How to Gain Ground on Your College Application -- and Get Happy On the Way There

Today's column is from John Carpenter, author of  Going Geek: What Every Smart Kid (and Every Smart Parent) Should Know About College Admissions.  John will be joining us this year to contribute a series of monthly columns covering all things college admission. His first post is on Perspective. The dictionary defines perspective as “a way of regarding situations, facts, etc., and judging their relative importance” – adopting such an attitude will come in handy for all students and their families as they start out on the college admission journey. Read on to learn more about how to gain ground on your application process and face the road ahead with an eye toward getting -- and staying -- happy.

It’s official. Your last year of high school has arrived.  Right here, and right now.  And let’s face it, that’s pretty awesome. Your final year is a big deal for all the obvious reasons, and of course, you want it to be the best year yet--and it can be. 

About now, everyone from your mom to your counselor to your next door neighbor is probably giving  you tons of advice about things you should do in order to have a good year: things like get organized, start working on your college applications early, get the best grades you can, and so on.  All very good ideas, by the way. 

In fact, those are such good ideas that at the end of this blog entry, I’m going to give you my own list of things to be sure you’ve got nailed, but first -- FIRST -- I want you to think a little beyond all those important details.

There’s a great video on You Tube that I like called “Where the Hell is Matt?”   (OK, your grandma may not like the title; I’m not crazy about it either, but the concept is fantastic.)  There are two videos actually--one from 2008 and one from 2013.  Find both of them.  I routinely show one of these videos to kids when we’re talking about college admissions and planning for the future, even though they have nothing to do with applying to college.

The reason I show the video is because it makes me happy. What’s important during this last year of high school is to identify the things that make YOU happy.  List them.  Identify your values.  Be aware of the things you enjoy, the things you care about, and the things you want to include in the rest of your life.  And then let that guide you through the college admission process.  Choose your colleges based on the values you have, what’s important in your life, and what gives you satisfaction.  If you can keep those specific things in mind throughout this year, the college part will make more sense.  You’ll have a real reason for all that you do. 

Getting into a particular college or university is not a life goal.  It’s a way to achieve a life goal, and one of your goals should be to find a way to do whatever it is that you love.  I had dinner last week with a former student who was always a bit geeky and loved everything in the world related to outer space.  He was a character from The Big Bang Theory before the show even existed and he identified one of his values as loving outer space.  Now he has a Ph.D. and works as an independent researcher in sunny California analyzing data retrieved from Mars.  He loves his life; he followed what he wanted to do.  He used getting into college as a way to achieve having the life that he wanted.  You can do that, too.

OK, here’s my list of things to be sure you’ve got under control this first month of being back at school:

1. Do you have the SAT or ACT scores that you need?  Now is the time to register for more tests if you need them.
2. Have you identified which teachers will write your recommendations?  Get on that. Have real conversations with them.
3. Do you need any additional tests?  Subject Tests, TOEFL, updated diagnoses for learning differences?
4. Have you started the Common App and/or any other applications you will need to submit?  Just take a look for now; no reason to finish everything until later, but definitely create an application account  now.
5. Have you scheduled a meeting with your high school counselor to talk about where you are in your thinking, what questions you have, and which schools you might apply to?

If you can answer YES to these five questions in August or September, you’re ahead of the game.  But don’t lose sight of the real reason you’re applying to college:  you are on a bigger journey to create the life that you want to have, a life where it’s easy to find and do the things that make you happy. 

Now go find out “Where The Hell is Matt?”

John Carpenter is Director of Admissions and University Counseling at UWC Costa Rica. He also works as an independent college counselor and is the author of Going Geek: What Every Smart Kid (and Every Smart Parent) Should Know About College Admissions. You can find John's blog at askjohnaboutcollege.com.