JULIA SNODGRASS: Going well. How are you, Shane?

SHANE VAN DEREE: Doing great. Great.

JULIA SNODGRASS: Great. Yeah. I’m excited to dive into this conversation. Just a little bit of background about myself. I’m an enrollment manager here at Prepory. Previously, I worked in admissions at Dartmouth where I went to undergrad. Later, I earned my master’s of science from Northwestern. But like Shane, I’ve also served as a coach here at Prepory. And now on the enrollment side, myself and my team host what are called initial consultations. So those are the very first conversations you’ll have in your journey with Prepory.

We’ll dive much more into your specific profile, your individual needs as a student, as a family. These these kinds of webinars are great for general information and getting a lay of the land, but in those initial consultations is where we can really dive into the details of of how Prepory can support you in your journey. So with that, yeah, I’ll hand it back over to you, Shane, and can walk us through tonight’s agenda.

SHANE VAN DEREE: Awesome. Thanks, Julia. One thing to note too, this is also an interactive session, so please feel free to ask questions in the chat as we kinda go through the presentation. Julia or another colleague of mine, may answer those questions as we go, letting you know maybe that answer is forthcoming. Maybe it’s a quick answer specific to you. But we will also leave about twenty minutes at the end for a live Q&A so we can kind of, converse a little bit more in detail.

So if you’ve got those questions, either drop them in the chat or feel free to jot them down, and we’ll get to those there at the end. But with that being said, let’s go ahead and let’s get started. So here’s what we’ll be covering for tonight, to really understand what it takes to get into an SEC school. So tonight, we’re gonna cover why admissions standards and acceptance rates vary across the SEC. We’ll talk about what, our role as an admissions officer is and what we weigh the most.

We’ll talk about how programs and major choice affects admissions. We’ll talk about the writing process. That’s sometimes a favorite for everyone, and strong supplemental and why us essays. We’ll talk about residency, scholarships, and SEC costs. And then like I said, we will go ahead and leave some time for Q&A. It does seem like we may be having a little technical difficulty on the screen share, so I’m gonna go ahead and make sure I am re screen sharing for everybody. Are we good on the screen share? Awesome. Okay.

So here you go. Here’s that agenda for you in case you missed it. Like I said, we’ll cover why admission standards and acceptance rates vary across the SEC, what admissions officers weigh the most, how program and major choice affects admissions, the writing process, strong supplemental why us essays, residency, scholarships, and SEC costs. And like I said, we’ll go ahead and save that live Q&A for the end, but, of course, the chat’s open, so drop those questions in as we go. So why admission standards and acceptance rates vary across the SEC?

So let’s set a little bit of a foundation, right, for what the SEC is. Maybe we know, maybe we don’t know, and that’s okay. So the SEC is the Southeastern Conference, and it’s a premier group of athletic and academic colleges made up of flagship universities and private institutions spanning across the Southeastern and Southwestern United States. What are they known for? Couple of things. They’re known for a lot. Typically. Like I said, they’re pretty large institutions, and we’ll talk more about what that looks like.

But they’re really known for being academic powerhouses. They are R1 research-focused universities that are really focused on engineering, business, agriculture, and typically health programs. They have large expansive campuses with the exception of one. We’re gonna talk about what that is. Typically ranging from anywhere to 25,000 onwards to 70,000 students across vibrant and historical campuses with large athletic programs and huge alumni presence. They also receive large numbers of national and international applications.

Typically, that’s driven by a lot of the school spirit, the expansive alumni network, the world renowned faculty, expansive employer connections, research opportunities, and so much more. But what are the SEC schools? Well, don’t you worry. I’m gonna tell you. So the SEC schools, there’s 16 in total. 15 public. So those 15 public, those are largely funded by state governments. State tax dollars, making tuition rates for in state students usually pretty reasonable. They have large campuses, and usually, that also means large class sizes.

Those large lectures, massive sports cultures, a lot of different clubs and organizations, and so many majors. Some you may have never even heard of. There’s also one private. If you know what that private institution is, I wanna see it dropped in that chat. But that one private institution, is smaller by nature, meaning that they typically offer more scholarships. They rely on tuition, donations, and endowments. That also means that the campus is smaller, meaning smaller class sizes and smaller student to faculty ratios. Anybody know what that one private SEC school is?

Alright. I’ll go ahead and spoil it. That’s gonna be Vanderbilt. So why do SEC acceptance rates vary? Well, there’s kind of many reasons why this is true, but to simplify it, I think it’s easiest to break it down into four buckets. So first, we have our private versus our public governance. Right? So we’ve got like I mentioned, we’ve got 15 publics, one private.

Our private SEC, so Vanderbilt in this case, they admit smaller number of students in order to maintain that elite and exclusive reputation while being able to maintain those small class sizes and small faculty to student ratios. Our public SECs, like the University of Florida, my alma mater, on the other hand, they’re balancing national and international reputation and large state populations. So they have to fill large classes while keeping their admission standards kinda high, and curating strong classes. How does this play a role in that rate?

I’m gonna save that here in a minute once I’ve covered all these topics. We then have state mandates. Some states actually mandate that in state graduates who meet specific requirements are guaranteed admission to specific schools, typically that being their flagship university. Texas A&M, as an example, is mandated by the state to actually provide automatic admission to any Texas resident graduating in the top or in the top 10% of their high school, graduating class.

Now keep in mind that varies by school and state, so it’s really important that we’re doing our research. We then have in state versus out of state caps. Our public SEC schools are typically fulfilled and, fulfill their enrollment based on the public mission to serve local and tax paying residents of the state that are funding the university system. Therefore, we typically face less space for out of state residents, making it more competitive if you’re an out of state student applying to an SEC school. We then have merit and brand.

Some schools have merit, in very notable SEC athletic programs and exposure, which drives a lot of interest from applicants. This tends to lead to some record level applications and then driving that reputation of individuals wanting to apply even if it may not be a top school. So how does this make those rates vary?

Well, as we look at those different buckets, we have to consider those different factors and say, well, in this case, right, the public, school, right, has is serving a large state presence, meaning that they have a larger number of seats that they need to fill, meaning that they have a higher acceptance rate, which we’ll look at a graph here in a minute to kinda give you that visual. Whereas the private space, it’s a smaller class size, so we’re seeing that smaller percentage.

One factor too that sometimes we don’t necessarily think about when we look at these acceptance rates is the role that sometimes the Common App can play. There are students who do meet criteria, for schools that maybe are curious if they’ll be admitted even though it may not be at the top of their college list, but maybe it’s a little bit of no extra work involved in in applying and submitting that application. Therefore, we see higher numbers of applications, thus leading to kind of variation within those acceptance rates.

What does that look like for those of us that are visual? Because that’s me. Well, great question. Here’s what it looks like. So here’s kind of an example of those twenty twenty five acceptance rates. So as you can see, right, we have larger percentage, larger ratios of acceptance rates, and that, you know, you have to look at those factors that we just talked about that play a role in that.

What does this mean for your college list sometimes, I think, is something that’s really important to kind of talk about for a minute. When you’re building your college list, especially if you’re interested in SEC schools, but really no matter what schools you’re interested in, in my opinion, you should have a diverse range of schools. When you’re building your college list, start with a baseline. Right? Give yourself a few schools that you know about. Right? I’m gonna use myself as an example. Maybe I’m applying.

Well, I’m I’m living currently, I live in the state of Georgia. So maybe I’m looking at UGA, and I’m looking at Georgia Tech, and I’m looking at Emory. One of those being SEC, other is not. That’s okay. Right? Now use that starting point to do some research. Explore your school in detail and know what the majors that off that are offered are. Right? Who is teaching? What are the companies that are recruiting or hiring from that school? Know if you’ll have a dedicated career services team.

Will you have experiential learning opportunities? Is there sorority, fraternity life, or Greek life better known as? Right? As you’re doing that research, identify kind of your negotiables and nonnegotiables and give yourself a little bit of an idea of what’s really important to you in your college list so then you can kind of expand from there. Use that to explore. Maybe a topic not everybody loves.

I am loving the topic of AI, but this is actually a great place once you’ve done that research to use AI to explore and expand, your research a little bit. Create a short prompt. Right? Here at Prepory, we actually have an internal AI tool for our students that we’ve built just for these types of situations, but, you know, give a prompt. Right? So here’s an example. I have a 4.2 weighted GPA and 1,400 on the SAT.

I’m planning to major in business and want to attend a school that has dedicated career services for business students, experiential learning opportunities, Greek life, large alumni network, and corporate connections with companies like, let’s say, Deloitte and PwC. What school should I be, researching? Give yourself a little bit of a space to say, okay. What school should I be really looking at? Is that gonna include SECs? Most likely.

But, also, as you’re building that college list and knowing these acceptance rates, give yourself a chance to see what other schools are out there because you never know what you may find. Any questions so far? Julia, how’s the chat going? We’re doing okay?

JULIA SNODGRASS: Yeah. Yeah. All these are all great questions. Definitely, some of them we’ll preserve to talk through at the end. But, yeah, lots of great questions. A lot surrounding early decision versus early action. I know early decision is newer for UF this year. So, yeah, maybe we can just chat through that at a high level, sort of your impressions having a background there, how you view sort of when a family might consider ED versus EA, and how that would differ from the regular decision. We’re also getting some questions about, you know, if test scores haven’t come quite come back in time for that. Mhmm. You know, just weighing those trade offs.

SHANE VAN DEREE: Yeah. Great questions. I’m gonna say this. Why don’t we make it through the rest? And we’re gonna come back to those because I think we’ll cover some and not all. And so then we’ll see where we’re at. Great questions. Definitely important things to be considering. Right? Also, some places where, your college admissions coach sometimes will will weigh some pressure on you to make some tough decisions as well. Also, places where, like UF as an example, it’s the first year. There’s no data. Right?

How do we make that informed decision can be challenging. Right? So, I definitely have some insights, and and I wanna make sure we get through everything, and then we’ll we’ll come back to those because, again, great questions. So what do admissions officers weigh the most? One thing I’ll call attention to too as we’re going through the presentation, if you if you’re sitting here and you’re like, I am ready to get started, I wanna have a conversation with Julia.

At the top of my slides, in the top right hand corner, there’s a QR code so you can go ahead and and schedule your time to to meet with a member of the team and get started. Just calling that out in case you’re sitting there and that’s also a question you haven’t wanted to ask yet. But let’s talk about a little bit what we weigh in this process. So, there’s kind of three buckets of the initial review process. So first being GPA and course rigor.

Every student has access to different academic opportunities at their school and in their district. Right? Your GPA is going to be recalculated, four core subjects, math, English, science, social studies, and foreign language. And then the various levels of courses will be weighted accordingly, i.e., if you have an A in an AP course, it’s gonna be a 5.0 instead of a 4.0.

Extracurricular depth. This is really where you start to show impact in in not only the community, you know, where you’re involved and and where that aligns within your major, but with what you’re doing to also show joy. Is that music? Is that sports? Is that acting? For all of us, that looks a little bit different. Committed, dedicated, and impactful experience goes much further than a laundry list of things. It also helps us get to know you a lot better. Right?

Each of us is different, and each of us is bringing something to the table. And so your depth allows for us the chance to learn how you’ve been doing things that align with your long term goals, so your major. It allows us to know a little bit more about you individually and also allows for us to see how you’ve been making an impact in your community. When you’re showcasing your extracurriculars, quantify. Let us see some numbers and data that really shows how much of an impact you’ve been making.

The third kind of aspect of this are test scores. Test scores are sometimes a stressful moment for students. What I will tell you is you’ve got this. Right? Test scores really do a job of predicting success. Each high school is different. Right? We kinda talked about there’s different levels of academics and courses available, but there’s also different levels of rigor in classes. And sometimes that can be an unfair metric when we’re looking at a student’s application. So that also can sometimes, combine with grade inflation. Right?

Some schools have different policies and processes for grading. Test scores are a uniform metric. Right? So we can look at that as an opportunity to kinda have a fair and equal way to look at your application in those three components before we kind of look at what I like to say and what we’ve all likely heard of, the holistic review process. Right? This is when we stop and we say, you know, for me, this is really the way I’ve always looked at it is who are you? What have you done?

Where do you want to go? When have you made an impact, been successful, or shown joy? Why are you the right fit? And then I have a little bit more of an idea of who you are outside of your academic space. Right? It gives me a full picture. Your grades tell me something. Your test scores tell me something. Your extracurriculars tell me something. And then I wanna see where you’ve shown leadership, where you’ve made impact. Have you shown a dedicated commitment?

Where are you investing in yourself in terms of the space that shows joy? I think one area that I spend a lot of time with my students in a role as a coach is really encouraging them that it’s okay to have that space to really showcase what allows you to be you. And we want you to also, of course, be clear and concise in in showing who you are and how you’re going to really be a great addition to our community. Right? At the university, it’s very much a community.

And so we wanna see what you are bringing and how you’re going to be part of that and continue to carry on a legacy of greatness, both in your time as a student and thereafter as an alumn. So how does the program major and choice affect admissions? There’s a lot of thought behind this, and there is really no one size fits all. Every school is going to be a little different. And so as I talk about this, I’m talking in general process. This is not specific to any one school.

But a lot of times we get this question is, does your major impact your overall admission? It’s a great question, and the answer is this is a business school answer. For those of those of you interested in business school is it depends. It depends on the school. It depends on the program. It could be depend on the year. There’s a lot of different factors. So some things to note.

Applying to a specific college, honors program, or major at an SEC can trigger a separate review process and may not harm your overall admissions chances. This is where doing your research and asking questions is important to know what the situation and what the process looks like at that respective school. There can be separate evaluations. Not all, but I would say most SEC schools evaluate for general admission first before routing for a subcollege decision.

Usually, that’s in the business school, engineering school, and the art school, where that program will say, you know, yes. This person is great, and we want them. Or maybe they’ll kick it back and say, oh, they applied for finance, but marketing would be a better space for them. Again, school dependent, program dependent. High demand majors. Computer science, nursing, finance, to name a few, often have stricter entry and or caps because of space and popularity.

Not getting into your first choice major may mean admission to the broader university or a pre major track, but it may not be the end all be all for you. A lot of times, I’d say the thing that individuals tend to worry about the most is, you know, I’m applying to the SEC school or applying to any school, and I really think I meet the criteria for the honors program. So I’m gonna apply to honors. What if I don’t get into honors? Does that ruin my chance?

If you’re interested in honors, that in almost every case comes as second tier university admission. Typically, there’s a supplemental process, so rejection from the honors program does not necessarily impact your overall admission. The honors program falls separate from the major. So first, we’re looking at your overall admission to the major, and then we’re looking at the honors. Could be space capacity, could be GPA, could be overall profile, could be your extracurriculars, could be a number of factors.

Space, in especially popular majors, can truly sometimes be the hardest hurdle for an admissions officer, and, unfortunately, something that we as an applicant don’t have control over. The best thing you can do is prepare. Communicate success, communicate value, and communicate impact. This is where individuals like myself, can be extremely helpful in this process. Right? Learning more about you. A lot of times, right, we have a great support system, but that support system really knows us. They know our why. They know where we’ve been.

They know where we’re hoping to go. And so having that outside perspective and and somebody who is going to learn about you and have a vested interest in you but hasn’t been there for every minute of your journey can be really helpful. So, again, if you know that may be you and you know you’re ready to get started, don’t forget to scan that QR code there, so we can schedule a time for a more, individual one on one. I’ll take a minute to say, take a deep breath.

The essay portion of the application process can sometimes be the most unfamiliar and the most stressful. It’s a type of writing we likely haven’t done before, and it’s a style of communication, talking about ourselves, that we don’t always like to do. It’s not a book report, a research paper, or a biography.

I would say for me as a coach, I typically spend the most time working with my students on this portion of the application, really diving deep and breaking down the prompts to make sure we leave no part of the question unanswered. It’s a chance to both show and tell who you are outside of your academic profile, outside of your extracurriculars, and to really dive deep. Supplementals and why us for SEC schools require a few specific ingredients.

I think that’s the way I like to define it the best because we’re looking at schools that showcase world class research, big identities, have a lot of school spirit. If you have family members or friends that have gone to SEC schools, you know what I’m talking about. If you grew up in an SEC household, you really know what I’m talking about. And if you’re like, I have no idea, well, don’t you worry. As soon as you go to your dream SEC school, you’re gonna find out what it really means.

But there’s kind of two sides to this. There’s the winning, and there’s the falling apart. So let’s start with winning. Where you win. Where you win really is when you demonstrate authenticity. Be authentic. I want to know who you are. It aligns specific academic programs, maybe courses, faculty members, research organizations, clubs, you name it, campus resources. You showcase what you have done in your research and that you’ve done your research and you know why you’re here.

Really building a well rounded response in that supplemental to really round out how what you are using as your response aligns with your research and what you’re hoping for. What I have found in my experience, however, is that a lot of times we have a tendency to fall flat because we’re focused in the wrong spot. Where we tend to fall flat is because we’re coming across pretty generic. Yes. We’ve answered the question.

I’ve chosen this major because, and I’m excited to join the University of Florida because I grew up in a house that bleeds the orange and blue. Great. I love that. But give me more. Right? So where we fall flat is when we have a tendency to praise the athletics programs, the sports culture, maybe the weather, maybe the location. A lot of times, it seems like you’re copying and pasting, from a brochure. I often explain the the supplemental essays, the why us this way.

AOs or admissions officers, but you will hear the word AO quite a bit. We wanna learn about you, you as an individual. I always told prospective applicants, whether it was an undergrad, a transfer, a graduate student that I was working with, that there are high volumes. Right? We talked about the acceptance rates and the ratios of applications. There’s a lot of applicants. It’s just not possible to interview every single one.

And even if we met you at a college fair, we came to your high school, we’ve also met thousands of other individuals along the way. So we probably just don’t remember, or we just don’t have a chance to meet you. So this is our chance, and your really, this is really your chance to let me, as the admissions officer, almost feel like I’m meeting you face to face, let’s say in an interview, without actually meeting you. So be creative, be authentic, align, be a little direct, and show a vested interest.

So lastly, a little bit about residency scholarships and cost. There’s a lot of conversation in this space. How do I qualify for in state tuition? Why is, or why is out of state tuition more expensive? What about scholarships? How do I get one? Again, the SEC, there’s 16 schools, 16 different processes, 16 different reasons, and so there’s a lot. I’m gonna give you the highest level. So when we talk about cost and acceptance rates, couple key factors.

One thing to note is about 70% of seats at SEC schools are reserved for in state students. Why? Well, we kinda touched on this earlier, but as a state school, enrollment is prioritized for those paying taxes and residing in the state. The overall cost varies for that reason, meaning in state residents pay a much lower tuition rate because state taxes help fund public universities, thus providing in state residents a lower cost of tuition. Also, then that meaning that for out of state residents, the cost of tuition can be much more.

What happens is, especially when we’re considering costs and looking at this for out of state students, is a lot of times out of state residents, especially those of us that fall into that that bucket, will think that once I move to the state, I’ll get my driver’s license. I’ll change my address. Boom. In state tuition. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. So it’s important to remember what we like to call the twelve month rule.

Again, this is a little different for every school, but in general sense, there’s a twelve month rule that you have to have resided in that state for twelve consecutive months, have paid bills for an address or resided at that address for twelve consecutive months, that you have a driver’s license for twelve consecutive months or a voter’s registration in that state for twelve consecutive months. There’s a lot of variations of that process.

Now as an out of state resident, sure, your first twelve months could be as an out of state resident while you work to establish residency. And once you’ve done and you’ve met those requirements for residency at that school in that state, you can petition for a residency reclassification. Important thing, though, that you’re asking those questions early on to see what that process looks like and to see how that may impact you and your individual situation. The other side is merit scholarships and waivers.

It’s typically a pretty often ask, especially for out of state students. Merit scholarships and waivers are typically saved, for out of state students both as a recruitment tool, for those high achieving out of state students, or for those that are bringing some sort of talent, whether that’s music, theater, athletics, leadership service to the university.

You’re you’re coming from you’re coming to the state to represent yourself and to bring something that’s gonna showcase the university, and therefore, how can we encourage you or incentivize you to come, thus providing an out of state tuition waiver or potentially merit based scholarships? I see a lot of great questions coming in the chat. Julia, are we doing okay? We’ve got just a few more slides. Yeah.

JULIA SNODGRASS: Yeah. All set. Keep them coming. Thank you all. And, yeah, we’re doing our best to answer them, in the chat itself, but, definitely, some more overall themes are coming up that we can talk through in the live Q&A at the end.

SHANE VAN DEREE: Awesome. Love to hear it. Great. Alright. So what’s a success story look like? Here at Prepory, we work with a lot of different students. I currently, support a large cohort of students. Of my current students, over, a dozen of those are currently seniors in the middle of the application process. Do I early action? Do I early decision? Do I do regular decision? What are my test scores? Here’s my profile. All of that. Right? I understand. There’s a lot. But let’s talk about a success story. Right?

Let’s hear about somebody who’s kind of navigated not only this process, but also, seen success. So here’s Jake. Jake had a four point o and a fifteen seventy SAT and a 35 ACT. Right? You’re probably thinking, oh, his GPA was a little bit lower than what we know the middle 50% to look like at Florida as an example. Right? That’s true. This is where a lot of what we’ve talked about can be a key factor when admissions decisions are are made and when your application is reviewed.

And we’ll talk about that, and you’ll see kind of how that can be highlighted in different spaces. Right? Jake had a really strong profile in political science, public policy, and education equity, and his extracurriculars really showcased a lot of intellectual curiosity, community impact, and joy, kind of the three main buckets that we like to say you should focus on when building that extracurricular depth. When Jake came to Prepory, he was only 16, so he was a little bit younger than most of your college seniors.

He was gifted academically and had identified a general use for what he cared about. He did, however, need guidance on how to tailor his academic interest to his community impact and how to make it fit with the rest of his application. Right? Kinda what we talked about when we look at those three buckets, the GPA and academic rigor, the test score. Right? We saw GPA four point o. We saw test score fifteen seventy, and then we look at that extracurricular depth.

So as we look at Jake in his kind of profile, really highlighting that one area that he needed help with is the extracurricular depth. So how did we help? So we helped him, identify and build a passion project where he joined a local historical site preservation community and created educational content through a little library project.

We use this as a starting point for, publishing independent research to find a local historical site, and then we worked together, to help him elevate his writing to really help him stand out in the application process. So that last bucket we talked about, right, the supplementals and the why us.

When we look at these factors, one thing I think it’s so important as somebody who previously reviewed thousands of applications, for lots of different majors and disciplines, for online programs, in person programs, and all different walks of life is that each of us have our own journey and our own why. Building it, crafting it, showing it can actually be really challenging. And so I say this, don’t wait to get started. This process is a journey. It’s one that is filled with lifelong lessons. I tell my students that all the time.

The things that we will conquer today in our sessions together are things that you will likely intersect throughout the rest of your life. May not be a 100% the same, but you will have the tools and the knowledge and the skill sets to be successful for the rest of this chapter. So scan that QR code, schedule a time to talk with a member of the team, you know, myself, all of my colleagues. We really wanna help make this journey, as I like to call it, and this process is a journey.

Sometimes feels like it’s a race, and I have a thousand things to accomplish all at once. I understand. I’ve been there. I still am there sometimes as a professional. Right? But it’s all about mapping out the journey. We want you, to make your goals a reality, and so that’s what we’re here to do. I’m gonna turn it over to Julia here just for a minute, and then we’ll turn over to that live Q&A. Julia, turn it back to you.

JULIA SNODGRASS: Great. Well, thanks so much for that information, Shane. I’ve personally learned a lot even having been in this space, so appreciate your insights there. And as we’ve been saying, there are a lot of great questions coming through in the chat. We’ll do our best to continue to answer them, but some of them I do think will be better discussed live. So we’ll definitely preserve some for the end. Just quickly, who even is Prepory? Who are we? I think getting some information here just foundationally will be helpful.

So we are one of the top college admissions firms in the country. We have supported over 14,000 students over the last decade plus that we’ve been working, and our results are really strong. So 94% of the students we work with get into at least one of their top five choices.

Everything that Shane covered in this webinar from, you know, crafting your narrative, thinking about under what majors you’re applying and the way that you’re articulating your story and that joy and really making sure that your authentic self shines through, that is exactly the kind of support that you’ll get with our our one on one coaching. So you can go ahead and scan that QR code. That is a commitment free, just initial consultation. It’s a free sit down with your family.

You’ll chat with myself as an enrollment manager or one of my teammates, and we’ll talk through your goals and just get a better sense of your background and really the kind of support that you’re looking for in this process. Certainly, I noticed in the poll, a lot of this audience are seniors, so time is of the essence at this stage. We do guarantee connecting our seniors with a coach within three business days of enrollment. So you can really hit the ground running.

There’s a lot of writing that needs to happen in order to to craft your application to be just as effective as possible. So, feel free to book that initial consultation, and we can determine, from there if we’d be a good fit for each other. But, that’s just a bit of background about Prepory. Great. And then just an overview of our programs. You are guided through a one on one coaching. You’ll have hour long meetings with a dedicated coach, but we also have a broader team of experts.

We have over four hundred years of collective experience among our team. So you really do get that benefit of a one on one relationship, but also just a broader ecosystem of support behind the scenes. We have dedicated parent check ins as well where parents can ask, you know, their questions. I saw a lot of questions in the chat about scholarships and navigating, you know, merit eligibility, financial aid. There’s a lot of moving pieces.

So having that dedicated expert by your side and this team who’s gone through this process, you know, tens of thousands of times, we have all of that information to draw from, and it’ll be a really custom experience based on your unique needs. So, yeah, I’ll I’ll we can get into the details later on too in an initial consultation of what our committee review process looks like, unlimited essay and resume support.

But as I said, you’ll have a full team behind the scenes to to guide you through this process and just having that peace of mind of of an accountability mechanism, someone to guide you every step of the way through this journey. So, yeah, I if there’s any other questions about Prepory and our initial consultation, feel free to send them in the chat. But like I mentioned, everything we cover today will be included in just much more, you know, personal detail in that initial consultation.

So feel free to go ahead and scan that QR code if you do have to jump off and you wanna book some one on one time to chat with myself or a teammate. But, otherwise, I think we are good to dive into some of the live Q&A. So with that, there were some initial questions early on about just general major themes, you know, the levels of competitiveness applying under a specific major versus how that major might apply with the narrative or or your overall story and interest.

So this question from Megan was about if, you know, her student knows they want to go into the business school, something like finance or economics, is it worth putting that? She’s also heard that people are saying that’s one of the more competitive schools.

So maybe you could talk, Shane, briefly about just applying under a specific major versus applying more generally and the kind of flexibility that that entails both for the acceptance rate for those particular majors, but also once you’re there as a student, kind of how easy it is to to switch. And this is for UF specifically, but maybe you could talk about the SEC in general as well.

SHANE VAN DEREE: as well. Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s a great question. And I I have to, unfortunately, go back to my my answer of it depends Mhmm.

JULIA SNODGRASS: Mhmm. Because

SHANE VAN DEREE: Mhmm. Because it’s the honest truth, if I’m being honest with you, Megan. When we when we look at applications, it does vary. In some schools, the major is a factor that’s considered, and a student is admitted to that major, and they make it quite challenging at the school to change your major once you’ve matriculated. In other situations, you declare your major in the application.

And when you show up to orientation, you have access to college sessions where you can go and learn more about the colleges, and then you can change the major that you’ve declared. And so I I I wish I could say that there was a really direct kind of answer for you, but that that does become the reality in the ever changing landscape too. Sometimes things are changing overnight.

And so the process is is never actually the same from one season to the next or from one major to the next, and we have to keep those factors in mind. Something you noted and and just to call attention to it, especially for your student, Megan, who was mentioning business and economics is to remember that most schools’ economics is actually not gonna be under the business school. It can be under liberal arts and sciences or whatever the equivalent to that is going to be.

And so then your chances may also look a little different because of the number of majors that are available within that college versus, those available within business as well. So, really, it’s important that student is doing the major and looking or doing their research and seeing what their access will look like in terms of if the may if I declare a major when I’m applying, can I change it? If I can, when do I do that? When is my major declared? Some schools, there’s it’s declared from the beginning.

Some, it’s not declared until they’ve, you know, taken the, initial critical tracking courses to declare proficiency to show that they would be successful in the major. And so, therefore, they may not actually get into their major until, you know, in many cases, the beginning of their their junior year of college.

JULIA SNODGRASS: Okay. Great. Yeah. Thank you so much. That’s really helpful. I am seeing a couple more questions about kinda fit for major. So, hopefully, Shane addressed that, and then we’ll continue to answer those in the chat as well. One quick question, Shane. We had a question about how long ago you worked in UF admissions and your experience there. I think there’s a lot of UF potential applicants and interests.

SHANE VAN DEREE: interests. So,

JULIA SNODGRASS: So, yeah, just describing your involvement with UF, I think, could be helpful.

SHANE VAN DEREE: think, could be helpful. I started my journey at UF in admissions in 2000 and oh, wow. This dates me. 2014. So I was in admissions capacity until about 2017, then I had a stint in, student experience related roles, then I went back into admissions in 2022 to 2024. So it’s probably as the most recent would be 2024. So but sometimes seems like forever ago. Now I say that, and I’m like, oh, that was just yesterday.

JULIA SNODGRASS: Yeah. Time time is funky for sure. Mhmm. Okay. Great. Well, that’s that’s really helpful. And, yeah, pretty much all of the questions in the chat have been connected to you, so I’m so glad that you have that expertise there and, can be a wonderful resource for us. Yeah. We’re getting a question too from Allison just about how schools that have previously not required test scores but do now, how they might consider the test scores, like, in terms of if they’re skewed in a certain direction since most students who had previously submitted scores had higher scores. Just generally thinking about how test scores are going to shift Yeah. The way that students might be eligible, especially with those predicted ranges. I think that’s an interesting nuance there.

SHANE VAN DEREE: It is. Yeah. Very interesting, Allison, for sure. And I think that’s a great question. Typically, in my years of admissions experience, the the the fluctuation in score from year to year, even sometimes in in in a two, three, four year span, has not been that significant.

So if we’re looking at, you know, previous terms, middle 50% from the last time that they were taking scores to what they’re looking at now, that could maybe even be an advantage to the student because score ranges have potentially gone up maybe a tenth of a point or so. Again, it will vary. Right? I know the I think UF this past year, and I don’t have that number in front of me, so let’s not quote me. But I I wanna say four four to four six.

You know, the the last time I was on the road, it was, four two to four four. So and, again, that was so we haven’t seen a lot of variation in in terms of that.

You know, College Board and ACT, you know, continue to make adjustments to the caliber of the test to align with, you know, the the academics and and the course offerings within most schools, but, again, using that as a platform to allow students a place to kinda equally communicate their strengths in the various subject matters, math, English, writing, etcetera.

JULIA SNODGRASS: Great. Great. Yeah. Thank you so much. That’s really helpful. Shifting away, I guess, from academic stats and more toward other components of the application, we’re getting some questions about the supplemental essays, especially for UF, sort of the the why UF response asking about kind of a long standing love for UF. Is it better to show that in the culture versus specific academic programs and opportunities? Know in this presentation, you shared a bit about what makes a compelling essay, you know, personal statement and supplemental essays. But maybe we can chat more broadly about sort of how a student can can demonstrate that why us fit for a university. But there was another question too about, activity essays. So, yeah, just any tips and tricks around supplementals, I think, would be helpful.

SHANE VAN DEREE: Yeah. I think there’s a bit of strategy that goes into it. You know, again, each each school’s gonna be a little bit different in the terms of the supplementals that they’re asking, but tailoring your response to answer the question. Sometimes that would be that can be actually the the thing that students fail to do is actually answer the question. So sometimes I like to break it down too. What is the question that’s being asked? What is your answer to that question?

And then look to see what is our character count or our word limit. Right? How much space do we have, and is there in terms of your response a this is where you can kinda be a little creative to pull in a course or, a resource or a course and a resource, depending again on the question, to to align with your answer. That goes to show not only that you know the answer to the question, which is really the most important because that’s what I wanna learn.

I wanna learn that you know the answer to this question, especially with something specific to you, but then to show that you also know why your answer, why our school is gonna be the right fit for your answer. So, you know, I wanna major in statistics, because, when I did an AP research project, a b c x y z, this opened up my eyes to in the long term, wanting to work doing this.

I’m really excited that insert school that we’re writing the response for as this course or this resource, which is gonna allow me for tailor that a little bit. Great. It’s it definitely can be a challenge, and and that’s where Julia and and, obviously, you’ve helped a lot of students as well. Anything to add to that?

JULIA SNODGRASS: Yeah. In terms of supplemental essays, I mean, this came up a little bit. There was another question about, content in a personal statement versus supplemental essay and how that varies. Certainly, when I was evaluating applications and I guide my students in the same way as a coach now is that every element, right, in holistic admissions, every element should add a different dimension of who you are. Right? Should reveal a different aspect of your story.

So personal statements are generally much you know, they’re not gonna be school specific, much more about values, worldview, personal growth. That’s not to say supplemental essays still shouldn’t show, you know, anecdotes about your personality. But like you said, supplementals are much more about the school specific fit. Right? What about that school is going to be the bridge between where you are now and then the impact that you eventually wanna make throughout those four years and into your career?

And so the more detail you can include, the better around why that school specifically, whereas that personal statement is gonna be just much more about you as an individual. And, yeah, I mean, I think just getting clarity around you don’t necessarily have to have your whole life figured out. Right? We don’t expect that for high schoolers.

But to have a sense of, you know, what what lights you up, what makes you curious, what excites you From there, how do you want to apply those skills and interests to to make a difference in the world? And, you know, that can certainly change as you move into college and it evolves, but we need to be able to tell that clear story and have evidence for that story. And that’s really where your your supplemental essay content can shine. So yeah. Love that. Great addition.

SHANE VAN DEREE: You mentioned Bridge, and it got me thinking about NYU’s. Not that they’re an SEC school, but their their Bridge supplemental question. True.

JULIA SNODGRASS: True. Exactly. Exactly. The the infamous supplemental of NYU. I know our coaches have mixed feelings about that one. But great. There’s a couple of other questions that are sort of more case by case specific just that I’m seeing with IU and, like, Kelley versus pre Kelley business school. Do you have any thoughts there about business school and especially for undergrad business majors, you know, applying directly into that program versus doing, like, a general and then moving into the pre business school. These sorts of specific questions as well might be better suited for an initial consultation, but just at a high level if you have any impressions there.

SHANE VAN DEREE: Yeah. Great question because a good portion of my experience was in in the business school space. It depends. No. I always I always lead with that because it it’s true. But Yeah. When we’re looking at schools, especially with the direct admissions option in when applying to business, I think it’s important to have a very clear understanding as a senior and as the applicant of what your goals look like. I will also say that there are a ton of incredible business schools out there.

Sometimes it’s easy for us to lean on specific ones, whether it’s we have a connection, it’s a name we’ve heard of, etcetera.

Specifically, when I look at business schools and when I work with my students, in the business school space, I’d like to remind them that there’s a couple of of key ingredients they should be looking for that primarily being dedicated career resources and experiential learning opportunities because those two components are key to navigating what is the business student space in terms of the recruitment process for internships and jobs, so on and so forth.

If the student knows that business is the path and that’s where they’re going to be, they maybe have, some goal companies in mind, types of roles they’re interested in, then doing the direct admissions is a great option. If not 100% certain, then the pre-business option gives you that space to explore a little bit and say, okay. Is this, you know, where I I wanna be? Is this, you know, what’s gonna help me get to where I want to go?

And and use that as kind of an exploratory space if that’s helpful for the individual to do that unless they really have that kind of concrete decision. And and, admittedly, that tends to be my mindset, and I know this was a popular question on on ED even. My personal perspective, and I’ll I’m gonna ask Julia to share hers too with ED, is is usually I tell students, is you if you’re going to ED, it’s because it is your absolute dream that if you get in, you’re okay calling.

Sounds makes me sound old. You’re okay with turning down the and even if you were to have found out you got accepted saying, I I I can’t go. I I I’ve made that decision. So usually, I’m like, it it it’s great when your whole family has gone to this school. It’s in your blood. It’s it it is the is of the is, and that’s where I’m going, then ED is the right choice.

But if there’s you know, I would love to go to UF, but and I would also like to go to Georgia, and I also would, I mean, like to go to Vanderbilt and Auburn. You need to know exactly what those differentiating factors are between those schools that have them so clearly on your interest list and spend some time thinking about, like, what are, again, those negotiables and nonnegotiables. And if all of that aligns to say, like, yeah, no matter what, UF is the right choice for me.

I’m applying ED, then fully support it because you have decided that if you get in, that you’re okay with going.

JULIA SNODGRASS: Yep. Absolutely. Thanks for sharing that, Shane. And there is, another question too about, like, withdrawing applications. So, yes, you do, after an ED acceptance, need to withdraw your other application. It’s, you know, a binding agreement. And, yeah, I would say if your family isn’t prepared to commit both financially and just in terms of, you know, your your option to ED, to that school, then early action or regular decision is going to be a better fit.

But if you’re, as Shane said, a 100% positive, no matter what, you’re ready to to commit to that school, financial considerations aside as well, then, yeah, ED makes sense there. Great. Well, there’s a couple other questions in terms of the application process, but then also on scholarships and financial aid. Maybe we can chat a little bit about how a Prepory Coach would support that. I can dive in there, and then, Shane, feel free to to jump in as well. I will say that the classic, it depends. Right?

Some schools will have merit based scholarships. Other schools do not. Definitely depends on on the type of institution that it is. That will, again, vary too based on in state versus out of state applicants. Some schools are need blind in their admissions processes in terms of financial aid. Other schools do take into account financial need Mhmm. For their acceptances. So there’s a lot of variation. You’ll need to go to each school’s individual admissions site and look at their financial aid and scholarships policies.

That said, though, if that’s a priority for your family, financial aid, scholarship eligibility, we take that into account from the outset of working together. So that will certainly shape a coach’s approach to building out your college list. We also do support third party scholarships. The application process there often requires essays and, you know, interview prep. There’s all kinds of requirements and if a student is interested in applying to third party scholarships as well.

So that’s certainly covered as part of our support within our our total number of 15 applications that we support for our seniors. So, yeah, hopefully, that answers your question, Beatrice. Anything else you wanna add, Shane, there in terms of scholarships, navigating financial aid, those kinds of questions?

SHANE VAN DEREE: No. You you knocked it out of the park, Julia. I’m I’m working with some seniors right now on this very process, getting ready for FAFSA to open up, doing the third party, scholarships, helping them get ready to prep for some interviews, and all of that stuff. So it it’s very much a part of the process for sure, it varies for each student.

JULIA SNODGRASS: Okay. Great. Great. Well, with that, we are coming to a close. I know there are still some remaining questions. As we sent in the chat, though, using that link to book an initial consultation, we’ll be able to describe the you know, just explore the nuances of your particular questions in much more detail. You can also go ahead and scan the QR code. But thank you all so much for these wonderful questions, and thank you, Shane, for sharing your expertise so generously.

I certainly learned a lot, and, hopefully, this was helpful for all of our attendees. But, yeah, looking forward to hopefully connecting with your family, sharing more about how Prepory can support you in your your college admissions journey, and talking through, again, all the details that we weren’t quite able to get to tonight in the Q&A. But, yeah, any closing thoughts, Shane?

SHANE VAN DEREE: No. I you thanks, Julia, for for the regards, and thank you to everyone that was able to join us. Like I said, really high level overview of of insights into the SEC school process. There’s a lot. You know, connecting with Julia and our team and and sharing more about your individual insights and getting started right now is the best thing that you can do. So really hope to maybe be meeting some of you as as students in my cohort at some point and working on navigating this fun journey of the college admissions process soon. Thanks for joining us. Take care, and hope to see you real soon.

JULIA SNODGRASS: Yeah. Thanks, everybody.