Parent of a public high school student (class of 2022).

Father of student at a public high school (class of 2021)

Mother of an independent school student (class of 2020)

Parent with a daughter (class of 2019)

Parent with a son (class of 2018)

Parent of a high school senior (class of 2017)

Parent of a high school senior (class of 2017)

Mother of a senior, class of 2016

Father of a senior, class of 2015

Parents of a senior, class of 2014

Mother of a senior, class of 2013

Tutor, regarding a client referred to David Clark, class of 2012

Mother of a Senior, class of 2011

Senior, class of 2010

Remember, placing an applicant on a college’s Admissions Wait List, is a tool of enrollment management which serves the college’s interest, not yours.

The Good news. The admissions office is working to keep you from selecting another college.

The bad news: You are unlikely to get a precise estimation of your chances of finally getting accepted. How a college uses the Wait List changes from year-to-year.

What should you do if your first-choice college puts you on the Wait List?

First: Make your case.

Show strong interest by saying “Yes” to the Wait List offer.

Update the Admissions Office with your third & forth marking period grades, any Honor roll or other awards and anything new since the original application was submitted.

Second: Explore other options.

Assume you will NOT be moved off the wait list.

Don’t forget: Wait List, is a tool of enrollment management which serves the college’s interest, not yours.

Why not strengthen your resume and college application and follow an interest or passion?

Church youth group mission trip? Tutoring underserved middle school children?

Vacation time, properly used, can be a time for fun, which will also be rewarding. You may find something which, later in your high school experience, will help your college application stand apart from the competition.

Consider an on-campus program at a college/university. Foreign language immersion? Model UN with a renowned International relations professor? Soccer camp with the coach of a Division One program?

No luck? Another possibility could be the summer programs offered by elite New England independent boarding schools such as Northfield Mount Hermon (Ma) and Phillips Andover (Ma). They each offer demanding college level work in six week on-campus programs.

How will this help you get into the college of your dreams? It may not. But college admission is very competitive; more than three million students will graduate from high school the same June you graduate.

A strong focus during the summer months will help your application stand out.

Don’t’ despair.

There are openings.

Don’t forget that many colleges may not have spaces for the fall until well into the summer months.

How to find these schools? Start at the National Association of College Admission Counselors (NACAC) “Space availability Survey.” Each May NACAC member colleges/universities report on the availability of openings for the fall semester. The survey is updated regularly.

Check out the survey (www.nacacnet.org), do your research, and then make contact with the admission office of a college/university that interests you.

You may find that nothing is available for the fall but limited space can be found starting in the January semester.

There is a good chance that you will learn of terrific opportunities you didn’t know existed.

Each June I give my graduating clients a gift. The gift is always a book and, yes, it is always a hard-cover edition. “Congratulations” on a job well done and “Good luck” moving forward with your life. It is an exciting time.

This June my gift to each client was a copy of COLLEGE SUCCESS GUARANTEED: 5 rules to make it happen by Malcolm Gauld (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers). The author - an experienced high school counselor - gathers tips from recent graduates and current college students.

His suggestion? Be active. Be engaged. Do. Listen. Observe. Participate. Did you know that the single, strongest variable predicting academic success in college is GOING TO CLASS? You can do it.

Get involved outside of class, too. Join a club. Play on an intermural team. Tutor local kids. Gauld’s “Rule of 168” proves that it is possible to enjoy college and do well academically. (hint: “168” is the number of hours in a week).

This June’s gift book could have been HOW COLLEGE WORKS by Chambliss and Takacs. (published by Harvard University Press). Professor Dan Chambliss headed a study funded by the Mellon Foundation to find out Why some college students succeed and others do not. The conclusion? Make a connection. Perhaps with a professor. Possibly with another student in your major. The importance of belonging. It helps learning.

Embrace the college years. You are no longer a child but not yet an adult. It is an exciting time.

Next month’s The David Clark Advantage posting? How to make the most of those college fairs for high school seniors.

The College “Fair” experience is as much a part of the landscape of the college search in America today as is unsolicited email. You know all the ingredients; a cavernous and impersonal facility, rows and rows filled with representatives of college admissions offices both near and far; and hundreds of high school seniors brought in by school bus.

There is little doubt this “shopping mall” approach to the college search serves the interest of the colleges more than it does the students and families. When you leave, you’ll have a plastic bag with a college’s logo on it filled with glossy publications that will almost certainly end up in the same place the unsolicited literature you get in the mail.

If your hope was to gain a bit of knowledge and possibly reduce your family’s college search anxiety a bit, think again. Too much information will end up being just as stressful for you and your parents as was not enough information.

Let’s make the college fair work for you!

Step one: Before the college fair.

Have a game plan, a strategy, before you go. Do some research. Find a list of the colleges that will be attending and spend some time sorting through that list. Any that you have already identified as a place you have an interest? Any new-to-you that match what you may be looking for?

Step two: During the college fair.

Be sure to find the booth of a college you highlighted in your “Before” research. Stop at each college’s booth and introduce yourself to the admissions representative. This is not the time to ask detailed questions but it is a good time to show interest and to make contact with the college’s regional representative.

Step three: After the fair.

Intensify your research. On line? Whether it be the College Board’s “Big Future” website, a website offering student insight like “niche.com”, dig a bit deeper.

Remember, be an educated consumer now, when it matters. You’ll be glad you did.

Each year, more than one million college applicants take one or the other, and sometimes both. The differences between the two - the advantage of taking one versus the other - have mostly disappeared in recent years.

To drive this point home, in today’s world of test-optional college admission requirements, most college admissions offices will accept either. Both are challenging and a savvy high school senior would be wise to do some preparation and practice before taking either test.

It is a mistake to take both in the hope that lightning will strike and you will do significantly better on one test. You are doubling the stress and anxiety for little real impact on your application.

What about not taking either or simply not submitting test scores at all? I suggest a more cautious approach. Take one, the SAT or the ACT. If your scores are at or above the average of all applicants where you are applying then include the scores in your application folder. If not, simply do not submit.

Your high school GPA is a better predictor of how you will do in college. Put your energy there. But a solid score on the SAT or the ACT can do nothing but strengthen your application.

Plan ahead

Do some research. Most applicants to a college do not visit the campus before applying. That should tell you that scheduling a visit certainly will not your chances of being accepted, and it may help. It is called demonstrated interest and some colleges track campus visits very carefully. Think about it. If you are looking for scholarship assistance a campus visit should be a requirement if you expect to be considered for any sort of financial aid or merit scholarship.

Do some research part two - Know a bit about the school before you visit. Most popular major? Where are most students from? Popular dining hall on campus? What is happening on the weekends?

Be smart

Don’t do more than two campus visits in a day. Enjoy it. Learn. Say to yourself, “Can I imagine myself as a student here?”

Take your parents along.

Ask tough questions. Ask how the campus deals with alcohol abuse and underage drinking ( maybe have a parent ask that one). The answer will tell you a lot about the college’s non-academic life.

Be realistic

Your tour guide is trained. Their comments are scripted. They’ll walk backward for much of the tour. Nonetheless, be a savvy consumer. Look, listen, learn. Ask questions.

In most cases my recommendation is “No.” The application deadline of November 1 requires that test scores and GPA come from the end of the Junior year in high school; very early for a young person to make a decision on a school that she will not attend for another fifteen months. Getting a decision on your application before the holidays is a huge plus, but don’t forget that if accepted you must drop all other applications. You are obliged to enroll in that school. The only situation in which I suggest applying early decision is if that school is your CLEAR FIRST CHOICE. Your dream school. Yes, that may help your chances of acceptance. The college’s admissions committee will see from you a strong commitment to attending that college.