What should be (or not be) in this year's Chance Me template

[CC_Jon]

I’m going to try to summarize what I’m seeing in this thread. I’m certainly going to miss a few things, but I’ll try to hit the highlights. (This is turning out to be really long! Maybe not so helpful either?)

@Lindagaf

But as long as it remains a separate question in the common app, it will continue to be considered. Don’t think for one second that colleges are not absolutely factoring in this info.

This is a compelling argument. If we could say that race is a non-factor, I’d consider removing or downplaying it more.

@Lindagaf

It already says “optional” so I don’t see the issue. Maybe none of us LIKE this reality, but that doesn’t make the information uneeded. Perhaps a better option is to state clearly at the top of the chances forum that digressing into side conversations of race and gender are not allowed in the Chances forum and that such posts are subject to removal. As a user and a moderator, that’s what I personally would prefer.

Agreed. Not that people always read these things, but it doesn’t hurt to remind people.

@Mwfan1921

I strongly dislike the term ‘chancing’ because no one CC can accurately ‘chance’ students.

Agreed again. For better or worse, this is one of the primary things CC is known for. We have some language in that direction in the instructions, but it might help to reemphasize this point.

@thumper1

Maybe make “optional” bold face.

Good idea.

@blossom

I think we need to move Budget to the top, and to clarify “This is my parents budget and this is what the NPC shows”. The kids who think they are getting a full ride when the maximum merit award is 5K (or the college typically Gaps for need based money) seem to chew up a lot of energy on CC!

Moving it up to above Coursework seems reasonable. I’m not sure I understand what the difference is between what you wrote and what we already have. I want to make sure students have a clear idea what they need to provide.

@mynameiswhatever

I would also suggest using the exact options on the Common App for all three categories

I think there is a logic to this. But I also think we are trying to solve for the problem that students over-estimate the impact of these categories on their chances. Locking people into these limited options reinforces the idea that this is important.

@tamagotchi

Maybe it would help to have some guidance in the Chance Me template regarding the subject line of the post, specifically instructing posters to include the most important factors in the subject line, such as budget, primary academic stats, and desired major?

I’m not a fan of the subject lines students tend to pick but I’m not sure putting the stats in there will be much of an improvement. (Plus, I don’t think people will be consistent as we’d like!)

@DadOfJerseyGirl

Good to be inclusive, but I wonder if it makes a difference for admissions?

Agreed. Not sure we want to prompt for it since it opens up all sorts of worm cans.

@ucbalumnus

I would change this to the following, based on the frequency of certain types of followup questions based on incomplete information:

These seem reasonable. I wonder if it might help to have even more detailed instructions to link to?

@BKSquared

In Other Special Factors, agree adding “recruited” to athlete is important. I would also add “low income” using a figure of less than $65,000 household income as a cutoff. This can lead to suggestions on considering Questbridge, Pell and reminding them to use the net price calculator for seemingly expensive schools who offer good aid.

Excellent suggestions.

@BKSquared

EC’s: we often get a long laundry list of activities.

I’m looking at the resumes from students and I see this too. I understand the instinct (I’ve written that sort of thing in resumes too), but it’s hard to imagine the 5th most impressive award anyone has earned will matter in a selection process. I almost wonder if saying “top 3” or some such would be better.

@BKSquared

Essays/LORs/Other. Always thought self assessment of essays useless.

Makes sense. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a Dunning-Kruger problem with even asking.

@ucbalumnus

The reason why is that some student posters do not disclose their divorced parents until later, making many of the previous college suggestions and chances unaffordable due to an uncooperative non-custodial parent.

Oh. Tricky. I’m starting to worry that this template will be challenging to fill in with all the special situations we are trying to account for. I’m also reluctant to ask students about this. Gotta think about this one some more.

@Lindagaf

We users here on CC can help mitigate this by making students aware of realistic college options and giving suggestions of how to improve their applications. So many people just apply to the colleges they have heard of, or the colleges that their parents want them to apply to. There are hundreds of selective colleges that would love to have the students that make an effort to seek help here.

Yes! This is a useful perspective. Thanks for the reminder!

@mtmind

Perhaps there needs to be a template, format, or guidance for how one should respond.

I’m starting to think in this direction too. In some ways the value the community brings is asking questions the students hadn’t ever considered rather than any solid answers. Where there are solid answers (such as how to calculated GPA or what the requirements are for a Pell grant) it would be useful to collect those answers so we can link to them.

@mynameiswhatever

I had made a PM suggestion yesterday to @CC_Jon yesterday about perhaps using the CC college calculator (with appropriate updates/revisions) as the first step for the kids, and then, if they want, they could have the option of sending it to the Chance Me forum for more detailed analysis.

I do think there would be some value in that approach. I also think we’re going to have people wanting to post on the forums first. I don’t want to lock people out of the conversation if they don’t want to do the calculator. That said, I really like the idea of giving people who find us via https://www.collegeconfidential.com/ more ways to come to the forums. If they come better prepared to ask interesting questions, so much the better!

@AustenNut

It may not surprise others, but since the Chance Me template is up for discussion again, I’m going to mention the possibility of renaming Safety & Reach.

I tend to agree with @thumper1 's point on the other thread: it’s a much bigger problem to get all the other people who advise students to change these terms. They have a long history. (I considered George Mason my safety school because it was close and easy to get into. I think it’s become more selective since then.)

Ok. I’m going to take all this feedback and make some modifications to the template. I’ll try to post a draft to make sure I haven’t made any dumb mistakes.