EP 21: Best of Season 1: What To Do As a Highschool Junior to Prepare For College Applications
In this episode, Thomas shares valuable insights and tips for high school juniors as they approach the college admission process.
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In this special "Best of" episode, former MBA admissions director Thomas Caleel shares valuable insights and tips for high school juniors as they approach the college admission process.
The selected clips from Season One cover a range of topics, including the importance of academic performance, how to stand out in extracurricular activities, choosing recommenders, navigating college visits, planning a strategic summer, and the significance of the Common Application opening on August 1. Join Thomas as he draws upon his extensive experience to provide guidance and help students and parents prepare for their educational goals.
Have questions you want answered? Now accepting applications for parents and students to participate in a live 1:1 coaching session with Thomas. Apply HERE
Key Highlights
Clip 1: Importance of Academics in Junior Year: Episode 2
Clip 2: Standing Out in Extracurricular Activities: Episode 2
Clip 3: Choosing Meaningful Extracurricular Activities: Episode 8
Clip 4: Selecting Recommendation Letter Writers: Episode 18
Clip 5: Preparing to Ask for Recommendation Letters: Episode 18
Clip 6: Visiting Colleges and Demonstrating Interest: Episode 18
Clip 7: Planning a Summer with College Admissions in Mind: Episode 18
Clip 8: The Importance of August 1st and Common Application: Episode 19
About Thomas
Thomas is a parent and alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania. After earning his MBA at the Wharton School in 2003, he moved to Silicon Valley. For three years, he was director of admissions and financial aid at Wharton School. He worked closely with admissions professionals, students, alumni, and professors to create the best possible MBA class.
Thomas has been an entrepreneur his entire life in the fields of finance, agriculture, wellness, and sporting goods. As the founder of Global Education Opportunities, he works with diverse and underserved communities to help them become successful college students. Thomas started the podcast Admittedly because he is passionate about demystifying the application process for parents and applicants.
Related Links
Apply to be a guest: www.thomascaleel.com/apply-for-podcast
Follow Admittedly on Social Media
TikTok: @admittedlypodcast
Instagram: @admittedlypodcast
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Thomas: Hello, and welcome to the admittedly podcast. My name is Thomas Caleel. I'm the former director of MBA admissions and financial aid from my alma mater, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In this podcast, I don't promise easy answers or quick fixes, but I will use my decades of experience to help you achieve your education goals. Now, let's get started.
Natasha: Hi, I'm Natasha, the producer of the admittedly Podcast. Today, we have a special best episode for you. We're talking about everything that juniors need to know as they wrap up the junior year, and are preparing for the college admission process in the fall, I picked out some of the best clips from season one, where Thomas provides both students and parents with some great tips on how to prepare for the summer, and how to set yourself up for success in the coming year. Let's dive right in.
In this clip from Episode Two, Thomas is talking about the importance of academics in junior year, how to best choose your classes for academic success, and what admissions officers really look at when they review your application.
Thomas: So juniors, what do we need to do? The first thing we need to do is take a look at our semester one transcript, because grades for junior year are really, really important. I'm not saying that you make you panic. I'm just saying that because it's true. Really, you know, your academics consistently across all four years of high school are very important, but junior year is when the difficulty level goes up. And universities and colleges are really looking closely at that as a measure of your academic potential in college. So, want to make sure that our second semester courses are okay, do we need to step up or step down a level? That's okay. Right.
One of the questions that I get a lot of times is well, if we think about, for example, AP courses, is it better to get a B in AP math or an A in regular honors math? And the answer and I don't say this flippantly is the best outcome, obviously, is to get an A in the AP. But really, as you're thinking about classes, academic rigor, how you challenge yourself is very important. So if you are getting A's in easier level classes, that's not going to be an impressive achievement to an admissions officer who's reading your file. They really want to see that you're stretching yourself and that you're challenging yourself. And if for example, you get a B, and your teacher says, I've never seen somebody work harder. This young individual, this individual worked as hard as they possibly could. They took advantage of office hours, they came in to see me they worked with the student tutoring service and they really, really, really tried their hardest, then that goes a very long way to show your attitude and aptitude.
Natasha: In this next clip from Episode Two, Thomas is discussing how to differentiate yourself as a leader in extracurricular activities, and how to communicate this in your college applications.
Thomas: Really, there are so many ways for you to make an impact on an organization you could organize a conference, you could organize events, you could end up winning on a team like a spirit or motivation award or you know, the hardest worker, getting a letter from your coach, for example of somebody who really goes above and beyond and is the person that the other players turn to. For example, if you're working a part-time job after school, or you're doing research, you look for opportunities to maybe do a you know, management training program if you can or pick up some extra shifts or whatever it is that you can do to show that you are being recognized for your initiative and work ethic and place on the team.
Natasha: In this next clip from Episode Eight, Thomas is providing expert insight into how to choose your extracurricular activities in order to stand out.
Thomas: What are you doing that is uniquely you? Now, that does not mean that you have to run out and do something totally off the wall to try and stand out. Okay. And the funny thing is, we would see this in business school admissions from certain countries, where one year everybody would play outdoor rooftop soccer. And the next year, everybody would be ice skating. And then next year, everybody would be doing something else, right? Because that year, some parent decided, okay, we're going to, you know, we're going to differentiate, and we're going to do fencing, and then everybody just would go and do fencing. And so you get these, like, generally like two to three-year blocks, where everybody would do the same activity, and then it would start on another activity, right? And that's not good.
And what happens is that leads to these discussions where, you know, in the parent circles, parents are upset because they'll say, you know, I don't understand. Susan did everything right. She was class president, she was a two-sport varsity athlete, and she had a perfect GPA, how did she not get into any of her top choices? And what happens is, and I've talked about this earlier on a different episode this concept of courage, right, and having the courage to follow that thing that really interests you, right, that brings that spark to your eyes.
Natasha: In this clip from Episode 18, Thomas is discussing how to decide who to ask for a recommendation letter, he provides helpful tips to get letters that best reflect who you are as a student and a person.
Thomas: You want to approach them now, if possible, before the end of this school year, so that you're there not scrambling in the fall, the worst thing you can do is cause an inconvenience or stress for your recommenders. Because nobody likes to have to sit down on a Sunday night late, away from their family or the million other things they'd rather do. And write your recommendation. And if you think about it, probably not gonna get the best recommendation out of that.
So really step back and, you know, we've talked a lot about the strategy, but the strategy for you of how are you presenting yourself to the university? Are you going to be a stem? Major? Are you a liberal arts major, maybe studying Komplet, creative writing French, we really want to make sure that when we're talking to our recommenders, we're bringing in teachers that know us well, that are relevant to the courses and coursework, we want to do a college, if at all possible. And it's very helpful, I think, to have at least three recommenders. Writing your recommendations, you can stack and store those in the Common Application because some schools will allow you to submit an additional recommendation, and some schools might allow you to submit a peer recommendation or recommendation from a coach, Pastor, or employer. So start laying the groundwork for that now.
Natasha: In this next clip from Episode 18, Thomas is talking about all the steps you should take before you approach a teacher to ask for a recommendation letter. Let's listen.
Thomas: But I think it's very important that you frame the discussion for them because they've already written several if not dozens of recommendations for the previous class. They've had students all year and you really want to make sure that you're top of mind if you can schedule a time to talk to them, meet them face to face, and present this document to them. Even if your college counselor at your school doesn't give you a document, I think it's very helpful for you to see, do you have a resume? Or can you write the high points of your academic career, what schools you're applying to why you want to apply to them what you hope to study, and your memories of their class?
Natasha: In this clip from Episode 18, Thomas is talking about whether you really need to visit all the schools you plan to apply for and how to navigate this process.
Thomas: But the reality is, that not all of us can afford to visit multiple schools, not all of us have the time our parents might need to work might not have the freedom to go do that. And so don't get too caught up in that I think after COVID One of the advantages is that the schools really set themselves up to be accessible to everyone. And I think putting a note in your application and saying, Listen, I couldn't afford to come and visit the schools. Maybe you're reaching out and participating in the online information sessions that they have, you're getting in contact with students, you're getting in contact with liaisons from the admissions office.
There are a lot of ways that you can demonstrate your interest. There are a lot of ways you can learn about a school. And I think if you are fortunate enough to be able to go and visit school calls, don't just go and wander around campus and do the tour. Right? Take some time before or after the tour, I usually recommend students go to the dining hall, go to an area where they're selling snacks, and just listen, get a sense of the vibe if you know, if you go to a school in New York and you're from Wyoming and you hear somebody talking about being from Montana or Wyoming, you can say, hey, you know, I heard you're from, you know, same state as me, or same city as me and I'm visiting. Do you have a second? Can I buy you a cup of coffee, or a smoothie, or whatever it is?
And can you just talk, right, you might run into a faculty member who is willing to chat with you, employees, security guards, or people that work at the dorms, these are all great contact points for you, where you can strike up a conversation and really get a sense of the school? Apart from what the school is feeding you, you can go to the library and talk to librarians. So I think, really take some time and dig in and get a sense as much as you can of the school and your experience there.
Natasha: In this next clip from Episode 18, Thomas is addressing parents of high school students, and how they can help their child plan their summer with college admissions in mind.
Thomas: This is a time that matters. Similarly, for parents, you want to be really careful about scheduling a lot of travel or activities during the summer. And listen, I'm a parent, I understand I miss my children terribly during the school year, I want to see them as much as possible during the summer, and I want to expose them to new cultures, new places, family trips, etc. And there's a time and a place for that. And certainly, a week or two is not going to derail anything.
But I think we want to plan the trips around the summer activities, rather than planning the summer activities around the trips, because the summer activities are really going to drive meaning in the application. And the trips certainly are valuable on many different levels. But I'm talking about the strategy of an application here.
Natasha: In this last clip from Episode 19, Thomas is identifying the importance of August 1, the date the common application opens.
Thomas: this is what happens when we hit August 1. And why August 1, why is this an important date, it's important because that's the day that the common application opens. What you can do what I recommend that you do first is spend some time just nosing around the application, and go and figure out how to add schools, there's a vast list of schools and you can only pick 20 applications in the Common Application.
But if you have one or two schools or even four or five schools that you know that you want to apply to go ahead and put those in my in your my school's tab, just familiarize yourself with that. I strongly suggest that you take some time and just start doing the data entry. The data entry takes far more time than you think it will. And it's a bit of drudgery. But the nice thing about that drudgery is that it gets your mind kind of geared up and locked in on what we need to be doing for applications. Keep in mind that when you're doing the data entry, this is not something that you necessarily you don't need to know what your EA or ed school is going to be alright, this is just the main body of the common application.
So you can go in, and fill out the information about your family, your parents, your address all of those basic data points that are important. They take time. And really this is very important. That sounds like a minor point I know. But spelling, punctuation, capitalization grammar matter here. If you are sloppy and you're not checking your work, you're not taking your time and you're misspelling words, you're not capitalizing street names or courses, things like that. That absolutely will count against you. Maybe not well, but can count against you in the admissions process.
Thank you for joining us today. Please take a moment to subscribe to the Admittedly Podcast and download this episode. I welcome you to share your thoughts and questions with me. You can find us on social media Admittedly Podcast. I look forward to continuing our journey together.
