The inauguration of the College Admissions Case Study for parents, sophomores and juniors, was hosted by the Academic & College Advising Department from 6:00-8:00 p.m, May 21. With the guidance of the Mock Admissions Committee Program, attendees had the opportunity to step into the shoes of admissions officers with the guidance of admissions directors and officers from highly selective universities, such as The University of Chicago and Princeton University. This interactive opportunity focused on clarifying common questions regarding the college admissions process while parents and students evaluated three fictional applicants, and decided which would be accepted, denied or waitlisted.
Days before the event, Dr. Laurie sent a series of emails where those who wished to attend could RSVP to secure a spot. In his emails he shared more information about the event and what could be expected to learn from it. Dr. Laurie also asked attendees to arrive 15 minutes earlier in the gym, so that the event could start promptly at 6:00 p.m; however, due to confusion the event was delayed by roughly half an hour.
As parents and students arrived in the gym, they were greeted by various long lines where they waited to be directed to a certain room. Students wearing yellow shirts were dispersed around the building to help people understand what to do, but some of them were also confused.
“I asked a boy wearing yellow where I should go and he just told me to go up to the third floor. So I went up and I was told to go back down to figure out which class I had to go to. It was a bit of a mess,” Mrs. Loredane Feltrin said.
Around 6:10, college counselor director, Mrs. Ludy Joseph, told those in the gym that if they had completed the RSVP they did not have to stand in line, but simply had to find one of the students in yellow, tell their name, and they would tell them their room number. At the end, when all of those present had been directed to a room, parents were assigned rooms in the 2500 building while students were sent to the 2000.
When all attendees were finally located in their assigned rooms the case study began. Each room had a college admissions officer from a selective university, who would guide their class into judging three applicants with a new perspective.
“The counselor in the room I was at was from Boston College, and he helped us along the path of understanding the cases. He brought out some things we overlooked in how we were processing the information in each application,” SAT prep teacher, Mr. Oju Daniel-Kalio said.
Similarly, sophomore Aniya Melian stated that having someone walk her through the process helped her understand how to structure her application. “I have been a bit stressed with my extracurriculars at the moment, but after this I understand that colleges look for quality over quantity in their applicants,” Melian said.
Even though there were some initial complications, various students and parents left their rooms with a better understanding of how crucial quality extracurriculars are, what colleges look for in applicants and to discover strategies to properly convey the student’s personality through their application. For this event to be even more successful in years to come, a different strategy to organize the event should be taken into consideration. One solution would be sending an email with their assigned room number to those who filled the RSVP form as this would allow for a more organized experience for all of those involved.
Students and parents had the opportunity to meet with representatives from varying colleges to discuss the college admissions process, how they accept applicants and what unique characteristics they can find in students. (Photos/@americanheritagebroward on Instagram)
