Reflections of 2025 Admissions Cycle

Welcome to From Carpool to College, a show for parents who are trying to get ahead or just keep their sanity while navigating the college planning landscape. Welcome to From Carpool to College. I'm Tracy Amadeo Tara Harritz, and in this episode we are going to be reflecting on the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six admission cycle. It sounds like a bicycle. Yes, it's an electric bike. Yes. Oh, don't get me started on those. They're terrible. Do you have them running around your neighborhood? We do. Do the kids wear helmets? Not always same here. They're terrible. There's no reflectors on them. They go fast. What the big problem is that people look at them like a bike, but they really are a motorcycle or a. Motorcycle or a moped. Yeah, whatever. Anyway, we're going to look at the admission cycle. Yes, and Tara and I have very carefully curated our episodes so that they are evergreen, meaning parents could just jump in at any time of year, at any point and understand college application process or just what goes on in high school. That's important to know how that would impact your kid. We try not. To date you know when we're recording these Today is November two, twenty twenty five, and while it is fresh, we wanted to talk about what we've seen in the admission cycle so far. And this is for you parents. This is for you parents who have kids in eighth and ninth grade. Learn from what we're telling you is the admission cycle over No, However, November first is the early action deadline and early decision deadline and in many cases priority application. So our students and our clients, oh my gosh, November first is like tantamount to April fifth teenth for accountants, right like I am Tara. Spent, I am dead. Tara and I In our practice and with our associates, we are a low volume, high touch private practice with helping students and their families navigate the college admissions process with applications, and sometimes we do like a one off or a two off with certain clients because that's all they need. We are unique in that we charge per hour. We don't have packages. We just we just whatever your need is, we talk about it, make a plan, and we roll it. Yep, we have to. But saying that we do want to use this episode to kind of go back and forth about what we've seen and take some notes parents, and don't worry. So we'll tell you all of these and get them through before your commute to work is over. So we'll keep it short. So where should we start to. Well, I think one of the top things that has been you know, talk of the town is the test optional versus test required. And you know, there's still a lot of schools out there that are test optional, but they're slowly moving, right and I think that they feel the pressure from each other, especially at the different levels, to move to that test required. And some majors, even though the school may be test optional, are tests required. You have to submit. But I would say that moving forward into the next cycle that if there are any parents out there of freshman sophomore juniors, we can no longer assume that most of the schools are test optional. You should really assume it's test. Required and start that ball rolling with you know, test prep and things like that. Yeah, do you know why you think? Well, I have a theory. I have a theory and it's maybe a conspiracy theory, but I'm going to share it anyway because I know our listeners won't judge us. The students who. Are applying to college. Now, we're in what like sixth or seventh grade during COVID. During COVID, right, so that's when there was like for public schools, there was like bobo learning going on, right, it was like fake learning. It was bs and this cohort of kids really didn't master for the most part, algebra. And it has been I'm going to keep it clean. It's been a show. It's been a show. With standardized test scores with because kids are still taking standardized tests in high school, but the foundational math is just not there. And surprise, surprise, now that these kids are over the hump. Now we're getting kids who went through middle school without interruption, right, and I think the scores. Will come up. Yeah, the fact you know the skills, the skills are kids were in school and as much as kids, there's a big cohort of students who get test anxiety, and we know test is like one day in time and the whole thing. I hate test. I not a big fan myself, but it's not going away. And we even had an we have older episode on this about just every step of the way your kids need to be learning for long term and not going through the motions. That's our advice to you, like, don't blow it off. The tests, as Tara said, they're going to be there, and we were just talking about the common data set. So how you know to send or not to send test scores was a big, big time poll actually for us this cycle because every school has a different set of scores that is in the range, and we had kids who had really solid test scores to send. I'm thinking about the one girls like thirteen something, and there was one of the schools where that was the twenty fifth percent tile for submitting scores, so we told her not to send. Meanwhile, if that was my kid's score report, it would be on the refrigerator. You're all to see, yes, but always look for that common data set. And the kids know that too. And why do the kids know it from TikTok. From TikTok, I know, not just for dances and for all sorts of things, but there's a lot of solid Believe it or not, parents, you're not going to want to hear this, but TikTok has become a great source of information for the kids to about the college application process, the ins and outs inside scoop. It's also a lot of fear mongering when it comes to because Tara and I go through all the social media as well, and we will like I'll see these commercials for independent counselors, like these are three things you need to be doing to. Go to an ivy. Like it's like, ooh, it's just it's a lot. There's a lot out there, but there's a lot of really. Good stuff too. So what else did we say Tara this cycle? Well, the other topic that kept coming up with our clients revolved around majors. Yeah, yes, what major should I select? What if I go undecided? Should I go undecided? Should I do this? Should I do double? Should I do tons of questions, But I would say ESSAYTIS or you know, standardized test scores. Majors was the second one, and then probably the essay. So as far as majors go, they're changing. I know, there's new programs coming in. There's some that are so oversatured, some are on their way out. We did an episode on this where we talked about some surveys that were put out by the World Economic Forum where they kind of went through and gave you a five year you know, look at what's to come in terms of jobs and you know, majors and different career paths, and so I would say with regards to that, we were also visiting the common data set as well, right, oh yeah, we. Visit the common data set to see the outcomes from the school in how many how many degrees were given out by each major, right, so we can kind of work backwards. It's like a game of clue. It should be a board game. Like it was the chemistick in the psychology major in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and we look to see how many of the you know, how many degrees were given out, to see what is typically over, what's saturated, and what's not, and advising students, our clients to apply to majors that are within the school the actual college. Right, so there's like the larger university, but the School of like Liberal Arts and Sciences or the School of Business. But it really has become a chess match if we want to stick with that game theme. Right exactly. And then one of the other things is how many schools students are applying to. Crazy? Yeah, crazy, right. So let's start like let's go back in the in the day in the twentieth century when we parents were looking at our college applications. And by the way, this is also I know we have a lot of listeners who or maybe college graduates who didn't go to You got your degree in a different country, right, so maybe you were in Egypt, or you were in South America. Like we You know, we're such a diverse country, especially up here in Jersey. We're like a human spice rack. We have people from all over the world, and the United States higher education, post secondary is so different than in other countries. So this is also thanks for listening, by the way, that special population of ours. But typically back in our day in the twentieth century, we applied to three schools three three. It was our reach, our target, and our safety. I've seen I like to advise nine three three three, maybe twelve if you get a couple of free apps. That's on the high side. Now it's like twenty. I've seen twenty, and I think it's ridiculous, and I cringe, and I say, if you're doing twenty, you better have fee waivers. And by the way, fee waivers, I see a lot of generous fee waivers. The Sunni schools always do a free application week. They don't advertise that until they pop it and same with Alabama does. The free week. Yeah. So so parents, as you're taking notes, just know that, always ask if there is going to be a free application event or if you can get a fee waiver because applications are going to cost you between sixty and eighty five dollars a pop. That's just that's just to apply. Yeah, right, so there's a lot of money there. Yeah, and schools, you know, schools like Penn State Ruckers, they're getting over one hundred thousand applications right, do the math right? Wow, exactly, it adds up. And sometimes if you go to visit a school, they will offer fee waivers in different ways. You may have to. Watch a video or two, a virtual tour after you visited or while you're there. You can even sometimes they'll offer for it. So be on the lookout because they do add up. Oh for sure. And you can hit up the school's admissions page. So the school has a website like you know, fancy school dot edu whatever, and when you go on the landing page, you look specifically for admissions and go through that, so you may find something for a fee waiver. Code for admissions. You'll find all the you know in the nooks and crannies, all those nuggets of information. But what you'll also find are links to the admissions podcasts, which are a gold mine admissions tips and tricks, their YouTube series. Like these schools are telling you they're giving away their secrets, and they'll even tell you. They'll say what is expected. You know, you could fill out the common app or you can fill out from the website. They'll say, we have an essay, we have supplements. Sometimes they'll have the supplemental essays sent after you've hit send on the application, so that's a little surprise surprise. Some will say interview encouraged, but it won't say anywhere on the application, so you have to look at the admissions website. But also the Common Data Set will show that in section C about like what you know, what weight each component of the application portfolio is. So we were doing it was like a scavenger hunt. Yeah, it really was. It wasn't. At some point we had to call oh, yeah, if you know, because there's so much information floating out there, and quite honestly, the Common Data Set when they some schools report it, the Transparency is not always oh right fully there right, So if it says that demonstrating and interest is not one of the considered components, it actually might be a little bit right. Because we the podcast that we love what's his name, Durante Durante, he's great. What's the name of his podcast, cap College Admissions po. You love this guy. You got to listen to him. He has college reps on all the time. And uh, I think he was saying in his podcast that just because the colleges don't count demonstrated interests in their like in their algorithm and your admission portfolio, you still have to demonstrate knowledge. You have to demonstrate that you understand the school, you understand the vibe, you understand the programs, that you really are our clients, we encourage them the second we meet them to follow every single school on social media, learn about the clubs. And it's not just about like following the school. Like, I don't know why Baits is in my head. There must be something that says Baits in this room that I keep on thinking it. But anyway, we're in the studio and we just put up all these pretty penants we'll have to put we'll have to put it on the website because it looks so good. It does. But so you go on the landing page for the school. And you'll have like clubs and activities and have the we have the kids go to the clubs and activities and then follow on their social media the different clubs and activities, so they understand the vibe of the school. They look for their people, but they also could demonstrate interests a lot better demonstrate knowledge in the supplemental essays yes, right, So if like, if I am part of the Ukrainian breakdancing team, totally made that up, and I saw that Purdue has a chapter of a Ukrainian American breakdancing team, the boiler Makers on the UBT. Yeah right, exactly. But if I'm already following on social media, know that they made the Tournament of Champions last year, and I could talk about that in my supplemental Yeah. Right. So these are all the wacky things, but the cool things that we're telling our students, our clients to do. And they've done it. Yeah, they've done it, and they've found out some pretty good things, you know that they've reported back to us. Oh, you know, whatever it may be. In regards to the clubs, the location, all of you know, people that in their town who currently go to the school, things like that, they're able to kind of keep a little bit of track of so they're learning as well. I would say Tracy that one of the things with regards to just our students overall, I wouldn't say every student we worked with the cycle was stressed out, but I would say that there's a little bit more of an increase than we've noticed in the past, and especially for those students who maybe started a little bit later in the process. Right, So those who. Were starting late spring or getting a really good handle line it over the summer, they seem to have a little bit more confidence walking into their senior year. Yeah, and they underestimate how much how little time they're going to have when school starts, right, Like I just think about so part of our part of our jam when we work with our clients is our clients will text us. Our clients have access to us. They are our celebrities, We are their agents. That's how we roll, and that's why we only take a handful of clients because that's you know, there's only. A certain amount of us and there's only a certain amount of time that we have, so. You'd be surprised. I'm always surprised too that I can have a student who has like near perfect SAT scores, has all this leadership experience. It's just like really on top of their game, and then for whatever reason, they just procrastinate. I'll get into it. I'll get to it. I'll get to it. A lot of it is perfectionism. I'm seeing with the real top notch kids that they, oh, I don't know, they get stuck in their own head. I have kids who literally I have a text on my phone that is twelve o two am the OMG I just tried to submit and there's a glitch in the glitch in the matrix. Right yeah, so and it's it's unfortunate, and of course we're going to help this person out, but. It's the time you really. We always say in this podcast, we don't ever want parents to say, oh my gosh, I wish I knew then what I know now. We are telling you parents, your kid who plays football is going to have zero time to get stuff done in September, even in August when practice starts. So really, you need to be starting in May June July. All right, so May June of junior year and July you go hardcore and you start, Yes, you can. You know, there's it's a misconception parents think that, Oh August first is when applications open. Yeah, but you could still you can still start your application and it rolls over and it'll just reset with it'll pull the same information. You can absolutely start applying earlier. And they're not and they should be on the field. Hockey girls I had this year too awesome, But I would meet with them after a game at a Panera and they're exhausted. And these kids are like just in the parent you know, the I think I'm tired. These poor parents have these kids are driving them around and they're going to the games and the kids exhausted. And here we are talking about our essay, talking about strategies, talking about how to manage our activity section. What's important? You only have ten spots, how are you going to fill them? It's it's been It's that it's the there's not enough time in the day. Right exactly exactly, And visiting schools. Oh yeah, definitely start that, you know, summer of sophomore year, beginning of junior year, because when that senior year rolls around, and you definitely want to go when they're schools in sessions. So so that's another part of the process where you want to start that as early as you can. Oh, completely right, for sure. Tell me about some of the essays that you had experience with Tara this year this cycle. Ah, that just put you on the spot there, that's okay. I had a very very diverse group of two students in terms of like topics and what they wanted to write about and even their personalities in you know, just going through the whole writing process. Some came to me with a full draft that had to kind of be reworked a lot, and sometimes that took a little bit longer than those students who came with nothing and almost like a blank slate ready to work. So lots of different topics. I absolutely you know, some of the ones that stick in my mind. There was one student who I worked with who wrote about a rock wall and climbing that rock wall, and it was done in such a way that it just created this perfect metaphor with flaws, but it was perfect in how it represented her. There was a student who decided to write about something that was a little bit more intense with the loss of a family member, but did it in a way that was authentic and real and and we learned a lot about that person from the writing, and it wasn't a whole focus on the loss. So one thing that I noticed is that students are coming to us with a lot of ideas about about what they've heard. Right, we should write about this, we shouldn't write about this. I saw this on TikTok, I saw this on Instagram, and I think Tracy, we always agree on this one that you can write about whatever you want. Don't worry about that part of it. What you need to figure out is what is going to represent. You the most, and how can. You show the ways that you can grow and what you've learned from it. I think that's the most important part of it. So that's where it gets a little tricky when it comes to things that they're learning and all the information overload, because they get influenced in a way and they think, oh, I better not do this, I better not do that. And we've both noticed that if they really feel so strongly about something and it's coming from their heart, it can they can write about the things that they've heard. They shouldn't oh totally completely, and sometimes we had to cut our kids with all the different ideas, and they want us to bounce ideas off of it. The other piece parents, that you need to know about the essay is you may not like it, mommy, you may not like it dad. And we also have to think about, well, it's your kid's essay, it's their narrative. And also the audience is it's not some institution, it is a person, and they are looking for specific elements in that story. So when kids open up in their essay, sometimes parents get a little guarded. I had a couple of those this cycle, and it was a challenge because that's and this is also this is kind of our secret sauce though at academic mentoring, because we are I'm a counselor you're a teacher. Like we've worked with thousands of families through our through our lifetime, through our career, so we understand and very much respect that family dynamic. But it is definitely a dynamic. And this year I've had a couple of families who the parents are. Like, oh, I don't know about this, and we work together. We figure it out, we make some revisions, but ultimately it is your kids. It's your kid's narrative, it's your kid's story, and it's okay because they're not going to have the wisdom of a fifty year old or a forty five year old right their writing. And guess what if you infuse that wisdom, it's bs and the school is going to sniff it out right away. It's like, Wow, what a beautiful as I've written by this kid's mother. Yeah, because the rest of the application will have a certain tone and quality that must match the essay as well. So it's very interesting something. That I wasn't really surprised, but I guess I was comforted by. I went to a conference for the Big ten schools down at Rutgers and there was a panel of all different admissions reps, and what they all agreed on is there's a there's a special section in the common app for special circumstances, and they spoke to it saying that there are if there are any special circumstances that you need us to know about to help understand you, here's your space. So it's like, huh, what could that be? And then so of course we asked, you know, the counselors and the audience, would you know, like what, give us examples, And they gave. Us examples like if you're. If you know in tenth grade you had three different chemistry teachers, tell us right, because maybe your chem grade is a C and you have all a's and b's right, or maybe if there was a death in the family, right. Or I have another one, a client who was really bullied mercilessly, mercilessly freshman. Year and she survived. She's champion. And that's something that she wrote about in the Special Circumstances because it impacted her performance at school and guess what, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade she killed it. So if there are special circumstances, I feel like I feel like ten years ago we kept that behind the curtain. Yeah you know, but but if there's like. A gap in the transcript or something that you can't pull from other places for the application, this would be that way to fill in. That exactly the blank, right exactly. I think about like my own kid, Joey, when he was a senior in high school, he got hit by. A pitch on the head. Actually it was a junior and he got clocked and he had a concussion. Like I literally when I looked at his eyes, I saw that they were not like in how our eyes are parallel, like the horizontal plane, like. One was up and one was down. And I was like, oh my god, Like it was like the worst thing I saw as a parent. I'm like, oh my god, what is happening? So like that would be something that Joey could write about. Yeah, he doesn't need it now obviously because he's he's in school, But what are those special circumstances? So parents, that's now they're just a takeaway from this admission cycle that schools really do want to know if there was something that, Yeah, that's scricate, right, And I. Think that. The projection is that there will be future adjustments to the common app as well. So so it's good to keep an eye on that and and be aware of continued changes, right because it's it's not staying constant. It seems to be adjusting and changing every year as we continue to move through totally the application years. And so there is a projected another another spot where they would they're going to add some additional space for writing as well. Oh for sure, the kids are still, by the way, all applying to the same schools. Yeah, so they're driving down their acceptance, right yeah, yeah, so you know, parents think about other schools, think, you know, schools you've never heard of. Do some research, go to the college fairs. Go to college fares, right right, talk to independent can sort of talk to school counselors, like, do some research because it's really the same thirty schools. It's the same thing. And also, before I forget, I know we're going to wrap up soon. The you know, GPAs are interesting. Our grades, our students' academic record doesn't always accurately reflect the number, doesn't always it could be misleading. So for example, I had a student at a client who I met with and had had a GPA like had mostly all a's and b's, but the level of the courses were standard. They were like some college preps, some standard, and the parents believe that because the kid had their kid had a great GPA, like, look, this is you know this three three point six is really good. It is three point six is good. But if you if you look at the spread of GPAs at that school, three point six sounds amazing. But there are kids who are getting four point six. So if there's a kid getting a four point six and the most you can get is a five point zero, a three point six, does it you know it's like average, it's like a C, but you think it's a B plus, right, So there was there is a lot of that, and that's why having conversations with school counselors are very important. Go online, go on TikTok, go on Reddit, talk to an independent counselor, because you may be setting your kid up for heartbreak. Right you look at the college like, oh what gpa? My GPA fits into this school. It's like. It's not really Also the breaker right, like the rigger right right, So it's not and it's hard to assess that as a parent. Yeah, it's really tough. So I had a couple of really tough. I had a couple of one off of clients this cycle because you know, tar like, we're straight shooters, so we're gonna have these conversations. And I had a student when I looked at the transcript and I saw the list of schools, I was like, these are all reaches, my friend. What they're all reaches? I'm sorry? Yeah, yeah, I wasn't asked back. But it's okay, it's okay. You know, I'm not gonna lie, and you know, say, yeah, you're gonna get in because even with the higher GPA, it's a crapshoot. Yeah, with a lot of sure, so for sure. But all right, So some key takeaways as we wrap up today's episode. So start early, Oh yeah, start the process early. Make sure that your child is authentic in their writing and they're applying to schools and they're doing it with you know, for the right reasons. Also to seek that balance, right, So I think an early start to the process will help them allow them to enjoy their senior year and even their junior year instead of cramming everything in at once. And you know, just be there for them because everyonce in a while they're gonna need you during this process, especially for your credit card numbers to be all the application fees. I know, I know, yeah, I know those are those are all great takeaways. And just know that time, time is your time is your enemy. Really just sound like I don't want to end on a negative note, but I really feel like just start just start early, start early, start early, and we are here for you. We are Academic Mentoring LLC. You can find us at www Dot Academic Mentoring llc dot com and we push out this podcast for you for free, to lift you up and to get you and your family where they need to be in this whole process. So thanks for listening. We appreciate you. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. If you enjoyed what you heard, we'd love for you to be a part of our growing community. Please share and follow our show. For those who want to support us further, join our Patreon site here. Support helps us create high quality content and great episodes. Plus, our Patreon members get exclusive perks like bonus episodes, early access, and behind the scenes content that we think you're just going to love. And now for some legal stuff. The content of this podcast is for informational and educational entertainment purposes only and is provided as is, with no guarantee of accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or outcomes. I could keep going, but I will spare you, and I will post this entire legal disclaimer on our website www. Dot Academic mentoringllc dot com under podcast. Tara and I are so glad you joined us today on from carpool to college. See you next time, something like that. Yeah, done's good, Okay, Chris, make that pretty? Please, pretty please, just make it pretty please. H This is gonna be what's somebody you American episode? This is gonna be You told us to record more outtakes and things, but don't don't put that how. Much you wanted better make it in journal. 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