Simplifying the College Planning Process

Applying to college is a milestone event for students and parents alike, but many aspects of applying to college have changed within the last decade. To help today's tech-savvy, competitive pool of eager applicants, College Inside Track's Heidi King shared key trends and strategies to deploy to ensure your student finds the right fit to thrive.

First, building a college list should center on finding the right fit. Success depends on balancing academic, social, and financial factors. Academic fit includes considerations like class size, available majors, and internship opportunities. Social fit can be the most critical-many students transfer or drop out because they struggle to connect socially, making campus culture an essential factor. Financial fit also plays a role, helping ensure your student can manage short- and long-term expenses.

New Trends in Higher Education

Today, it's not uncommon to see tuition at competitive colleges reach up to $90,000 annually. With many students taking four to five years to graduate, the cost of an undergraduate degree has become a significant factor in college decisions.

College applications have surged in recent years, intensifying competition for admissions. Between 2020 and 2023, applications increased by 30%. Top-tier schools now report between 3.9% and 9.5% acceptance rates, meaning 90%-96% of applicants are turned away. Notably, flagship state universities-once considered safety options-have become highly selective, especially for out-of-state students and applicants to competitive majors.

Grade inflation presents another challenge for students trying to stand out in the admissions process. This refers to the steady rise in average grades over time without a corresponding increase in academic achievement. In 1966, only 20% of college applicants had an average grade of A- or higher; by 2022, that number had jumped to 80%. According to King, this trend is likely driven by lowered grading standards and disparities across schools, not a sudden rise in student ability.

As grades become less meaningful, admissions officers can no longer rely on grade point average alone. This puts pressure on students to distinguish themselves through rigorous coursework, test scores, extracurriculars, and essays.

Understanding Admission

Superior grades and high test scores are no longer enough to guarantee admission at today's highly selective colleges, which are seeing record-breaking application numbers. Even top-performing students must craft compelling applications that align with each school's institutional priorities. King highlighted key factors that parents and students should consider if pursuing highly selective schools is the goal:

1. Legacy status: Applicants with alumni parents often benefit from higher acceptance rates. However, this advantage may be fading-California recently introduced legislation eliminating legacy consideration at public and private institutions
2. Private high school attendance: Some private high schools have established relationships with elite colleges, offering students a straightforward path to admission through alignment with institutional priorities
3. Participation in niche sports: Students who compete in less common sports-such as squash, fencing, or sailing-can gain a unique edge in the admissions process, particularly at schools that recruit for these teams
4. High household wealth: Students from the top 1% of U.S. households have a 34% higher acceptance rate, reflecting broader trends in access and influence within elite college admissions

Strategies for a Student to Stand Out

Students can stand out by demonstrating a clear and traceable interest in their top-choice schools. To do this, ensure they appear in the college's database through multiple touchpoints-sign up for tours, attend webinars, and join mailing lists. Use the same email address across all interactions to ensure consistent tracking. Connecting with regional admissions officers or attending college fairs to build relationships is also valuable. These connections can lead to having an advocate in the admissions office.

Applicant development is their chance to show the learner, contributor, and future alum they will be. If King could pick one key takeaway for applicants, it would be that colleges value intellectual curiosity. According to her, depth matters more than breadth in extracurriculars. Admissions officers are drawn to applicants who demonstrate sustained commitment and leadership in a few meaningful areas rather than those with scattered, minimal involvement. Passion, initiative, and character should shine throughout the application. Students who align their talents and goals with each college's values are more likely to receive positive outcomes. A thoughtful, tailored approach can increase the odds of gaining admission to a school where the student will thrive. Those applying to specialized majors should also consider submitting portfolios, research, or other relevant work highlighting their strengths.

Historically, standardized test scores played a significant role in college admissions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of test-optional policies gave students more flexibility, but that era may be fading, especially at selective schools and for competitive majors. King noted a growing trend of colleges returning to test scores to help differentiate applicants in an increasingly competitive landscape. With that in mind, students should be strategic-if a score or grade doesn't reflect their actual ability, they should address it in the application's writing section. King emphasized that this section often accounts for up to 40% of an application's weight, making it a critical space to provide context, highlight strengths, and tell a compelling personal story.

Paying the full tuition can be a strategic advantage in the admissions process. King explained that it is strategic for high-net-worth families to submit financial aid forms not to seek aid but to demonstrate their capacity to cover the full cost of attendance. In her view, this is undeniably attractive to colleges.

Trends Impacting Admissions

Early Decision	Some students may benefit from applying early to an institution
Direct Admit	The acceptance into a specific program, such as a business school or nursing program, may bypass any general application concerns
Choice of Major	"Business" tends to be the most popular major, so as admissions officers fill out their classes, there may be fewer spots available
AP Courses	These are not equitable, as they're not offered to all high school students nationally. Still, they are attractive to admissions teams, as they illustrate the applicant's ability to go above and beyond and handle collegiate coursework
The Common App	The written portion is weighed 40% and offers the opportunity to differentiate the applicant by celebrating who they are beyond their grades and scores and demonstrate how their academic and extracurricular experiences connect to the college

Where to Begin?

"College is a long-range project," King said.

Getting started on this journey can be as simple as having open conversations with your student, ideally around the sophomore year of high school, about their learning style, goals, and what kind of environment helps them thrive. Visit campuses when possible and take note of what feels memorable or meaningful.

When building a college list, focus on the "right fit" schools that meet your student's academic, social, and financial goals. Safety schools should be included not just as backups, but also as early wins that can boost confidence.

Though the process can feel overwhelming, with rising competition and shifting admissions policies, what matters most isn't picking the highest-ranked school but finding the one where your student will thrive. King often tells families that college is a match to be made, not a prize to be won. Real research goes beyond rankings; it's about understanding where your student feels supported, challenged, and inspired.

Disclaimer

This summary includes approved excerpts from the presenter's live session and is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It may not be redistributed under any circumstances. The views expressed are those of the presenter(s) as of October 2024, are subject to change without notice, and do not necessarily reflect the views of William Blair & Company, L.L.C. This content is not intended as investment advice.

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Video Transcript

Kelly Oliven

Good morning and welcome. My name is Kelly Oliven, and I'm a wealth planner for William Blair's private wealth management team. And in my role, I talk to families like yours on how to best plan for some of life's most significant events. And this often includes planning for exciting things like sending children and grandchildren to college. Now this year, the college planning process has faced some of the most significant changes that we've seen in decades, from grade inflation to test optional versus test required applications to greater selectivity.

Families need to deploy updated strategies in the college planning process. It's my pleasure to introduce our next presenter, Heidi King, who will share how these recent developments may impact your family and how to give students the best opportunity for admission into their top-choice school. Heidi King from College Inside Track speaks nationwide about the college search process, educates hundreds of families, and trains financial advisors who work with families who have high school-age children.

Please join me in welcoming Heidi King.

Heidi King

Thank you, Kelly, I appreciate it. That's a lovely introduction and I am super excited to be here today to talk to you guys about something that I am really passionate about, and that is heading off to college. It's a family milestone for parents and children alike. And so much has changed in a really short amount of time.

We want you to understand some of the major changes that we see within the college planning process, and this will help you better understand how to do this on your own, maybe be a little bit more strategic. Simplify the process a little bit. So, we're going to talk to you guys about some tips, some strategies and some trends that we see so you're better able to do this for your clients, for yourselves as parents maybe grandparents. Right.

Awesome. Okay. Thanks. So, if you aren't familiar with College Inside Track, we've been helping families for the better part of 18 years. And when we work with families, we help them navigate the entire college process. But we always focus on the right fit. The right fit is so important in this journey. What do we mean by right fit?

Right fit schools for the student. Right academic, right social, and right financial fit. And if you are here in this room, I've talked to a couple of people already. Parents, grandparents. Right. We know that this is a stressful time for you, right? So, our goal when we work with families is really to help reduce the stress for parents and kids along the journey, because a lot really has changed since many of us went into this.

And I think one of the biggest changes that is most surprising to us is truly what a four-year college education can cost. We're all aware that there's been some increases, but the numbers on the top of the screen for one year can really be surprising to many families, right? And then, imagine graduating in four years is not always potentially easy.

So, sometimes we're talking about a college education here can be almost half of a million dollars. And that surprises even many families. So, what we really want to talk about is understanding some of the trends that we see in some of the popular schools. I meet with kids every day. I love talking to kids and students about their thoughts about school.

It's one of my favorite things that I get to do. And often they are bubbling up schools that are like this on that list. So, one of the trends that we see is understanding the differences with grade inflation, right? This is a new concept for a lot of people. But back in the day, the average grade was about a C+. Anymore, the average grade these days for kids going out of high school that are actually in college is an A-. That's the average grade, which really has made it a lot more challenging and confusing for students who need those grades to get into college, right? That's part of their approach to get into schools, and, again, it can make it super challenging for them.

Truly, it also makes it challenging because so many of the schools need those kind of grades to get in. And it's like some people are earning the grades, some people it's a little bit of grade inflation. So how does a student actually know that that college is a right fit academically for them, if they necessarily aren't competing with the same type of student that's next to them, right?

It can set them up for failure at the schools that they are sometimes reaching for. So, grade inflation is real, and it is truly rampant. It is something that we experts are seeing, and it can be deeply concerning. And think about it this way. It's really more challenging them for admissions officers to understand who the student is versus a student and another county or another state.

They're not able to do this as accurately as they were previously. Which really then makes it just a little bit more challenging. And it ramps up. The students need to stand out in other ways than just their grades.

So, another trend that we see in admissions, I'm just going to kind of go through that one. Another trend that we see is really to understand the mass amount of people, students that are applying to colleges. In a typical year, colleges would be thrilled with a 2% increase, thrilled. But since Covid, maybe since the Common App, since some of these changes that have happened in such a small amount of time, colleges are getting applied to en masse.

And I don't mean just the tier-one type schools and the selective schools. This is absolutely bubbling up into acceptances and challenges that make that challenging because of all the people, more than just the tier-one schools, right? I mean, we are talking about schools that eight years ago would have had an 70% acceptance rate, like the University of Tennessee, very friendly, about seven years ago.

Somewhere about three years ago, that changed within a dime, right? The flip of a coin. University of Tennessee now is below 30%, 28%, depends on the numbers that you're using. So, we're not just talking about the Ivy leagues that have become more challenging, right? This is definitely, like a snowball effect for flagship state schools that we normally would have considered as a safety school. Flagship state schools, not safety schools anymore. Certainly not a lot of them.

So, the combination of grade inflation and the dramatic increase in applications to these selective schools means that it is really much harder to get into than previously. I am lucky enough I get to talk to a ton of families on their journey, and they probably have safety schools in their mind. We talk about what schools are you thinking about?

One of the first questions that we talk about when I get to meet with families and often, they're, they know a little bit about like balancing your list. But the problem is, is they're assuming that some of the public flagships are going to be safety schools, when indeed they are not. And when I mean this, Stanford is actually turning away more 4.0s, perfect grades than they are accepting.

We are talking about trends in that acceptance that are really, really, really reduced. And so, it makes it challenging for kids. Lots of kids want to reach school, want a wild card school. We just don't want them to always just love that level of school and figure out, like a more balanced list and approach to that. Some of the hottest schools will surprise you unless you're kind of in the weeds, which I love to be on this.

There is a big trend of northerners heading south, right? We talk about this all the time. Clemson's class about five years ago used to be, you know, in-state. Sometimes somebody from, Georgia, maybe somebody from North Carolina, Tennessee, one out of five kids in the class of 2023 at Clemson came from either New Jersey or New York.

Two states now make up about 20%. And if we include Illinois in that, I bet you it's about 35. Lots of kids from the Midwest heading en masse to the southern schools. There was actually a New York Times article on this southern migration. A lot of heads rolling. Yep. So, it really is a thing. So, some of those schools are just becoming a little bit more challenging to apply to and get into.

So, who is really getting into some of these schools? Right? Kids in that top 1% tend to be kids that have a slightly better chance of getting into some of the selective schools. Some of the statistics actually support that. Legacy. If you're a legacy that does improve your chance of getting into some of the schools. Now, remember I said that some of this is changing pretty quickly. Last week, a bill in the state of California just passed.

Legislatively, they are no longer allowed to consider legacy for admissions, not just for the public schools, but also for private. So, understand this is how this goes. There's going to be some strategies that work at some schools and other strategies that just don't. Right? And then they kind of move the finish line on us. So, what we know today, how many people here have like kids that are actually applying in the next three years? Alright. A lot of you. So, what you know, for the oldest child may not work for the younger. And if you've already had somebody go through this, meet a lot of people like that. Your student may be a different learner, right? Different kids, different learning styles. And now things have changed that much that even the process or some of the strategies that you thought about may end up being hurdles, because your assumptions may be a little bit off from just a short amount of time in history.

So, anybody have questions? Otherwise, I can get talking pretty fast.

So, his question is why do we think the southern migration is even happening? Right. And that's a good question. We've been I've been doing this at College Inside Track for about 18 years.

So, we do see the trends, but we also talk to the families. There's a little bit of weather stuff, for sure, and there's some stuff related to Covid, right? Their policies were just a little bit different for in-person classes. That started a trend. The sports trend is no small thing, right?

When we went through this, my kids could not, they just, we ran into Trevor Lawrence at Clemson. And my both of my boys were like, It's Trevor Lawrence right there he is. How can you how he's like walking up the steps with us, you know, so they love that SEC vibe. They love that sports things, like will the Big Ten compete you know with the new conferences? Who knows?

So, I would say to answer your question, a little bit of the weather, just a little bit of the vibe. And they are doing a good job. Applications at Alabama are up over 600%. 600%. More than triple the amount in six years than Harvard. Right? So, they really are doing a good job with their marketing to our kids.

Oh, good question. No. Sometimes for private schools, they have a bit of a pathway that matches up well with the institutional priorities of the college. So, colleges do have, and I'm happy to answer your question, Colleges do have their own institutional priorities. I think about this very localized for Notre Dame. We see a certain pathway that is just a little bit of a more natural match. Doesn't mean that if you're a public kid, you don't have the opportunities. It just sometimes unfolds a little bit easier in a private school. Yeah. Go ahead.

Okay, now say that again. Yeah. So sometimes there are when kids are accepted, the analytics become then the data becomes a little bit more transparent to the people that are studying the data. Right? Not so much when you are applying. Do they know their demographics and their percentage, which they are, like socioeconomically? We do see that data being announced and available to those who are data seekers once they've gotten in, the data is then available for us to actually understand the percentages behind what you're getting in with and what your socioeconomic situation is.

I'm happy to talk to you offline, but you are filling out, often people will fill out some forms that go through that. Right? And so those are the data points that will be deliverables for analysis. Go ahead.

No. And even worse like that it doesn't, it doesn't really support that we're becoming smarter. Sometimes there is an idea of mastery behind the grade and what you've actually learned. There seems to be a bit of a sliding scale on what just high school teachers are willing to give for the grades, retakes, whatever.

Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.

And we will definitely go into that on that for sure. Standardized testing is definitely in flux, right? We're going to talk. And you know what, like I will, I'm spending several slides on that. It's fascinating. It is a problem for parents whose kids aren't great testers. And for sure, there are other ways to show that your child is college-ready. Sometimes the standardized tests, however, help with merit. Right? Or directed math. That's why we still find that it is super relevant to kind of at least approach standardized testing and keeping your doors open and trying it, rather than closing them and assuming.

So, I'll answer that and please, you know, when we get there.

Okay. So, admissions, really today there are new strategies that we really should be considering, because we have a mindset that doesn't really suit the current narrative. And so, we're going to talk a little bit about that. And just strategies that you guys can consider to reduce the stress, but really to be more strategic along the way.

And what we have to consider really to get into schools is not just school. I am so thankful that you are going to let my child in. But hey, school, what are you going to do for my student? Right? Switch that a little bit. And are they really a right fit institution for who your child is? What is their learning style? Right.

So, we think about this at College Inside Track very foundationally as three equal parts of a triangle. Right? Academic fit, social fit, and financial fit. It's really the foundation of anybody who's going through this can launch for finding the schools that are right fit for your student. Right? Nobody wants to be at a highly selective projective school and be the bottom 10%.

That doesn't suit them as a learner. They are not going to feel successful if they try to get into a club, an academic club, that will really help with their trajectory school wise. Then sometimes they need these workshops to get into. I'm thinking Indiana University. It's really helpful to be in a workshop there if you're a finance major, but if you can't compete with all the kids to get into a workshop for finance, then how does that help you? Right?

So, let's try to figure out that academic fit. Social fit. It's pretty easy because when I talk to kids, this is usually where we start because some kids are, like, solidly, I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life. Right? Socially, they usually know, right? They know what their vibe is. Right?

So, these are the kind of things, like, where do you want to go, and where do you want to live for four years, and find your people? I can tell you, as a parent of two boys who have just went through this, my one just graduated, finding their friends is really part of the recipe to success. More often, if they come home and want to transfer, typically it's not because they were like outmatched scholastically, typically it's because somehow, they didn't really feel like they were fitting in.

So, one of the most important roles that admissions department can do and has to do is fill their class. That is their job, right? Admissions officers have to fill their jobs, their seats. But it is challenging to really understand some of this about how to do demonstrated interest. Like, I don't know about you, but when I was, you know, having my kids do this about six years ago, this is extremely unfamiliar to me.

What we were even talking about it. But demonstrated interest really shows a consistent way over time that you care about that school. Why? Because admissions officers and colleges in general have to protect their yield. They have to protect their yield, so they are more likely to give an acceptance to a student that has demonstrated interest in some way, right? And there are a number of ways to go ahead and do that. And truly at College Inside Track, we think this is really important. Like we work on this with the kids for a long time, right? Does anybody have any questions on demonstrated interest and what that might be?

Yeah. Oh, it's a good question, right? Because otherwise it's just like words on a slide. Demonstrated interest can be there is a college fair at the College of DuPage or your local community college. And you typically will have a QR code, and your student will register. But when they go, they'll swipe their QR code. And the colleges know via the data that they were there.

Anything that's data related. So, we went, and we toured. Oh, but shoot, Heidi, all we did is go. And we just got a piece of pizza. Well, if that college cares about demonstrated interest and understand not all of them do, but the ones that do, you really should have signed up for the tour. You really should have signed up for the tour because that demonstrates interest.

And how do I know this? Because this happened to my family. Yeah. There was a college that my son should have already heard back from. Because he had the grades, right? We, he, hadn't bothered to do much research on the school. It's a school that begins with an A, and he was told he needs to put 12 schools on the list, right? And it was a good fit for him. But somehow the school ended up on the list. But because they are on the As, they're like, we can't just say yes to everybody whose academic profile fits us. They need, they're a smaller school. They needed to have had you tour, do a webinar, and connect with the admissions officer. That's the local rep. Something.

So, after mom called and asked, right? Should have had the kid do it. Just trust me on that. However, child do these things. So, we figured out that you have to come into tour for this particular school. And then once we did, the acceptance came and so did the merit. Because when they know you're serious, you are more likely to get in.

The social media 100%? Yeah. Matter of fact, like I if I had an hour to talk, you know like, and those are the kind of things when we meet with families, this is what we talk to them about.

What are the things that you can do from your house? Yes. We want you to for sure tour if you can, but that's not always easy. Depending on, you know, our kids are really exploring schools outside of our initial state that we live. So, a social media account really does still matter and can make a difference. Good question.

Okay, so, the whole idea of applicant development, is understanding that some colleges need a thoughtful and more personalized approach. Right? They really just want to know a little bit more about who you are, the impact you made. How are the kids spending their time? What did they do? What was their impact? Then next level they want to know the takeaways.

And really sometimes, what they're going to do on campus with that. They want to know about the critical thinking skills and what kind of a doer your child is going to be on campus, because they also want to know about what kind of alum that they are also accepting. Right? That's super important in terms of applicant development.

So, truly, what are they looking for? Not breadth. They're looking for depth these days. They really don't. You've got like ten spots to fill in your activities. They've got eight to 12 minutes, maybe 15, to read about your student. They want to know where you spent the most time deeper. And so, there can sometimes be benefits to things that are that you're doing a little bit deeper within, whether it be something that you're more specifically involved in passionately, something that you've done in leadership, right? Not everybody can be the vice president, but you can still have a leadership role in different ways. 16-year-olds don't know this always. They just think I'm not the president, I didn't get voted on for the president. That's okay. Take an initiative, right? And by the way, you don't just need to develop an app to be admitted to college these days.

There's lots of ways to show this. And sometimes that can be through research or a passion project or something like that. It doesn't always need to be so plus, plus, plus, plus. Sometimes that depends on the school. So, who really are you competing with and who is in the applicant pool? Because really, this whole process of developing yourself as an applicant can make a difference. Analytically, we see it because Caltech and you pan over 20% of their applicants from two years back who associated on their applications a passion project, some sort of portfolio that's artistic or musical, or some research. So, it is something that we work very hard at College Inside Track individually with the kids. Like, we don't want to do things just for college, right?

We want them to do things that they really care about and are passionate, and then help develop that within their, college or their high school years. What questions can I answer so far?

Cool. Continue. Because now we get to test scores, right? Love it. This is such an interesting thing. And truly, we do a lot of work on understanding the ins and outs of the test scores. Because that landscape has changed dramatically in a very short amount of time. Why did the test-optional happen? Some schools were test-optional or test-blind before the pandemic.

What's the reason that this happened? It's because so many test centers were closed. You couldn't go take a test. So, the only way that they thought was reasonably nationwide fair was to go for one full year for the majority of schools, not the Florida schools. They still stayed test-required, but the rest of the schools went to test-optional.

The problem is that then they were left with grade inflation and a lot of As. School like Purdue, waitlisted over 40,000 really qualified and A-grade engineers. 40,000, right? So, Purdue was one of the first schools to go back into a test-required, because they couldn't figure out how to get a class out of, you know, all these great grades.

So, what was your question a little bit like, why stop here? What was your question about the testing? So, what he asks is, what do you do if your child is just great grades, not great tests, right? And sometimes it can be the inverse. Usually, we see it, where they work really hard to get the grades, and for whatever reason test anxiety. They just don't necessarily perform well on those tests. Here is the word and the idea that has developed around holistic admissions. Right? It is okay. But once you have left a key data point off, you really have to work on the other data points, depending on the school.

Alright. Some schools just do a better job of being holistic and the front-end and other schools you have the opportunity then. It's grades you know, but what else are you doing? What else are you-community involvement, by the way, California schools are all test-blind. And they've been doing test-blind admissions for years. Right? And we know that, right? So, there's ways to elevate. But usually, it is about what you have chosen to do with your time. And then writing about that well. Alright, the writing portion of the application usually is about 40% that they're evaluating. Yeah. That so that's definitely a deep part of that.

It really is going back. So, it does kind of make that the opportunity for a child who did not do well enough on a test. But what we do is we kind of think about this very school and course specifically when we work with families, like you might not put that test into this one school because this one major, your test does not actually level up your application.

At some schools it will be fine, right? I mean, we always think it's like it has to be like above a 30, remember? Like an ACT of a 30, 31 is like the top 10 to 13%, right? Some schools that's going to be too low. So, just go test-optional. Does that work? It can. But you got to think about this super three-dimensionally. Super three-dimensionally. Go ahead.

They tend to be a little bit more willing to spend the time to do more holistic admission and consideration. So those other parts and pieces can make a significant difference. If the school has more on staff and they're holistic, that's just their mission and their philosophy.

And then super, like it is the medium size and the smaller schools. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So other trends that are within this, because we see these trends now impacting admissions, early decision showing your love for school a little bit earlier can help, right? And there's different ways to do this. Not all admissions kind of work the same, but there is only one early decision card that you have.

Does it matter at every school? No. Some schools it won't matter. Some schools it's a waste because they're too selective. Right? So really, it's like, how do we use this for our kid and do we even want to. Right? Some schools will benefit. Notre Dame benefits. Georgetown benefits. And I could go on with some of these statistics, but we definitely see that for some.

So, for some, understand that that can be a trend in necessarily the cost because you may not get the merit if you've declared that they are your one favorite. Right? They just don't need to necessarily give out as much merit if you've declared that you're the one. Okay. Direct admit if you imagine, like colleges love this, they'd love to take more kids.

Direct admit, it makes their job a little bit easier, right? If that, then they'd love to fill their classes that way. Choices of major. Fascinating. Some majors are just really more popular. Business is the most popular major, not computer science. I thought that was interesting. Business is the most popular major nationwide.

Okay, direct admit, some colleges, they will give direct admit into certain majors. Nursing is one of them. You don't have to go through the process of being pre-nursing or pre-business. Some schools allow you to go direct admit into their program. That's a real stress reducer on kids because they don't have to perform at such a high level as freshmen when sometimes grades and situations get a little bit wonky.

Good question. So, the question is how do they consider AP and Advanced Placement courses? When kids take those and then perform well. Right? A C doesn't really help you as much, even though it gets weighted to a B. Alright. It's a college class.

So, think about it that way. They don't really love the C when they're evaluating that. You do need, some schools, you are just competing with people that are taking multiple AP classes. Right? Understand some high schools, they don't even have this available to them for freshman year and some high schools only have like four available. So, it is not even across, high schools, you know, across America.

So, some though when you take it, they see that as you are going above and beyond, if you perform well on the grades, they see that you are potentially capable of the course load for college. So, that looks good, right? And then when you take the test at the end, it's a nationwide test. So, you have then proven your knowledge, your mastery against the other kids that have taken that class nationwide.

That's why it helps. You don't necessarily need 12 of them to get into schools. A school like South Carolina, you can knock off a semester, a school like Notre Dame, you just need all of those, and you're still going to have to take your regular 120 hours. There. Okay. Does that answer your question? Okay.

So, the opportunity really of another strategy is how the students use that essay and their activities list on the Common App.

I have heard admissions officers say, that grades and test scores, they're pretty set by the time you're a senior in high school. Right? Many of us see that. Like you're using your grades that you've already had. What can you still do? 40% is still within your ability to write about what you have done in high school. So, your activities list can be a huge benefit and something that you can still have control over last minute.

So, when we work with kids at College Inside Track, we're developing like and suggesting things that they do all the way through high school. Right? Talk about things that are important to you and the activities that you are doing. And again, how are you spending your time? What are the grades? Colleges want to know a little bit more about you, other than just your grades and your test scores.

Because really, it just gives them an idea of who you're going to be on campus, right? It's a wonderful opportunity. A couple other strategies here. Interesting. This is interesting to me. The ability to pay for college is actually a strategy. Those forms that you fill out. Yeah. Sometimes they won't benefit you in the need-based bucket. You're not going to get any money for college from colleges because we may make too much money. Understand that. But schools are not need blind. They look at these forms, sometimes there's an ability to have, just a benefit, because being full pay is attractive to a college. So, for some schools, this is actually something that we should consider and not automatically assume that those forms won't help us because we just don't see that necessarily across the board with the students that we're working with.

Balance list-so important, okay? Really the last thing to consider is that balance list, will include more than just highly selective schools, right? Also consider the fact if you have done this yet with a student, there is some psychological when that they have gotten into that first school. Right? So, it can be like a benefit to also just think about like what that feels like.

Both of my kids are like, I'm going to college, right? Like it's okay that it's not their first choice. You know, they do feel like that process, that big milestone that they've been working so hard for, that first acceptance is a big deal for them.

So, what we want you to do is really think about college as a long-term project. It is a milestone for your family, for yourselves, for your students. Your students have been working really hard on this, right? It is not too early to think about these kind of what classes should we take? What things do you want to participate in?

We don't want you to think about college every day. I'm not sure we really want you to think about college every week, right? There's like freshmen and sophomores in high school. Right? But to think about it occasionally and be a little bit more purposeful and like, bring down the stress a little bit because potentially you have a plan in place? That can be so freeing, right?

It really will reduce the stress in your lives. If you kind of think about it with that mindset, families that come and haven't done anything, but by the time they're seniors in high school, that's where you're in the hurry up offense and you feel like things are a little bit slippery slope. Right? So, when do we start?

I would say again, we want you to think about college every day. But sometime in that sophomore year, the idea of what are we going to do? What does our list sort of look like? What kind of things do we need to be involved in to broaden who you might be to, like, step into the world? Like, I think I want to go into medicine.

Well, is there anatomy class? Think I want to go into a business? Do you have AP macro? Micro? What math classes are you taking? You know, think about the course curriculum, course curriculum that you're doing in high school, right? I always say to people, there is a pizza or burger on every campus, go see a game, go visit, tour, take in like a musical thing.

And right, perfect things to do freshman and sophomore year, right? I don't know about you know, I think that's a lovely way to kind of start the process and then understand right fit. Lean in on that. Right. We definitely feel like that's a great launching point, not a landing pad, but a launch point for the discussions about what colleges and then understand, we very much feel that college really is a match to be made and not that prize to be won.

So, think about that in terms of how you relating to your kid, about what good schools are, what schools will really be right for them, and then consider me a resource. Right? I talk and go try it into detail, but I might have missed something. You may have questions for sure. In two weeks, right? So, reach out to your advisor that you are working with at William Blair.

And, as a team, we are more than happy to help you, more individually. But here at the end, does anybody have any questions on what I covered or, go ahead.

Yeah. So, there were some schools that have limited the amount of protests and have had, and I can speak for the two schools that my son has had. They have now areas where they're just locating them. They're attempting to do it that way. It is a challenge for these colleges. Right? To kind of be in both spaces.

So, I have not we have not seen the amount of protests that were in place, second semester last year. It's a little bit more manageable, anecdotally. Go ahead.

Yeah, yeah. So, this was my family, right? I had a kid that thought he was going to be in the MLB, and then he thought he was going to be D1. And then he was like, well, maybe I should be going to college for college and let the baseball go. There is a process really where you work with like a parallel list, right?

Here's the sports list. And here's if you saw yourself without the sports, what kind of schools do you see yourself? Through a little bit of time that typically works itself out. Sometimes that works itself out because, they're not getting the calls that they thought they would or they're not willing to put in the time to connect to the coaches on their own, right? Because if you don't, if you're not in an ID camp or at some sort of like a big tournament, you've got to reach out. Not every 17- or 16-year-old wants to do that. Does that help? Okay. Go ahead, go ahead.

Yeah. I love the streamlined approach to the Common App. It does, however, put the ease of applying to 20 schools where if you were doing individual application, individual education, let's be honest, you just, you're not going to do one, you know? So, I would say one could argue both ways.

Still love the streamlines. It really does help the kids, with their anxiety over all these applications that they're doing. It's a time saver, right? I would say that for sure. Because you're not having to put, like, what class you took down freshman year and the grade and the class and the grade and the class and the grade on every application. Go ahead.

So, this is a really good question. Kids are really stressed out about this, right? There are things that you can do in tandem that show your interest in a certain subject matter or major and can really help in admissions, you know?

So, it really kind of just depends. For sure. The arts, like, they want to know what you're doing, right? And sometimes with business, they want to see, like my son went into business hobby. His hobby of playing cards, they loved they wanted to talk about that and talk about, like, the game theory and like the quantitative and the assessment and then the so, sometimes that really can help, you know, get you in, if it's a capacity constrained major. Right? Not a lot of spaces. I would say some things that you have done internships. I talked to a family last week, up in Wisconsin. They're super concerned about the internships. I'm like, so few people have internships at 16 and 17. They just want to know what you've done. And is there like some sort of, similarity to your major in context that see your question?

Okay. Okay, okay. Thank you. Okay. We are pretty close to the end. So, if I did not get to a question or you think of something. I'm here at the knowledge center all afternoon. Right? Go ahead., of course. Yeah. Your advisor will have it. The team at William Blair has it.

I am more than happy to share that. Absolutely. And that's not the only presentation I have. Right? So, there's a lot of really good information. We are here as a resource. Right? That's one of the ways that we partner. So, okay. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Appreciate it. Thanks everybody.