Celebrate

May, whew. It’s here.

If you’re a high school senior or have high school seniors in your life, I’m hoping you have much to celebrate and are joyful after making your deposits.

If you haven’t gotten comfortable with your decision, maybe this will help.

And if you still have deposit deadlines coming up, make sure to reserve a spot.

A couple of thoughts this time of year:

• If you’ve put down multiple deposits, ask yourself what piece of important information you’re still waiting for in order to narrow your deposit down to one. If you can’t identify something important you’re still waiting for (financial aid award? something else?), then you’re procrastinating on making a decision. I know closing doors can feel scary, but you will have to make a decision eventually — you can only enroll in one place —  and it won’t get easier just by virtue of avoiding the decision.

If you’re procrastinating OR still waiting for an important piece of information, what do you need to make your decision? Hit reply and let me know!

• The chances of getting an offer off of a waitlist are very small. For everyone. In fact, the waitlist should really be called the wait-pool. It’s a pool of people that schools can dip into if they need to fill a spot anytime between now and orientation. Some colleges keep waitlists that are several times the size of the whole incoming class. Really. Their entire deposited class would have to be wiped out and they’d still have several times as many people in their insurance pool. (That’s over-insuring against the size of their risk, IMO. And the cost is stringing along a whole lot of young people whose hearts they will still break, just later. Pull the bandaid off already!)

What that means for you: It’s fine to stay on waitlists, but it’s best to emotionally commit to the school where you put down your deposit. If you receive an offer off of a waitlist you care about, that’s icing. Don’t put yourself in an emotional spot where you’re expecting it, or you feel entitled to it, or your mental state depends on it. I’ve also heard of some people who aren’t putting a deposit down anywhere because they still hope to get an offer from a waitlist school. Don’t do that. Put a deposit down to hold a spot while you wait for the waitlists to unfold.

• Not all schools had deposits due on May 1. Some did, but plenty of schools have later deadlines for deposits. The media love to focus on May 1 as “Decision Day,” but you still have options. And here’s a list of over 300 U.S. colleges that are still accepting applications.
• For colleges that had a deadline of May 1 (a Sunday — really, they should have moved it!), I’m hearing from colleges that that they received a bunch of deposits on May 2, the following Monday. That’s not necessarily a deal-breaker — some were still happy to receive your deposits — but it can vary from school to school, and some might have enforced a hard deadline, even though it fell on a Sunday. If you deposited after the official deadline, check in with that school to confirm that you’re still good to go. (And if you still have deposit deadlines coming up, don’t miss them. 🙃)
• And here’s a reminder not to sentence your child or yourself to mountains of debt. A college education should not be financially ruinous.

❤️ My Favorite Things This Week

📊 For data nerds, here’s a shiny new tool! According to EdSurge, individual colleges and university systems in 17 states have joined the U.S. Census Bureau’s new initiative that connects participating colleges’ alumni records to the Census Bureau’s Jobs Database records, which cover 96% of employment in the U.S. The new data connection shows the median income of college alumni — by major — one, five, and 10 years after graduation (depending on how far back alumni records are provided). The new data connection also shows the industries alumni are working in across the country. And if you thought a liberal arts degree makes you unemployable, think again. The data show otherwise. (EdSurge)

⁉️ Distribution requirements? Academic Affairs? Enroll? Major? Minor? Humanities? Probation? Registrar’s Office? I love this dictionary of higher-ed words that students encounter in college and that are new/confusing to so many. Thanks to learning disabilities consultant Elizabeth Cohen Hamblet for creating it. (Unofficial Explanations of Typical College Vocabulary)

📓 For Juniors, from our ‘52 Weeks to College’ blog series: