More than GPA: Admissions counselors offer advice for college applicants
Senior year IRL unfortunately isn’t all LOL, contrary to popular High School Musical beliefs. Although we may share the same Wildcats mascot as Troy and Gabriella, our West kitties are struggling to find the same joys to sing about. College applications cause significant stress as 17 and 18-year-olds make decisions about the rest of their lives. Applications on the student end take endless hours of work to prepare, but this work doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Once we have everything, our system indicates to us that their application is complete,” Carroll University admissions counselor Marina Garcia said. “Admission counselors, including myself, will go through and read their application and their essay if they have one. We review their transcript and ACT or SAT scores if they submitted those. Then, we provide an admission decision.”
The number of people reviewing each application depends on the simplicity of the transcript.
“When we do have some tricky high school transcripts, they sometimes go through multiple different people,” Garcia said. “If we have questions, concerns, or a transcript doesn't look like how it should, admission counselors reach out to myself or my director to get more eyes on it. But typically, it's one admission counselor at Carroll looking at each application unless students have a complicated or confusing transcript, or they fall below a certain GPA.”
Admissions counselors at UWO, including Justin Stigler, look at all parts of each student’s application.
“We read everything in there, including the students' essays and letters of recommendation,” he said. “We take a look at the clubs and organizations. Are you working before school? Are you working after school? What are your family commitments? Then we start combing through your transcripts, and we start looking at your core units.”
Admissions is a little different at tech schools such as Fox Valley Technical College.
“When you apply to a four-year school, you apply to the school itself, and then once you get into your college, you apply to the program, such as the College of Business or the College of Nursing,” admissions counselor Aubry Tucker said. “Whereas at a Technical College you just apply straight to your program, so you don't necessarily apply to Fox Valley Tech in general; you would apply to business management or nursing.”
In terms of classes on transcripts, Stigler looks to see the rigor of classes a student is taking.
“Are you exhausting everything that you possibly can, or are you just in kind of a bare minimum to get through?” he said. “And maybe if you aren't, is there a reason because of those other things that I mentioned earlier? That's really that holistic approach of treating each student individually and not just a number based upon GPA.”
The process is similar at Carroll University, and officers consider classes as a part of the application process.
“One of the most important parts is the transcript, and the transcript has a ton of different things on it,” Garcia said. “It really lets us know what kinds of classes students take. We can see if they're challenging themselves with additional math courses or science courses. Or if they’re taking different AP programs or CAPP programs.”
Regarding specific classes, requirements depend on the area of study a student plans to go into.
“For example, if a student were going into Nursing, we're specifically looking for Biology, Chemistry, and Algebra 2,” Carroll University admissions counselor Prouty said. “We look to see if they've taken anatomy, physiology or medical terminology classes- stuff geared towards what they want to do in the future. Otherwise, we put a lot of weight on dual credit courses and AP courses.”
A display of passion is a trait students can exhibit that is attractive to admissions counselors.
“Tap back into that passion, so be excited for what you’re going into and be excited for the future,” Prouty said. “Carroll is a very philanthropic school. We like to give back to the community, so seeing a lot of volunteer opportunities or connections and clubs, that really makes people stand out.”
Asking questions is another personal trait officers like Garcia look for in applicants.
“I want students to be inquisitive and open-minded in terms of looking at all the different programs they might be interested in and all of the different options for programs,” she said. “There are some students that want to do double majors, and I want students to know that a lot of the time that's a huge possibility. I want students to know that if they’re not 100% sure about a major or a program that they want to complete in college, they don't have to make their decision right away.”
At Fox Valley Tech, Tucker wants to see students who are excited about what they’re going to be studying.
“We want students to be interested in the program area that they're looking for, and we want them to be driven,” she said. “In terms of applying, each program has a different requirement for entrance. Some programs might require skills assessments and some might require background checks depending on what type of work they're going to do.”
Prouty doesn’t want students to worry if they are undecided on their major because there are plenty of opportunities for students to explore their interests.
“You can take a career exploration class at Carroll that outlines different areas. They give you an assessment that highlights different careers you might be good at or what kind of values you want to hold in your future career,” she said. “It gives you practical experience as well as doing some deep diving into your own personal thoughts and values.”
Essays are usually a source of anxiety for students during the application process, and Stigler has read enough to know what makes an essay pop.
“Your essay tells your story. Your transcript only tells so much of the story- three years of here's who you are academically,” he said. “Your essay really is designed to fill in the blanks for students who aren't ‘slam dunks’. In some cases, your family dynamics change, and it's going to impact how you perform in school.”
Prouty encourages students working on their essays to tap into their passions.
“Focus on what brings you joy and what you're excited for the future,” she said. “What was a pivotal moment that really changed your life from that point on? What's motivating you to attend college? One thing after coming through the pandemic is that we want a little bit more than just saying COVID was tough.”
Essays can explain issues or complications in an application that might not be explained elsewhere.
“If a student has lower grades in a specific semester because something happened, whether it be medical or family related, I want students to explain that,” Garcia said. “The big purpose of an essay is to let students show admission counselors who they are, not just what's on their transcript. We want to see who they are as a person.”
Tucker strongly recommends applying to scholarships for students going through the college admissions process.
“In order to try to receive free money, scholarships and grants are there to help support students in need and to help you remove a barrier to an interest or a certain field that you're going into,” she said. “I actually received a scholarship when I was in college simply because my grandma was a dog groomer. So I recommend that everybody go out and apply to as many scholarships as they can.”
One mistake Stigler has seen plenty of times before in applications is responses to questions that don’t make sense.
“Because it's the same essay prompt, we will see a lot of kids cut and paste, ‘I can't wait to go to UW Whitewater and be a War Hawk’, and they applied to UWO,” he said. “We're not going to deny a student because of that, but we're going to laugh. A common mistake is just cutting and pasting something that doesn't even address what the actual question is.”
Those who haven’t reached senior year yet can still prepare for the application process beforehand.
“If I have a recommendation for juniors, it would be to get a lot of their applications completed in summer before their senior year,” Garcia said. “That way, when senior year arrives, they can have a really, really fun time and participate in athletics or music or theater or whatever it might be. And then my second biggest recommendation is to start looking into different scholarships right away as well.”
There is even more incoming seniors can do to get ready.
“Just keep focusing on your grades, and start touring colleges to see which ones interest you because each college offers something different,” Prouty said. “The more times you see colleges, the more you're going to see something different on campus.”
College admissions may define the next chapter of a student’s life, but admissions counselors at every school are there to help everyone through the process.
“Call us please, because we're not scary. College is a huge decision and deciding the rest of your life at 18 is scary in itself,” Prouty said. “It's okay to talk to people in college admissions because we want to help, and it’s not abnormal to not know what to do yet. Just know that every university is willing to reach out and help along with the process.”
by Abby Furcy
Published November 28, 2022
Oshkosh West Index Volume 119 Issue III