…and then it was March!

Woosh! Was that the month of February I just saw go by my window? I hardly noticed! I must have spent the whole month hunched over my desk reading applications!

If you’re a returning reader, welcome back! If this is your first glance at the blog, thanks for your interest in Pitzer! We’re approaching the light at the end of a very long and rewarding tunnel. We’re only a week or so away from finishing all of your applications! At this time, everyone’s application has been read at least once by the Admission Counselor responsible for your territory and is now circulating to a “second reader.” We use this system to ensure that the first person who sees your application has the best chance of being familiar with your high school (and may have even met you while we were traveling). Second readers give each application a fresh perspective and help us get a more holistic picture of our applicant pool. It’s been an absolute honor and joy to see your essays, recommendation letters, interview notes, MyCollegeI videos, art supplements etc.

So what’s next? Next week our whole team will come back together for an intense week-long summit that most schools simply call “committee.” We basically lock ourselves in the conference room and discuss what we’ve read so that we can build a well-rounded class. Committee is fun, emotional, exhausting, and rewarding. It is also the most poignant reminder that we innevitably receive far more excellent applications than we have the possibility of offering admission to. More on committee in the weeks ahead.

I’ll leave you with this fun piece of news. Our very own Angel Perez, Director of Admission, has been asked by the Washington Post to write about the college search and admission processes. His first article is a great checklist for any high school student who is pondering the college question.

That’s it for now. See you soon!


Posted by Adam Rosenzweig, Admission Counselor

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First Week of Reading

Hello everyone. This was the first week that the counseling staff was able to take files home to read. The veterans in the office are shaking a bit of rust off their reading glasses, and cozying back up to their favorite home work-space. As the rookie in the office, I’m still getting used to this part of the job, but so far it’s been a pleasure to read your applications!

After all the travel, the silliness, the promotion, the interviews, the tours, the school visits…this is the real “meat and potatoes” of our year. Each one of us takes this season very seriously. Students often articulate the most personal, sensitive, and formative subjects of their lives in college applications. Admission counselors are strangers to you. We are not your family members, your best friends, your mentors. We are not the people one might expect to be privy to the kind of emotional investment that many of you put into your applications. But here we are, reading about your personal triumphs, family tragedies, sports injuries, paradigm shifts, “a-hah!” moments, and bold aspirations. The day we forget how meaningful this exchange is, will be the day we quit our jobs.

I’ll be writing more about reading season in the weeks ahead. I hope that the second half of your senior years are materializing in memorable, happy, and productive ways. Have fun!


Posted by Adam Rosenzweig, Admission Counselor

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Where’s My Application?!

“I submitted my application online, but my teachers mailed in my recommendation letters themselves…do you have everything!?”

 

“Did you get my Art Supplement!?”

 

“I took the SAT and/or ACT more than once, do you have all the correct scores!?”

 

“I heard there was a glitch with the Common App…is my application OK!?”

 

“My messenger pigeon came back without my college application, does that mean you received it!?” [True story.]

 

If you have any of these questions, or others like them, then Cecil the Sagehen has something to tell you. Click here!

 

Also, for those of you who miss the “Beyond Buzzwords” days, check out this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education and then my Letter to the Editor in response. Let me know what you think!


Posted by Adam Rosenzweig, Admission Counselor

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Our Turn

Welcome back from a great break! The Office of Admission took a nice little vacation for the holidays and now we’re back to work. Most of you have already submitted your Regular Decision applications. Congratulations! Some of you may have had some trouble submitting online if you waited until the last minute. For this reason, if you began your application before the deadline, YOU MAY STILL SUBMIT before midnight Pacific Standard Time on Sunday, January 10. If you have any questions about the Common App glitch, give us a call at the office.

We’re really proud of all the hard work and energy that went into your applications.

Now it’s our turn! For the next couple of weeks we’ll just be opening mail, sorting, alphabetizing, and entering information into our computer database. Here’s some footage from our “back office” this morning where some of our staff are working alongside some dedicated student workers to sort all of your information!

(video could not be uploaded 🙁 )


Posted by Adam Rosenzweig, Admission Counselor

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After Early Decision Committee

Yesterday the Admission Committee met all day to discuss our fantastic Early Decision applicants. We had more Early Decision applications than ever this year and it was a pleasure and an honor to read each one. After 6 intense hours around a table, which included much discussion and analysis, our committee reached consensus in order to admit the first students to the class of 2014! For the rest of the week we’ll be preparing and mailing our decision letters.

Some of you will be very happy to see a letter from Pitzer in the mail. Congratulations! Some of you will be disappointed. One of our policies as a committee is to make honest and fair decisions with our Early Decision applicants; we don’t defer or wait-list many students from the Early Decision pool. If we can’t make it happen for an applicant, then we want that person to fall in love with another school. We don’t make these decisions lightly. Each one of us appreciates the time, energy, and emotion that you put into your application.

Our current students are finishing their finals this week, and the Office of Admission is calm today. The sun is shining in Claremont, and the air is mercifully clear. We’ve even got some snow clinging to the peak of Mt. Baldy just north of campus! In true Pitzer fashion, I decided to make an “Orange-person” this morning, rather than a “snow-person.” The impressive results are pictured below.

orangeman

For all of our Regular Decision applicants, I encourage you to finish and submit the applications by the January 1 deadline. Dramatically waiting for the clock to strike 11:59pm on New Year’s eve to click submit on the Common App will undoubtedly appear to be a terrible decision when your power goes out…your internet glitches…or you forget that you’re not in the Pacific Standard Time zone…or some other catastrophe befalls you, causing your laboriously constructed and manicured application to bounce back at you unceremoniously.
Get the picture? Those of you expecting to make a New Year’s resolution to stop procrastinating should begin that process sooner rather than later.
Done and done!


Posted by Adam Rosenzweig, Admission Counselor

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