the Sam Jackson College Experience

I will keep this short and focus on the content here, folks, because it’s amazing. A few years back I wrote an angry letter to Yale Dean of Admissions Jeff Brenzel for not being forward-looking enough with the admissions office. I will soon have to draft him a letter of congratulations for his support of this great  student-led, student-created effort to create a fantastic Yale admissions music video. Much of what I’ve ever said on the blog about engaging branding and effective marketing comes together here in one fell swoop. More analysis of this later, and praise for the enterprising students who developed the video. For now, have a look and share your comments! You won’t regret it.

Congratulations to those of you who were admitted; I hope that you will matriculate and join me here in New Haven. To those of you who were waitlisted: take a breath, consider your other options. Along with those who were rejected this afternoon, it is important to remember that the dirty secret of college admissions is that almost universally, everyone is happy wherever they end up, and the choice of college neither defines life course nor undergraduate happiness in most respects. You make the experience your own, and it doesn’t matter where you do it so much as how ready you are to take the opportunities before you.

I would especially appreciate it if you many lurking readers who have been reading my blog at one or another time during your application process – to Yale or elsewhere – came forward and said hello. If you got into Yale and have more questions, please comment or e-mail me — one wonderful reader just did, and will get an adoring mention in an upcoming post as a prize. Whether you are Emma Watson or just some other person who was accepted, I am happy to answer questions.

And, just because you didn’t get into the college of your choice, be it Yale or somewhere else, please don’t log off and stop reading – I really appreciate more voices in the conversation about college admissions in general, so please stay and share your thoughts, experiences, and feelings.

[See also what I wrote last year, essentially the same but with a quote from another Yale '11]

It’s that dreadful / wonderful time of year again – finals season, but more importantly, the time when early admissions decisions come out. Last year I borrowed a post from a friend to explain why, whatever happens, there is life after early admissions (and regular admissions, I might add). This year, I’ll take a moment to write my own, though I’ll keep it short. This applies to Yale, but any other school, too.

Dear High School Senior,

I was once where you are right now. Thankfully, the pain of waiting has faded some in the last two years, but I can remember it. More importantly, I have a bit of experience surviving it and know many others who did, too. Parents, teachers, guidance counselors and others might bore you with platitudes, but really, I can’t say enough that the world isn’t over if you don’t get into College-of-your-Choice today. If you do, fantastic! I’m really happy for you, and you should be really proud – but don’t give up on High School just yet, either.

Either way, take a breather and relax a little, but don’t slack off too much – remember that some point down the line you might want to take use of the things you are ostensibly learning in class, even if you think chemistry / english / physical education is pointless. If you didn’t get into First Choice School early, relax — many schools use their early rounds to snap up athletes, legacies, and other students, which is part of the reason admit rates are higher – what’s more, although some schools recruit really heavily early, others try to balance this more (MIT, for example, basically caps their early round). Regular decision is still when most people find out.

So, here’s the deal: make sure you get in all your other applications, and you know, even if you do get in early, it doesn’t hurt to go for a few more — you can use other acceptances to argue for better financial aid (something I wish I was able to do). Most of all, though — and this is true whether you are accepted / rejected / deferred / waitlisted at any point in the process: the dirty secret of college admissions is that people are, in general, extremely happy wherever they end up. It’s true. There is little statistical difference in happiness. If you hear people bemoaning their sad fates, that’s because they’re the token few–most people are too busy being happy to come out and tell you just what a good time they’re having.

So… those are just a few thoughts. If you got in and are excited, got deferred and are worried, or got rejected and are really depressed, comment and join the discussion about it. Talking to others helps. You’re not alone.

Regular Decision notice for the Yale Class of 2012 comes out this Monday, March 31st. This post is addressed to both the regular decision and early action members of Yale 2012, and is posted on the admitted students website as well as my own blog.

This is my first for the Yale admitted students web site, so if you are reading this there–congratulations on your admission! My name is Sam Jackson and I am a member of the Yale class of 2011. I’m from Newton, MA (right outside Boston) and I’m in Trumbull college here at Yale. Some of you may already know me from ‘real life’ or might have been reading my blog already–others know me only as some random member of Yale 2011. This post is addressed to all of Yale 2012 but also applies to anyone who is wondering whether my credibility is impacted by my new role as an ‘Undergraduate Recruitment Coordinator’ on the Yale payroll with the admissions office. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and explain some of my motivations in blogging.

I’ve spent the last two and a half years blogging about college admissions and higher education marketing trends, reaching (among others) an audience of admissions officers and professionals as well as higher education marketers. I’ve used that access to call for more honest and authentic marketing efforts and for greater transparency and access in general. I also blogged about my college admissions process since it began, and today continue to blog about life here at Yale. As all of you readers are no doubt intimately aware, applying to college sucks.

I wish it didn’t have to be like that. My efforts to convince people to change their ways haven’t exactly had an instant payoff. Right now I’m organizing a way to offer large sums of money for a scholarship to the student who can think up some of the best solutions (more on this later!) but that won’t affect what you have already had to suffer through… and I can only offer my condolences for the painful, stressful process. It’s not quite over yet, but the worst is behind you. Choosing can be maddening, but it’s better than having no choices at all… and if you’re reading this at admits.yale.edu, it means one of your choices is Yale. So, could definitely be worse.

I am blogging exactly as I always have been, only now I get paid for what I was already doing. Truthfully, I would pay Yale if it meant that I could easily reach all of you admitted students! (Coincidentally, so would a lot of other, less reputable people–Yale and other schools wouldn’t sell your information, but huge amounts of money are spent to buy up your contact information once you reach college-admissions age. When you took the PSAT or SAT, and then wondered how you subsequently got huge volumes of mail, it’s because the College Board sold your personal information if you consented to the ’student search service.’ Of course, the problems of the College Board are another story, one I chronicle often: e.g., a year ago I detailed 51 ways your SAT could be mis-scored, none of which the College Board would want you to know about, because things like that might reduce public confidence in the security of their testing procedures.)

I hope you’ll give me the benefit of the doubt when it comes to blogging credibility. If it were about the money, after all, my main interest wouldn’t be Yale–I get an order of magnitude more money from direct advertising than I do by being paid $12.80 an hour to blog for Yale. My bread and butter has always been leveraging my cynicism and negativity towards marketing efforts and institutions which I feel are not effectively serving students–especially prospective students.

I have a few posts on my blog explaining why I matriculated to Yale, why I wanted to go, a few cheerleading Yale, etc. But I also have quite a few more calling Yale out for all the things it does wrong, and things that could be improved. In fact, the way I actually came to this position–blogging for you now–was through a post I made last July attacking the admissions office for its position on official admissions blogs– that is, blogs where the admissions officers themselves are blogging, but which can (and generally should) also incorporate student voices. This admitted students website has student blogs, but they are not publicly accessible (i.e., publicized). If you are interested in more of my writing on the subject, it’s what I’ve been writing about for years on my blog and the topic of my presentation at the 2007 College Board Forum in New York–I’ll stop ranting for now.
So… expect to see lots of posts on why Yale is failing to recruit more low-income students, problems about its admissions practices, and other problems along with all the nice things I have to say. I have lots and lots of great things to say and write about Yale–I love it here. Maybe you’re already in love with Yale, too; maybe you’re not sure yet. Either way, you have a lot to look forward to next yearm whether it’s at Yale or anywhere else.

(Whatever your level of excitement, congratulations on your admission to Yale– I am excited to find out more about everyone joining us next year!)

Hey all,

Midterms have consumed my life for the last couple weeks, and continue to do so, but as soon as I finish writing some papers I will be taking a train to New York for the College Board forum, where I am doing a little presentation on Saturday! Come visit me if you are there, Matt McGann (of MIT) and I will make sure it’s worth your time. I’m missing the first two days because of classes / other obligations, but hey, fun all the same. Give a call, e-mail, or carrier pigeon and say hello if you’re there. More updates when I get back.