September 2024: Admissions News & Advice
September 2024: Admissions News & Advice
Back to School!
Welcome back to school! Although some kids have already been in the classroom for weeks (here’s looking at you, Arizona and Florida), for much of America, Labor Day marks the end of summer and the beginning of the school year.
(Note: Insights for families with seniors below; scroll down for junior, sophomore, and freshman guidance.)
Part I: Families with Seniors
Key dates & deadlines 📆
ASAP: Request 2 teacher recommendations (if you haven’t already)
Sept. 14: ACT Testing Date
Sept. 20: Registration deadline for October SAT & ACT Testing
Nov. 1: Early Action (EA) / Early Decision (ED) I deadline for most schools (dates vary; check each school’s admissions website)
Your priorities in September ✅
For most families, the immediate focus in early September is starting the new school year: putting routines in place, getting to know new teachers, making sure they have enough notebooks, etc.
And that’s as it should be. This week is not the time for your child to try to, say, finish their Common App Personal Essay. But it’s a great time for both of you to scan the horizon, see where you are, and make a plan for the next two months.
For a useful baseline, check out this timeline (and don’t stress if you’re a bit behind – few people hit every checkpoint exactly on time).
One time-sensitive question: Has your child requested letters of recommendation from two teachers yet? If not, and if they need them (most schools, with a few exceptions like the U of California system, require them) they should get on that ASAP!
Testing: Last chance for EA/ED 📝
The October SAT/ACT administration is the last official test date that most schools will consider for EA/EDI decisions, and the registration deadline is September 20. If your child hasn’t completed their testing (and/or if they’re trying to raise their scores), don’t miss it!
FYI schools will sometimes consider a November score, but it’s usually an unofficial policy, and only if the test results reach them by the time they’re reviewing your kid’s application.
Essays: They should be writing ✍️
How are your child’s essays going?
The “gold standard” I aim for with my seniors is that they should have both a solid draft of their Common App Personal Essay and supplemental essays for one school done by Labor Day.
However – spoiler alert – they often miss this deadline! It’s important to have a goal, but the reality is that these essays, especially the Personal Essay, usually take longer to write than anyone thinks they will.
And that’s OK. If it’s September, there’s still time to put together fantastic essays for the November 1 EA/ED deadline.
That said, it’s important to start soon, and the kids should just aim to get the most difficult writing done in the coming weeks, BEFORE senior year homework gets heavy, and definitely before midterm tests and papers start rolling around.
What if your kid hasn’t started their essays yet? If they’re planning to apply to any EA/ED schools, they should start writing by the second week of September. Start with the Common App personal essay, then move on to supplements for a school on their EA/ED short list. (More on this approach and why it’s a good idea in Chapter 3 of Write Yourself In. Chapter 4 also has tried-and-true brainstorming strategies to help your kid get over writer’s block.)
List of schools: Time to get serious about EA/ED 📋
The next six weeks are the time to make some decisions about your Early Action/Early Decision strategy. By now, some kids are 100% sure of where they want to apply Early. If that’s your child, good for you! You are lucky.
However, many others are still unsure of where they want to apply – and that’s OK. There’s a lot to think about with EA/ED strategy: Do you use it to improve your odds at a school that’s within reach, or do you use it for a long shot?
Just as important, many kids are still figuring out where they want to go and what they want to study. If they haven’t done the Introspection Activity yet (p. 263 of Write Yourself In or downloadable on my website), this is a great time for that.
September and October are also good times to visit any colleges your kid still has questions about, and even to revisit schools you may have visited over the summer. Campuses feel very different when they’re empty vs. when there are students on them, especially in a year when there were on-campus protests throughout the spring.
A marathon, not a sprint 🏃♀️➡️
If you’re like most families, the next four months will be filled with ups and downs. Many teenagers will be in tears at some point; many parents will be, too.
All of that is OK – it doesn’t mean that you’re doing anything wrong. The important thing is to keep the communication channels open, and to buckle up for the long haul.
You might also think about ways to manage the stress that will almost certainly be coming your way. For example, why not book a spa day for yourself this month or next? If you’re like most parents, you’ll need (and deserve!) it. If your teen tends to isolate, can you help them stay on track…but also encourage them to carve out time to hang out with friends and do nothing for a day?
Part II: Juniors, Sophomore, and Freshmen
Guidance for Juniors (Class of 2026)
Welcome to junior year! For most students, this will be the most academically challenging year of high school. It’s also the year your child will earn the grades that colleges will scrutinize most closely.
Your kid’s top priority this month is thus: starting off the academic year strong. Now is the time to put in place good work and study habits, so they can do their best and excel.
A second priority should be: getting the ball rolling on standardized testing. Your child’s goal is to do their best on the SAT or ACT next spring, so now is the time to start thinking about test prep. A good first step can be to take a practice test of both the SAT and the ACT, see which they do better on, and then begin doing test prep on it.
Outside of the classroom, if you’re aiming for highly selective colleges, this is the year for them to be moving into extracurricular leadership roles. That could mean an official title like “president” or “captain,” but it doesn’t have to. Colleges look for students who have led both in front of and behind the scenes; what’s important is that they’re getting involved and engaged in things they care about.
And finally – believe it or not – it’s not too early to start thinking about next summer! While most summer programs (thankfully) don’t open their applications until January or February, there are a few, like Yale Global Scholars and the US Navy’s SEAP research program, that have deadlines in the fall.
Guidance for Sophomores (Class of 2027)
If freshman year was all about your child finding their place in high school, sophomore year is about diving in.
As always, this month is definitely the time to set a strong academic foundation. Your child should be getting to know their teachers, and they should be learning that it’s OK to ask for help.
One of the biggest mistakes I see 9th and 10th graders make is waiting too long to get help in the classes where they struggle (and yes, nearly every kid struggles in at least one or two classes – even the kids who look “perfect” on the outside).
As adults, we all know that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Unfortunately, that’s usually not how it appears to the teenage mind. It can also be difficult for parents, too, because while it was easy to help your kid with 5th grade math, few of us remember enough trigonometry (or calculus 🤮) to be helpful.
Yet whether it’s getting extra help from a teacher, a friend (aka peer tutor), or an outside tutor, nearly every kid needs help at some point in their high school career. The sooner they start developing the skill of asking for help when they need it, the better.
This fall is also a time for your child to deepen their extracurricular involvement. Whereas freshman year is a good time to try everything and see what sticks, sophomore year is about narrowing the focus to a few activities that they enjoy and care about. Ideally, these are also activities where, within the next year or so, your child can see themselves moving into a leadership role.
Guidance for Freshmen (Class of 2028)
Freshman year! What a big change. Some of my clearest memories from teaching are of the deer-in-the-headlights ninth graders during the first week of school, earnestly wandering through the halls, staring down at their schedules as they try to make sense of their new environment.
If your child is entering ninth grade, college shouldn’t be on their mind right now. Instead, they should be building a strong foundation for the four years to come.
Academically, in most schools there’s a big jump in difficulty from 8th to 9th grade, and then again from 10th to 11th. So they’re probably going to need some time to adjust to a higher level of rigor. Now is the time to be building strong study and writing skills, as they learn how to be a high school student.
Outside of the classroom, freshman fall is the perfect time to try new things. Most kids, of course, have begun to explore their interests in middle high school. High school offers even more opportunities, and it’s a chance to start over (or go deeper).
One thing to keep in mind: it’s best to encourage your child to pursue their interests and passions, not the activities you “think” (or your neighbor whose kid just got into Harvard “knows for sure”) are going to help them get into college.
Selective schools look for kids with a varied set of interests. I can’t tell you how many times the “weird” pursuit or activity that looked crazy during freshman year turned out – if the kid pursued it – to be the very thing that set them apart during the admissions process.
This year is the time for them to try things they might end up hating, so that in the coming years, they can invest their time and energy in pursuits they genuinely enjoy.
Thanks for reading
That’s it for the first edition of Admitted. I’m excited to be going on this journey with you.
Best wishes, thanks for reading, and keep in touch!
Eric