definitely agree with #2 and 4… in some ways they coincide with each other. if you truly have passion about what you do, then you will succeed in standing out from the crowd. sounds cliche, but it’s worked for many of my friends.
another good piece of advice is to be concise but meaningful on your essays. most of the colleges i applied to put a cap of 500 words per essay and i know people who struggled because they just used too many words but didn’t say enough.
I agree totally about the essays. It’s amazing how little you can actually say in 500 words, but I think it is very good for every student’s writing skills to be so limited when you have so much to say. I know that many of my teachers talked about being concise and to the point, but I never fully understood what that meant until I wrote my college essays. When I’d finish up with an essay and be more than 100 words over the word limit, I really learned what it meant to take out superfluous words and details.
I’ve written an article highlighting some tips that help with getting into a selective college. My alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, is some what selective in picking and choosing its undergraduate student body.
[Ryan</a> Faja: Tips on Applying to University of Wisconsin](<a href=“■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■”>■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■)
This is such a nice reading!
thanks!
Look for at least one safety school that does rolling admissions and get that application in as early as possible. It is much less stressful if you have at least one acceptance under your belt while you wait for the other admissions decisions.
Floridadad: You are correct that it has become easier for out of state students to be accepted to the top California publics, because they need the tuition dollars. However, UVa is need-blind in admissions, and has a strict cap of 30% on out of state and international undergrad students.
Therefore, if a student does not need financial aid, that by itself will not help them be admitted to UVa. It will help them be admitted to a number of private colleges.