As a freshman, college applications seem daunting. What would you recommend that I do to achieve my goal? My grades are decent, top 2% of my freshman class. I have a few ECs, but they are not very strong. My SAT score is 2100, it will improve as I am taking classes this summer. I understand the essays are very important, how should I write them? How should I have excellent ECs? It would be very helpful if someone who understands this process could answer my questions. There is so much info on the Internet that it’s difficult to distinguish what is truly helpful.
Re: ECs, think quality over quantity. Pick the things you really love the most, and get really, REALLY into those. It’s especially helpful if they are things that a college admissions dean can read about and say, “Huh… I’ve never seen that on an application before!”
Closely related, when the time comes try to pick essay topics that other applicants are unlikely to have written about. Don’t write about your sports injury, or your trip to a third world country that exposed you to poverty, or anything else that they read about dozens or hundreds of times every year.
When they read your application, the overall impression they should have is, “this is interesting. I want to meet this student, I want to hear more about him/her.”
For a very small number of schools (fewer than 10, I think) such factors are what they must rely on when selecting an incoming class, because in those schools they get so many 3.9+, 2200+ (or 2300+) applications that they could fill the class half a dozen times over without looking further.
For the vast majority of schools - including most of the “top 25” you ask about - you really only need ECs to show you have a full life outside of academics. Every other applicant will have some, and they really won’t make you stand out, 99% of the time. You might really love playing piano, for example, but millions of other kids study piano, too - so unless your ECs give some unique path into a career or at least major, they pretty much are interchangeable.
The first question any school will ask when looking at your application is, “Is this student academically qualified? Will he or she be able to do the work here, and thrive?” If that’s not a clear “yes”, then they would be correct to deny the application without reading any further. So make your academics a higher priority than any ECs.
Come back in 2 years and tell what your cumulative GPA and test scores are, and you’ll get lots of suggestions about colleges to apply to.
Thanks! I’ll work really hard these next 2 years and hopefully will be able to manage a rigorous schedule and have a variety of ECs.
You may be need to increase SAT score above 2200 for top school but you have still chance. You can refer those list, too. http://www.businessinsider.com/smartest-colleges-in-america-2014-10