<p>Now that decisions are out, I'm seeing many students that got into many top schools (HYPSM, Caltech, etc.). Of course, many of you don't know specifically what got you admitted, but I'm sure you have some idea. If you're willing, please post what elements of your application you thought were most significant and why. This would greatly help out us juniors who are preparing for our college applications. Thanks!</p>
<p>My son will tell you, as will almost anyone here:
- GPA
- Transcript and rigor of curriculum- well one would hope that taking the most rigorous curriculum is what they seek- I will mention that one of my son’s classmates dropped out of the IB program and went to the IB certificate program and still got into an Ivy (with a MUCH lower test score (in lowest 25% of school stats) and no EC hook- only hook was he was an URM).<br>
- Test scores- more important than you think. Some schools talk about “holistic admissions”. Be wary of that.
- Letters of recommendation- if you want a top school, make sure that your teachers will be the ones to say how you made the classroom a better learning environment for all or something that isn’t generic such as “a hard working student”, “dilgent”, “a pleasure to have in class”.
- Essays- make them really stand out
- EC- depth before quantity.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the whole process is a crapshoot. Why else would another student 3 doors down from us with better ACT scores than my son but otherwise similar stats (although my son held a very unique position with a national nonprofit organization) get into Rice and Vandy (son rejected) while my son got into Johns Hopkins and WUSTL (the other student was rejected). In the end, you just don’t know. Bottom line, do not underestimate your chances, and do not overestimate them either. Best of luck.</p>
<p>“don’t underestimate your chances, an do not overestimate them either”- Easier said than done :P</p>
<p>Overall, I think as long as you have acceptable scores and gpa, the essays are the things that really make a difference. Everyone is going to have really impressive ECs, but to get in, you need to show the passion behind these ECs, which can really only be done with the essays. I wasn’t even in the top 10% of my class but got into nearly all the schools i applied to (waitlisted at Columbia grr), and I’m convinced that my essays did it for me. Good Luck.</p>
<p>It’s kind of a two stage process.</p>
<p>First is that you have to have good academic backgrounds:</p>
<p>High GPA/SAT/ACT numbers, high number of AP/IB/Honors classes. A college credit or 5 wouldn’t hurt either. The college wants to know that you can handle their rigorous curriculum and they don’t want you to waste your time and resources (or thiers) struggling in the curriculum. Once these basics are out of the way, it’s time for stage 2:</p>
<p>Here is how you set yourself apart from the crowd. Everyone that gets to stage 2 had the GPA/SAT/ACT and academic qualifications. You need something to show how you’re going to contribute to the univeristy community. Often, this is done with EC’s shoing leadership skills, or a passion for a certain topic/idea/cause, but there are many other ways to stand out. Research, travel, personal experiences are all good ways to do this.</p>
<p>The people I see struggling the most are those that don’t understand it’s a 2 stage process and having a very good showing in one stage won’t do more than nominally help you with the other stage. For example, there are plenty of applicants who are so caught up in having good SAT scores, that they spend so much time studying for the SAT and take it so many times that it doesn’t help them because they lack the EC’s and other things to set them apart in step 2. If you have a 2200, getting a 2300 or even a 2400 isn’t going to help you as much as working on finding something you like that you can talk about in an essay or interview that sets you apart from the crowd.</p>
<p>On the reverse, I’ve also seen students who are great leaders and have a passion for things, but neglect their school work. Becoming a president of a club vs being the VP doesn’t help your application when your GPA is a 3.0 and your SAT is at 1800.</p>
<p>So basically what I’m saying is that you need both, but more importantly, you need to identify which is the limiting factor for you and work on that.</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>So far, these posts have been extremely insightful. Thank you to those who have contributed so far for putting in the effort to help us who hope to one day be in your position.</p>