Rema’s Ramblings – Thoughts and Musings from Mumbai to Miami
College Admissions: From Simplicity in Mumbai to Complexity in Miami
Growing up in Mumbai, when I completed the final year of school, I took the state-wide Board examination. Results were announced one day a couple of months after the exam, and the very next day was college admission day. Based on my scores, I knew which colleges in Mumbai I could apply to, and fortunately, I was eligible for my top choice college in the University of Bombay.
The next morning, I went to that college, application form in hand, stood in line and waited my turn to meet the clerk at the window. About an hour later, I reached the window, where the clerk looked at my transcript and stamped “ADMITTED” on the form. That was it – I had secured admission into my top choice college in the city. And that’s how my undergraduate life began.
Naturally, years later, when I was raising my sons in Florida and preparing them for college in the United States, I was flabbergasted by the complexity of the entire preparation and admission process. Seeing how kids here start thinking about college as early as 7th or 8th grade amazed me. The idea that they carefully selected classes, extra-curricular activities and community service with college in mind was baffling. Soon enough I realized that this was simply how things worked here – and one had to play the game.
When my twin boys entered 10th grade, I started talking with parents of older students to understand the process a little better. I read countless online articles and attended lectures held by the school to familiarize myself with the college application process. In late 10th grade, the kids enrolled in an online SAT program to help them prepare for standardized testing. They understood the importance of taking the PSAT in 11th grade, and how the national merit program could help strengthen their applications. Over all four years of high school, they did community service, attended summer programs aligned with their career goals, and took the most challenging classes available. They decided to pursue the IB diploma, which included some of the toughest courses at their school. They also met regularly with their college counselor, who guided them in shortlisting their top-choice universities.
Then came the summer after 11th grade. It was time for the boys to work on their college applications – filling out the Common App, brainstorming essay topics, writing the all-important personal essay, followed by what seemed like hundreds of supplemental essays for individual universities. All of this resulted in endless discussions (and arguments!) in our family about what to write, what stories to highlight, what to leave out, and how best to present themselves.
Strategic decisions needed to be made – should applications be submitted as Regular Decision, Early Decision, Early Action, or Restricted Early Action? From August through December of senior year, the college application process completely dominated our evenings and weekends. The boys wrote their first drafts, which we would then review and re-review, going through multiple versions until finally arriving at the “final” version. We paid close attention to details, trying to ensure that words weren’t overused, and checking that essays aligned with the university’s mission and values. Many essays have strict character or word limits, which meant that we had to creatively find ways of trimming sentences while still keeping the essence of the story intact.
Some universities also offered helpful tips to students on their websites. I think that students must always research the university website to see if there is any advice there. For instance, University of Florida had a page that clearly outlined what they wanted to see in honors application essays, and Johns Hopkins University actually had a page titled “Essays that worked” with real examples from admitted students. That was an extremely useful resource which allowed us to see common patterns among strong essays.
My husband and I followed a couple of ground rules:
– All of the writing had to be done by the boys themselves – we would not write any part of their essays for them.
– While we discussed the items they included in their essays and gave them ideas, the final decision of what to include in their essays was always theirs.
I ended up learning about so many aspects of the admissions process, including deferrals and waitlisting. I came to understand what to do in the event of a deferral or a waitlist, how to write a letter of continued interest and how to request the school’s college advisor to schedule an advocacy call with the college admissions officer. Most importantly, I gained invaluable guidance by asking my numerous questions to more experienced parents, to whom I will be eternally grateful. We were also fortunate to have a dedicated college advisor at the high school who patiently worked with us and did everything possible to maximize my sons’ chances of acceptance. And this article would be incomplete without acknowledging the Headmaster of North Broward Preparatory School who – without my even asking – wrote a glowing recommendation letter for one of my sons to a university that had waitlisted him. In the end, this entire journey, though complex and at times overwhelming, became a shared experience of learning, growth, and resilience—for my boys, and for me as well.
About the Author:
Rema Deo is the Managing Director at 24By7Security, a Cybersecurity and Compliance Consulting firm. She lives in South Florida with her husband. A proud mother of twin boys, she is also an active member of the local Indian community. In addition to the professional responsibilities of her function, Rema enjoys the multi-cultural aspect of the job especially as it involves learning different languages, traveling to different countries and meeting and working with people of different backgrounds and cultures. Rema is actively involved in the South Florida community and serves as a Board Member of the Indian Regional and Cultural Center, and has also served on the Board of Trustees of the North Broward Preparatory School.
