HS Class of 2013 Lessons Learned

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

We’re nearing the end of the process, and if you’re like me you spent HOURS on the website daily, ignoring your homework, looking for answers. So give back. <em>cry</em> It’s beautiful.

Note, my advice probably won’t work for everyone. Selectively use it.

<ol>
<li>Avoid the “________ Class of ____ Decisions Thread” threads. They do no good. I remember reading one post with a 2000 SAT and fist pumping, and then seeing the next post, with a 2360, getting rejected, and subsequently crying.</li>
<li>Don’t make a chances thread until you have /all/ of your test scores and whatnot. And don’t be modest and say, “Yea, I did some community service things over the summer.” Instead, say, truthfully, “Yea, I helped build houses in Uganda over the summer.” It’ll help.</li>
<li>This is probably terrible advice: Don’t worry about finding a safety school until after any EA/ED decisions. I had a list of ~8 schools but didn’t apply to 7 of them until after I found out about Georgetown EA, where I then knocked 5 schools off of my list. True, start/complete the applications, but don’t submit them until you know you have to.</li>
<li>Don’t worry about your reach/match/safety ratio. If you have a safety, a real safety, as in the local community college or a very easy state school, and not Northwestern (seriously, someone just called it that), don’t worry about finding 12 others. Conversely, don’t worry about keeping your reaches down. Apply to ALL the Ivies! My final list: 3 reaches (Georgetown check, UChicago waitlist, Harvard ???).</li>
<li>About tests: ignore the counselor that tells you to take the ACT and SAT and then retake your better one. Take practice tests, choose the one you like more, and then study for that. Why waste four hours taking a practice SAT if you know your ACT score will be better? My final testing: 1 ACT, 3 Subject Tests.</li>
<li>Don’t apply to UCs unless you live in California. They’re probably not worth it. But if you do live in CA, why would you even bother applying out of state? THEY’RE TOTALLY WORTH IT. I’d drop everything and go to UCLA if I lived there. ~ready to be flamed~</li>
<li>****Think about where you’re applying. Really. NYU Abu Dhabi IS in a really exotic location, but it probably doesn’t have your major. UChicago is totally awesome (reason it was once my first choice: Scav Hunt), but it’s also a lot of work (fun goes to die, lalala). You probably can’t afford NYU, so don’t make it your dream school. You’ll make new friends, so don’t go to BIGSTATESCHOOLEVERYONEGOESTO because you can’t be away from your friends. If a school /really/ doesn’t have exactly what you want, don’t apply. I don’t care if it’s free or in friggin’ Abu Dhabi.</li>
<li>You’ve probably gotten the vibe already from above, but just to make sure: APPLY EARLY ACTION. It’s so worth it.</li>
<li>Write the optional essays.</li>
<li>Do the optional interviews.</li>
<li>Don’t visit the school until you get in. You’re probably going to be rejected from UChicago, so why would you waste money on the plane/bus/whatever ticket, fall in love with the architecture, and then not even be able to go and be forced to never wear that hoodie again?</li>
</ol>

If I think of more, whatever.

2

Eh, interviews are reallly no big deal.

3

Thanks for the smile this morning! As a Californian mother I would say totally apply to UC’s if you are out of state you have a higher acceptance chance than us in-staters, then again -don’t apply, I have a junior daughter!

4

Interviews don’t take much effort, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to.

And it might be easier to get into UCLA, but it certainly won’t be cheaper!

5

I kind of disagree, if you have the chance to visit a school and spend 20$ on gas do it… if you don’t like it, you’ll save the 70$ application fee.

6

I think visiting a local school is a little different than the way I discussed it. If you have to go on a road trip to see it, why bother?

7

Lesson: I wish I was Native America/ Inuit/ Black.

That way I wouldn’t have been rejected from North Dakota Technical School of Industrial Arts. AA screwed me and my Asian brethren over.

8

I wish people would stop blaming AA for their rejections! You did not get into the university because you were not chosen; A Native American, African-American, Hispanic etc being accepted did not lead to your rejection.

9

I got rejected from UC Berkeley today, lesson:

Leave no holes. You can be a very brilliant student that can flaunt math/science achievements, have more APs, extracurriculars/office positions, and a lower class rank than other people that got admitted but the one flaw is straight B’s in English 9th-11th grade, 500 range on the CR/W parts of the SAT, and some of that English ability also rolls into the essays… (When you can have a math/science major that doesn’t require much writing)

10

don’t waste you’re time making a chance thread (not that I did this, but the posters seemed desperate for worthless reassurance)

I’ll add more tomorrow

11

Don’t apply to too many colleges. Have an equal amount of safeties and matches. Always meet deadlines without last minute stuffs.

Sent from my LG-VM696 using CC

12

Don’t apply to too many colleges (as in… not 20+) & have enough safety/matches, but also make sure to apply to the reaches that you want to! Remember, it’s the ONLY time that you’re applying for undergraduate schools. You would never know if you’d have gotten into MIT/Stanford/Yale/Brown if you didn’t apply.

And as for the CA/UC sentiment… I love the UCs, but admissions is a bit crazy even if you’re in CA (the # of applicants to UCLA this year is the highest in the nation & all UCs saw an increase in applications). Definitely apply to schools outside of California if you love them.
I personally didn’t apply to any out-of-state public… but that’s because of tuition lol.

13

<ol>
<li>Apply EA/SCEA. It is so worth it to have potential acceptance(s) in your hand in December. And even if you’re not accepted, it will help reevaluate your college list so you can include more targets and safeties. </li>
<li>In addition, if you have a reach/dream school that you know you’ll attend if admitted, apply there early if possible. I applied to Harvard SCEA and got accepted. Since I knew I would get great financial aid, I didn’t submit my other applications. This saved me a lot of money through sending in SAT/ACT scores. </li>
<li>Don’t be afraid to apply to a lot of schools. Most top-tier schools are reaches for anyone these days, so having a bunch of applications out can’t hurt. Just make sure you have one or two absolute safeties. Also, don’t apply to 20+ colleges if your application quality will be poor because of the sheer number of essays/etc. you have to write.</li>
<li>Don’t make chance threads. EVER. Seriously, they are probably the worst things about College Confidential. Strangers on the internet cannot predict your admissions chances at colleges, especially those with <20% admissions rates. Look at your colleges’ common data sets to see if your stats are in the target range, do ECs you love, write a great essay and make bonds with teachers to get good recs. Chance threads will not benefit you in any way.</li>
</ol>

14

To add to almost everyone else, stay away from the chance threads! Don’t create one don’t look at one its a sure fire way for you become depressed while reading about kids who cure cancer per the weekend.

Have a balanced list and a financial safety

Become your GC’s best friend

Have people review your essay BEFORE submission

Apply EA where you can. If you get rejected you have time to revise your list and if your accepted you’ll be done early.

15

I now have an opinion on a number of things, however, a few stand out.

<ol>
<li>The most important colleges you choose to apply to are your matches and your safeties. Consider them carefully both academically and financially. </li>
<li>Don’t apply ED unless you are reasonalby certain it will be affordable and you are certain that is where you want to attend. </li>
<li>Apply early to be eligible for the most scholarship opportunities. </li>
<li>Schools that are extremely selective are reaches for everyone. Most who apply “deserve” to get in and most won’t. If you don’t get accepted you are not “worse” than others and if you do you are not “better”. </li>
<li>Create mom and dad’s “financial aid package” early and base your choices (especially your safeties) on that.</li>
</ol>

There is probably a lot more but that’s all for now.

16

I’m sorry we did any college visits before she was accepted. However, once accepted I realized how crucial it was for both of us to visit the school. The parents and the kids get different pitches and they must be blended to get an accurate reading on how good the match is for the student. Rejected by 2 Ivys, accepted to all match schools + one reach school. Now to decide between the two best offers. One school needs to know by next Friday. Well, good it will be over before May 1 I suppose. Assuming she doesn’t take the spot on the Duke waitlist…

17

Lesson learned:

  1. lower your hopes when applying to Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc… especially when you are below 2200s…chances of getting in is really low, regardless of your ECs and awards. One of my friends won an international physics awards with 2100s SAT got rejected by UC-Berkeley…:frowning:
  2. apply to as many school as possible. My cousin got a near-perfect score on SAT and great ECs. but he only applied to TOP 8 schools. He almost ended up getting rejected by every single one of them… He might go to a public school eventually.
  3. Enjoy your senior year, there’s nothing you can change once you submit your application.
18

<ol>
<li>If you measure the value of what you’re doing right now by how it’ll help your chances of getting into an elite school, you’re leading a pitiful existence and hurting your chances.</li>
</ol>

However, it’s probably good to involve in your decisions about how to spend your time with an eye to college admissions.

19

Don’t get sold on a dream school. That’s a myth, and it’s no way to live life. (In Freudian/Lacanian terms, you’ll never find the neurotic lost object, so stop trying.)

Have realistic expectations, and before you apply to a school, make a list of five reasons why you love it.

Leave it all out on the field with your essays. Write until you are happy with them, and then be done. Think about your college app as a way to summarize who you have become and what you have accomplished in HS-- who are you now? Tell that to colleges. If your college app is a true reflection of yourself, and they don’t want you, that’s nobody’s fault but theirs.

Dwell on rejection-- for all of five/ten seconds. Then move on. Nothing good will come of it.

I would apply to one or two schools EA or rolling. It reduces stress so much with a school in your pocket that you love-- in my case, knowing that I had a full ride to a Big Ten school made second semester that much easier to handle.

Be realistic about financial aid-- have the talk with your parents now and pick schools that will work. Don’t apply to a school knowing that you wont’ be able to attend.

20

Send your tax info in the day you have it all ready. I honestly think that waiting for my financial aid package (late, because my tax man took forever) was worse than waiting for the admission decision.

This is something I didn’t do and luckily it turned out okay, but: Stay on top of scholarship applications. Do them the second the application is out. After I got in I waited a few months because I was like, ahhhhh I’m in, the end, and then early this month I was getting really worried and started scrambling to apply to a few.