The College Process: It’s All About the Journey, not the Destination.

By Chris Perlongo
Associate Director of Admissions
University of Vermont

The college process can be incredibly intimidating, and that’s coming from someone who has made a college admissions his career!  Whether you have already been thinking about college or are just starting to, it is hard to know where to even begin.

Here is the good news: you already have.

Your college process has already started.  Think about it.  Just by attending high school, you are taking classes in various subjects, are likely involved in at least one activity in or outside of school (maybe both), and if nothing else, are starting to have life experiences that will shape the narrative that will eventually become a college application.  

After all, that is all a college application is: your high school story.

Now, the story you tell will be up to you.  Over the next few years before you graduate high school, you’ve got some open space to work with.  What do you want us to read about?

Here are some tips to help you craft your masterpiece:

Own what you can control… 

When a college looks at your application, we look at everything from 9th grade on, so every year counts both in and out of the classroom.  This is where you get to be the writer.  What we see when we look at your grades, your activities, and your accomplishments is ultimately up to you.  What classes do you succeed in, and which ones do you enjoy?  Are you super-involved in a lot of activities, or like to be really focused on a few?  How do you give back to your community?  Actions speak louder than words, so consider how what you do in high school will influence what you want out of college, even if you are not sure what that looks like.  Exploration is what this process is all about, and you’ve got a head start. 

…and don’t worry about what you can’t. 

You likely have taken your classes virtually at some point in your high school career, possibly for pass/fail grades. Your activities might have been completely cancelled during COVID.  Even in a normal year, what colleges look for will change. Where you live, your family income, where your family went to school or if you are first generation to college…these parts of your story are already written.  Make the best of any situation you find yourself in.  Turn challenges into opportunities - resiliency and confidence are characteristics that every college looks for - but know that you can only do so much, and if you’ve done your absolute best, be okay with that.

Make this about you, not what you think we want to hear. 

We see too many students try to make their high school experience fit what they think a college is looking for, not what they want out of high school.  A large part of what high school is all about is discovering who you are and what you are interested in.  There are around 4,000 colleges and universities out there, each with their own communities and stories to tell.  So work hard and have fun while you create your own, and you’ll be that much more prepared to choose what college is the best destination for you to write the next chapter of your journey.   

We look forward to reading all about it!