Jim McKay and the World of College Admission

I’m guessing, of all the people who will read this article, only a handful will even remember the name Jim McKay. Of those who do remember, none will connect him to the world of college admission. This is, of course, because he was never connected to the industry. He was the host of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, from 1961 to 1998 (an incredible run for any television host or show). But the legacy Mr. McKay leaves behind from my perspective boils down to the brilliant tag line used during the introduction of each and every one of his shows: “The thrill of victory…and the agony of defeat.” For those of you who have never seen it, please take a looksey here.

So why am I writing an article about Jim McKay? Better yet, why am I writing an article about a single phrase he uttered during a television show that has NOTHING to do with the topic of college admission? Because, in the modern era, it so aptly describes the world of a high school senior, who hopes of attending the college of his/her dreams, during the months of December to March.

The emails that come in each day from my seniors illustrate just how true the sentiment Mr. McKay spoke of is to us in the modern era. You can literally feel the students beaming and grinning from ear to ear with each acceptance letter, and for those who share the opposite, the stark cold and painful feeling of ‘rejection’ is palpable. I’m actually surprised I haven’t seen a Kleenex ad based on the sadness and tears of this season.

This article is about understanding how did we get to this point and what can we do about it? Is there a better way? Can we ‘smooth the curves’ for our students or is it always a zero-sum game, with a handful of joyous medal winners and a room full of purported ‘losers’ who are left to doubt themselves and their abilities?

First things first, we need to change the dialogue and even the way we look at college and college admission. For the colleges themselves, this is, in fact, a zero-sum game. There are only so many seats and only so many students will accept offers of admission, and this is really a math formula for nearly all schools. Now, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the formula is straight forward and rigid. There are numerous and changing values that these colleges need to consider each and every year. Things like: the quality of the applicant pool as a whole; how to fill the spaces for each of their colleges (at the university level) and how to fill each of their majors with the appropriate number of candidates; do they have the right athletes, entertainers, musicians, etc. to provide those specialized programs with the talent they need to continue to shine?; are they bringing in enough money via tuition dollars and application dollars to fund future projects and programs?; Are they attracting potential donor families as part of the incoming class?; If it is a private school or the majority of public institutions that use race, creed, color, religion, gender, state or country of origin, etc. in an admission decision, are those diversity issues being properly addressed by the Office of Admission? There are also other less obvious questions that each and every admission staff has to address. As you can see, this is a REALLY COMPLICATED job and it is undertaken every single year with a different outcome, and many times, with somewhat different goals. Ultimately, the chief task of the admission offices, especially at the top of the college food chain, is to please the faculty by delivering them outstanding students who will challenge the status quo and push the knowledge envelope a bit further than it is today.

From our perspective, as consumers, we tend to make the cardinal mistake of assuming scarcity equals value. This is not always true, and if it is, the discrepancy between the top schools and those in the middle of the pack may not be quite so drastic as we have been led to believe. When analyzing a final college list, I can usually tell which schools will say yes, no, and maybe, and then the student and parent(s) have to ask themselves, how do they feel about that information? So many times, families are happy to ‘roll the dice’ in October of the senior year, only to find that in March, their child is devastated because the large number of reach or extreme reach schools on their list reported back that they did not have a seat for their son or daughter, and that son or daughter wore every rejection letter on their sleeve (or their Instagram/Facebook/Twitter accounts).

The biggest issue is this: did any of those schools actually belong on the child’s list in the first place? We, as a society, have become so hyper-focused on the brand-value of colleges, and not on the actual fit of the student on those campuses from the perspective of social, emotional and academic environment, let alone the climate and distance from home, or the cost of doing business (all REALLY important values to consider). Yet each year, I have parents remind me that they are happy to spend beyond their means for the top schools on their child’s college list, but not the others (ostensibly because they – those colleges – aren’t worth it). This is backward thinking, and if we as a nation intend to fix it, we need to start by changing the dialogue around this topic. In effect, we need to become much better consumers.

We need to start seeing, as those in-the-know already do, that there are hundreds of really good options to choose from in this country. Let’s not forget, we are still the kings of the college landscape globally, and as a nation, we have pushed the academic envelope further than any other nation. Let’s take advantage of that incredible knowledge and use the diversity within the system to reduce stress, increase our options, and find those schools that truly fit the needs of our students!

Freshman, Sophomores and Juniors (and your parents), you guys and gals still have time to effect change. I cannot implore you enough to start your research NOW. Remember, I stated the phrase “smooth the curves” of the admission season, so it isn’t quite so ‘all or nothing’. There are ways to accomplish this. Here are just a few options to consider:

1) Build a more balanced list (not necessarily a deeper list of selective colleges).

2) Investigate your schools more thoroughly; if you know them and they know you, your odds of getting in can actually increase.

3) Have a clear understanding of how the admission decisions are made at your schools – some will only look at curriculum, grades and test scores, others will look much deeper.

4) Have a clear expectation of what should happen by speaking to someone ‘in-the-know’, whether that be a guidance or college counselor, who can give you a sense of your odds of admission.

5) Have at least one or two ‘safety’ schools that you still feel really good about attending, if things don’t work out further up the food chain (or roll the dice and know that the Community College is a viable and healthy option for you).

If you don’t know how to do it, seek out help from your college or guidance counselor, or seek out the help of someone like me to point you in the right direction. That’s our job, afterall.

Let me tie this back to Jim McKay. For those of you ‘in-the-know’ when it comes to the world of sports and sports scholarships, you may know that there is a crossover between Jim McKay and the world of college (athletics). In 2008, given his immense contribution to the world of sports, the NCAA created the Jim McKay Memorial Scholarship, given to one male and one female athlete each year, representing student athletes who have demonstrated excellence in sport communication or public relations. Winners receive a one-time $10,000 scholarship. For more information on the prestigious award, please follow this link: http://www.ncaa.org/jim-mckay-graduate-scholarship.

More important to me is that you take the time to become a better educated student or parent when it comes to the choices you have and to do all that you are capable of to achieve those lofty goals. After all, no one wants to endure the agony of defeat.