Awhile back I found myself in a gloriously gold rented Impala on the Mass Pike, west of Springfield, headed toward the New York state line. It was just one of those days: fake blue sky, fiery leaves, twinkling sun, me pretending I can sing like Bob Dylan – the whole nine.
It also happened to be the last day of October, quota-filling frenzy day for state cops. Western mass’s unpredictable downhills and traffic-free highways were making it difficult for me to sustain my careful 72 in the 65 mph zone, and I slowly became frustrated by the attention my speed maintenance was requiring. After all, it was taking away from all the foliage-viewing and loud-singing I had on my schedule.
To remedy the situation, I considered, for maybe the first time in my life, setting the cruise control.
I scrapped the idea about five seconds later.
My thinking was this: My hands are on my wheel, I am driving this car. This is my experience, not the Impala’s.
This decidedly lame analogy is leading up to one anti-climactic piece of advice: As you go through the college search-and-destroy process, make sure to keep your hands on the wheel. By this I mean two things:
- Try not to place too much importance on other people’s opinions.
- Work on trusting your own beautiful instincts.
Many of you are blessed with guide book –toting parents, schlepping you from college tour to college tour, quite certain that their idea of your perfect collegiate experience precisely reflects your idea of the perfect collegiate experience.
And don’t get me wrong, your parents/guardians are great (the Holy Cross Admissions team LOVES parents). Your parents are so great that many of them are financing much of your postsecondary education. They’ve also souped you up with great features; and made sure you’ve passed all your inspections. But they’re not the ones driving.
Consider them your GPS navigation system, attempting to steer you in the right direction. But (as many of us have learned the hard way) the GPS is not always right. Sometimes, it’ll direct you into a lake. That’s when your instincts can be rather beneficial. When your hands are on the wheel, you are the song that’s playing, you are the one that follows the sign to the farm stand. You are the cloud watcher, the photographer, the ice cream seeker. Your parents might tell you how to get to the ice cream shop, but you order cookies n’ cream because your taste buds told you it’s delicious.
So keep your hands on the wheel. Pay attention to your gut when you take that campus tour. Ignore the gossip. Ignore the hype. Hone in on your pitter-patter. If a school feels right to you, it probably feels right for a reason.
Julia Sanders
Admissions Counselor
It’s Wednesday.but not just any Wednesday. It’s the day before Thanksgiving. I was reminded of this (as if I could really forget) as I drove into the College’s near empty parking lot this morning. The student exodus began mid-morning on Monday and continued throughout the day yesterday. The campus is now peaceful and quiet with little observable activity.except for the Admissions Office. The staff is here in full force, conducting interviews, processing applications, answering phone calls and reviewing candidates for Early Decision. Our Thanksgiving break will begin later this afternoon, hopefully before the traffic build up begins.
Think back to when you began your college search. How did you decide which schools to consider? Likely you cracked open one of the many college books at your disposal, and your list began to form based on your pre-determined criteria. Statistics likely built your initial list. This was a good start, but only a start.
If you were to look at the percentage of underrepresented students at Holy Cross and then compare it to other colleges’ numbers, you’re not going to find much of a difference. But just like you can’t judge a book by its cover, you also can’t gauge a college’s multicultural atmosphere by percentages alone. That only gives you one part of the bigger picture. After this past Perspectives Multicultural Overnight Program, which is under my umbrella of office responsibilities, I have been thinking a lot about diversity and multiculturalism, especially as it pertains to Holy Cross. After having attended another wonderful liberal arts institution and worked at a different one in admissions prior to my current gig, I have the luxury of observing the multicultural atmosphere at two other liberal arts colleges. What in my mind is unique about Holy Cross is the support systems that are in place to one support students who don’t feel represented by the majority and two to increase awareness of other cultures and identities on campus.
So it’s one thing for us to proclaim to be standardized test optional but then comes the inevitable question – how do we know whether or not a student wants their standardized test scores used?
Hi everyone! After 17 flights, 4 buses, 2 boats, many a rental car, taxis and trains, I’m finally wrapping up the 2007 fall travel season and coming home! Its been a wonderful fall, and all of the travel has been very interesting; I feel blessed to have met so many dynamic and intellectual students along the way! From Flekke, Norway, to Tucson, Arizona, its all been very exciting.
This time of year is very popular for campus visits. Here at HC in New England, the fall months mean leaves are falling, the mornings are cool and crisp, and high school students and parents are getting a workout on the stairs while walking around our campus. While I encourage any and every visit to campus for students, if you find the days growing shorter and your free time decreasing one great way to get the most out of a campus visit is by going to the Open House.
While driving back from Buffalo last week, I reflected on how much I liked Buffalo. That got me to thinking . . .
Lately, my inbox has been filling up with e-mails from students wanting to know, “what else can I do to help my chances of being admitted?” But before getting to this question, many of these electronic notes begin with a inventory of all the things the student has already checked off their college application to do list: visited the campus, set-up an interview, had an interview, written their essay, edited and re-edited their essay, re-edited the re-edited essay, created a detailed activities resume, met with athletic coaches, spoke with current students, spoke with alums, met with a fortuneteller (just kidding), studying hard and focusing intently on senior year coursework…and so on.