College Institutional Priorities: Understanding Who Gets In with Aly Beaumont

College and Career Clarity

In this episode, Lisa and Aly discuss:

• Common institutional priorities of colleges that drive admissions decisions for your teen.
• Factors colleges consider beyond GPAs, test scores, extracurricular activities, and more (all outside of your student’s control).
• Why where to apply and when to apply affect if your teen gets admitted.
• What impacted majors are and how they can affect your student.
• Clues colleges give about their institutional priorities and how you can find them.

Key Takeaways:

• Colleges are more concerned about creating a graduating class as a whole than about your student specifically.
• Students learn better when they are learning with people who are not exactly like them.
• An impacted major at one college is not the same at another. You can utilize sites like College Navigator to understand how many students are graduating in a particular major.
• It’s not the size of the school, it’s what your student does there that makes it feel bigger or smaller.
• Being more selective does not make a school better; it just makes them more selective.

“This is a highly charged process these days. It's very emotional for families. It's very stressful for families. It's not a personal process. The reality is, this isn't really about you. This is really about what colleges need to create this diversified class.” – Aly Beaumont

About Aly Beaumont: Aly is the founder of Admissions Village, a family-focused, affordable, one-on-one college guidance consultancy. Aly and the Admissions Village team are deeply committed to making the college admissions process less stressful, and their success with this objective can be measured by both the growing number of referrals they receive as well as the repeat business of family siblings. Aly is also a founder and advisor to The College T, a website developed during the pandemic that connected high school students with college students and recent graduates so that first-hand information and experiences could be shared.

Aly is a graduate of Tufts University, where she majored in history with a concentration in modern women and African American history. She was also captain of the equestrian team. She lives in Wilton, CT, with her husband, Perry, and their two dogs, Buddy and Buzz. They have three sons in their 20s who graduated from Santa Clara, The University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and Keyon College. Aly is a Professional member of IECA and she has her certificate as an Independent Educational Consultant from the University of California Irvine.

Episode References:

• Video Resource: College Major Enrollment: How to Check Numbers Before You Choose: flourishcoachingco.com/blog/college-major-enrollment-how-to-check-numbers-before-you-choose
• Aly’s Blog: It’s Not You, It’s Them admissionsvillage.com/blog/it-is-not-you-its-them
• College Navigator: nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator
• #098 How Your Teen Can Benefit from an Honors Coll

Connect with Lisa:
Website: https://www.flourishcoachingco.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flourishcoachingco
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flourishcoachingco/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/flourish-coaching-co