Washington—Throw a rock in the air, and you’ll surely hit someone—an admissions dean, a high-school counselor, a parent, or a consultant—with strong opinions about what today’s college applicants think, want, and need. But sometimes it’s a lot more fun to let students speak for themselves. Here are some random thoughts from members of the College Board’s Advisory Panel on Student Concerns, which fielded numerous questions here at the organization’s annual conference on Thursday afternoon.
Dakota Kornicker, a senior at Hunterdon Central Regional High School, in New Jersey, on recruitment emails: “I love getting emails from your college, but I don’t like getting three emails in one day.”
Seo (Eva) Kim, a freshman at Harvard University, on how high-school students tend to think of admissions officers until they meet them: “As a mythical blob.”
Adetola Omilana, a high-school student at Xavier College Preparatory High School, in California, on why helicopter parents should buzz off: “They can’t always hold our hands … they can help and give advice, but they’re not here to hover over us and flock us. When they do, it terrifies us.”
Jarvis Gray, a freshman at Morehouse College, on adjusting to college life: “I’ve learned that it’s hard to be the big man on campus and keep up with your academics like you could in high school. It’s horrible.”
Christine Johnson, a senior at Cypress Lakes High School, in Houston, on recruitment mailings: “I find a lot of the stuff I get in the mail from colleges to just get in the way and kind of make me mad … even the short letters from deans saying ‘I’m interested in you’ didn’t really mean anything to me.”
Alexander Moskowitz, a senior at Cherry Creek High School, in Colorado, on the value of admissions interviews: “A personal interview shows students that you’re interested in them and that you’re giving them a chance.”
Anne Kaplan, a senior at the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, on colleges’ using social-networking sites: “Facebook is the last place I want to see a school.”
Andrew Hill, a freshman at Arizona State University, on how college-related stress affected him in high school: “In my sophomore year, I was hospitalized for heart palpitations … I guess that gave me perspective that maybe some things aren’t as important as sleep.”
