RowCollege

Do You Need to Interview in the Admissions Office?

Going to the campus of the college you are considering and having an interview can be very important part of your college application process. The interview is an excellent way to highlight areas about you that go beyond your test scores, college admission essay, and application materials.

However, do you need to interview in the Admissions Office? Are there other ways to get an interview? That all depends.

My school requires an interview on campus in the Admissions Office, however, like other schools they make exceptions. For example, a visit to campus and meeting with the rowing coach is a suitable substitute for a visit to the Admissions Office. And at some schools interviewing with selected alumni or other college reps in your hometown or close by to home, especially when distance from campus is an issue, can be substituted.

Yet, if you are considering either of these two options there are two questions I would prompt you to ask:

1. If I don't have an interview in the school's Admissions Office, does that count against me in the admissions process?, and
   
2. Will interviewing with a rowing coach or a rowing alumni give me answers to the questions I need answers to?

The college's Admissions Office is the best source for an answer to question #1, and if you think that you might be a borderline candidate then make sure you do contact the Admissions Office for their answer.

For question #2, you and your parents/guardians are the ones who can best answer it. This is especially true if you think you will require financial aid to attend the school. In some instances, such as in NCAA Division III member institutions, rowing coaches are not permitted to be involved in the financial aid process at all, and therefore may not even know details that you might need.

So, sorry to tell you that there is no straightforward answer—it depends on you and your situation. However, before you do decide to interview make sure that you have connected with the Admission's Office to get their outlook.

After all, in the end they are the ones who will be making the final decision about your application.

5 Clues From a Smart Boathouse Tour (part 2)

Here we go again looking for clues at the boathouse that might give you insight into the program you are considering . . .

Oar Handles

The third clue to seek out is the condition of the oar handles. When you have a moment wander over to the oar rack(s) and check out a few of the oars. How are the handles? Good condition, free of dings, dents, and damage? Or are they beat-up, and need of repair?

It makes a heck-of-a-difference what their condition is when you are rowing with them. Bad oar handles can make your rows miserable. If you see bad ones that might be something to put on your list to ask the coach about later.

Boat Names

The next clue may well seem silly even to consider, but give it a shot. Ask where the names on the boats came from?

The logic here is that if the names are to honor someone, say like a person who rowed in the program then went on to become a famous astronaut (US Naval Academy has an "Allen Sheppard" eight,) then that is a nice honor and  is a clue to tradition and success in the program. Or, if it is named after a significant donor, that may indicate good financial support.

However, if the name is for something like a movie or a TV show that the rowers watched one weekend, well . . . that shows a wasted opportunity to honor someone. [Unless, of course, the movie is a fantastic one like "Oxford Blues." Yup, I am joking].

Display Area

The final clue to scout out is basically this, is there an award/trophy display area? Is there a place where honors, such as All-American plaques are placed for all to see? If not, ask yourself, "Why?" Possibly they are not at the boathouse, but instead at the Athletic Department. Maybe there are no honors to display. Again another clue for you to dwell on.

Five clues (tracks, bathrooms, oar handles, boat names, display area) that may give you valuable insight into the program and school you are considering.

If you look around, the boathouse just may be talking to you.

13 Musts on Your College Visit

Visiting a college campus can be  daunting. Thoughts about "Getting in," "Will I like it," "Distance from home" all can distract you from getting valuable information on the visit that can help with the big decision.

To help, here is a list of what I recommend as 13 steps you really should do on a visit.  As you will see they are basic, but so often prospective students forget to do a number of them.

1. Take a campus tour.
2. Have an Admission's interview.
3. Attend a class of a subject that interests you.
4. Talk to a professor in your chosen major or in a subject that interests you.
5. Talk to the rowing coach.
6. Read a student newspaper.
7. Eat in the cafeteria (very important for rowers).
8. Hang out in the library and see what it's like.
9. Ask student-athletes what they hate about the college.
10. Ask student-athletes what they love about the college.
11. Browse in the college bookstore.
12. Ask students what they do on weekends.
13. Tour the boathouse and waterfront.

It doesn't mean that your visit cannot be a success if you do only a few, or even just one of these steps. However, each step will give you just a little bit of information that when totaled together can help paint a picture of whether this college is the right choice for you.

One word of warning, preparing ahead is so vital to making a college visit successful. For example, often Admission offices are scheduling visits days, if not weeks, ahead. And rowing coaches are rarely just sitting around their offices waiting for prospects to knock on their doors. Planning is critical to getting the appointments that you need.

Thirteen steps . . . may seem like a lot. However, you are looking at making a huge invest of time, money, and effort by attending a college. It makes insuring it is the right choice for you a necessity.

Next up, I'll discuss 5 things you need to do during a boathouse visit.

 

Should you "overnight" on a college campus?

               . . . yes . . . and no.

Let's go with the "yes" for a moment. An overnight, when done right from both your end and the institution's, can offer a wealth of information. It can be revealing. For example, on an overnight some of the areas where you might have some very interesting and informing experiences are:

• dorm life
• cafeteria food
• class room atmosphere
• social priorities and campus life
• practice

And these are just a few.

An overnight can certainly give you a much greater insight into the institution than just an Admission's interview, campus tour, and coach visit. An overnight can give you the time to be on your own a little bit on campus. Go to the library, what is going on there? Vibrant academic life, or dulls-ville?

Walk around a few of the academic buildings. Know what you want to study, or major in? Go to that building, floor, or area, and look around. Read the bulletin board.

Talk to students, and student-athletes. Find out what goes on on campus. Be nosy.

Parents should also spend an overnight in the town at a B + B or motel. This way you can get a community perspective of the institution, and a feeling if it is a good place to make a large investment of time, effort, and money.

When I was looking at colleges after high school, I took three overnights. I knew immediately which was the right school for me, and which were not.

However, an overnight might not be the right choice for you if:

• a practice or regatta schedule conflicts
• there are other time conflicts (arriving too late to attend classes or practice)
• your parents are opposed to it
• your coach is opposed to it
• you don't feel comfortable or safe taking the overnight
• student hosts are not trained or don't seem responsible

Overnighting on a college campus is an event you should take seriously, and safety should be yours, and the institution's top priority.

If you do decide to overnight keep in mind that all overnights are not the same—different schools do things quite differently.

When we recruit, we suggest an overnight visit after a recruit has done an initial campus visit of an Admissions interview, campus tour and meeting with myself or one of my assistants. We only allow prospects to overnight on a week night, or a Friday. Saturday and Sunday are out. We also training our hosts on how to run a safe visit and help the prospect find answers to his or her questions.

However, many schools do not allow overnights, or restrict them in different ways. I strongly encourage you to have a serious conversation with your parents, and coach before you think about an overnight.

It might be a good decision—it might not.

Construction on Campus, What Might It Mean?

You're on a campus tour, and suddenly you have to stop and wait as a bulldozer goes by. Five minutes later you are hopping over mud puddles and weaving through chain-link fence. Cement mixers surround your car in the parking lot and workers with hard hats are everywhere.

Your tour guide is not fazed at all. In fact, she is smiling.

What does she know that you don't?

                                                Sites like this on a campus tour—good or bad?

What It Might Mean

One reason your tour guide might be happy walking through mud and dodging heavy equipment is that at the other end of all that work and inconvience might stand a new science building, or gym, or academic building, or who knows what.

What all the mess could very well mean is that there is a positive future on the campus, and people who are planning, and spending money to make it a better place.

The mess can be a big hassle. But wouldn't you rather go to a school that is building to improve?

Isn't that why you go to college?

The mess above may turn into this.

Gather Great Insight About a College in Three Easy Visits.

Often it can be difficult to filter out the information you really want about a potential college or rowing team. Flashy brochures, smooth recruiting pitches, DVDs, and open houses can all give solid info. But is it what you really want to know?

Key, critical information, such as cost, class size, location, majors, etc. is certainly easy to find. But what about the information that will make a huge difference to you over a four year period. I'm referring to such items as:

• Quality of campus food: certainly of major interest to any rower
• Attitude of faculty and general student body towards athletes: are they supported, ignored, hated?
• Relationship of coach or coaches to the athletes: are the coach and athletes on the same page, working well together?
• Chemistry of the team: how well does the team function as a team
• Dorm life: lively? lovely? awful?
• Leadership on campus: respected or despised
• Work ethics of students

How do you get this info?

I often recommend to our recruits the following plan. It entails three visits, [This plan may not work if distance or time are issues.]

Visit #1: General Campus Visit.
A tour, interview, and meeting with a coach can tell you a lot, and quickly. The focus is to get an overview and feeling for the school. Ask questions and listen. Really listen. This visit can certainly happen during the summer, when many campus visits do occur.

One tip, on your way home, a few minutes after you leave campus, listen to your gut instinct about whether you want to find out more about the school, or whether you should pass, and look other places.

Visit #2: An overnight stay.
Stay in a dorm, eat campus food, go to a class, sit in the library, talk to athletes and students, see a practice, go to the boathouse.



Strive to really get a feeling about what goes on on the campus. You are looking for important items, that usually aren’t in the brochures. Again ask questions, and take notes—not just in class, but whenever something good, or bad, gets your attention.

Visit #3: Off campus.
Go to a regatta and watch the team. Step back and try to view all you can about the group. See if you can gather insight into such things as:

• How the team interacts with each other
• Organization
• Supporters
• Results
• Team reputation
• Team performance

This three visit plan certainly won’t work for everyone, but for many it does yield valuable information about an important part of their future life.