If you could quantify the importance...

[adizzyone]

I realize that college applications to top tier schools are holistic and there are many factors that go into an admissions decision. But, could anyone rank the importance of certain elements of an application? For example, out of a total of 100, how much would grades weigh, compared to hooks, financial situation, essays, ECs, test scores, course rigor, etc?

Again, I know applications are viewed holistically, but some have got to be more important than others.

[marvin100]

Can’t do it | it varies | no point anyway | be awesome at as many things as possible.

[FiddleMySticks]

Depends on each school.

[T26E4]

Veteran poster Gibby often shares this quote fhis from Jeffrey Brenzel, Yale’s retired Admissions Director on the College Board website: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/testing/the-real-role-of-tests-in-your-college-application

Students, when we’re on the road, we often play a little kind of quiz show game with students, asking what they think is the most important part of the application. Many, many students respond, “Well, the testing must be the most important.” It’s actually one of the less important elements in the file. The testing can give you a sense of what schools are within your range, and it gives the school a sense of what students in the applicant pool are within their range. The most important part of your application — bar none, no question, any college — is your high school transcript. Probably the next most important are your teacher recommendations, particularly if you’re applying to any kind of selective college or university.

[lookingforward]

Off hand, and in this morning’s mood, and for fun, I’d say 90% is how the applicant thinks. If he or she thinks.

It’s the thinking skills which lead to those choices (and performance) that show on the transcript and in the choices of ECs, how a kid stretched or limits himself to the box and easy activities, same old/same old. And it shows in the written answers. Or not. It can be what excites a teacher, who then writes a great rec. And then a well done app, not one just walked through by the deadline.

That’s not to say you need to be a world class philosopher in your app and supp, expound on this or that, or write a brilliant essay on Jane Austen. It means you know what you’re doing and why. And what those colleges mean, what they offer, how you match them and they match you, for the four years.