Cree Bautista! Congratulations, you're on CEO blog! Weird, right?

This new article in the New York Times’ Education section talks about unlikely hero to college applicants everywhere, Cree Bautista. Mr. Bautista saw fit to apply to NYU just a few hours after the Common App went live at the beginning of this month, and in so doing became the first applicant of the year through the site.

Cree’s eagerness, though exceptional in degree, isn’t uncommon in practice. The Common App’s directors have already started talking about the speed of this year’s applicant pool, and the sheer number of applications students are managing. From the Times’ article:

“Rob Killion, executive director of the Common Application, said he was particularly unnerved by the flood of early submissions through the organization’s website because he feared that students were rushing their essays. (This year’s Common Application was actually posted several weeks later than last year’s — not as a prod to get applicants to file later, but instead to allow high schools extra time to send final documents before the new year begins.)”

Remember, your top choice is not your only choice! There are many applications to be managed, and sites like CEO are here to get that work out in front of you and help you keep it under control from the get-go. While we can’t all be like Cree, we can all save ourselves from those last-minute crushes of papers and apps.

Guest blogger Maureen Tillman's got some tips to keep you from being taken to task.

Our post today comes from Maureen Tillman, L.C.S.W. She is the organizer and curator of The New York Times’ Local College Corner, and is also the creator of College with Confidence, a comprehensive psychotherapy service that supports parents and young adults through the college experience. She has offices in Maplewood Village and Morristown, New Jersey and also provides educational seminars, training, phone and skype consultations.

For high school seniors making the transition to college, this is the time to get real. It is crucial for these new graduates to be aware of the common stumbling blocks that many college freshmen encounter, and learn what they can do to help themselves have a successful transition from high school to college.

For many, this is the first time they will be leaving the nest, and it is now time to deal with the issues that will arrive when they are living on their own.

In my work I have talked with many college students on this first-year transition. Common pitfalls emerged from our discussions, some of which can have serious consequences. For example:

* Many students with learning and medical disabilities, ADD or ADHD have had support while growing up (including the monitoring of medication) from parents, tutors, schools and counselors — all significant factors in their academic success. But many students who decide to try college without this support find that this decision leads to a ticket home.

* Drinking and partying when homesick or down can spiral into deeper depression and academic failure.

* Freshmen tend to frequently text, call and use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family back home. Too much of this can take away from meeting new people and feeling connected.

It is helpful if students look ahead and learn all they can about the college terrain before they leave.

Here are three suggestions to help students in their transition:

1. Talk to a variety of college students who have recently finished their freshman year. Ask them about their challenges and how they navigated them. What myths were shattered? And what do they wish they had known previously which would have allowed for them to have been more prepared?

2. Be realistic. You can do this by taking responsibility for yourself before you leave and take on tasks that your parents may have assisted in, like becoming literate in finances, making your own daily decisions and managing stress. Use the summer months to practice self-advocacy and assertiveness in challenging situations that may come your way.

3. Read the student handbook, “The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into in College,” by Harlan Cohen.

Freshman year at college offers a window of opportunity for students to reach out, join activities and make new friends. Yet many high school students cling to myths that could affect their ability to fully enjoy this time of their lives. When you hold those conversations with rising college sophomores you may know, don’t be afraid to raise some of your assumptions about college life; you might be surprised by their response.

Workin' like a DOG up at CEO. Oh wait.

Somehow, some way, we keep coming up with new stuff to put on CEO every single day.

The 2011 application season is already upon us, and a number of schools have already begun posting their applications for the 2010-2011 application season. And we here at CEO are hard at work to make sure we have our information up to date, right up to the minute.

At least 25 new schools are joining the Common App this year, and in doing so, most will be altering their expectations of applicants considerably. So if you’ve spent the last year looking at one of these schools, make sure to work with CEO to find out how having these schools throw you for a loop might actually work in your favor. As things change out there, CEO will update and automatically show you how work you’re doing for other schools can be repurposed for the new ones.

Enjoy, it’s going to be a good year.

Like Heinz Vinegar, the Common App will now be more powerful than you ever could have imagined.

The Common App will add at least twenty-five schools this coming year, enticing students to apply to even more schools than they might have in years past. As we’ve said before, there’s very little downside to applying to a large number of schools, and whatever hangups you might have (cost, inconvenience) should be outweighed by the long-term benefits of landing a spot at a reach school (successful friends, higher income potential).

So there are more schools on the Common App. Problem solved, right? Not quite. One of the big misconceptions about the Common App is that adding schools to your list is a click-and-you’re-done situation if they’re all on the Common App. But the large majority of these 25 new schools will ask for supplemental essays, so having these schools on your list might mean fewer applications, but won’t necessarily cut down the number of essays you’re required to write. That’s where CEO comes in. We can streamline that process instantly, automatically, and inexpensively.

What’s more, starting next week and going throughout the fall, CEO will be updating its database of essay requirements to keep them as current as possible. And with our new email notification system, we’ll be able to alert you as soon as the requirements are made available so you can start early and save yourself the stress.

The new additions to the Common App might mean fewer applications, but with CEO, it’ll mean fewer apps and fewer essays. If you’re a rising senior, check out the discounts we have available. They won’t be there after July first!

I mean, it’s right there. Copy. Paste. Done. Why not? It’s a time saver. And the colleges aren’t doing you any favors there by making their applications so similar, yet not identical. Why not take just a little help from your friends?

It’s an ethical issue everyone wrestles with, especially when doing work you’re not necessarily pouring your heart and soul into. But where CEO comes to the rescue is in the focus and ethical re-application of the work you’ve already done for your other apps. It cuts down on the work you need to do, making the apps especially easy for those sure-bet and safety schools you have on your list. For sure, by the time you get to those apps, you’ve outlined your grand life plan in five hundred words or less enough times. No need to do it again, right? Right.

Now thank CEO instead of the command-v.

...Maybe don't apply early here.

A brief article posted last week by the New York Times’ Education desk confirms that applications to elite American universities rose again this year despite economic hardship. But as always, the number of available spots isn’t budging, so the selectivity of those schools continue to increase, and the need for applicants to diversify their applications increases.

Though it might seem dire, there are a number of pieces of good news to take from this. Selectivity increasing at the top means that those schools are stronger than ever. It also means that schools that used to be considered good (or at the very least, good enough) are also improving. Better and better students will find themselves at lower-tier schools, thus raising the quality of the student bodies there.

And what really makes this whole thing not as bad as it seems is that the tools at your disposal have never made applying to school easier or more efficient. Though you’ll definitely need to apply to a broader selection of schools to increase the chances you’ll be somewhere that satisfies you, tools like CEO can make that task a much more manageable one, often times requiring no additional work from you.

Even the best get a little... hold on... wait... uh, busy.

Our friends at the New York Times has published an article on a recent study showing that most people who graduated from high school in the last dozen years thought their guidance counselor was unable to provide useful advice on their college decision, with a large percentage feeling that the help offered was impersonal.

Also cited in the article was the sobering statistic that the American School Counselor Association considers a student:counselor ratio of 100 to 1 as ‘optimal,’ but that the average nationwide is 265:1, with schools in California shooting up over 1,000:1.

We should read this as evidence that the people tasked with providing the kind of organization and optimization that today’s college application process requires are understandably overwhelmed by the task much of the time. And who can blame them? Much of a guidance counselor’s time is eaten up with in-school requirements, scheduling conflicts, and even disciplinary issues that have nothing to do with helping to plan college experiences for their students.

So for students, try to make your time with your counselor count – and know that they aren’t necessarily going to have the resources to organize your work for you, nor are they necessarily going to be able to plan your meetings in advance in a way that will optimize the experience for both of you.

Make sure that the preliminary, basic work of organization and management of your tasks is taken care of automatically, and try your best to mine your guidance counselor’s considerable knowledge of university specifics and different opportunities, rather than just focusing on “what you have to do to get these applications done.” You’ll be much better served the sooner you can get to the upper-level discussions your guidance counselor is qualified to have with you. And he or she will be a lot happier, more grateful, and eager to do so.

For guidance counselors, remember that there are tools out there that may seem cost-prohibitve at first, but ultimately save your school money through greater efficiency. Using CEO as a management tool, for example, makes your job easier, cuts anxiety for all involved, and helps you keep on top of where your students’ applications stand without a single piece of paper to keep track of.

The Rushmore Beekeepers. I'm a member, but also its founder.

The New York Times’ lovely blog, The Choice, has recently done a couple of posts that don’t seem to be intentionally linked but have an interesting relationship regarding an important question many have asked about their college essays. What’s worth writing about when it comes to extra-curricular activities? Is it worth it to spend your time discussing something that’s already on your resume? And is it a no-brainer to write about the most remarkable one on the list? Should we always write about the thing we’ve stretched furthest and hardest to do?

Extra-curriculars are the worst victim of resume padding there is. They tend to be easy to add (or even make up), and every school has several that require little or no work most of the time. But we generally know even before we’re asked which ones are important to us. We know which ones were added because we love them – the ones we’d be happy to do without even being credited for it – and those that were asked just to look good on paper.

What you’re perhaps less likely to believe is that the person reading your essay can tell, too. Even if he or she hasn’t met you. And it’s not because the activity is rare or sounds fake, but that a lack of passion will almost invariably be revealed in an essay.

What’s most important when choosing what to write about is not whether it seems the most exceptional, or seems like it took the most amount or work, or even the one that needs the most explaining. It’s the one you can write about in an excited, engaging, and specific way. When you find these topics, you’re golden, because you will be able to articulate what it is that fills you with that excitement, and only then will the reader understand what makes you, you.

From high above we see... Crazy things afoot.

The recent problems with the University of Chicago’s admissions department highlight a number of things we should all be aware of regarding the process. First and foremost, it is not a science. There are any number of reasons that can keep you from an acceptance letter, many of which are completely out of your control. Elements such as where you grew up, past histories of applicants similar to you, even the number of kids from your high school applying to the same university can weigh heavily on an admissions officer’s decision if spaces are highly competitive.

But more importantly, recognize that the sample essay the dean of UChicago saw fit to send out was an example of something novel. It gave him a bit of a shock in its approach and its form. It was not the kind of five-paragraph thesis essay the school has seen a thousand times. The writer had an idea and committed to it, and that commitment allowed him to stand out in a spectacular way (perhaps more than he would have liked, in this case!)

You should also notice that it is not the best piece of writing known to man. It is not a work that would make Fitzgerald blush with its superior insight into the human condition. But it is clear. Very clear. It has purpose and intent, and above all, it tells us something about the person reading it that the application cannot. That, above all, should be your goal in developing your application essays.

The proud, the beautiful, the oddly explicit. The University of Chicago.

As reported by The New York Times, the dean of admissions at the University of Chicago was so smitten with an essay comparing the University to an elusive lover that he thought it would be a good idea to send it out to all of UChicago’s prospective applicants. All of them. As you might imagine, this did a lot more harm than good as hundreds of already-stressed applicants found out that the essay was nothing like theirs, or at all similar to what they had planned, and immediately assumed they had done something wrong. Many began to wonder if they should toss all their hard work and start new essays altogether.

It’s human nature to read something you’ve been told is successful and want to emulate it, but don’t read this sample essay – though the applicant has been accepted – as a model of what to do. Instead, think about what the essay dares to say about its author and take that as inspiration to be free and forceful in your writing.

The college essay ought to be a personal, expressive piece of work, not a regurgitation of the five-paragraph model you’ve been taught in high school. Look at the sample essay Chicago has released and think of it not as a model but as an invitation to be bold in your writing – to commit to a style and execute it the best way you know how, rather than mimicking something or writing the way you think you’re supposed to. This a prime example of how to stand out from what is an increasingly large pile of applications at the nation’s top schools.