March Message: Making Sense of College Outcomes and Your Own Decisions/ A guide

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I wrote a message to my class of 2026 clients about managing the decisions that are mostly in, with more coming this week. Here’s a version of that message for anyone who can use it.

Dear Class of 2026 and parents:

The letters are almost all in. After months of self-reflection, research, essays, and waiting, you have your results — and each one hits differently. Some made you want to call everyone you know. Some hurt. Some left you with more uncertainty.

All of that is normal, and all of it is manageable.

Before I get into how I think about each outcome, I want to point you to a resource I just listened to and think is genuinely worthwhile: Lee Coffin’s podcast, Admissions Beat. Coffin is the VP Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Dartmouth, and a thoughtful voice, with a great questioner here in journalist Jacques Steinberg. This episode explains how decisions are actually made from inside the room and offers advice for understanding outcomes and making your own decisions.

I also recommend reading 5 Years of Advice on Making a Final College Decision by Rick Clark, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management at Georgia Tech — practical, compassionate guidance for this exact moment.

Here is how I think about each outcome, and how to move forward with clarity as you make your final decision this April.

Option 1: You Got In — Congratulations!

Take a real moment to celebrate. An offer of admission to a college is an achievement worth honoring, and you should let yourself feel good about it before you do anything else.

Then the real work begins: comparing your options thoughtfully. This is where the process shifts from “Will they pick me?” to “Which of these places is right for me?” That is a much better question.

Financial aid offers.

Look at the net cost — not the sticker price, not the headline scholarship number. What will your family actually pay each year, for four years? Compare award letters side by side. If something does not make sense, ask questions. Financial aid offices are available to help; reach out.

Revisit your research.

Pull up what you learned about each school during your search. Reread your notes. Look at the academic programs in your areas of interest, the campus culture, the size of the community, and the location. Does the picture still feel right?

Visit if you can.

Admitted students’ days exist for a reason. If a campus visit is financially feasible, it can help you feel the difference between two schools in a way no website can. Walk around. Eat in the dining hall. Sit in on a class. Talk to current students and as many people as you can. Trust what your gut tells you.

Trust what you already know about yourself.

You did a lot of self-reflection work earlier in this process. That work matters now more than ever. The school where you are most likely to thrive is the one that fits who you actually are — not who you think you should be.

Option 2: You Were Denied — And That’s Okay

Rejection stings. There is no way around that, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. Give yourself a day to feel whatever you feel. That is healthy and human.

What was evaluated was your application, assembled at a particular moment in time, by a committee that will never fully know you. College admission is a human process, not a perfect one. So many factors beyond your control (and even the admission office’s control) shape the final mailing list of fat envelopes.

As Dean Coffin at Dartmouth puts it, you may have been “a piccolo in a viola year” — meaning the college needed something different to complete their community this year, and that has nothing to do with your worth as a person or a student.

Here is what matters now.

Let the disappointment pass, then redirect. Shift your energy toward the schools that said yes. Your list has options for a reason.

Resist the urge to compare. Someone else’s admission does not diminish your path. You have no idea what factors went into any individual decision, and neither do they.

Appeals are rarely welcome. Focus on what’s in your control (that doesn’t include admission decisions), and move on to what’s on the table for you.

Remember that where you go is not who you become. There is extensive research on this. Economists Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger found that for most students, what you do in college matters far more than which college name is on the diploma. Many colleges in this country have everything an engaged student needs to grow, learn, and thrive.

Wherever you go, you get to be an active agent in your own education, not a passive participant whose identity is shaped by a sweatshirt logo.

Option 3: You Were Waitlisted — Here Is What That Means

A waitlist offer means your application was competitive, and the college sees you as admissible. They simply do not know yet whether they will have room. Waitlist decisions are driven by yield: the number of admitted students who accept their offers by the May 1 deadline.

Accept the spot if you are interested.

Respond right away through whatever process the college uses — portal, email, or form — and confirm that you want to remain on the waitlist. If you are no longer interested, decline so another student can have your spot.

Write a Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI) — if the college accepts one.

I have to admit the term “LOCI” still annoys me, because it came from reddit, not admission offices. In any case, it’s a real thing that can make a difference. Not every college accepts a LOCI or additional materials after a waitlist decision. Read the waitlist notification and your portal carefully before sending anything. Sending unsolicited materials to a school that has asked you not to can work against you.

If the college accepts a LOCI, this is a short, genuine note to the admissions office. Reaffirm your interest clearly. If this school is your first choice, say so. Be honest. Share meaningful updates: new grades, a new award, a leadership role, a project completed — anything substantive since you submitted your application. Keep it brief and real.

Timing: Send the LOCI by mid-April in most cases. If the college provides a portal form or a specific submission process, use that channel.

Commit to another school by May 1.

This is essential. You need a home base regardless of what happens with the waitlist. Choose the best option among your confirmed admits, deposit there, and get genuinely excited about it. Do not put your spring on hold waiting for waitlist news.

As Dean Coffin advises, spend April focused on the yeses. His prediction, and mine, is that one of those yeses is going to make you smile.

Understand the timeline and the uncertainty.

Waitlist movement is unpredictable. Most activity happens after May 1, and offers can come as late as August. The waitlist is not a ranked list. Colleges look at the deposited group, the full pool, and fill specific gaps in their class.

If you are offered a spot from the waitlist, be prepared for a short response window — sometimes as little as 24 to 48 hours. If you accept, you must immediately notify the school where you originally deposited. Holding active deposits at two universities simultaneously is considered unethical in the admissions world, and the consequences can jeopardize one of your offers.

Keep your grades up.

Colleges often request a grade progress report for waitlisted students. A strong final semester trend can help.

A word of caution on contact. A brief update reiterating your interest, if welcome, is sufficient. Don’t pepper your regional rep with emails. I have watched this happen and backfire painfully. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who spent the last five months reading applications at all hours, making tough decisions, and let’s be honest, for not great pay. They are optimistic, mostly young people; they are also exhausted. Don’t stalk them and don’t show up at the admission office with a platter of cookies or an Edible Arrangement.

When You Are Struggling to Decide

This is the part nobody warns you about. You prepared for the anxiety of waiting. You did not prepare for the anxiety of choosing.

Having multiple good options is genuinely wonderful, and it can also feel paralyzing. The “paradox of choice” described by psychologist Barry Schwartz is very real.

Here is my framework for working through it.

Narrow as much and as soon as possible.

If you have five or more admits, you played your cards well — and you need to start narrowing down. Eliminate schools that no longer feel right for any reason: financial, geographic, gut feeling. Do not keep options alive out of obligation. Get to a short list of two or three finalists.

Revisit the three kinds of fit.

Every college decision comes down to three questions, and all three matter equally.

Academic fit: Does this school have strong programs in your areas of interest? Will you be challenged and supported? Are the class sizes, teaching style, and academic culture right for how you learn?

Social fit: Can you picture yourself in this community? Does the campus culture, the size, the location, the student body feel like a place where you could belong — where your absence would be noticed and your presence valued?

Financial fit: What is the true net cost after aid and scholarships? Can your family sustain this for four years without taking on debt that will impact your parents’ lives and your future? A school that leaves you financially stressed is not a good fit, no matter how much you love it.

Use the Big Six to guide the comparison.

After nearly 30 years in this industry, I think this is the most effective lens for evaluating colleges.

The Gallup-Purdue Index studied tens of thousands of college graduates and identified six experiences that predict whether someone reports thriving after college. These are not correlated with institutional selectivity.

SUPPORT

• A professor who made you excited about learning

• A mentor who encouraged you to pursue your goals

• Someone at your college who cared about you as a person

  
  

DEEP EXPERIENCE AND BELONGING

• A project that took a semester or more to complete

• An internship or job where you applied what you were learning

• Active involvement in extracurricular activities and organizations

• 
  

When you are comparing two schools, ask yourself where you are more likely to find these experiences. That question will tell you more about your future than any ranking ever could.

FREE CAMPUS VISIT TOOL

Notice & Know: College Visit Field Guide

Open in your phone’s browser, then select “Add to Home Screen” to use it like an app.

My partner in life and 24/7 college admission chatter Mindy Rose created this tool. She’s a great follow if you want to learn about higher ed trends and some fantastic frameworks for college decision-making.

Compare the real numbers.

Sit down with your family and look at the actual financial aid packages — not the award letter headlines, but the bottom line. What will you pay out of pocket each year? What is the total debt picture over four years?

Financial fit is not a consolation prize. Graduating with manageable debt gives you freedom—to take risks, to pursue graduate school, or to choose a career because you want it, not because you have to service a loan.

Talk to people who are there now.

Reach out to current students. Ask them what surprised them. Ask them what they wish they had known. Ask them about the things that do not show up on a website — the quality of advising, the accessibility of professors, the social scene on a Tuesday night, and the food.

Trust the process you already completed.

You spent months learning about yourself and researching these schools. That work was not wasted. The self-knowledge you built during the search is your best compass now.

Play the hand you are dealt.

I also borrowed this line from Dean Coffin, and I think it is wise. Play the hand you are dealt, not the hand you wish you had. The schools that admitted you want you. They chose you. That is meaningful.

When the deadline gets close, and you still can’t decide.

Sometimes two options are genuinely close. If you have done the work and you are still stuck, try this: imagine you have committed to School A. Really sit with it. Picture yourself there in September — walking to class, eating dinner, finding your people. How does it feel? Now do the same for School B. One of those pictures will produce a small but unmistakable sense of relief or excitement. Pay attention to that.

The other way to try this is to assign one college to each side of a coin. Flip it and imagine that’s your final choice. If you feel a pang of relief or regret— take note!

I once wrote that a good-fit college should come off the rack a little baggy and unflattering. With time, you grow into it. You are not looking for perfection. You are looking for a place with the right ingredients to help you grow, learn, and thrive.

No college is perfect, or perfect for you. They all have strengths and weaknesses. One thing I like to help you remember is that your best friend for life, future spouse, or a professor who will point you in a direction that leads to a fulfilling career might be waiting for you at any one of your options. There’s no way to predict!

A Few Final Reminders

May 1 is the deadline for most enrollment deposits. Do not miss it.

You can only deposit at one school. Holding spots at multiple colleges is unethical and can result in both offers being rescinded. For real, no joke, I’ve seen it happen.

Keep your grades up. Colleges can and do rescind admission offers for significant drops in academic performance. Finish strong. You want to feel good about yourself and your academic powers as you head to college.

I beg you, think carefully about the decisions you make in your senior year. Getting a disciplinary issue on your record this spring will take away admission offers faster than a report card full of D’s. I once even had a student lose their place because of behavior during the commencement ceremony. Imagine blowing your future, after 13 years of working your way through school, with one hour left on the clock. Think twice, and be safe.

Celebrate your positive outcomes with humility. Be kind to your classmates. One student’s safety school is another student’s dream. Respect the privacy and complexity of everyone’s process. Don’t feel pressured to tell anyone else your offers or your decision. It’s your life, and in a year, you’ll be somewhere else on your own journey.

Hopefully, you built a thoughtful, balanced list. You told your story honestly. Now you get to choose. That’s what this whole experience has led up to.

Enjoy the moment, and commit yourself fully once you’ve made a decision.