Im currently a freshman in college, and yes, I once was a shameful high school senior who got rejected from ALL of my desired schools. Im writing the followings as an advice to the prospective high school students out there, or a reflection to myself. I understand that I may not be the best example to take notes from, but my experience is definitely no less valuable to all of you. A wise man learns by the mistakes of others, a fool by his own. Ha! So True!
(1)Standardized test score is the boss. Hands down. I always thought my unweighted 4.7 GPA would compensate my overwhelming low ACT score, but apparently colleges do not think so. They accepted several other students with an average GPA of 3.8 with a near perfect ACT scores. I admitted that I did not put my best effort into standardized tests, and that becomes the most regretful thing that I have done. If you do not have a decent score on ACT/SAT, then you have to be realistic about your college choices.
(2)Trust yourself, especially when it comes to college essays. The summer before senior year, I finished writing my personal statement and I loved it. Then I showed it to my friends and to some of the CCers on here to proofread, and surprisingly, I received very positive comments. Upon my senior year, my English teacher and I had been working intensively on the essay, because she was the only one who thought, (your) essay is good, but not THERE yet I took her advice and made many changes to meet her expectations, yet I failed to craft the best essay. Being sick of all the debates and discussions, I ended up writing a new essay with an entire different story, a different tone, and a different style. The second essay won her heart, and I used it as my official personal statement that gets sent off to colleges. I did not deny the fact that the second essay was a good one; in fact, it shows a more sophisticated level of writing than the first essay. However, that was a generic, well-written essay that was not written from my heart. I knew that the first essay was not perfect, but at least it was a representation of me.
(3)Always ask the right teachers for recommendations. I asked my physics teacher and my English teacher for recommendations. My physics teacher was a popular choice among the students, and that made him failed to write a good recommendation because he had to rush to write all of them before the deadlines. I have read the recommendation later and it was nothing about me but only some random positive comments. (My English teacher was a joke; she missed the deadline ) My advice is to ask the teachers that actually know you well, and they are more than happy to write you a recommendation. Sometimes grades and subjects of that instructor do not matter as much as you think.
(4)Choose one thing, and be a boss at that! Wide broad of interest may not be a bad thing. But when it comes to applying colleges, it is better to show what you good at, not what you have done over the years. One of my friends was an excellent swimmer as well as a good singer. She tried to be excelling at both of them but limited time would not allow her to do so. She gave up on swimming but focused on singing at the beginning of freshman year. By the time she applied to colleges, she had at least 20 awards and was recognized as one of the top sopranos in the state. Guess what? She got early admitted to Yale. It was funny to see that my activity list features three times more activities than hers. I have done something there and some here, and some there. I do not have a field that I want to focus on! Trust me on this. Tons of clubs and voluntary works will not land you an offer, unless you show long-time commitment.
(5)When you are asked to do college research, be sure you do it seriously. My entire college research process was based on prestige. Oh, all the Ivies are the best in the country. I should apply to all of them! Wait, Vanderbilt sounds equally good! Why not try that one too? Yep, thats basically how I did my research on colleges. As for safeties, I applied to those big state schools like everyone else. I did not realize how much I would hate attending there because I was confident that I would get accepted. Reality is always cruel. I got rejected by all of the top colleges in the country and I got no choice but to attend a big state school. The problem is that my college list is too polarized. I applied to some very competitive schools while applied to some non-competitive schools for safeties. I did not think about my best fit at all.
Thats my story. Hope you all learn something from it. Again, please do not be me!