Bridging the Gap

The College Search Top 10
Vicki Engelhart-Thompson, dean of college counseling, and Chancey Thompson, associate
dean of college counseling, offer their advice for college applications and research.
1. Look for the right school, not the
“best” school.
CT: “Throw away the U.S. News and World Report
rankings. A lot of it has nothing to do with the
undergraduate experience.”
VT: “Consider women’s colleges — keep them
‘on the radar’!”
2. Be well-lopsided.
John Gaines, director of admission at Vanderbilt
University, had that advice for 9th and 10th grade
students when he visited this fall.
CT: “‘Well-angled’ or ‘well-lopsided’ is just as good as
‘well-rounded,’ sometimes better.”
VT: “Students don’t have to take the most rigorous
course in every track to be competitive.”
CT: “Depth is more important than breadth.”
3. It’s not about the name.
VT: “A good college education can be gained
anywhere — it’s what you make of it.”
4. Think about costs.
CT: “If it’s your goal to go to medical or law school, to
graduate school, choose your best financial option
at the undergraduate level.” Many schools have
honors programs and other opportunities for
smaller classes and more intensive study.
5. Plan your conversations.
VT: “College is not all that families should discuss
during Senior year. Make a plan for how you will
communicate about the college application process
and stick to it so that it doesn’t overwhelm family time!”
6. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
VT: “Use the Common App. It’s your best friend.”
In August boot camp, “we walk them all the way through
the Common Application,” an online application that’s
accepted by 400 schools. The essays will differ for each
school, but this eliminates a lot of repetition in the other
parts of the application.
7. Love your college list.
VT: “A student should be happy to go to any of the
colleges on her list.”
8. Testing is not the be-all and end-all.
VT: “If you don’t test well you will still go to college.
Many schools have started to weigh testing less in
their consideration of students for admission.
Check out fairtest.org.”
9. Visit, visit, visit.
VT: “College visits are very important to the development
of a college plan - you really can’t picture yourself
in a place without going and experiencing it. Take a tour,
sit in on the admissions presentation, ask questions of
your tour guide, eat in the dining hall, attend a class if
that is an option!”
10. “Keep calm. We got this.”
CT: “We don’t teach - we’re fully focused on the kids, on
getting to know them. We build a lot of check points —
they’re not going to fall through the cracks.”
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