As many of you are vigorously typing your application essays, I decided to type a small piece to reflect on what I’ve learned about college admissions process in the past few years. Granted, I couldn’t have done it without CC.<br>
Prior to coming on here – I was a long-time lurker before I finally signed up – I’d never have known what self-studying, the Blue Book, the wonders of HSL, or HYPSM (the acronym, not the colleges themselves) were; in fact, I never would have known that some of my favorite schools existed if it weren’t for this site. I would never have stayed up until 5 in the morning waiting for SAT scores, and I never would have imagined myself playing the ‘predict the AP score by telephone time and date release’ game before coming on here.
Here’s what I learned so far, both on here and through my own experiences:
Good grades alone will not get you into a top school. Bad grades, however, will almost definitely prevent you from getting into your first choice school, unless you have some sort of hook. Some colleges overlook laziness from younger grades; others don’t.
Get your SATs and SAT IIs out of the way as soon as possible. It saves you time in the long run, and it looks better to have high scores early on. Use as many CB-released sources as you can. The two Blue Books (one for the regular SAT, the other for subject tests) are excellent.
Take APs early, too. Some schools have policies regarding the number of AP/honors classes you can take at a certain time, or they restrict AP classes to the final years of high school. Often, all this can be overcome by self-studying, which was more fun than I expected. Despite the name, self-studying doesn’t mean you have to study alone. You can still have mentors, be it professors from a local university, teachers at your school, or even a friend who’s really knowledgeable about the subject matter. As ironic as it sounds, I met some interesting people through the process.
Befriend a teacher. More often than not, teachers enjoy interacting with students, and there are plenty of topics of conversation (help with an essay, feedback on ideas for a project, etc). If the rapport is particularly strong, move from class-specific advice to general academic advice; keep in contact after class ends. This isn’t sucking up; it’s letting someone older help you through an exciting, albeit difficult, part of your life. You don’t need to be friends with every teacher, just one or two. This is where the best recommendation letters come from.
Do what interests you; it’s easy to tell when you’re pretending. Simply joining a club won’t come across as very exciting in essays or in interviews; it’s what average students do. Top students become presidents of clubs, but don’t do anything about it. The best students not only lead the club, but take it to new heights. If you’re passionate about crew, for instance, get your team pumped during the summer and put something together to practice for the Stotesbury Cup. Though it’s a rather narrow example, this can be applied to almost anything. Leading a group of like-minded people towards a greater goal can be done by anyone, as long as you have the vested interest to keep moving forward. Your relationships with the people you met and led will be cemented by a process that no classroom could replicate. To return to the crew example, it’s much better to be the person who led his team to the top ranks of the state regatta at the end of the day than the president of the club that met once a year to re-elect the same people to the same positions.
Keep in touch with the tour guides at the schools you visit and like the most. Every student I met on the campuses I visited gladly talked to me about about their experiences, and they have all been very insightful not only about their college, but about life at nearby schools, too. Ask the guides about something other than themselves; it’s when you get the most relevant information. Then again, some just prefer talking about how wonderful they are.
Don’t apply to 20+ schools. The majority of people I knew that did this were either applying to tons of safeties/matches that they didn’t particularly like, or to the whole top twenty-five and the last minute, in-state, fourth-tier safety. The former were doing it for ego-gratification; the latter were a bit crazy.
Loving a safety because it gives you the most AP credit and loving a safety because you love the atmosphere, it has the program you want, and you can see yourself being friends with the students on campus is not the same thing.
Hope some of that was useful. Good luck, class of 2016!
Smorgasbord