Mindsets

Slide 1: Mindsets

I often say that the admissions process affects student’s lives as much as the tuition benefit affects the parents. Some of our members know early that they will be pursuing colleg in Europe, and are able to opt out of the madness from day one. That said, in order to truly feel these benefits, you need to sort of reprogram the way you think about admissions.

Slide 2: Selectivity does not correlate with quality, reputation or prestige.

The most important thing to recognize is that in Europe, selectivity does not correlate with quality, reputation, or prestige. So in the US, rankings do take selectivity into account. The US rankings, they look at it, the overall acceptance rate, they look at the percentage of students who were in the top 10% of their class, and ACT and SAT scores in order to come up with the selectivity information for the rankings.

Global rankings though don't use the same criteria. They're based 100% on research-related criteria. So this has its own sets of issues, like there are a lot of smaller schools or specialized schools, or non research-focused schools that aren't eligible, which are prestigious or do have a great reputation and do have great quality. So still don't base your search entirely on global ranking. So you're past the search stage if you're in this class. But this is just to say that since selectivity isn't part of that criteria, there's no incentive to manipulate that area, which is just a really awesome change. Furthermore, since admissions is handled at the program level in Europe, as opposed to the university level, they wouldn't really even be able to report a selectivity rate since it's going to vary from program to program.

Slide 3: Mindsets that don’t apply

I need to apply to more than a few schools
Globally ranked schools provide the best education
I don’t have APs, but Italian/Danish/Dutch universities will make an exception for me because my SATs are great!
I’m a great candidate because I have a lot of extracurricular activities

So let's talk about a few mindsets that might apply in the US but not in Europe. So I did a Google search about how many schools students in the US apply to, which as we know is much easier now with the Common App. And I saw article after article after article suggesting more than six. There was an article I read in Forbes, which in an attempt to be reassuring said, “There's no point in applying to more than 10 to 15 schools, as long as you take the time and do the research to polish those applications. The smaller number’s fine, but expect to have fewer choices.”

This isn't going to be the case for you when you apply to schools in Europe. You'll see later in this lesson that there is no reason to apply to more than two or maybe three universities. So the thing is though the admissions process is more transparent, it is also more rigid. And very few exceptions are made around the admissions requirements. They have these requirements that they've set that they say, okay, a student needs to have this qualification in order to be successful in our program. And what they define is what you're going to need. Substitutions, unless they've stated, you know, you need AP scores, or an SAT score can substitute for one of the scores, unless they state that, they're probably not going to be making exceptions there.

So this is what leads to the transparency. You know, there's no sort of under the table dealings going on for admissions. You're not going to see any admission scandals going on because it's so transparent. You meet the qualifications, you show that you have what's needed to succeed in the program, and that you're a good fit for the program, and you're in. So the rigidity is actually what makes it so transparent. So it's sort of, you know, one of those blessing and curse situations at the same time.

So you're probably going to need to write a motivation letter that speaks directly to your interest in that program, and sort of what you bring to the table to them, and what they bring to the table for you. You don't have to write about some, you know, huge emotional experience you overcame in your life. And your extracurriculars will generally not come into play into the decision making at all. So I know those are a few major changes from the way things are done here in the US.

Slide 4: Don’t expect the fat admissions packet.

So the other big difference is when you get accepted, you're not going to get, you know, the big packet with the huge congratulations and all the brochures and, you know, a fat envelope. You'll probably get an email and it'll say, “All right, you're in,” or “You're in conditionally.” There's just not a lot of fanfare around it, but don't let that make you feel any less excited about it.

Slide 5: Others might not get it.

The other thing to know is that others may not understand why you're doing this, they might just not get it. You know, you're pursuing something out of the box. And sometimes that makes other people feel uncomfortable, or it makes them feel like they need to justify their decision not to pursue what you're pursuing. But don't let that make you feel any less excited either. No matter what anyone else thinks, this is an incredibly exciting, life changing path you're taking.

So really, it's just about thinking about the mindsets that you hold that you don't need to hold on to for this, and that will allow you to really experience the benefits of this. You know, your counselor might be telling you things that she thinks you need to stress out about. You don't, you know? And a lot of these mindsets have been programmed into us, you know, from a much younger age.

Slide 6: Which of your mindsets need adjustments?

So what I encourage you to do this week is to think about — or, you know, after this lesson — think about which of your mindsets you have that need adjustment to this process? Are the mindsets you have ones that apply to the admissions process in Europe? It's okay if you don't know. Bring those questions to the call and we'll talk about it then.

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Mindsets