Insights into getting into top colleges?

Hey all, I’m currently a high school student and am wondering how to get into a top college. My grades are near-perfect but I definitely need to work on my extracurricular activities. Any suggestions that have worked for others?

Do what you love. If you are going to apply to selective schools, you will write essays, and if you write them genuinely, your true passions will come out. So if you are into, say, horticulture, but you have a bunch of CS ECs, that may come across as disingenuous. So rather than joining groups just to make your app look better, do what really interests you, and convey your true loves. Life is too short to waste time on things that we don’t care about. Be real.

Schools want to know whom you really are, not whom you think they want you to be.

If there was a magic formula (other than perhaps being a star quarterback, the child of a very wealthy alumni, a movie star etc. ) someone would be selling it. I recommend you simply work hard to “be the best you” you can be in every aspect of your life and see how things fall out.

Keep in mind that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.

@prezbucky This is amazing advice, thank you so much

@happy1 definitely makes sense - thank you so much for your advice

Check out “How to be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport.

“The basic message of the book is this: Don’t wear yourself out taking as many classes as you can and being involved in every club and sport. Instead, leave yourself enough free time to explore your interests. Cultivate one interest and make it into something special that will make you stand out among the other applicants and get you into the toughest schools, even if your grades and scores aren’t stellar. Newport calls this the “relaxed superstar approach,” and he shows you how to really do this, breaking the process down into three principles, explained and illustrated with real life examples of students who got into top schools: (1) underscheduling—making sure you have copious amounts of free time to pursue interesting things, (2) focusing on one or two pursuits instead of trying to be a “jack of all trades,” and (3) innovation—developing an interesting and important activity or project in your area of interest. This fruit yielded by this strategy, an interesting life and real, meaningful achievements, is sure to help not only with college admissions, but getting a job, starting a business, or whatever your goals.”

http://www.examiner.com/review/be-a-relaxed-high-school-superstar