For the next crop of applicants: Adcom Nicknames

Parents Forum
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<p>One of the very first messages that I posted on CC (back on the “old” CC board) talked about my breakfast meeting with a neighbor of mine who was the Dean of Admissions at a very selective LAC (<30% acceptance rate). I wanted to know the tricks of the trade, so to speak. I wanted to repost a bit about that meeting because I think it happened with my son and his exceptionally competitive program that he got admitted into.</p>

<p>My friend outlined the process in a very simple way: Applications fell into one of three categories: immediate rejects, certain acceptances, and then the vast majority into the “Perhaps” category. He said that blowing the top off the SAT scores was grounds for consideration into the certain acceptance pile. If the 25%-75% range is, for example, 1250-1390 and your app shows up with a 1540, that’s grounds for placing the app right in the Acceptance Pile, ASSUMING THAT THE OTHER ATTRIBUTES ARE IN LINE WITH THAT SCORE (EC’s, Essays, GPA, etc). And in many cases, that’ll be the case. (Note: I am NOT talking about the uber-selective ones like HYPS.)</p>

<p>But, the vast majority of apps will be in the Maybe category and will be examined and discussed in more detail by the Admissions Committee. But he told me something kind of funny: That if the committee starts to refer to the student with a nickname of some kind, then he could almost predict right at that moment that an acceptance will come. For example, supposed an app from a female whose major EC was studying bats - going into caves to do population surveys, doing a science fair project on identifying bats by the frequency of their echolocation sounds, writing her essay on experiences with bats, etc. At some point, an admissions counselor might refer to her as “Batwoman.” The nickname would stick, and others would use it. When that happened, that was a very good sign. I guess that the nickname signified that here was a person with an unusual interest, or a unique skill, or some hook (small h, not “Hook” as we usually use it) that made them stand out from the other applicants. </p>

<p>I thought that was an interesting observation and could explain why consistency across activities and awards was good to show on an application.</p>

<p>And that came back to me when my son came back from his interviews as a finalist for the program he went into. There was fierce competition, but he noticed that the interview was more of a recruiting pitch, and he also mentioned that he already had a nickname at the school (as a result of part of his portfolio of films). When he walked in the door for the interview, the professor said, “Aha, so you’re the Nickname-Guy!” (I don’t want to use the real nickname). And when they were giving him a tour later, he walked into a room with some others and overheard them whisper (to each other), “Isn’t that the Nickname-Guy over there?”</p>

<p>So maybe there’s something to that advice. But I don’t know exactly how one could “engineer” such a thing. Maybe by tying together the activities and awards and essay. Maybe the first sentence to start the essay ought to be: “They started calling me ‘Batwoman’ …”</p>

<p>Thoughts?</p>

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<p>

Yes. My thoughts are that your final paragraph strikes a little too close to home for me to go into detail…</p>

<p>Let’s just say that when my wife introduced herself to the Dean of the college at freshman orientation, the Dean said, "Oh, you must be nickname-girl’s mom!</p>

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<p>Dig, perhaps I read your old post because I had the same thought regarding my D’s essay. Upon reading my D’s main essay, her GC, her English teacher, and an adult who didn’t know her all reacted with similar nicknames for her. She had written about a quirky trait she has which provided deep insight into her personality. I can only imagine that the admissions officer who read her file would have dubbed her “that girl who…”.</p>

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<p>Dig, this is a great post! Maybe kids in trying to understand really who they are at this juncture in their life can ask themselves “what nickname would I give myself?” What is my background, interests, what do I truly love? For example, though my son is a musician, oboe and composition, he saw himself as a kid who had spent his entire life on borders learning to cross them, physically, mentally and although he didn’t say it, spiritually. He wrote a musical composition about this in his junior year and his essay was based on this. Although music ran through everything he did, that was not how he saw himself. He wasn’t the musicman or the oboekid, he was constantly crossing the line.</p>

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<p>Digmedia, I agree wholeheartedly. It’s hard to discuss the concept of packaging, labeling, and marketing a teenager without sounding mercenary, calculating and callous but whatever we call it that’s exactly what the savvy applicant needs to do. Make him/herself stand out in a crowd of equally qualified kids. </p>

<p>There are a limited number of contact opportunities during the application process. Each is facet which hopefully assemble to make a three dimensional person. These include: statistics like scores and grades, essays that offer a window into the applicant’s world, face to face interviews, and third party recommendations. By the sum of these parts, the applicant must “sell” himself to the admissions committee “buyer” who has in most cases more motivation to say no than yes. (The episode of the Gatekeepers that really stuck in my mind was when the beleaguered reader’s wife padded by late at night, whispering “just say no.”) </p>

<p>Mercenary or not this process is very much like what marketers call branding. And, even if it’s unpleasant to compare a student to a tube of toothpaste on the shelf of Duane Reade with 199 others that will all clean teeth reasonably well, a strong brand identity is often exactly what’s needed to get off the shelf and into the shopping bag!</p>

<p>If the applicant’s handle is bright well rounded kid s/he sitting with a shelf-full of like BWRK’s. Some of them undoubtedly get chosen even by the most selective schools, but none jumps off the shelf. Time is crucial here. The applicant needs to make the adcom/shopper reach for his/her brand. </p>

<p>Having a clearly defined persona that highlights hooks, attributes, or special skills is exactly the point of focus that the applicant wants to achieve. My son for example was the Eagle Scout artist from Indonesia. His profile was a unique point of differentiation and was reinforced by all of the supporting documentation in his application (e.g. resumes, essays, recommendations). Most importantly his persona fit with the college’s specific needs and self-image. Again, this is a marketing ploy. Define what the buyer wants and needs and offer it, clearly labeled as such. </p>

<p>Caveat: The persona must be sincere and factual. I’m talking about highlighting and focusing on valid attributes, not making them up to fulfill a perceived need. In other words, no false advertising!</p>

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<p>Momrath, I agree with the marketing stuff, but this college application process is a growth activity for all if it is undertaken sincerely. Kids need to take a look at themselves, maybe for the first time in their lives. After my son did this, it helped him to grow further in seeing himself in the bigger scheme of things. So it wasn’t just a college thing to throw out at the end of the process. It has set him on a particular path.</p>

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<p>I agree completely. The kid’s got to develop the identity first, then present it. </p>

<p>I love what you wrote about your son’s relationship to his music. That’s the wonder of a liberal arts education: The ability of knowledge and ideas to ricochet off each other in an ever increasing spiral of self awareness. I think the colleges see the applicants’ personas as intellectual raw material receptive to development and expansion. </p>

<p>Potential to benefit from what the college has to offer is critical as is the potential to contribute to the college community. The label/profile can help the adcom focus on this potential.</p>

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<p>Momrath, I’m trying to help one of our Russian students in this process and was trying to explain this concept to her the other day. That give and take potential that you mention in your last sentence is important. Here is a student who is pretty good in everything and is looking to studying law. But she is so good in mathematics and science. Schools look for that. So on the practical level that she understands there she is: math, science person heading towards law.</p>

<p>But this isn’t the student that I know at all. So I was sitting there asking her questions like, what does she want out of life? How does she see herself and others? Where does she come from and where is she going…</p>

<p>I am only writing this to help all those others out there who are readers. Every single kid out there has got a role, a place, a contribution, a persona…and it is not what you are studying per se, or your gpa or your test scores. Those things may show something about you or not. That’s why schools ask you to write essays. It helps you to define your personal qualities; that’s why they want to see what you do outside of school. It helps you to define yourself.</p>

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<p>For many high school students, the application process is the first time that they looked up from their own everyday lives and assessed themselves. What do I like? What am I good at? What can I contribute? How am I different from other kids? Why would a school admit me instead of a similar applicant? Etc. It’s a distilling process for the student as well as those who consider each application. </p>

<p>So far this echoes overseas’ post, but I wanted to make an additional point.</p>

<p>The well-crafted application makes it easier for the groggiest adcom nightowl to “just say yes”. And let’s note that even the most wonderful application that represents the student beautifully and with full integrity, is still an application, a piece of paper. Interviews and visits and contact can literally flesh out the person behind the paper, but in the majority of cases, the college is making much of the decision based on the paper. As parents, I think we can do our part in reinforcing this with comments like, “her application was accepted” rather than “she was accepted”, or especially, “his application was denied” rather than “he was rejected” or “Princevard rejected HIM”. </p>

<p>And momrath covers some truly excellent points in just a few sentences. I think many kids would relate to the idea of providing nickname material, especially towards the beginning of the process. Nicknames…packaging…theming…whatever one prefers to call it, it’s different body parts of the same animal.</p>

<p>Recently, a college president or admissions dean (can’t remember the school) was quoted as saying that they look for applicants who “will milk this school for everything it’s worth”. I don’t remember the exact wording, and it sounds odd out of context, but the point was that they sought students who would take advantage of what the school had to offer.</p>

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<p>I think somehow intuitively I’ve known this but thanks for the thread confirming it, dig. We jokingly call D “goat girl” when talking about her hook for admissions (living on a ranch) because as part of her money raising activities she raises -you got it- goats. (Usually boer-nubian or spanish-nubian crosses. They are relatively care-free and easy keepers. And not many, maybe 4-6-8 a year. Still to a child $200-$400 a year ain’t bad money.) </p>

<p>She has also bottle raised orphaned animals of many species goat, deer, calves. I think she’d probably prefer to be called “deer girl” by the adcoms but I’m betting on the goat…but I guess it COULD be the tuba. Hmmmm.</p>

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<p>Digmedia - thank you for your post. I know I have been thinking about “packaging” my daughter’s applications in that way – focusing on a particular area of strength in her academics & EC’s, which I think is somewhat unusual. We’ll call that X. She also has an area of strength that is not so unusual – her dance training – and I had felt the difference between the two is that with an emphasis on X. the ad com might tend to refer to her as the X-girl - it is rare enough that they are unlikely to others, and certainly not on the same day. As opposed to dance – my daughter would never be “the dancer” in the ad com’s eyes, but rather “another dancer” – or “the eighth dancer we’ve seen this week” – and I felt that being “THE __<strong><em>" as opposed to "a </em></strong>” was part of the key to getting attention.</p>

<p>It is encouraging to read that your friend feels that the acquiring of such a nickname is almost a guaranteed ticket of admission – though I have to note that other comments seem to indicate that your friend’s observations would not apply to colleges deemed “most selective” - for example, schools that accept less than 25% of applicants. I do think that the nickname would help – but I don’t think that by itself would be enough to put things in an arena where there are probably a lot of kids with better and more impressive nicknames. That is, I think curmudgeon’s “goat-girl” will get the attention of a lot of ad coms… but maybe not be such a big help before an adcom that is looking at “the intel science winner” and “the olympic gold medalist” during the same week. </p>

<p>I also think that it’s very possible that ad coms sometime assign bad nicknames --related to negative things that become apparent in the application process – that probably could sink an application very quickly. I can see how that could happen unintentionally if the student fashions an essay about overcoming a challenge or an event that changed his life that unduly emphasizes some negative problem. For example, my son once wrote an essay about how he had learned from a situation in which he had not lived up to a promise to do his share of the work for a group project – in the essay he sees the error of his ways and comes through in the end, choosing to prioritize the group work over an individual assignment due in another class. But if some ad com saw it differenty and labeled him “the slacker”… it would not have been such a good thing.</p>

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<p>calmom, I had occasion this week to talk to a Penn Adcom in person (D thought she was very impressive, by the way so did I) and I asked this question which is sort of on point. Would D’s status as rural/ranch girl count for a diversity type little “h” hook at an urban school like Penn? ( I’m paraphrasing all of this.) She answered that it depended on whether she moved to the ranch last year from Highland Park in Dallas (not really but that was her point) or whether ranch life was meaningful in her development , her outlook, her “being”. D chimed in and asked “kinda like -Have I really raised sheep and goats since I was 7 for fun and profit?” The adcom said. “Yes. If it showed throughout the app that ranch life was meaningful-then yes, it could be a ‘hook’.” Seems to support dig’s post to me.</p>

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<p>Thanks, dig. And I want to add two points. </p>

<p>(1) A kid with a true interest can “stumble” on this approach without realizing it. Without- to my knowledge - consciously trying to achieve a nickname-worthy app, S probably ended up with one anyway. The combo of his activities, short and long essay just created that clear identity. His particular interest showed up everywhere in his app, but treated differently in each component,- so not redundant. Probably came up in his recs, too, altho we didn’t see them. I am not recommending the “stumble” approach; just to say that if it’s really there, it’s really there. The helpful part of your post is educating the coming crop to think about what it is and how to present it.
2) It’s not necessarily what the nickname-activity is, it’s how you write about it/present it. S could well have been characterized as “drummer-boy” by an adcom. Now, being a drummer is NOT a unique, hook type thing for a hs boy. But S’ short essay “why this EC is important to me” began to give a real feeling for who he was (ie, not a brag piece but a true “what it means” to me). His main essay was not ABOUT the drumming, but plunked the reader into a performance setting with him and went from there to show some real insight into who he is, how he sees the world… A reader of that essay knew a Person when he was through. </p>

<p>I’m concerned that newbies reading this will despair if S/D has not climbed Mt. Everest or equivalent and thus cannot achieve the desired Nickname status. Now, maybe at HPYS (S was not a HYPS-driven guy) you’ve got to have that “X” unique activity as calmom described, rather than the Y (=dancing, drumming…) that many others will have. I’m not sure, but my key point is that it’s not only the what, it’s the how you use it in your application.</p>

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<p>This is a great thread : ) I’m wondering… I’m passionate about my ec’s but they’re really nothing special or earth shattering (student rep to the board of ed, getting various programs like IB and science research up and running at my hs, district curriculum council, All State/ All Eastern voice, Gov School Intn’l Studies, harp). I’m very committed to them, but I’m sure there are tons of other kids with similar ec’s. How do I highlight these in a way that makes them different? I have a very good sense of who I am as a person; kind of like your son, overseas, I see myself as someone who’s kind of always been on the outside looking in and who is finally ready to jump in and be involved and engaged. Should I bring this out more than my ec’s?</p>

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<p>ladylazarus, you might get to be “harpie” ;)</p>

<p>I agree with the nickname concept in broad strokes, but I bet it is frequently something out of the essay or some other tellling detail about the kid that provides a memorable handle to ‘shorthand’ a kid when talking to other admission officers. A kid who is not impressive can deliberately offer a very catchy handle but nobody will want to grab on to it.</p>

<p>For example, I saw a good essay in a book of essays about working at a donut shop-- Think it might have been called “Adventures as Donut Boy”-- so “Donut Boy” would have been a no-brainer nickname for this kid (though it probably had nothing to do with the kid’s ECs/academic passions) but this handle would happen only if you loved his essay.</p>

<p>I suspect just having anything unique and memorable about you shining through in your app is better than the formulaic hitting of the “I play trombone” note 15x in your app. Over packaging IMHO can be death-- the kid just looks like a sterile bore.</p>

<p>For example, they must get hunderds of “soccer girls” but the one soccer player they will remember might well be “pink hair girl,” or “flat tire girl,” or “sister number 7” or any other little quirk that stood out; maybe not at all related to the dead-center main EC.</p>