How to Manage Application Season & Snag Powerful Recommendations
November 25, 2019
Dear friends,
We are in the thick of application season and excited to already celebrate one student’s acceptance to Columbia Business School. Here’s to numerous more top choice admissions for our students in the coming months, be it to undergraduate, graduate, or boarding or independent school.
Our high school seniors are in an important phase, with Regular Decision deadlines looming January 1, and ED/EA notifications due around December 15. Needless to say, this is crunch time to get remaining supplements written; I commend those students who have all essays complete already. I should note that every year a number of spectacular candidates have to submit Regular Decision applications, even if their Early Application was superb. This is the nature of competitive admissions (I always say: All You Need Is One), so the lesson for all families is simply to have all supplements ready to go. We are also here to discuss the important calculation around ED2, which is great for some students but not for others. Contact us to reserve time on my calendar, or with our Director of Admissions Coaching.
This is the time of year when I am most inspired by 11th graders, who are in the thick of the toughest year of high school. For those of you putting in that incredible hard work, rest assured that you are not only elevating your story across our three paradigms for a fulfilling high school career, including in some cases SAT score increases of more than 500 points, but you are building incredible experience to cope with the demands of college. Impressively, some of our juniors are already done with SAT/ACT, having reached stratospheric levels, and we commend you. Most others are still at work—with tremendous wind in their sails. If by chance you are not yet started with your testing growth, I recommend you contact us right away to put a structured plan in place.
As our clients know, our focus on character is one of the keys to our having helped students earn admission to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, USC, U Chicago, and Cornell, among other great places. I discussed this focus on character last month with both Bold TV and CNBC.com, and I was pleased this month to publish an article with Grown and Flown, focusing on how to implement this advice via one’s Letters of Recommendation. For those students just beginning their applications, take heed—your letters of recommendation are an important indicator of both your academic and character story. There is still time to ensure quality on these if you haven’t already, including for candidates to graduate school—for which deadlines can extend as late as March—as well as to undergrad.
We’ve included another standardized testing problem of the month below, as well as nuanced advice for students at various stages, including high school underclassmen, graduate school candidates, and current college students. As always, families are welcome to contact us if you’d like to speak in more detail about your specific situation.
In closing, this is my favorite time of year: special moments with friends and family, alongside such inspiring progress taking place in our students, be they receiving word on selective admissions or finalizing superb essays and supplements to boarding school, college, or graduate school. This is all alongside so many students seeing hard work paying off in standardized testing growth. I wish all of our clients and friends a wonderful Thanksgiving and continued fulfillment in achieving your goals.
With warm regards,
Hafeez Lakhani
Seniors: Deadlines January 1
For those hardworking seniors on track to apply January 1, contact us to schedule a final review of your application materials, including your all important college essays and supplements.
For those who applied Early and who receive word of either a denial or deferral, not to worry: major opportunity awaits you, including potentially choosing an amazing ED2 school. Contact us to discuss.
The following responsibilities are high priority:
Finalizing powerful college essays: Our ultimate test for a strong application is as follows: imagine that we are admissions officers sitting around a table late in the afternoon. We must decide today on a pile of 500 student applications, all of which we reviewed on our iPads, in some haste, the previous week. The successful application will be one for which, when it’s time to discuss our student, someone at that table, even if tired, even after having discussed hundreds of candidates, will say: “Oh, Ella… She’s the one who…” It is our responsibility at Lakhani Coaching to help every one of our students uncover this absolutely memorable answer for herself—and to convey that answer through the college essay and essay supplements.
Wrap up testing: the following dates remain for this year’s applicants. Contact us to arrange some coaching to add icing to the cake.
SAT or Subject Tests: 12/7
ACT: 12/14
Finalizing your list: Contact us to discuss options for reach schools and best positioning to improve your chances, including strategic planning, such as ED2.
Recommendation Requests: if by chance these are still lingering, they need to be requested immediately. See my article in Grown and Flown to maximize the power of these letters.
RD planning for Early applicants: It’s important to note that Early application notifications—which can result in “accepted”, “denied” or “deferred”—tend to be released between 12/7 and 12/15. With most Regular Decision deadlines on January 1, we strongly urge students not to “wait and see” about their ED before beginning to think about what may be vital Regular Decision applications. If an Early application doesn't work out, that is just fine. All you need is one. In short, you should be ready, with supplements drafted for remaining schools should you need those applications. This is simply smart planning.
Resources:
Grown and Flown: How Your Teen Can Snag a Powerful Letter of Recommendation for College Applications
New York Times: How to Write a Good College Essay
New York Times: Considering College? Maybe You Should Invest in a Coach
Juniors and Underclassmen:
SAT/ACT: We are aware that, like any skill—a sport, a musical instrument—problem solving ability can be significantly advanced over time. No one would expect to “study all night” tonight and play a Beethoven symphony tomorrow. So why would anyone expect to give her best performance on a standardized test without a dedicated program of skills growth?
Amazingly, we have juniors who are already done with testing, sealing up scores in the 99th percentile and moving on to focus on academics and character. This takes nothing away from those still hard at work. To me, standardized testing is not about competing against others; it is about raising the bar for yourself, and having a plan to get there.
For those who intend to apply ED or EA as seniors, we aspire for SAT or ACT, and Subject Tests, where applicable, to ideally be complete junior year, so as to save fall senior year testing for icing on the cake. Even better would be to have summer and fall before senior year to dedicate to one’s character pursuits and early drafts of college essays.
National SAT dates this school year: 12/7, 3/14, 5/2, 6/6
National ACT dates this school year: 12/14, 2/8, 4/4, 6/13
PSAT/NMSQT: Scores will be released in early December, and if your result is humbling, not to worry. This is simply a starting point. The key to becoming great at basketball, for instance, is not focusing on how bad you were the first time you picked up a ball; it is committing the continued effort to become great.
The Long List meeting:
Juniors, if you haven’t already done so, this meeting will be important to:
Cultivate a tentative long list, which allows a student to:
Begin to evaluate preferences for region, size of school, public vs. private, offerings of majors, etc.
Consider target GPAs and SAT/ACT ranges for schools of interest—and move oneself in the direction of these goals
Begin planning for impactful college visits, which by Lakhani Coaching philosophy will be during the school year, during the week. Fall school holidays, February break, and spring break are wise to see a campus “in action”, including speak to students, visit classes, maybe even attend a varsity sporting event. The key is to go beyond the information session and tour.
Discuss ongoing efforts to cultivate a fulfilling high school career , including specific targets in Academics, Problem Solving ability, and Character—our clients will attest that these are the keys to success in admissions.
Resources:
Redbook: Help Your Kid Rock the SAT/ACT
Parents.com: Everything You Need to Know to Get Your Kid Into College
Graduate School Candidates: Applications are Open
Whether you plan to apply this fall or aspire to create a plan, including testing growth, to apply next fall, we are here to serve as advisors and coaches.
Business school: Round 2 deadlines hover around 1/1 and Round 3’s around 4/1. So there is time if you still working on GMAT or GRE—plan accordingly for skills growth, then make a plan with enough time to focus on personal statements.
Law School: rolling applications are open, with final deadlines just after the new year. If you are thinking about applying this fall, you should be moving toward completion of LSAT or GRE, to leave at least a month for work on personal statements and recommendation requests. Upcoming LSAT dates: 1/13, 2/22.
Other graduate study: it’s wise to get testing out of the way before finalizing a program list, making note of deadlines—which can vary from September to March, but often cluster around January 1—and working on personal statements and other components such as recommendation requests.
Contact us to discuss coaching to reach your goals.
College Students: Have a Plan in Place
Our philosophy around a fulfilling academic career entails concerted focus around academics, problem solving ability, and character:
Character pursuits: contact us to discuss topics from summer planning, internships and research initiatives, to maximize one’s impact on campus.
Employment planning: For those interested in consulting, investment banking, and other competitive tracks, we are here to serve as experienced interview coaches. Our students who land positions in these coveted fields plan ahead, including relevant research and internship roles in earlier summers to build one’s candidacy.
Mock Interview Prep: there is no better way to practice for an interview than by running through mocks and receiving feedback.
Consulting Case interviews: These require refined technique, including practice with mental math, estimation and process driven answers. Contact us to discuss a routine of practice with our expert coach.
Graduate school planning: It’s wise to have a plan in place well ahead of time, including relevant research, a timeline for standardized test preparation, and careful formation of target field types as well as ideal programs.
GMAT, GRE and LSAT: a brilliant strategy we’ve seen is 2nd semester seniors who intend to work after college using part of senior year to tackle GMAT, GRE, or LSAT, scores for which are valid in most cases for five years. It is much harder while working full time to dedicate effort to testing; why not tackle it while you are still in student mode?
MCAT: timing varies widely for when pre-med students are ready for the MCAT, but consider early junior year an important time to set a plan in place for preparation. Contact us to discuss a timeline as well as coaching options to reach your goal score.
Academics: For those who may be frustrated by grades below their goals, we are here as a resource, with MD/PhD level coaches for undergrad chemistry or physics; former Wall Street bankers as coaches in Economics and Math; and published writers as academic writing coaches.
Contact us to discuss coaching to reach your goals.
Boarding School and Independent School:
Most competitive schools require SSAT or ISEE test scores to be submitted with applications. It’s wise to schedule a test date from now, because as with any standardized test, skills growth requires persistence. A number of our students are already in full swing with coaching, alongside applications, essays, visits and interviews, which are now in motion. Independent and boarding school applications can be due anywhere from November 1 to February 15. Contact us to discuss test preparation, a school list, visits, and a detailed plan of action.
Resources:
New York Times: Considering College? Maybe You Should Invest in a Coach
Problem of the Month: ACT Science
Consider the following Science passage, including views of Scientist 1 (redacted) and Scientist 2:
Unmanned spacecraft taking images of Jupiter’s moon Europa have found its surface to be very smooth with few meteorite craters. Europa’s surface ice shows evidence of being continually re-smoothed and reshaped. Cracks, dark bands, and pressure ridges (created when water or slush is squeezed up between 2 slabs of ice) are commonly seen in images of the surface. Two scientists express their views as to whether the presence of a deep ocean beneath the surface is responsible for Europa’s surface features.
Scientist 2
No deep, liquid water ocean exists on Europa. The heat generated by gravitational tides is quickly lost to space because of Europa’s small size, as shown by its very low surface temperature (–160°C). Many of the features on Europa’s surface resemble features created by flowing glaciers on Earth. Large amounts of liquid water are not required for the creation of these features. If a thin layer of ice below the surface is much warmer than the surface ice, it may be able to flow and cause cracking and movement of the surface ice. Few meteorite craters are observed because of Europa’s very thin atmosphere; surface ice continually sublimes (changes from solid to gas) into this atmosphere, quickly eroding and removing any craters that may have formed.
Question:
Assume Scientist 2’s view about the similarities between Europa’s surface features and flowing glaciers on Earth is correct. Based on this assumption and the information provided, Earth’s glaciers would be least likely to exhibit which of the following features?
A) Pressure ridges
B) Cracks
C) Meteorite craters
D) Dark bands
Source: ACT.org
Click here to see the answer.