A college representative meets with students in Welborn House.

We are in full swing here in the College Office, hosting admissions representatives from around the country and even abroad. By November, we will have welcomed around 160 different schools to meet interested Colorado Academy Juniors and Seniors.

Last week we hosted small-group and one-on-one meetings on campus for 80 college admissions reps who came to town for local evening college fairs. As always, colleges are eager to meet CA students during fall travel. Students benefit by learning about schools, refining their college lists, and marshaling more to write about in their applications. Back during our days as admissions counselors, my colleagues Sara Purviance, David Jones, and I enjoyed meeting and recruiting students each fall while we were “on the road.”

As Rick Clark, Georgia Tech’s longtime Assistant Vice Provost and Executive Director of Admission, writes, when meeting admissions representatives, students and families frequently ask the following question:

“What are your admissions requirements?”
(READ: Please just tell me clearly and plainly what I need to do/have to get in?)

In his notable blog, Clark pulls the curtain back on college admissions and complicates such questions that are typically (but problematically) center stage.

The answer? “It depends…”

While college admissions will always lack obvious transparency, Clark speaks to parents and high school students from a place of empathy and good sense, bite-sizing and contextualizing myths and realities.

Please join us as we welcome Rick Clark to Colorado Academy on October 19 for SPEAK: Reframing College Selection Goals. Clark will share an insider’s view of the trends and shifts in the application process and offer suggestions on what families should really consider when discussing college goals.

Rick Clark is the Associate VP of Enrollment Management and Executive Director of Undergraduate Admission at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). In this role, he directs the Institute’s recruitment and enrollment efforts, manages the review and selection of all undergraduate applications, and leads the admission team.

Clark has served on regional and national councils and boards. He is currently a member of NACAC’s Committee on Leadership in College Admission, and Past Chair of both the national Government Relations Committee and Georgia Tech’s Staff Council. Clark travels annually to U.S. embassies through the Department of State to discuss the admission process and landscape of higher education.