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HealthyExpatParent’s Podcast
Podcasts that support wellness, parenting and all things involved. Podcasts include topics relevant to general population as well as families in Foreign Service lifestyle.
HealthyExpatParent’s Podcast
FS Kids and College - #1
First in a series of podcasts about Foreign Service Kids and Applying to College. We'll talk about what colleges are looking for, what kids should be looking for, finances, different types of schools, and more.
We welcome comments and questions!
#1 - What are colleges looking for in applications, and how parents can support their FS kids through the process?
A chat with Hannah Engel-Rebitzer, an independent Educational Consultant with Peak College Consulting, about the 6 main things that schools are looking for and how triumph with each one.
To reach Hannah:
Hi everyone. Thank you so much for joining. This is Susie Church Brown, and I am here with a very special guest about a very um interesting and important topic for a number of you, especially if you have teenagers. I am here today with Hannah Engel Rabitzer. Did I say that right? Yeah. Okay. And she is an independent education consultant. She works with a group called Peak College Consulting, and she'll tell you a little bit about her background and her portfolio. And then we're going to dive into a series about applying for universities with Foreign Service kids. So Hannah, tell us about yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, hi. My name's Hannah. My background is as a secondary math teacher. And I've taught as a trailing spouse or EAFM. I've taught in Kosovo and in Malawi. And I have been slowly transitioning in uh from the world of secondary math teaching to the world of independent education consulting. I got my my interests in this field began from the lens of like a college access lens and just first working in DC public schools and then with families living abroad and just seeing huge inequities in the amount of information that families had about colleges. And so I started slowly taking classes and trying to understand a little bit more about the college application process. And now I work with families to try to help their kids find schools that are good academic, social, and financial fits for the both the student and their families, and then guiding them through the application process. I think my major goal is to help kids find their narrative, alleviate the stress of the process, and then really hopefully empower kids through the process.
SPEAKER_01:And so we've successfully we, I say, but I can't take full credit for it. We we have two kids in university now. And it was, I remember with the eldest, just feeling like I don't even know what I don't know. Like I don't even know what to ask. And so what we're hoping for um with this series is that we help um just help you start to understand and think about some of the questions that you can start to consider because full just you need to understand not everybody goes to Yale and not everybody's gonna go to Harvard. And that is 100% okay. And your your child can have an amazing university experience at a huge spectrum of different schools. So um Hannah and her um and her expertise can help us start to like peel back some of the layers on this onion and figure out what it is we want to find out.
SPEAKER_00:I think something I always tell families is there's more than 4,000 universities and colleges in the United States. Then you have Ad Canada, you add Europe, you add Australia, um, maybe some community colleges in there. And it's kind of an infinite number of institutions for uh that are available for students. And so we really don't want to be limited by um, you know, the top 10 schools we can all name.
SPEAKER_01:So we're gonna, as I said, this is a series. And today what we're gonna be talking about is um what it is that um colleges want to see in a student um applying and how you as a parent um can support your kid in this. Um, we will um obviously this is something that kind of weaves into all of the different topics that are that are a part of applying for university. So we'll um touch back on this topic. But what we're gonna look at is the major chunks of things that um college admissions offices are going to be looking at. And um, other than my experience with uh the two applying, my my two own kids applying, um, I do, I think I've gone to way too many of these sorts of webinars. And I did um recently listen to a college admissions trend um webinar as well. So um we have a lot of information to throw at you. So hopefully you grab um a cup of coffee and a pen and a notebook, and we're gonna get started. So let's talk about what are you, what do you, Hannah, see as the um main things that people um should be, students applying should be looking at.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so admissions officer after admissions officer, they all say the number one thing is the rigor of the coursework that a student is choosing to take, and then the grades in those um courses. So the number one thing uh kids should be doing is selecting the most rigorous courses that they're capable of taking that's offered by their school. And so I know that when you're switching high schools every two years, this can be intimidating. And um, the idea is whatever that school offers, you should try to take. Um the school will send out to a university something called a school profile. So if you're at a school that it does not offer APs, that is fine. Universities will get the school profile that tells exactly the coursework that is offered. Um, parents often ask me, like, well, my kids aren't going to get straight A's if they take the most rigorous coursework. And um I have lots of thoughts on that as a former teacher. Um, first of all, uh I think that if you can get a beer better in a course that is more rigorous, a student should try to take that course. Um, but then second, and this is very personal to me, I think that taking a college, I'm I taught AP stats and AP Calic for many years. And I think that um taking a college level course is a lot more than the academics. It's teaching a kid, uh showing a kid what a college level course will look like, feel like, what that work level is like, um, learning how to study, learning how to time manage. Um, you want kids to make those mistakes when they're in high school rather than when they get to college. And one of the things college is looking for that sometimes we can forget as the parent parents and students is they want to make sure that this kid is gonna survive and thrive in their institution. And so it's not just demonstrating that a kid's not just demonstrating that they're willing to take on a challenge, they're demonstrating that they have um that they can survive the rigors um and that they've developed a skill set um to take on an even further challenge when they're in college.
SPEAKER_01:So just to um summarize on that, it's not just GPA.
unknown:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:I mean GPA, GPA is obviously important, but they're looking at the the rigor of the classes, and especially at least according to the webinar that um I was listening to, it's the classes that apply. If if a kid knows, I mean, if you're 18 and you don't know what you want to be when you grow up, that is 100% okay. I just changed my mind and I'm 52. So um what it what they are looking for is if that class applies towards what it is they want to study, that's also a consideration. Even if if it's so for example, um they they decide they want to study um medicine and then they look, obviously, bio is going to be a rigorous class anyway, but that would be something that they would take an extra focus on to because it applies towards what they will be studying at university level.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think it's like important to remember that if your son or daughter wants to pursue nursing, to your point, like they want to see the higher levels in the bio. If your school offers an anatomy class, they want to see that anatomy class being taken. Um, some kids, I've had kids worry, like, oh, well, you know, to the point about GPA, like, oh, well, I get this huge bump if I take this class. So I don't want to take anatomy because it's not an honors class. Colleges, um, the GPA uh that you report on your common app, which is actually optional to report, it literally, you do not have to report your GPA on the common app. And that is because colleges are gonna go through on their own their process of recalculating the GPA, and they're not gonna wait what your high school found important. They're gonna wait what their institution and their institutional priorities find important. And so that is why, like the first number one thing colleges are looking for is that rigor of that coursework and whether it aligns with your program, not necessarily the GPA, or I should say the GPA as the high school calculates it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, excellent. What else are they looking for?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so you wanna so back to like class selection, you want to make sure that your kids, your um kids are taking four years of math, English, history, and foreign language. Um, a lot of schools and even states don't require, it's hard to believe, but four years of some of these subjects, especially foreign language. Um, and so I just to make sure that you don't uh that you're keeping your options open, I always ask kids to take four years of each. There's some exceptions. Some schools only let kids take five classes. And let's say you then this is getting into the nitty-gritty, but you know you want to go to nursing, then maybe you're gonna take two sciences and not French your last year of high school. Um, but it's um that can all be explained in a section called your additional information section. But if you have space, you want to make sure you're taking those four levels of foreign language. The more selective universities are definitely gonna be looking at that. And then if your kid does know what they want to do, so for example, um if they if you know, if you're a California state resident, you know you're gonna go to the California state schools. They have really weird requirements. Like, for example, you have to take, and I want to get this right, um, you have to take a full year of art or visual or performing arts, which is not unusual, except that Cal State schools want to see the same, they want to see the same class um for that full year, or they want to see two that are in the same discipline. So you can't take like theater and then ceramics and count that as your full year of art. So these are the type of nitty-gritty stuff you want to make sure that if your kids have an idea of the system they want to go to, like the state school system they're interested in going to, or what they want to major in, like the big ones, nursing, engineering, business, that you are in tune with what those potential um requirements are. And education.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Definitely.
SPEAKER_01:Teachers, think about this, future teachers.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so what uh as a parent, how can we help our how can we help our students um through this course selection process? Like, I mean, I guess we could ask for transcripts and stuff, but how do we help the kids stay on track?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think the best way is just encourage kids to take the risk of taking harder coursework. And sometimes this is fighting the system. Sometimes an English teacher will say, you know, the kid's not ready for this. And if you think your kid is ready, it's just helping that kid learn to self-advocate. Um I also think that like having the question, um asking questions and helping um kids do that self-reflection about what they would potentially want to do. Um, at Peak, we do we use a platform called View Science to do some of that uh career exploration. I think something to remind kids because it's really stressful when you're 17 and people are asking what you want to be when you grow up, I get stressed out when people ask me that. Um, so one thing I try to remind kids is, and I'm not gonna get the percent right, but the amount of people who actually work within the field that they majored in is very, very low. Um, what we really want to, so we want to be expansive in these conversations. Um, but if you do have a kid who wants to go to engineering school, um, who you know dreams of being pre-vet, these are conversations where it's like, well, what is that gonna look like starting at the high school level? What is that coursework gonna look like?
SPEAKER_01:So I know we're gonna talk about this a little bit later as well, but um one of the things that I kind of connect to how a parent can support here as well is um, you know, I mean, especially for someone going into sciences and then they load up on the science classes and not then able to take French or or another foreign language or whatever, by supporting the extracurricular activities that also um kind of expand on um the the learning repertoire of the of the student. That's another way that parents, and we're gonna talk about extracurricular.
SPEAKER_00:We can jump right to it.
SPEAKER_01:You wanna let's let's hop hop down there then.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so extracurriculars is huge. Um the real the question that you know schools are looking at is what do you want to, what are you doing with your time when you're not doing academics? And this kind of falls into the narrative, you know, what is the student's narrative? What is their story? And then this is something that's not always talked about, but schools are really looking for like, do these kids' values align with the values of our institution? Um and so if you know what you want to do, another like great way to um show that your values and your passions align with the institution is through your extracurriculars. Again, this is especially true with the big ones, right? Computer science, engineering, these more selective programs. Um, some of them won't even look at an application where a kid has not done an extracurricular that aligns with that program. Um, again, this comes back to they don't want, so let's think about nursing. And I have talked to many admissions officers about this. They're not just looking for the kid with the perfect GPA and the perfect SAT scores who says they dream of being a nurse. Because what happens when they step into that nursing setting for the first time? And remember, these institutions don't want to just accept you, they're invested in getting you through that uh four-year degree. And so they need to make sure that you've had experience. What happens the first time to see blood, right? I mean, it sounds so silly, but they want to see that experience. They want to see it if you're an engine going applying to engineering school as well. Um, and so that means getting those internships, um you know, doing volunteer work, whatever it may be, to show true experience in the um, show that you've truly been exposed to the field, not just that your academics are stellar. Um, I think the values discussion is really important, and that's something you can look at on school's websites. But like an example is um Villanova is like a very um service-oriented university, and they're really looking for kids that can demonstrate um both in their personal narratives, but also in their extracurriculars, that they're committed to serving their community.
SPEAKER_01:That's one of the things that um really stood out to me in the in the webinar was you know, that the character and the contributions to community. What does this student bring to our school? How will this student um both integrate and um provide positive um impact on school's community? Um and the other thing that they really drew um underscored was the um character attributes, which are another way that you can really um emphasize those or uh display evidence of are through the extracurricular activities.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I always tell kids um we should think of extracurriculars as three buckets. So the first bucket is like soft skills. So those are your like time management skills. What happens when you're put in a challenging situation? And you can demonstrate these through sports, through work. Totally underrated, but having a summer job, and I know that's hard for a foreign foreign service kid, but if you go home, you know, like we we go home to my in-law's home in Tennessee, right? Are my kids working at the local supermarket and not just hanging out at the pool? Um, you can, there's lots of different ways you can demonstrate those soft skills, but that's a really important part of the extracurricular um narrative. The second thing is intellectual curiosity, and that's like what does your kid love to do? And this is can be as like kooky as, you know, I don't know, ancient Egypt, right? But like what is this kid passionate about or creative writing, poetry, what really like gets them excited? And then the final one is giving back, and that is um depending on the school, that's of differing levels of importance, but most schools really want to see some service um oriented extracurricular on their application. It's also really good for kids to give back to their communities, right?
SPEAKER_01:It's especially um those of us that are overseas, um with you know, an embassy or whatever, and your kid is going to an international school. Many schools do require that that um the CAS, the community service, um, which I love and appreciate and I think my boys do every year, every semester, rather than just the one semester um required, because I think it's a really valuable life lesson for for kids to really just own giving back. We're all very, very fortunate. And so helping those that are somewhat or very much less so is is important. Um anything else on extracurriculars? Should we talk about testing?
SPEAKER_00:Elephant in the corner. Okay, so testing policies really vary. Um COVID has changed a lot. Um there's school, there's four different main buckets of testing requirements schools fall into. So first is test optional, which means a kid can or cannot submit their test scores, they can decide. Um, test blind, meaning even if a kid submits their scores, they're not um they're not going to look at them. Test required are the schools that are now requiring test scores, and then test conditional. So basically, um, like an example is the North Carolina state system. If you have um less than a 2.8 there of a weighted GPA, you're required to submit a test score. If you have higher, you don't need to. Um, the strategizing behind test scores is challenging. Um, I always tell students the if you when you have your test score, send an email to your admissions officer and just ask, would you submit this test score? Um, it doesn't hurt to ask, and it schools have different institutional priorities that we're not always aware of. So there may be a test optional school that even though their median test score is a 1400 and you have a 1350, they want you to submit that 1350 for reasons potentially that aren't totally open to us, and like priorities they have as an institution. Um, when we look at test scores, it can be really overwhelming right now because every year the median SAT scores are increasing. But what we're not seeing when we look at this data is that less and less students are submitting their scores. So only kids that are submitting who do extremely well are submitting the scores. Um, and that can also be extremely discouraging for kids. And I think our role as parents is just to help kids um do their research, reach out to admissions officers, and then just be really strategic about where you send your test scores. Um and then also strategic about, and this is something I've noticed the Foreign Service families are less aware of, but strategic about taking the or which test you're going to take and then how much time you're going to spend studying. Um, you can take so all schools except both the SAT and ACT. Um, if you're from the South, you tend to be more familiar with the ACT, ACT exam. It seems like the schools I work with abroad um tend to offer the SAT test. And kids do perform. There are a group of kids that perform better on the ACTs, and some significantly better. Um, if your kid tends to be able to process and read a little more quickly, the ACT is a more straightforward test, but it's a faster test. The SAT, so from my perspective, the SAT questions can be a little, I don't want to say trickier, but a little more complicated. Um, and the ACT tends to favor kids who are very quick test takers. Um and so having those conversations with your kids, like is this something we're gonna invest our time and potentially money in studying for the SATs or studying for the ACTs is really important for families to do.
SPEAKER_01:Especially at the same time as the workload in courses in your regular high school classes are is ramping up. Totally. It it can be because I think I think a lot of what is being tested isn't necessarily the material that is being offered in the grades at which you are supposed to be taking the tests. And so I think it's and full disclosure, um, neither of my now college um students well, they did take the SAT because I made them, um, but they they didn't submit their scores. And I also just our kids went to um IB schools, so I made them take the the tests because they don't know what a multiple choice exam is, and that is something that um is not generally a form of testing at all, even approached in an IB school, which I love. But then when um they go to university and all of their freshmen and sophomore classes give exams that are multiple choice, then they're at a disadvantage. So that's why I made them. I was not the favorite mom at the moment.
SPEAKER_00:I think that the I testing is extremely nerve-wracking for kids. And um I love the word strategic around it because the every kid and every university should have a different strategy. And we instead of framing it as like, this is a measure of your intelligence, which no parent would ever do, but which is how a kid feels. Rather, it's like, let's just see how you do and see what our plan is. Um, whether that means, you know, you're gonna take the ACT and I'm gonna set it up in the library so you can study on weekends, or it's like, you know what, for the schools you want to apply to, this isn't this is not on our worry list. Let's focus on um like our ID or AP coursework.
SPEAKER_01:So actually, um just an admin question. Now SAT is available in person and online.
SPEAKER_00:But you have to be at a testing center.
SPEAKER_01:Online? I thought it was like you could do it in your home. But this is a detail that I'm not 100% sure of. But I don't know that ACT is offered more than once a year overseas. But that is not that is not something I know for sure. Do you know this?
SPEAKER_00:So you I'm pretty sure in Saudi Arabia it's offered. Oh, I'm sure here yeah. And I know that when I was in Kosovo, I had kids driving across international borders to take the ACT. So I don't want to speak. I I I think this is where like parents can really support um their kids because it may involve going to another country.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and this is you you definitely have to do your homework and front ahead for these for these exams. Um, and the other thing that is worth note uh noting is that these um exams and these scores are not necessarily at all relevant for other countries' schools.
SPEAKER_00:100%. This is a US standard. Yeah, we probably should have said this from the get-go. I think um later on I'll do uh something on European and Canadian schools, but for this is mostly from the perspective of applying to American schools. In fact, like if you're applying to the UK, we're looking at a very the schools are looking at a very different set um of criteria.
SPEAKER_01:So let's move on to um another thing that they are looking at um with the college application, and that is the um letter, letters of recommendation.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So letters of recommendation, um, particularly smaller schools are going to look very closely at letters of recommendation. Um, wearing my teacher hat rather than my college counselor hat. Um I was asked each year for more than 20 recommendations. And even when I was well-intentioned, they started to blur together. And so something I really, really recommend all my students do is that they identify a couple characteristics that they would like highlighted in their letter of recommendation, and then they identify times when they demonstrated that characteristic. And so lots of schools have kids do brag sheets, lots of schools ask kids to send resumes. The problem with that is a teacher, if a teacher regurgitates the resume, the resume is already probably in the application and it's not really adding anything. And I have been guilty of this. What you really want is to add something, what as a what students want is that their teacher adds specifics that won't be elsewhere in the application. And so, for example, if your kid wants to highlight maybe such a math, but like their problem-solving resilience, right? Their ability to persevere when there are challenging math problems. So, one way they could, if that they could say, this is what I want highlighted in my letters of rec. And I recommend two or three characteristics. I like you to um highlight how I persevered through challenging problems and then give a specific example. Like, remember when I failed my unit two, unit four probability test, and I came and did test corrections every single day. And even though you wouldn't let me retake it, I was determined to understand the problems. Um maybe it's their ability to work in groups. So, you know, no matter, you know, in a class with lots of different abilities, whoever you place me with, I was willing to work with them. So very, very specific examples of the character traits you want demonstrated. Um always write a thank you note. It's a ton of work to write letters of rec. And I think it goes a really long way. The writing a thank you note doesn't benefit your student, but it benefits all the students that come after and ask for a letter of wreck. Um, one thing is that many colleges accept outside letters of recommendation. And um, when I take on kids last minute, this is one of those um big surprises because a lot of high schools don't talk about this. Um, but you can even get a letter of rec from a neighbor, um, you can get a letter of rec from a coach, uh, a religious group leader. And these can really, really um give colleges a totally different um or just totally different insights into who your kids are. And I think they make for really, really strong recommendations. But you want to be asking for those in advance and so start talking with your kids, like who could be an interesting recommender that's not necessarily your teacher that could share something about you. Um and then you want to make sure you're showing um the institution different sides of um the student is showing an institution different sides of their personality. So if you're passionate about foreign languages, like having the French and the Italian teacher write your letter of rec, I think those will be pretty redundant. So I really encourage kids to try to do one rec from the humanities, one from the math and science. Um, trying to focus on 11th and 12th grade, what you were like as a 14 or 15-year-old ninth grader doesn't tell colleges a whole lot. And then also those higher level courses, I find that those often have the most interesting letters of rec because it does show like persevering through a challenge. Um asking for letters of rec early is really important. Some schools limit how many teachers are allowed to write, and some teachers just say no once they get to a certain number. Um, and the quality definitely diminishes the more as teachers write more and more letters of rec over the course of the year. So this is something that I would definitely be having that conversation for your kids in 11th grade, having that conversation now and starting to approach teachers in April of 2026 for the 11th graders.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I think it's just a kind gesture to the workload that teachers already have to be able to help them manage the um the the right the letter writing load as well. Um and I also, according to um the webinar that um I I heard, there was um there's a lot of emphasis placed on the letter of recommendation from the counselor as well. And so and and and Hannah and I were talking and she said rightly so, like this this would definitely benefit the kids that are at a smaller school because they will um get to know their counselor in a much more personal way. But also, um, you know, maybe encouraging your kids to interact in a positive and effective manner with a counselor would be um a good recommendation because then that recommendation letter from that counselor will be more meaningful and actually include some of the character attributes that um schools are looking for. Any last thoughts on letters of recommendation?
SPEAKER_00:No, other than that it's something easy to like save to the end because it's a pain and uh and also you don't have to do much besides ask, but just I think it's a time to be really thoughtful and it it especially with the smaller schools, some of the larger schools they're either they're they've some don't even require letters or bracket and they have four minutes to. Through the application, they may not be looking so closely, but we we know these smaller institutions really, really um take into consideration the letters of recommendation.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, now um the number one tool in my mind for how your kid is gonna help really stand out, and that is the essay.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, okay, so this is for the American system. The UK systems essay is a totally different um, yes, it's very different. Um, for the American system. So the first thing I and through P College Consulting, we have a long, we have a workshop that we do with kids to help them develop their essay topic. But if you're the parent working with your kids, I the first question I would ask is what do you want the school to know about you that isn't already in your application? Um, and so if it's, you know, being an all-American athlete, like the school knows that, right? It's all over your application. It's in the award section, it's in the extracurricular, it's in the activity section, and it's probably in your letters of rec. Um, but what's something that's not in there? Um, I think a lot of kids get overwhelmed because they think like, my life is normal, nothing crazy's happened, I don't have a tragic story. Every admissions officer I talk to say the most powerful essays are not the ones that tell a crazy story, because a crazy or a tragic story doesn't really give a lot of insights into the actual applicant. Um, and so you want to just keep remembering, and this is so unnatural for kids to write this way, but we are you're right, the student is writing about themselves. And so that is just a very unnatural way of writing and very hard, particularly for teenagers, for that level of reflection. Um, I always say to kids, like, this is a style of writing that you're never asked to do in high school and you're never asked to do in college. And so the fact that they do it for 650 words to determine whether they get into university is a little bit strange. Um, and so if it feels weird and funky and unnatural, it is. It is, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But also like it's it it's the the students' opportunity to really just shine. And it's not about bragging, it's not about um I mean when I think about the the essays that my my boys wrote, neither one were about like great accomplishments or um anything like well they were memorable, but it it's just the things that kind of glued them together and helped to feed their personalities. And it was just, you know, when uh reading the essays I knew different character aspects of these kids. I mean, I knew them already because they were my own boys, but nonetheless, like in if I were a stranger, a perfect stranger reading that essay, I would be like, oh, okay, that's really interesting about this boy, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Um, and I think it's, I mean, 650 words, you can do a lot with that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I think a lot of um at international schools, a lot of guidance counselors say, don't just write about changing school every two years, or don't just write about going to high school abroad. And I do think that that is good advice, but that can sometimes scare kids. It's not that you shouldn't write about that, it's that pick a very, very, very specific thing. Um, you know, I just was working with a girl who her intro to her essay was that she had a Philippine, you know, she was um American, but had a Filipino accent until she went to kindergarten, right? Um, pick something very specific about the experience that is unique to you, that if you're at your international school, the person to your right and the person to your left is not going to have that same experience. And that could be an a growth experience. Um, I mean, that's the best, is if you can show growth, but um you know, a time when you've been disappointed, um, having the kid think about something that's very, very personal. And then um the biggest, the hardest things for kids to do when they write their essay is they want to tell a story. And that's we want to show the story. We want to write a personal narrative that is demonstrating a character trait, not telling the story. And so you want to actually, when they're the actual writing style, and this is a little bit hard to explain without actual examples, but you want to put them in the center of their writing. Um rather than telling about what happened, they can do this by um using imagery or by using narrative, but really pushing your kids just over and over and over. How can you show that you persevered, not say, I persevered when my parents made me go to four high schools in four years? That is very, very challenging to do.
SPEAKER_01:It's also not just one essay that they get to write. It's multiple opportunities to share their voice. Um, so what can you tell us about all of these writing opportunities kids are gonna have?
SPEAKER_00:So the supplementals, by the time, especially kids who are applying to a lot of schools, get the supplementals, they're like, oh no, they're always like, who's gonna actually read this? Time like, no, no, no. Like if a school is asking for a supplemental, it's because they are using it to help them make a decision. They don't want to read 10,000. Why are you majoring in this essay? And so actually, for many schools, the supplementals may be even more important than the personal narrative. So now is not the time to slow down, right? When you get to the supplementals, focus. So the three most common supplementals, why this major, why this college? And then there's kind of different variations on the diversity questions, like what um, what about your experiences will contribute to the diversity of our campus, um, or you know, talk about a time you've interacted with someone who's different than you. Um unfortunately, these types of questions are less common right now, but they're still, I would say these are the diversity questions less common. Um, but all three of these are the three most common. And the good news you can tell your kids is once you've written the why this major essay, you can use it for more than one university if you tweak it a little bit. Um tweak it a little bit. But then there's also some wacky um supplementals like USC asking about your favorite snack or what TV show you'll binge next, or Barnard that asks you to write a longer essay say about a conversation with a woman whose views were different than your own. Um, and so for some of these schools, it's a it's a real commitment um to complete those supplementals. And again, we want to think about the same, um, think about supplementals the same way. We think about personal narrative. This is a time to show something about yourself that may not be in other parts of the application. Um, this is a time to show, not tell. I'm really brave. No, show me how you are brave. Um, and then lastly, it's also a time to show that you've done your research. Um, with the common app, kids can just apply to a lot of different schools. And the supplementals are a time when they really schools really want to see. It's the only time you're writing directly to that school because a personal narrative is going to every school. You're writing directly to that school. You've read that vision and mission of the school, and you're showing how you align um with that uh with the values of the school. And so it's a really valuable time um to demonstrate that you're really serious about attending that institution.
SPEAKER_01:And a lot of um universities will publish their um possible supplemental essay topics or questions, um, like usually spring, right?
SPEAKER_00:Like later in the spring. They're formalized when the common app comes out. But yeah, and you can see past, you can get a good sense online to see past supplementals.
SPEAKER_01:That helps your kid um maybe start preparing their thoughts, kind of organizing what they might want to write about as they start thinking about where they want to apply.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Okay, so the last section is the additional information section, um, which is an additional section where you can basically write about anything you missed in the applications. Kids tend to skip over um this section. If you're working with me, nothing is optional. And so you will be writing something there. Um, for foreign service kids, this is extremely important. You want to talk about exactly the moves that you've made if they're unusual grading systems, if you have unusual coursework, right? I attended school in this country. They required I take this class, thus, I couldn't continue with my German studies or um, you know, switching between different IV programs, different coursework may be offered. Um, you want to talk about extenuating situations with the family, right? Dad was on a tour in Iraq, and so I was, you know, in Virginia with my parents and or you know, with one uh parent, and these were the stresses that were on my family. All of that, it's a really good time to explain um situations. You can explain a bad grade, right? You can explain uh moving, um, you know, moving between education systems and struggles you may have had with math that's taught differently. Um, I think it's a really, really crucial uh section for every kid to fill out and to explain anything that they haven't been able to explain. That's really important because that blank can probably just feel like a free pass, otherwise. And I don't know, I assume I'll get my contact info, but I have like 10 questions I ask kids that I can send to anybody who's interested. That um it's just 10 questions that ever I've never I've never had a kid who didn't have at least one thing on there, like, oh, that's a good point. I forgot about health class freshman year and that grade, right? You just want to help it helps brainstorm things that they um they may want to explain on their app application.
SPEAKER_01:We will definitely include her her contact info.
SPEAKER_00:I think, like, sorry, I'm just thinking of all these different additional information things, but like extracurriculars can be really hard when you're international. Families only have one car, you can't be going across town for sporting practices in the same way. You can't get internships in the same way, you can't be employed on the local market in Saudi Arabia, right? And so we're located in Saudi Arabia. So I think that that's another um another thing that's really important to explain an additional information section.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's a really good point. And the other thing that um can inhibit um kids really being mobile, especially overseas, is a lot of foreign service kids don't have driver's licenses. And so they can't get to and from whatever it is. I mean, there's there's often other um transportation options, but just it would definitely impact um how they can um contribute to insert activity here. So yeah, okay, let's talk about um, I think another very challenging part for um the application process, and especially for foreign service kids who are overseas, yeah, that's demonstrated interest.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so students should demonstrate interest at all the schools they're interested in applying to. And this has been a change. Um, but schools are really interested in something called yield. They want to make sure that a kid that they accept is actually gonna attend. And one way they've um that they try to predict whether a kid will actually attend the university is whether that school is or that student has demonstrated interest in attending. So I always tell kids, even if a school doesn't says, because they have to self-report if they're um, or most schools self-report if they take demonstrated interest as a consideration in the application process. But even if a school says they don't, I do think it makes a difference on the margin. So the best way to demonstrate interest is to tour the school, go to an info session, all of that. But even if you're in Boston, Massachusetts, there are basically no families that can go afford to or have the time to send their kids on eight to 12 different college tours across the United States. Just not realistic, and schools know that. Um, and so there's a lot of other ways you can demonstrate interest, particularly post-COVID. There's been a lot more virtual options. Um, I do a lot of virtual tours in my free time. They're super high quality post-COVID. Um, there's virtual tours, there's virtual info sessions. Syracuse has CUs Connections, 15 minutes with an admissions officer. Um, you can follow them on social media. You should sign up for mailing lists. Many of them track whether you open emails. And so one of my best practices for kids is have them do a college email account and then just open all the emails and delete them. Um, if you're lucky and they you're um the school your kids at hosts college fairs, those are excellent to attend. Introduce yourself to the admissions rep, send them an email after saying how great it was to meet them. This is all really important. Um, and then the last thing I tell all my kids to do who are living internationally is you should reach out directly to the rep. Um, the rep that's listed online will be the person reading your application and just explain, like in our case, we're in Saudi Arabia. I won't get to UMass Boston. I mean, you know, I won't be going to the United States until I go for college. And so I've done the virtual fair, I've done this, I mean, I've done the virtual tour, I've done the info session, and then ask a really specific question that isn't easily available online. Don't ask, do you offer biology 101? Um, but a really specific question that's pertinent to you to show that university that you are actually um serious about attending and seriously interested. And just like from an ethics perspective, at this point it is so easy for kids to apply to tons and tons of colleges. And I work, I work with my kids a lot on thinking about you know, is this a college that I act that the students actually interested in attending? And if you are interested in attending, then demonstrating interest should come very naturally. Because if you're interested in attending, you're gonna have questions. You're gonna want to do the virtual tour. And if you're not, let's take that off the list because you know, we're all part of the problem of these really low acceptance rates. And so um I think it's really, really important that we encourage our kids to do their research. And again, this is like this process can be really fun for kids if if framed in a way that is empowering and exciting for them rather than just a source of stress.
SPEAKER_01:So actually, on that, um you were talking, you just briefly mentioned the acceptance rates, which um I think is like spurring the number of applications that people submit. So the increased applications submitted is is basically like, oh, well, but they're not accepting any anybody. But again, according to this webinar I saw, um acceptance rates for state universities is 73%. That's that's not low. So I think absolutely the more private and more prestigious universities are going to have a much, much, much more selective um admissions process, but they're also getting a lot more applications. And so I feel like um it's not necessarily necessary to um submit, you know, 20 or 30 applications because each, well, I mean, financially speaking, that's a lot of essays and a lot of money for application fees, but also um depending on where those applications are landing, the acceptance rates aren't necessarily that low. So I think this is one of those um what is the word I'm looking for? The the popular myths that uh just keeps growing and growing.
SPEAKER_00:I think what's um there's a very, very, very small percent of the 4,000 schools that are highly selective.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and and most schools are not. And so um again, yes, that is a that is a myth. Um and I think we'll we will at our the next podcast when we talk about what students should look for in schools, the dance of like, you know, colleges, it's kind of like dating, right? Like the colleges are looking for schools for kids that would be a good fit, and kids are looking for schools that would be a good fit. Um, but we'll talk a little bit more about like the rankings and selectivity and all of that, because some of that there is some artificial, just because a uh a kid a school becomes quote unquote more selective, um, like their their admissions rates drop dramatically, the quality of candidates may not have changed at all. Um, the quality of kids who get accepted may not have changed at all. Um, and so there's it's kind of it's it's tough to read behind the data. Um and there's lots of nuance to it. Um, but a low acceptance rate, first of all, doesn't necessarily say anything about the quality of the academics, but it also doesn't necessarily mean that the uh the SAT score, higher SAT scores and higher GPAs are needed to be admitted.
SPEAKER_01:All valid, valid points. Um, so this time we talked about um what it is uh colleges are looking for in their applicant in their applicants and how parents can support their their kiddos through this process. Um we talked about rigor and grades, we talked about um extracurricular activities, we talked about the beast that is standardized testing, we talked about letters of recommendation, essays, and demonstrated interests. Um, so tune in for our next podcast where we talk a little a bit more, we look a little a bit more from the flip side on what um kids should be looking for, could be looking for in schools, and how parents can support them. Any last thoughts, Hannah?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think that so I work with parents, families pay me to work with kids through their um college application process. Um, but I do have resources that I can share with parents if they if you have specific questions, for example, like coming up with an essay topic or um even as things as like, what questions can I ask that show that I'm interested, but that aren't dumb, right? Like I have a long list of those. So if there's a you shouldn't use the word dumb, but aren't silly questions. Um, so if there's any way, we're in this together in this foreign service family world. So if there's any ways I can be helpful um with specific questions about specific universities or on the application process, how's my contact show?
SPEAKER_01:We're we'll um link um Hannah's um contact info in the show notes, and so you'll be able to find um an easy way to get in touch with her there. And uh we look forward to our next recording soon, and we'll share it here. Thank you so much for listening.