College Applications and Aircraft Carriers
Pilots who land on aircraft carriers follow a very unusual system to ensure that they arrive safely at their chosen destination. As soon as they touch down on the deck of the aircraft carrier, instead of shutting their engines down as you would expect . . . they push the throttle to full power as if they were taking off again! There’s a method to their madness. The only way that a jet can safely land on an aircraft carrier is if it catches a thick steel arresting cable which immediately pulls the jet to a stop. If for any reason, the pilot misses the cable or if the cable breaks, then the jet will continue off the edge of the flight deck and generally be run over by the ship. This makes for a very bad day for all concerned, especially the pilot!
But . . . by pushing their jet to full power at touch down, aircraft carrier pilots are able to avert disaster. If the cable catches their jet, the extra power makes no difference; they’ll still be pulled to a sudden stop. And if they miss the cable, since their engines are at full power, they simply take off again, fly around and try another landing approach. Not until they are absolutely certain that the cable has stopped their aircraft do these pilots shut down their engines. It’s a great system that has saved many pilots over the years.
What the heck does all of this have to do with college admissions? Joe College thinks this is exactly the same system that anyone applying Early Action or Early Decision should try to imitate!
Much too often Joe hears about a good student who was so excited about their first choice college that they applied Early Decision and then let their other applications “slide”. When a rejection letter arrives from that first choice school, the student realizes that it’s simply too late to get to work improving their other applications. Like the unfortunate pilot who doesn’t throttle up, these students simply run “off the edge” of the admissions process to a very unpleasant admissions experience.
There is a much better system. Imitate those aircraft carrier pilots. Even if you’ve filed an Early Action or Early Decision application, don’t stop! Don’t shut down your admissions “engines”. Power up your effort with all of those other applications. The admissions process doesn’t end with your completed application. It doesn’t end until you’ve received an acceptance letter from the college you decide to attend and forward that school your tuition deposit guaranteeing you a place in the upcoming freshmen class.
Just because you’ve hit the “send” button on your computer after filling out the “early decision application” doesn’t mean that the process is over. This isn’t the time to relax . . . this is the time to get to work! As soon as you submit your Early Decision application, immediately began an all out campaign to support your other applications. In the past, we’ve discussed the importance of only applying to schools which you would like to attend. As a reminder, even your safety school should be someplace you will enjoy learning and growing during the four years you’ll spend there. So . . . there shouldn’t be any reason not to be excited about making you remaining applications as strong as possible! Each spring, Joe receives desperate calls from qualified students who relied completely on their Early Decision choice, then largely ignored their other applications, and are now left with a handful of rejections and no acceptance letters! Don’t let this happen to you. Just like that pilot landing on the aircraft carrier, push all of your application engines to full throttle, even if you’ve applied Early Decision, until that acceptance letter lands safely in your mail box!
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