I just returned from back-to-back trips; one to the NACAC conference in Seattle where I re-connected with colleagues and discussed current admission issues. And the other to St. Paul, Minnesota where I cheered my husband on as he ran the Twin Cities Marathon. It was fascinating and inspiring to see wheel-chair athletes, runners with other handicaps and athletes of all ages and abilities (including USA women’s 10 mile champion Kara Goucher) on the same course with the same determination and similar expressions of triumph on their faces.
As I stood watching a whole variety of competitors come down the final stretch to the finish line on that rain-soaked, blustery morning, it struck me that the college admission process is somewhat like a marathon. You must prepare carefully and well in advance of the race, it is competitive and the stakes are high, and in the end, there are many ways to reach the finish.
While I was at the NACAC conference admission professionals re-confirmed students’ right to have until May 1 to accept an offer of admission, financial aid or scholarship. We heard a report from William R. Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions at Harvard which pointed out current misuse of standardized test scores and encouraged the appropriate secondary role of SAT/ACT scores in the admission decision. And I came back re-dedicated to helping students move along the path which will allow them to reach their full potential.
Mid-October of the senior year is the half-way mark in the marathon of college admission. Students are trying to remain focused on school work while managing the application process and participating in a rite of passage which moves them from their family’s support structure and allows them to become full-fledged adults. Parents are trying not to play too large a role in this process while still encouraging their daughter or son. College counselors are barely keeping their heads above water as they manage the paper (or increasingly, the electronic) process of recommending students to college, and admission officers are off in so many different directions that they can barely tell which city they’re in at any given moment.
Regardless, it all seems to work, and like the marathon I watched, everyone finds their own way to cross the finish line. Let’s remember to help one another out while we’re on the road. If we do, it will make the race that much easier for all of us.
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