My Advice to the High School Class of 2015

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

I always found advice threads from admitted students to be helpful, so I have decided to make one for the high school class of 2015 (or any other high school student). These tips are mostly geared towards students interested in applying to very selective colleges, but I think that they can be of use to everyone.

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<li>Limit the number of reach schools on your list!</li>
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I personally think that you should limit the number of schools you apply to with acceptance rates under 15%. I know that some people apply to all eight ivies hoping that they will get into at least one. I understand where these people are coming from, but I do not think that this is a good strategy for a few reasons. 1) There is no way you are in love with all eight ivies. They have distinct personalities. 2) Think of the number of essays you will have to write. It is better to write three good essays than 10 mediocre ones. 3) Unless you are a transcendent student (by ivy league standards), chances are that you could end your senior year with many rejections. That is just disheartening.

As for me, I applied to five reach schools. Four were ivies. I was accepted to two of my reach schools and rejected by the other three. I do not think that five reach schools is a terrible number, but I would not do it again. I only applied to two of the ivies because of their prestigious names. I spent a lot of time on the applications, and then I was rejected in March! It just is not worth it. I would recommend 1-3 reach schools that you LOVE.

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<li>Craft your college application list as if the reach schools did not exist.</li>
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This is something I did, and I would recommend this tip to everyone. Select your 1-3 reach schools, and then forget about them. Assume that you will be rejected. Next, decide on your match and safety schools as if the reach schools don’t exist. If you implement this strategy, you will be more likely to select match and safety schools you actually like instead of just settling.

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<li>Do not listen to the people who say you are an automatic admit to every school.</li>
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This tip is mostly for URMs (underrepresented minorities), legacies, first generation students, and students from poor backgrounds. People will tell you that you will DEFINITELY get into [insert name of prestigious school] because people like you are in demand, sometimes get in with lower grades and SATs, and provide diversity. Do not believe these people. I will not deny that some groups of students do have an advantage, but nothing is guaranteed. I am a URM with three ivy rejection letters. People told me that since I am a high achieving URM, I could get in anywhere. This just isn’t true. I know of other students with hooks who were rejected as well.

<ol>
<li>Know what you want, and do not compromise.</li>
</ol>

Has your dream been to live in a city? Apply to city schools! Have you always wanted to be an engineer? Apply to schools with highly ranking engineering programs! Is a small environment a must for you? Then apply to small LACs, and forget about the big universities.

Do not compromise when you apply to schools. Figure out what you want, and continue searching until you find it. You should not end up in a situation where only your dream school has the qualities you are looking for. Every school should. Seriously, do not compromise. Keep looking until you find schools that you absolutely love.

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<li>Do not let one bad visit deter you from applying.</li>
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Just because your tour guide sounded elitist or the admissions officer gave a bad presentation does not mean that you will not love the school. Do not start to hate a school because of one person you were not fond of. If you live nearby, visit the school again. (I did this once, and I ended up applying in the end.) If not, spend time on the website and look up reviews about the school online. Do not simply rely on your first impression.

<ol>
<li>Read a book about admission to selective colleges.</li>
</ol>

They have good tips that you might not have thought of.

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<li>Do not be upset about a lukewarm interview.</li>
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I thought that one admissions officer disliked me, but she actually loved me! I found out from faculty members that she advocated for me often during the process.

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<li>Do not retake standardized tests a million times.</li>
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If you are in the right range, do not retake the test. This is just my personal advice. Yes, a 2400 is better than a 2200, but don’t stress yourself out about the testing so much. Do not let it consume you because testing is no fun.

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<li>Rejoice in every acceptance.</li>
</ol>

Rejoice in every acceptance because you don’t know what is coming next. Your match and safety schools will probably notify you before your reaches. When the first acceptances start rolling in, start to celebrate. You got into college! Always remember that what you consider to be a match or a safety might be someone else’s dream school.

<ol>
<li>This is the most important tip. Getting into an ivy will not change your life!</li>
</ol>

At the end of the college admissions process, I did get into one ivy league school. While receiving my fat envelope was one of the most exciting moments of my life, it has not changed me. I am still the same person I was before I received the envelope. I am not smarter or more talented. By this point, the initial excitement has started to wear off. I am so busy studying that I do not have time to think about college 24/7. Getting into a top college/university will NOT change your life.You will be fine either way.

Phew! Those were my top ten tips! Best of luck, and may the odds be forever in your favor! :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

2

You missed the big one: talk to your parents about cost constraints before you make your application list.

See point 1 of <a href=“Before you ask which colleges to apply to, please consider - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1621234-before-you-ask-which-colleges-to-apply-to-please-consider.html&lt;/a&gt; .

Regarding the points above:

<h1>2: It is better to start the list with a safety, so that you need not spend time researching schools that you do not like better than your safety.</h1>

<h1>3: While it is sensible policy to assess reach/match/safety without assuming anything for race/ethnicity or most other aspects which people assume are “hooks”, there are schools where a high stat student may be an automatic admit without any subjective criteria being applied to introduce uncertainty. See <a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums; and <a href=“Updated list of schools with auto-admit (guaranteed admission) criteria - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1562918-updated-list-of-schools-with-auto-admit-guaranteed-admission-criteria.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/h1&gt;

<h1>4: Most students will face some compromises. The following factors can limit the choice of schools so that there is no school that is a perfect fit for all criteria: cost and financial aid, academic programs and majors of interest, too selective (student is not admitted), parental restrictions (beyond cost and financial aid as noted previously).</h1>

3

I second the fifth point. People will try to convince you that you have more of an advantage than you actually do; but on the flip side, don’t listen to people who insist you won’t get into a certain school. If it’s your dream school go for it anyway. Even if you’re rejected, it’s better than living with the ‘What if I had applied…’ question.

4

OP, thank you for taking the time to write this. I have a D15 and I will share this with her. Very sound advice. (We’ve already had the talk about financial limitations.)

5

I would agree with the ignore your reach schools tip. I really wanted to go to an LAC. Well as it turns out all of the LACs I applied to were reaches and I got rejected or wait listed to all of them. I would also say that price should be a big factor in applying, not just choosing. I was accepted to around 7 schools, but about 4 of those were way out of my price range, so I really only had a choice between 3 schools. Predict what you are going to get in financial aid, and if you don’t think you’ll be able to afford it, don’t apply.

6

How many schools did you apply to in all?

7

My number one tip: DEMONSTRATE INTEREST. even if you know everything about your dream school because you know how to use the internet, your dream school might have never heard of you because you never bothered to call in and ask questions. Wash U in STL was my dream school, and I wasn’t able to visit formally, just briefly walk around and join the back of a tour in the summer. They never even knew I was interested and now I’m waitlisted, which WUSTL is famous for doing to keep yield rates high. Great schools like WUSTL, NU and even Duke will waitlist/reject people who they don’t think are interested.

8

I wound up applying to 9 schools
3 huge reaches (harvard, princeton, stanford)
1 still-big-but-not-as-big-of-a-reach (duke)
4 matches (Georgetown, Pomona, WUSTL, UVA)
1 Safety (Villanova)

I was rejected by princeton and Stanford.
I was waitlisted by Harvard, Georgetown, and WUSTL (never demonstrated interest in any of them)
I was accepted to Duke, UVA, Pomona, and villanova. I demonstrated tons of interest in all four of those. I visited and took official tours/info seshes at all four. I called and ask questions and talked to admissions counselors at all four.

9

What a great post. Thanks for sharing you experience, I am sure many will benefit from this.

10

Plan early.
Finish taking SAT/ACT by the end of junior so you can work on the school list, collect school information, visit campus, start writing essays and fill the forms over the Summer.
Go through the NPC of all schools on the list and eliminate the financial impossible ones.
Secure at least a couple teachers for recommendation before summer and get back to them when school resume.
Apply early if possible.

11

I would advise: Aim high!! Don’t be afraid of rejections. I got rejections, but I also got into some schools I never thought I would. Also, realize that your decision at one place will not indicate the decision somewhere else. For example, I was deferred at an honors college at a big state university but accepted at a Top 10 school with a <10% acceptance rate. How can one explain that?

12

The third one is huge. I was told I was for sure for a couple and I was rejected to them. It was pretty devastating.

13

I agree, aim high, but be realistic. Here are the list of schools I applied to:

Cornell – Rejected (Transfer Option)
UC Berkeley – Rejected
Johns Hopkins – Rejected

UCLA – Rejected
USC – Rejected

UCSD – Accepted
UCSB – Accepted
Colorado School of Mines – Accepted (free app)
Marquette – Accepted (free app)
St. Johns – Accepted (free app)
Drexel – Accepted (free app)

Even with stellar stats, the acceptance game has no guarantees. My best friend was accepted to UC Berkeley and USC, while being rejected by UCSD. Another of my close friends was accepted to Stanford, but wait listed at UC Berkeley. The OP is correct in saying “Limit the number of reach schools on your list!” Yes apply to a few reach schools, but it is unwise to apply to all eight ivies with the hopes of getting into one. It is both a waste of money, and a lot of time that could be used maintaining high grades during senior year.

That being said, “Know what you want, and do not compromise,” and “Rejoice in every acceptance.” Yes, it hurts to be turned down from your dream school, but maybe it wasn’t a good fit, or it just wasn’t meant to be. Be happy that you can even go to college, a lot of people don’t get that opportunity. You can also always try again if you really want. I ended up pursuing the Transfer Option Cornell gave me and I will be attending there next fall. There is also graduate school. The world provides many options, you just have to look for them and keep them open. Don’t shut doors until you have the ability to do so.

14

I’m a junior right now and gotta say this post really helped. Thanks to everyone for sharing, I’ll take this into consideration as I get deeper into choosing all of the schools I apply to.

15

Thanks for posting; this is so helpful.

While I respect your opinion about limiting the reaches, I am not fully on board with that. What if the student just wants a great education with an outstanding peer group? All of the highly selective schools we’ve visited had that in common and that is all my son cares about. He says he does not care where it is, what size, etc. As an example, he loved Columbia, MIT and Hopkins. Others may say that those are all quite different but to him, he sees the similarities of a stimulating academic environment with a peer group he likes. I’ve also seen students get into some schools and not into others in a way that is not predictable. Costs of applying is of no consideration so we are just limited by how many great applications he has the energy to write.

16

Just wondering…how do you demonstrate interest in colleges? How do they know that you are interested? There are a lot of schools that I don’t really have the time or money to visit over the summer, such as Harvard. I emailed their admission office once…and signed up for their newsletters. Does that count as “show interest”?

17

Can you share with us what was your SAT score and what type of extracurricular activities were you into so that we get to know what type of students have a chance at Ivys, and please also name the colleges that you’d applied to. Only if you’re okay with sharing this information.

18

Harvard and many highly selective colleges don’t track or care if you visit or email them. If you want to demonstrate interest KNOW yourself and KNOW the college. Fully understand the college and what you have to offer that college. Communicate what you have to offer in your application elegantly and effectively. Talk to your recommenders EXTENSIVELY about what your choice college(s) is looking for and what you have to offer. Meet the regional rep for the colleges you’re interested in (they travel to you) and ask them directly what he or she is looking for. Read the accepted student threads to your choice college(s) here on CC and try to discern patterns of who gets accepted and why.

Apply early to your top choice. That will demonstrate interest. With kids now sending out 20 plus applications, I think colleges are going to favor the early applicants more and more. This cycle, Harvard took 20% of their early applicants and only 3% of the regular applicants.

Choose wisely. Don’t waste your early chance on an unrealistic choice.

Excellent advice from the OP to narrow your focus to just a few reach schools.

19

Another way of “demonstrating interest” is to actually cultivate a relationship with your regional rep. If they come to your school, make sure you are there to say hello so they can put a face to a name on an application. Don’t be afraid to send them emails to ask questions. If you have an idea as to what you want to major in, ask them if there is a professor they can recommend for you to ask further questions about their program. If the school comes through on a tour, attend. You will always learn something new.

I absolutely disagree on refusing to compromise. LIfe is full of compromises. You need to learn early that it is your maturity that guides you through tough decisions that will force you to look at things holistically.

A couple other things I would add - dismiss the idea that there is a “perfect” school. There are a lof ot schools that will serve you well. My daughter had several AMAZING choices in the end and could see herself at all three. The idea of a “soul mate” school is vastly overstated.

Also, don’t focus so much on what the school can do for you. Think long and hard about what you can do for that school and community. How will you contribute to making the college a more vibrant campus? What organizations can you see yourself joining? How will you get involved in your local community? Especially in the more selective schools, it’s a two-way street. The more you give, the more you get.

20

I am responding with particulars regarding the question above/how to demonstrate interest.

Our one Ivy story:
My D attended the Summer at Brown and took courses during her summer between Jr/Sr years; she loved living in the dorms at Brown! Submitted her ED application, interviewed with alum in our home town (Midwest), attended every visit by recruiters to her school, applied to only this one Ivy, wrote a 33/34 ACT, GPA 4.15 many EC, etc. and was deferred at ED, later denied during the regular decision process. Engineering is her interest.

She was realistic; though in years past her scores and general presentation would likely have given her admission at Brown. The denial letter let her down easily by saying over 20 qualified students applied for each spot. She received acceptance at U Michigan, Case Western( large merit scholarship), Marquette ( mid-sized merit scholarship),Wash U, Univ Minnesota (small merit scholarship), and Northeastern (large merit scholarship). She chose Northeastern because she loved the visit and Boston, the Co-Op opportunities, the high degree of likelihood of relevant employment options/grad school ease, the new Eng School being built right now (ready 2016).

Now, after all is said and done, she did not over-apply to schools, limiting to eight, one Ivy. The process is stressful. Many of her friends received rejections with even higher scores and stellar applications. No one is a lock anywhere, that is the truth. Only one or two friends with perfect ACT scores (36) and SAT 2400 got into H,Y,P,Stanford, MIT. They struggled figuring out which to choose, missing class for weeks while they scrambled in April to attend admitted student days at all these prestigious schools. In the end, they refused the Ivy acceptances and chose Stanford and MIT. Frankly, anyone going to Yale has to wonder if they will live safely to graduation in New Haven, the only city where we had our car pounded by gangs of people in broad daylight as we drove near the campus. I would say it was terrifying. And, I have lived in dangerous cities my whole life. New Haven is to be avoided. Sorry Yale, but I fear for her one friend actually going there.

Eliminate from your vocabulary the words “dream school, perfect school and drool school.”

Instead, learn to question all assumptions and realize you will and must bloom where you are planted. Spend time in reality, find a place able to get you job skills without breaking the bank and putting yourself or families into debt. Also, most people do not go through life mentioning where they went to college. Hone your humanity, study and be an exquisite human being. We all need more of those.