
About 12% of you have a parent, sibling, or some other relative who attended (or is currently attending) Lawrence. Some of you have several generations of Lawrentians in your family! That’s pretty exciting.
But here’s another exciting thing: 20 of you are the first ones in your family to go to college. [Note: This one got wild applause.]
A handful of you are so-called “non-traditional students,” in that you are either married or have children or graduated from high school a number of years ago.
All of you are welcome here.
You new Lawrentians have had an impressive array of experiences. Those of us who graduated from school a number of years ago—the folks who read your admission applications—might also describe that array of experiences as “humbling.” In addition to your studies, most of you have made significant contributions to your schools, churches, communities, and a multitude of volunteer organizations.
As a group, you are citizens of the world. In addition to our international students, a large number of you have spent time abroad—and much of it not just being tourists.
You have given your time in service to others in faraway lands. And right in your own backyards.
One of you is a hand model.
One of you is a highly decorated figure skater, having won golds for the United States Junior Synchronized Skating National Championship and representing the US twice in overseas competition.
One of you has performed in circuses as a high flyer and contortionist.
One of you told us, quite excitedly, that you received a didgeridoo for Christmas. Dean Pertl—it appears you can add yet another member to your didgerigroupies.
One of you has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail.
One of you is a raptor handler. (I presume we’re talking about birds of prey, and not the hopefully extinct breed of nasty dinosaurs.)
One of you—not recognizing the phone number on your caller ID when one of our admissions counselors called to tell you your application was complete and ready for committee—pretended that the counselor had reached Toys R Us until he proved that he really was, in fact, an admissions counselor from Lawrence. In so doing, you have provided us an opportunity to—um—take a closer look at our calling procedures in the admissions office.
Many of you are triple-threat all-stars—excelling in academics, the arts, and athletics. One of you in particular, was on the all-state choir for two years, a top student in your school, AND the MVP of the basketball team that brought home the state championship.
One of you comes to Lawrence after having served four years in the US Army as a senior line medic and team leader—including deployments to Iraq. [Particularly gratifying note: this received the longest and most enthusiastic applause of the night, which prompted me to say something like, “I was going to say ‘Thank you, soldier,’ but this group already took care of that for me.”]
One of you woke up on February 15 to a day named in your honor by the mayor of your hometown. It seems they—like we—were very impressed with your outstanding contributions to your community.
One of you dedicated hundreds of hours over the summer last year as part of Minneapolis’s “We Want You Back” campaign, knocking on doors of your fellow students who had unenrolled from school to encourage them to complete their high school credits and graduate.
One of you has—for each year since you were 5—traveled with your family to another country to perform music with them and raise funds for local nonprofit organizations.
One of you, a composer and singer, has been nominated twice for a Grammy in the Best Native American Music Album category. Along the way, you have also received special recognition from President Obama for your work heading a first-of-its kind recycling program in your community.
[Note: A mother of one of our students shared with me a couple days after the welcome that there is one more stat I should have shared, so I’ll share it with you now. (It’s a good one.): “Two of you haven’t seen each other since kindergarten – 14 years ago – but will soon discover that you are both here at Lawrence as freshmen AND you live in the same residence hall!”]
It has become clear that many of you don’t sleep much. Which, it turns out, will have been good practice for your college careers.
I should mention that the most common first names among women in this class are Katherine, Hannah, Emily, Sarah and Anne. Most common names for the fellas are Michael, Zachary, Jacob, Charles, and Matthew. So if you don’t remember somebody’s name in the next few days, try one of those, and you’ll probably come close enough.
It turns out the plurality of you—52 of you to be exact—were born in March. Two of you had the good taste to have chosen my birthday, May 28, as the date to make your grand entrance to the world. (Nice work, Daniel and Brandon.) One of you is celebrating your birthday today. Cooper, we won’t put you on the spot and sing to you—though with the musical talent in this room, you can trust it would sound magnificent.
It went on for quite a bit longer, but I trust you get a feel for it. This is a great group of students joining a great group of students at Lawrence. We’re thrilled they’re here.
But we don’t get to sit around reveling in the wonders of this class for too long. The class of 2017 (and 2018 and 2019) awaits.
Onward!
Early-rising daffodils have given way to lilacs and apple trees, which are now in full blossom. And while the sweet scent of spring is in the air, we must pause to hold our noses over the proliferation of college admissions stories that focus on the occasionally sensational world of highly selective colleges.
Consider this one from the New York Times blog, “The Choice,” which ran last Friday (which—coincidentally?—happened to be the 13th):
…we present our third annual listing of college admissions statistics at a range of institutions — a listing based on figures supplied by those colleges and universities that responded to a survey from The Choice over the last few weeks. This year, for the first time, we have included the number of students who were placed on waiting lists, as well as a more in-depth look at acceptance rates.
If you were to believe that the approximately 70 colleges on this list were representative of the universe of American colleges (which is about 1,600 colleges) you might think that most colleges have admission rates that read like the average January low temperatures above the Arctic Circle (which, you should know, is not where you will find Appleton, Wisconsin).
Of the 70 colleges featured on the list, 87% have admission rates lower than 50%.
However, if you were to include the universe of American colleges, the preceding statement would read just as accurately by changing the word “lower” to “higher“. (For the record, Lawrence University, which admits about two-thirds of its candidates, was not asked to complete the survey.)
College admissions, with so many cases of students failing to “get into their dream college,” abounds with drama. Drama is what makes for good storytelling. But the rest of the story when it comes to college admission is really not all that dramatic: most students apply to colleges that are good matches with their talents and aspirations; and most students get into those colleges. Not much to write about there, so, at least for the sake of interesting journalism, we find ourselves confronted with more tales, often breathlessly told, of deflated aspirations.
And we wonder why students are so stressed out about getting into college… and why they spend so much energy doing so many things—quite often too many things—to try to make themselves more “interesting” to colleges, as if we are panelists on American Idol.
There are a lot of colleges out there—many of which are not household names—that are perfectly good fits for students and which offer admission to more students than they deny or wait-list. The Colleges That Change Lives, of which Lawrence University is a proud member, are a great example of such institutions.
If one of the purposes of this blog is to demystify our college admission process, another is to demythify (pardon the made-up word) college admission.
Myth demythified: It’s not as hard to get into college as you may have been led to believe.
