Humanize the University Application Process

Manage expectations

What is the image of your 'ideal self': what you think you should be, and your 'actual self', what you are really like? And when there is a gap between these two, what do you do?

The university application process is heavily lined with the comparison between the 'ideal self' (who gets into Harvard) and 'actual self' (who struggles with drafting a Common App essay). 

There is also a gap between the 'ideal decision' and the 'actual decision' 

• The theory behind the 'ideal' and the 'actual' is the self-discrepancy theory (read from a sociological angle).

When we manage expectations, we are decreasing this gap between the ideal self & decision and the actual self & decision. 

• This is why educating them about statistics (link to article) and why their image of the ideal isn't as perfect as they think (i.e. there is no 'perfect university') it is is crucial to helping student's well-being. 

Also, stress that it's okay not to know what you're going to study. That can help alleviate the stress of uncertainty and 'having to know'. Here's a ppt I showed to my students as part of a guidance lesson. 

Celebrate all achievements

The university application process is a culmination of various achievements that a student should ideally be celebrating/congratulating. 

• Unfortunately, the too substantial weight placed on the outcome (an 'offer' or a 'reject') has stolen the significance away from the very fact that putting oneself courageously out there is an achievement worth celebrating.

With your students, don't only celebrate the offers at the end, but celebrate each step of the application journey. Here are milestones possibly worth congratulating, in small or big ways:

• Coming up with a university list 
• Writing the first draft of a college essay
• Polishing the final draft of a college essay
• Putting together an activities list / CV
• Creating an application account 
• Sending off the first application 
• Sending off the last application 

Validate inherent self-worth

It is easy to tend to find one's worth in external factors, like university acceptances. 

However, as college counsellors, you are poised in an ideal junction to remind students to remind them that they are inherently valuable. An individual's dignity, worth, and value are not tied with external circumstances.

Adapting concept of unconditional positive regard in client-centered therapy may help you with this

•  If your student needs a reminder that human worth is unconditional, here is a nice summary in 5 axioms. Summary is as follows: 

Make University Application Process a Two-way Street

The university application process is often stressful because it feels like a one-way street, where only the student is trying again and again to have the university notice them. 

The reverse admissions movement counters this by flipping the tables. Through innovative platforms, universities can reach out to the students, giving students a confidence boost, increasing student agency, and putting new institutes on the horizon that they would have never considered before. 

Two reverse admissions platforms you should consider, and why: 

• Meto: Universities (that tend to be highly selective) can encourage your students to apply to them -- a confidence boost and a refining of application list! 

• Concourse: Universities (likely new on your students' horizons) put offers on the table -- a confidence boost and a growing list of new territories & solid safeties! 

Both platforms requires the students to simply fill out a simple profile and are completely free. If you're curious, here are contact info for 2 super friendly representatives. 

• Blake Thomsen of MĒTŌ: bthomsen@meto-intl.org 

• Rebecca Kelley of Concourse: rebeccakelley@eab.com