I go to an online/cyber K-12 school of about 2,000-3,000 students. I’d say, per grade, there are about 250-400 students. So, my graduating class will probably have about 250-400 students. I know competitive colleges like T20s/T30s compare you to your peers. So how am I supposed to compete with students from all over my entire state, rather than students from the same county/neighborhood with similar access to similar resources (not in all cases, I know) as a typical high school?
Also, why would a competitive college admit someone with not as many awards/ECs as another student? How is it that the student with less stats gets into a T20/T30 compared to someone with more stats? Is it true that competitive colleges only admit the nobel-prize-winning, cancer-curing valedictorian applicants?
It just never seems like an applicant can sufficiently prove themselves when they don’t have as many resources as other students going to the same school. Let’s say two applicants have the same EC, but one applicant won more awards than the other, but the other applicant was equally involved with that EC in another way, how do you discern who gets admitted? When a college admissions office gets thousands of applications every year, and they have to make minute decisions like this, how does that impact the overall meaning of the decision? Does a rejection or admission letter even mean anything anymore? Did it mean anything to begin with? Maybe even though you got rejected, that doesn’t mean you’re not as capable, creative, and smart as the person who got your place? Maybe you had it in you the whole time and you just needed to believe in yourself? Maybe even though that super competitive college rejected you, you’re still a human being with a lot to offer the world? I think I’m having an existential crisis…
Yup. You are just having a crisis.
Build your college list upward, starting with at least one true safety that
- flat-out guarantees admission for your stats,
- is absolutely affordable without any aid other than federal aid determined by the FAFSA and/or guaranteed state aid and/or aid guaranteed because of your stats,
- offers your projected major(s),
and
- you would be happy to attend if all else goes wrong.
Choose your true safety carefully, and you might find that your application list is one-and-done.
@happymomof1
Thank you.
What really makes it a Larry-David-moment is that I’m probably gonna transfer to a local 4-year from the community college I’m dual enrolling in xD
I agree with the above. Schools often look at kids in a much broader way. My son didn’t have nearly as many ECs as others but the ones he had were different from other kids and he wrote essays that explained part of his story of who he is as a person. This kind of thing can make a person stand out over someone who appears to have been in every activity just to be in activities. You should be yourself. That’s too much pressure you are taking on in feeling you are competing with your high school and so many others.
A few things that might help you are to look further away from home and to include some schools others in your high school are not considering. That eliminates the ‘competing with others from your school’ issue.
Demonstrating interest is huge at some schools. Schools are ranked based on different criteria. One that matters to some schools is yield which means the % of students admitted who actually go to the school. Ivys have high yields and so do many state schools these days. But some very good schools that are not quite at the top 20 level might not have high yields. Increasing their yield percentage can help them move up in rankings. So, they might be more likely to admit students who have demonstrated a lot of interest and who seem sincere in wanting to attend that school. This works best in my opinion if it is genuine. Find schools you like and write to your regional admission counselor and ask some questions, write to the professors of the department in which you are interested and ask questions, etc. Go to the info session and tours when life goes to normal or do the online virtual tour and fill out the form with your name and address. Sign up for their email or mailing list. Follow up your application with a mid-year check in letting them know what you have done lately and that they are your top or one of your top choices. All that can move you up over someone else with higher stats or ECs who doesn’t seem interested. In fact, schools can end up rejecting kids who seem likely to get into higher ranked schools because they want to protect their yield.
Good luck!
@suteiki77 Great advice, thanks!
If you have the option of transferring automatically to the 4-year after completing an AA or AS at the community college, then you have your admission safety. The question then becomes whether that 4-year meets the other true safety criteria. If it does, you are good to go. You can make the rest of your list however you feel like. 