College Acceptance Question

Applying to College
1

<p>Okay, I was just wondering what the order of criteria is for colleges, especially the top colleges (such as the Ivy League). I know what they look at but I was unsure of some of them. Some of the major questions I have are about:</p>

<p>Volunteer work
SAT/ACT
Job experience
Extracirricular activities
Competition placings</p>

<p>I know colleges/universities look at all of these, but I am not sure about the order of importance they are in.</p>

<p>Any helpful input would be appreciated! Thanks!</p>

2

<p>No one really knows we can only guess.</p>

<p>many colleges say overall GPA is one of if not the most important… this of course going hand in hand with the overall rigor of your courses</p>

<p>i would argue the essay is in the top three. with ecs/volunteering/work/significant accomplishments up there as well.</p>

<p>i don’t think test scores rank very high at private schools but some people do.</p>

3

<p>Most view your high school transcripts as the most important. Strong test scores are pretty important, then essays, and then good EC’s.</p>

<p>Like BananaSandwich15 said though, none of us can say for sure.</p>

4

<p>Go to each school’s web site and search for the Common Data Set. It states in section C what priority the school pays to each factor in admission.</p>

5

<p>wow… thanks a lot guys!!</p>

6

<p>It really depends:
-Job/volunteering will depend on how much you do, what you do, and the purpose for doing it.
-SAT/ACT will depend on your grades and where you apply. I heard that some admissions committees don’t even bring up test scores because they believe it is reflected in a students GPA (which I strongly disagree with, but oh well). But, at larger schools that can’t take as holistic an approach, these are important.<br>
-Competition Placings depend on how well you did. Winning a 6th place medal at your regional science olympiad tournament isn’t a big deal, but winning first place at nationals is huge.
-ECs will again depend on what you do, how much time you put in, and why you do it. Like I’ve seen some really amazing lists of ECs, to the point where they act as a strong hook for almost any school. And some colleges factor in these more than others.</p>

7

<p>I’m assuming that having good grades/SAT scores, etc. are the most important. Having a good balance of different types of EC’s (sports if you like them, and clubs, with leadership positions) and having work experience and/or a good amount of volunteer hours would probably be best.</p>

8

<p>GPA doesn’t mean much without rigor and rank. One could just be taking easy courses at a school that inflates your marks like crazy. So I’d say GPA, rank and the rigor of your curriculum combined together would be the most important. Standardized test scores are starting to lose their weight, especially in private universities, but I’d still put them as no.2, with the essay as third. ECs and volunteer work are often grouped together, and sometimes job experience are grouped with them as well. ECs/job experience/competitive placings are given about the same weight. Unless you’re a nationally ranked athlete or something.
Some colleges rank the most important to least important criteria on their website/brochure.</p>

9

<p>hmmm. It seems that getting into nationals is a big deal for pretty much anything (right? :/). So what if there was a team competition and it was in the top for nationals, but not #1, would that stand out to any Ivy Leagues?</p>

10

<p>i’d guess that unless you could prove that you played a significant part in helping the team place, then it might be impressive, but otherwise, you could have easily just ‘tagged along’.</p>

11

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<p>This is not true. Almost every college ranks what’s important to them. But here’s a simplification:</p>

<p>Rank/Rigor
Scores</p>

<p>Everything else</p>