Recently I have attended two separate college admissions events in the Puget Sound area.

I was dismayed to see how few Federal Way students and parents who could attend either of these two events. For many colleges in this nation a trip to Washington is considered a “Trip to the Desert” as it is so hard to find qualified candidates for their fine schools.

Why is this so? Guidance Departments don’t seem to have the time, or preparation, to deal with any schools outside of their immediate area. It is well to note that Massachusetts has more colleges than there are west of the Rockies and most kids and parents in Federal Way can’t name many of them.

Certainly those that do not have a Division I athletic team are almost surely not known.

Many of these colleges make some pretty deliberate efforts to recruit students from all of the country, not just their local area such as the University of Washington. Many of these schools are also leaders in some particular fields as well.

When I ask students about their interests for college and then mention some of these colleges that are highly respected in their fields, I get blank stares. When I suggest that finding the right college for a student is a 2 to 3 year research project, eyes roll.

Then we wonder why so few students from Washington are successful in college. Washington is 50th in the nation in 3rd year college students. The rules for going, and staying in, college have changed.

This is no longer a frantic process in the fall of a student’s senior year if success is desired. It is now a process to be started in the freshman year of high school, at the latest, if a student and parent want to be well informed.

Speaking to one of the Admissions Directors from a highly respected college the other day, I learned that they may consider reducing the number of expensive high school visits they make in the Northwest. Why? There just isn’t any student preparation for these meetings and they find that many of the attendees are more interested in getting out of a class than learning about their college!

From another Admissions Director, I learned that “Stealth Applicants” are not offered much consideration at his college.

What is a “Stealth Applicant?” These are applicants who consider sending in an application, essay, recommendations and achievement scores as being sufficient to gain admission to his school. The school has no idea of the student’s real interest in attending the school!

I spoke to an involved parent about their child’s preparation for the College Fairs only to learn that they were very well prepared for these events.

It shocked me, but then I learned that the child was in the smallest of our secondary school programs! There they seem to have a pretty good understanding of the “process.”

Unfortunately at one of our other high schools the exact opposite was the case. In fact there wasn’t even an attempt to get parents and students to attend the best possible source of college admissions information!

About a year ago I spoke with a former school board member who has two kids attending some of the best colleges in this country after a stellar effort in one of our high schools.

They reported that college was “difficult.” They then stated “that there were high schools back East that prepared kids for competitive colleges.”

In Federal Way we do have some very good preparation for competitive colleges.

The International Baccalaureate program at Jefferson, the Cambridge Program at Federal Way and probably the TAF Academy are all geared to an adequate preparation for serious college. Is your child in one of these? If not, why not?

Is your child a “Stealth Applicant?” If so, do not be surprised if you have some serious disappointments.