While I hope no one followed my example, my actual college application process was hectic.  I had everything in order theoretically…great grades…pretty test scores…more extracurricular and community service hours than I could list…I was in tip-top shape—ready for anything!  My I’s were dotted, and my T’s were crossed.  Only one more thing to do.  Apply.  As you’re reading this, you might be thinking that this was me around mid-November, early December at the latest.

Well…you’re wrong.  This was me on December 26^th.  Regular decision deadlines for most schools in the country were January 1^st.  Did I mention that my application process was hectic?  For four days, I thoroughly researched the 25-ish schools on my list and started finalizing details.  A mentor had to sit me down and say, “Pick 10 from this list, and send in the materials—you have to make your decisions…NOW!”  Obviously, I did make the decisions, and I did post-mark my apps by the deadline…however, it was still unnecessary stress that could have been avoided had I stopped procrastinating on FINALLY choosing my top schools.  By now your applications are in, so let’s discuss what I felt like afterwards.

Three words: relieved, anxious, and tired.

I was relieved that the formal process was done.  Now, all I could do was wait for the colleges to decide if I was a prospectively good fit for their school environment.  I’d passed the tests, made the grades, gave back to the community… now I could breathe a little.

IMPORTANT: THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU STOP EARNING GOOD GRADES OR WORKING HARD IN SCHOOL.  COLLEGES WILL LOOK AT YOUR LAST SEMESTER GRADES.  THEY CAN REVOKE SCHOLARSHIP MONEY, AND ACCEPTANCE DECISIONS.  BEWARE.

Now that I’ve given that piece of advice, back to my second feeling.  I felt anxious about getting the responses in the mail.  I liked something (or many things) about each school, and non-acceptance letters would feel like a personal rejection of me.  I was worried that I could have done better on the essays, and perhaps I didn’t “sell myself” correctly.

Tired because I’d been striving for perfection for six months…in and out of class.  Senior year can seem like a whirlwind of activities…I’d be lost in the next set of things to do without realizing that I’d finished the last ones.  Hopefully, your year hasn’t been like that too much.  However, I was tired, and I still had to find energy and enthusiasm to finish out the school year.

So, after waiting for a few months, I started receiving the college decisions in the mail.  My first acceptance letter was amazing…I can’t quite describe the feeling.  I was wanted…on a 4-year college campus.  For someone from a family who doesn’t pump out college graduates, this was something new…a goal apart from everything else I’d worked for.  All of the work…the stress…the time management…the effort…the tears and the struggling…it was all worth it.

So hat’s off to you for completing the applications.  Now…sit back…relax…you’ve got amazing things coming your way!

Hey Everyone! I’m back at Pomona for my second semester. CSO’s Executive Director Matt Rubinoff stopped by campus to visit and pulled out his Flip Video. Here I reflect on my experience so far at Pomona and offer some advice for current high school students on choosing the best college for you.

FAFSA.

Ferocious-Anxiety-Financial-Stimulating-Atrocity.

My senior chemistry teacher belabored the fact that graduate and medical schools will look at grades in Organic Chemistry to weed out the strong from the weak.  She told us that OrgChem isn’t grotesquely hard, but instead, it highlights your ability (or lack of ability) to memorize and compartmentalize gigantic chunks of information into a comprehensive learning style.

In my mind, Organic Chemistry and graduate school admission is analogous to the FAFSA and undergraduate admission.  Separates the strong from the weak.  So you’ve chosen the schools you want to apply to, written the essays, gained acceptance, and narrowed it down…now it’s time to TALK MONEY.  And contrary to what the financial college pamphlets may lead you to believe from the smiling faces on happy high school students, this time can be just as stressful, if not more, than the actual admissions process.  Just depends on several factors.

A. Parental and Mentor Knowledge of FAFSA process

B. Your access to parental and mentor knowledge of FAFSA process

C. Parental Aptitude at Organizing Past Financial Records from Tax Season

*KEEP EVERYTHING!

D.   College’s Level of Helpfulness in Providing Financial Support

*Private or State public school?  Large or small endowment?  Need-blind admission?    No-Loan Policy?

E.    High school’s Knowledge of College Financial Process

F.    Personal Knowledge of College Financial Process

So, if you are lucky enough to have parents that have conquered this process a few times before and have great organizational skills (know where last year’s W-2 forms are at)…you’re on the right track.  If your high school has a great counselor program that is actively in touch and “in-the-know” about the financial aid process, you’re zipping right along.  And finally, if your college is miraculously helpful and easy to reach during this money-crazed period, you are IN THE END ZONE! BINGO! WAY TO GO!

But…in the off-chance that your parents aren’t exactly sure of what they’re doing, or perhaps…know next to nothing…

And your high school counselor vaguely knows the process…

And your college can only be reached during the hours that you are attending class…and do not return calls after many urgent voicemails, and cannot be contacted by email, Skype, Facebook, or text…

Then you are closer to my experience of FAFSA and the financial aid process.  I still get goose bumps thinking about some of it.  Personally, my family didn’t know that much…my high school counselors knew mainly about in-state assistance, and a few of my schools seemed impossible to get in contact with.  I sat down with my mom one night, and three hours later, we’d battled through FAFSA.  I still had to make three corrections later on, in fear that the IRS or some similar tax-service would consider my accidental errors an attempt to harbor money from the country.  However, after the FAFSA, it was time to sit around and wait until I received initial offers.

This next statement is not an attempt to sell my school…just an acknowledgment of the truth.  Pomona was AMAZINGLY helpful with financial assistance.  I was able to reach them during office hours (2-hour time change might have made a difference), and often, they knew what I was referring to before I did.  After receiving the first offer, I was able to repeal the amount after explaining that my family’s situation was not correctly represented on the FAFSA.  Cutting to the end of the story, I accepted an amount that alleviated all stress from my family’s end, allowing me to attend a school that would have been completely out of my league.

For high school students, I’d recommend that you talk to high school counselors and do your best to get in touch with the financial aid counselors at your top colleges.  Sit down with your parents in plenty of time to complete the FAFSA, and try to have all of the necessary materials beforehand.  Keep financial aid a top priority until after you receive an offer that works for you.  Try not to get discouraged…and keep your goals in mind.

It’s one of those—“Keep your eye on the prize”—sort of things.  It’s easy to get caught up in the stress and frustration of finding the money you need…but at the end of swimming upstream in search of it, you’ll find that it was well worth it!

Class of 2009…Class of 2013…Class of 2015…

After you say them enough, they all begin to roll off the tongue.  While these years may mean little to you, for me, they represent graduation years—high school, undergrad, Master’s…the list could continue for quite a while.  The years also symbolize change, something present in everyone’s life on the eve of a new year, particularly for current seniors.

My advice:

BE OPEN

BE PREPARED

BE EXCITED

Open to the many new experiences headed your way, some of which you may have never considered participating in.

Prepared for all that has yet to come and for the events you have yet to finish.  Before the college journey begins…finals, admission decisions, prom… (GRADUATION!)… all remain.

Excited because here you finally are—on the brink of a novel environment—closing the chapter of elementary, middle & high school…progressing to another stage of your life.

Be all of these things and ultimately, be ready for change.

So here I am, back in Arkansas for Christmas break.  I exchanged a 78^o climate for 37^o weather.  I’m back at my job at Steinmart, greeting customers and bagging purchases.  Once again, surrounded by family and familiar friends. But now it’s different.  I’m different.  Still myself but with subtle adjustments.  In fact, I realized that college may be a guide in becoming more “me”.

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly…”

–Henri Bergson

So, as you finish up senior year in the next few months and Fall 2010 becomes more of a present reality, keep who you are in mind, but also be willing to change…to mature…to progress…

I wanted this piece to be especially powerful, since I can now say that my first semester of college is over.  I’m half-a-semester closer to sophomore year, and 12.5% of my college undergraduate experience is over.  But I couldn’t determine what message would perfectly coalesce into what I want to express.  So in order to move past my creative writer’s block, I decided to do a three point “In-Retrospect-Guide” on outstanding factors of my freshman first semester.

1. College is about learning.

First week on campus = placement exams.  Second week on campus = class registration.  Throughout high school, I took many advanced placement courses, similar to the majority of the other students at Pomona.  And for some reason, a reoccurring statement that I heard after placement exams was, “I forgot all of that stuff during the exam, but I know that I can handle the honors level class.”  Personally, not only had I forgotten all of the stuff during the exam, but I was suddenly unsure of the fact that I’d ever known it.  In fact, I started thinking that admissions had made a mistake with letting me in.  OBVIOUSLY, I was not prepared for college. 

IN-RETROSPECT-#1-Breathe.  Not only was I ready for college, I settled into a groove of working and study habits that have allowed me to smile now that it is Christmas break.  Advanced courses in high school are wonderful classes to take in PREPARATION for college, but college classes are more difficult and may require different study techniques and habits.  That’s okay.  Learn what works for you, and be flexible until something clicks…I study for math in an entirely different way than I study for Latin…and that’s okay.

2. Getting involved provides community.  

Although this was not the best mindset to have at the beginning of school, sometimes I felt that undergraduate was a burden that I had to shoulder before I could return closer to home for medical or graduate school.  I was leaving behind friends and family for a great education, but I found myself breaking the year into four-month segments that I’d just “have to bear”. 

IN-RETROSPECT-#2-I was wrong.  Life at school developed into something incredible.  I made friends unlike any that I’d made before.  As an active member on Student Diversity Committee, I helped make decisions concerning campus climate. My intramural volleyball team placed 3rd, and the gym was not a legendary place for the “in-shape”. Although my friends and family remained at home, I was okay. I was happy. All in all, I was living life.

3. Life is still not perfect.

This was most likely the hardest lesson for me to learn and accept.  Despite the glamorous campus, amazing dining halls, nice-sized rooms, wonderful people, and remarkable classes…I still had down days.  I did occasionally get homesick.  Sometimes, I didn’t want to do homework.  Even worse…sometimes I was not enthralled with my seemingly endless to-do lists.  I just wanted a break. 

IN-RETROSPECT-#3-College life is still life.  With demands, stresses, and problems.  Although you may want to participate in a million interesting and extraordinary opportunities, an occasional nap may be more beneficial.  Allowing your initial experience of college to overburden your work load and cause excessive strain hurts one person-you.  Finding a balance is very important…perhaps one of the most important for this first semester.  And admitting that you are unhappy with something is also okay…that’s one reason many colleges provide sponsors and mentors.  Everyone wants your adjustment to college to be as smooth and enjoyable as possible.  There will be road bumps and obstacles, but understanding how to meet those head-on will eliminate their severity and possible future harm.

So on top of learning basic Latin, how to find angular diameter, and the reasoning behind Christian attacks on Jews in 1096…I also discovered the truth in these three small tidbits…and perhaps this post will help you keep them in mind, as well.  Happy Holidays!!

Personally…the college process was daunting to say the least.  My dad never finished high school…my mom never made it to college.  Throughout school, my main focus had been getting high grades…extracurricular activities…establishing good relationships with teachers and peers…all the “normal” stuff.  When it was time to start applying to college, I had no clue where to start.  I’d done all the ground work, with no idea how to make the rest happen.

“Seanna…I don’t know what you’re worried about…any college would be lucky to have you…”

“You must be really excited…where are you applying…?”

“All that hard work is about to pay off…your mom must be so proud…!”

For months, the constant repetition of things that were supposed to be encouraging and motivating, only made me feel more confused and overwhelmed.   And while my mom was very proud, she was unable to help in many ways due to her lack of personal experience.  Oftentimes, neither of us knew the next appropriate step.

I didn’t realize that college fees could be waived, and that many schools only required either the ACT or SAT.  The prospect of applying for financial aid kept me up at night…I was in the proverbial tunnel with no light at the end.  And although there were plenty of counselors and mentors available to help, I felt that I should already know the answers…that I should not have to ask…

So here’s the big picture that I was missing…and here’s my advice to all those setting out with college applications…

You DO NOT have to know everything…asking questions is more than just okay…it really does help.  The people that offer assistance know what they’re talking about―the right steps to take, and even better…they WANT you to succeed!

Obviously, I did figure out the application process, managed to conquer my fear of financial aid, and even made a final decision!  So here I am, halfway through my first semester, and I realize now that allowing others to help from the start, rather than waiting until I was engulfed in essays and scores could have made the process much easier.

In fact, I’ve learned that reaching out is not a sign of weakness, but instead…a sign of strength.