Parents and students often experience the college application process as a stressful and uncertain time. When the goal of the admissions process is simply to get into the best college you can, students miss out on a valuable opportunity to learn what their talents and values really are. But what if instead, the application process could be the key to discovering a student\u2019s authentic self? Are applications the finish line or the start of a student\u2019s best life? Is it the end of a marathon or the start of an exploration?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anjali Maazel, a college counselor in Austin, TX, advocates that we foster teens\u2019 skill development and workforce readiness through the lens of discovering and developing their authentic passions – and that the college application process is the perfect vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChanging the conversation around college admissions is vital. Instead of focusing only on \u2018getting in\u2019 to a narrow list of schools, we should guide students to discover their mission, their source of joy, and their ability to make a difference,\u201d Maazel told Cirkled In.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maazel explains that many parents and students believe children must become doctors, lawyers, or engineers to succeed. This belief, combined with pressure to attend a highly ranked college, often pushes students into a \u201ccheck-the-box\u201d mindset. They focus only on getting into a good college instead of exploring who they truly are and what makes them feel happy, inspired, and connected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, citing a 2017 McKinsey study, Maazel shows how the skills developed through the arts and humanities may actually give students an edge in our automated, AI-driven future. Skills like creativity, critical thinking, empathy, and communication are all vital and highly desired by employers. Therefore, the opportunities for students to study what they love AND create a financially viable career are much broader than they typically think. Armed with this knowledge, students can then freely discover and develop their talents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the video above, Maazel shares her \u201c3 D\u2019s of Talent Development\u201d: Discover, Develop, and Demonstrate. \u201cThis Ted Talk was designed to begin shifting the way we think of counseling teens and to provide a roadmap to connect with passion at any age. Portfolios and journaling play a large part in this process, so Cirkled In<\/a> can become a valuable tool for reflection in the journey to college,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By using the application process as an opportunity to discover students\u2019 talents and passions, connect them to their communities, and help them give back to others, we can help students develop a sense of purpose and deep connection to their authentic selves, which leads to happy, stable adulthood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Parents and students often experience the college application process as a stressful and uncertain time. When the goal of the admissions process is simply to get into the best college you can, students miss out on a valuable opportunity to learn what their talents and values really are. But what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-applications-and-admissions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cirkledin.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cirkledin.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cirkledin.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cirkledin.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cirkledin.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cirkledin.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cirkledin.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cirkledin.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cirkledin.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cirkledin.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}