<p>Ok. So. I am applying to a variety of different schools, and, like most everyone else, I have a reach school I'm applying to. Unfortunately for me, I visited that school yesterday, and I basically completely fell in love with it. It's beautiful. It's considered one of the public ivies. I want badly to go to school there.</p>
<p>So I was wondering... how do you stick out? I mean, I've got an ok GPA and pretty good extracurriculars. I'm getting reccomendations from an English and Math teacher, and both should show different sides of me and should be very good (especially the one from my English teacher, which should be excellent). My essay is supposed to be very good and is quite, well, unique. And it's genuine, I swear. I plan on writing a personal statement about how much I wish to be involved in college, something I didn't necessarily do in high school.</p>
<p>But what else can I do to stick out? This can apply to everyone. I know the five big things are my transcript, test scores, essay, reccomendations, and exracurriculars. But what else can I do? I mean, when filling out the common app, how can I show them my personality? I've heard it should kind of be a blueprint of, well, you. Are there little things you can do to show your personality, to really shine through? It's going to get redundant after a while for the admissions officers. I want to show them I'm well rounded and smart and passionate. I know I have my essay but it's impossible to say everything I wish they could know about me in 500 words. A lot of it speaks for itself, like the extracurriculars session, but I still want to shine through as much as possible. And I was just wondering if anyone, especially people who have done this before, has tips on how to do that. I'm sure there are plently of things that people could do but don't when filling out the common app to really show how good they are. So what are those things?</p>
<p>As for your question, publics–even “public Ivies”–will make decisions based almost entirely on grades, course rigor, and test scores. The best way to stand out in a public admissions pool is to have superb raw stats.</p>
<p>It’s just… hard to get involved in high school. I mean I know that’s no excuse. I got picked on a lot when I was younger and it’s hard to organize a charity or be in charge of a club or anything like that when most of your grade doesn’t like you. Besides, I didn’t necessarily start wanting to do this stuff until later.</p>
<p>They’re not all like that. I’m sure of that. Quite a number of schools I’ve visited have talked extensively about extracurriculars and letters of reccomendation and essays. They’ve said time and time again that grades truly aren’t everything. The numbers are going to run dry. It’s inevitable. And they only have a limited number of seats. EVERYONE has high stats. The common app is supposed to kind of be a… snapshot, right? So there must be things you can do when filling it out to highlight your strengths. </p>
<p>For example, you can elaborate on any extracurriculurs that you were VERY involved in. Write about it under “extra information” or whatever it’s called (that is where you put it, right? cuz I heard there’s something else you can do but idk what it is). It sounds simple, but not everyone does it. Or you can write a personal statement. Again, it sounds simple, but it would make you stick out just a little bit more. I’m looking for stuff like that.</p>
<p>which school is it, if you don’t mind me asking?
Schools look at the numbers first to see how capable you are of handling college-level work. If you have a 2.5 GPA but are President of a club or two, it’s not going to prove that you are up to the rigors of college. if you have a 4.0 and are also involved in ECs, it means you’re able to manage your time and your priorities.
Try to show your personality through your application. Blow the essays out of the water and elaborate on your ECs whenever possible.</p>