The "secrets" of college admissions - from an accepted student

Applying to College
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<p>Hello all!</p>

<p>Just about a year ago I was in the position most of you readers are now. However, in about 3 hours I will be leaving for my first semester at Boston University.</p>

<p>I remember the countless hours spent on here, worrying about my chances, posting my stats, etc, etc.</p>

<p>And now that the college admissions experience is officially over, I thought I would make a helpful thread for Juniors and Seniors starting the process.</p>

<p>In this thread I will discuss my personal experiences, and tips/secrets to the process that will hopefully make your life easier. I will go in chronological order! :D Woohoo!</p>

<pre><code>The SAT
</code></pre>

<p>Normally, the first part of the college admissions process is taking the SAT. In essence, you can not really start compiling a list of schools that you may like to attend until you take the SAT, because reality is your SAT score will affect which schools are worth your time applying to.
First and foremost, this test CAN BE mastered! I am in no sense of the word a genius. My problem solving skills are average at best, and I was never a great test taker. However, with proper preparation the SAT can be one of the most formulaic and predictable tests you will ever take. To do well it is IMPERATIVE that you practice. I only recommend two forms of studying: vocab and practice tests. Vocab for the critical reading section, and practice tests to understand the structure of the test. I took about 20 practice tests. By the end of the doing them, I MASTERED the structure, and could basically do most of the problems without reading the full question. I was able to finish the writing section, which is the most formulaic part of the sat, in about half the time given.
Do not fear the SAT, but do not take it lightly. It is important, but not make or break to your college admissions. With proper practice, you can succeed!</p>

<p>Narrowing down your choices
Far too often do I see on this site people having HUMONGOUS lists of college choices. Ranging from MIT to Harvard to Princeton. College is about what fits you. I can tell you right now that going to a college purely because of the name will not benefit you. Once you start visiting colleges, and realizing that you will be living on the campus for 4 years minimum, you will realize there are many other things to consider than the school's prestige.</p>

<p>My tips:
- Define whether you want a city or suburban campus. My mother always put it, do you want a "green" campus or a "streety" campus.
- Find schools that offer your major. Do NOT go to a school if it does not have your major, even if it has the "name brand" value.
- Once you decided on a campus type, and found a list of schools that offer your interested major, compare your stats to the required stats. Does your SAT sit within the realm of what they want? What about your GPA? Read the schools mission statement. Do you agree with it???</p>

<p>Personal experience: I applied to 4 schools. I knew I wanted a city. Boston University, Northeastern, University of Chicago, and Upenn (Wharton). To most of your surprise, most likely, I got into all four. Yes, I turned down UChicago and Wharton for Boston University.</p>

<p>Why?</p>

<p>Upenn was too close to home. It was about a 40 minute drive. Yes, it was an ivy, and it had more prestige. But the area was yucky and it was not far away. Chicago, I just didn't like the campus. So I chose BU. I absolutely love Boston, and I never thought about applying to Harvard or MIT. One because I hated math (MIT), and two because I didn't think I could get into Harvard. Upenn was a reach, but I did get in.</p>

<p>My point is, pick a school that FITS your personality and your academic abilities. You will be miserable if the school you ultimately decide to go to does not meet BOTH requirements.</p>

<p>The Application
Applying to college is very stressful. My rule of thumb was to designate an hour every other night to start college applications. Reason why: it is a long, tedious process that you really start to hate. Spacing out your time and starting it early is the easiest, most stress free way of handling it.</p>

<p>There really isn't too much to say about the application regarding stats, other than don't lie. Every school requires a transcript, so don't inflate your grades. That will not turn out well.</p>

<p>As for the essays, these are important. I will continue to be one of the biggest advocators for writing about whatever the hell you want to write about. DO NOT let anyone on here tell you a topic is too cliche, or not deep enough to be a successful college essay. I wrote about one of the most cliche topics in the world: my grandma. </p>

<p>Everyone on here said "no, don't write about that. its too cliche". I wrote about it. And I can tell you truthfully, it was a kick @ss essay. Why? IT WAS WELL WRITTEN. In fact, I received grant money specifically for my college essay. My point: ANYTHING can be a winning essay topic. It all comes down to how well written it is. Good writing trumps everything. If you have a topic in mind, give it a whirl.</p>

<p>ECs: Your ecs are important. So important that they can offset bad grades. You know how I know? I applied to 4 pretty great schools with a 3.6 gpa. People on here told me my chances were next to none for wharton, Uchicago, and other great schools that I ultimately did not apply to. However, my ecs were kick butt. </p>

<p>My tips for this is that you want to include ecs that show you are truly a well rounded person. the secret about college admissions is they LOVE to see leadership, dedication, and good character. Meaning don't put an ec on your application that you did for one year and quit just to make the list longer. the truth of the matter is that would most likely hurt your chances more than help. really think about your ecs, and which ones helped shape your character. these are the ones that help the most, and ones that really made you who you are shine through to the admissions office. </p>

<p>When the common app asks you to expand on one, really put your heart and soul into that section and explain why that ec above all the other ones make you a great candidate for the schools you are applying to.</p>

<p>I can not stress enough how important the representation of your ecs are...possibly more so than the ecs themselves. </p>

<p>After sending in your application:
Here is something that happens to just about everyone. They send in their application, look it over, and GASP****find a mistake. I found 4. Yes, 4. I remember all four in detail actually. One forgotten word in my essay, one date inaccuracy, one forgotten period, and one misspelled word. I almost had a heart attack.</p>

<p>WHEN this happens to you. (not if). Take a deep breath, and realize it is okay. College admissions people are not looking perfect people. Everyone makes mistakes.They know that. Just remember that you are one in most likely a million (hyperbole?). </p>

<p>I will continue this section after I get a bit of sleep, if people find it helpful. Until then, any questions send me a personal message and Id be glad to help!</p>

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<p>This thread is awesome! Could you tell me your SAT scores though? And with the ECs, I only have 2 that I can list and neither of them are really life-long activities. I’ve been doing both of them for about 2 years only. They are career-oriented though, so I guess that can help since that is what I want to do when I grow up anyway. Is it bad that I have only 2 activities? :confused: Do hobbies count as activitiy by the way? I play basketball and I’m reaaally tall, but the country I live in doesn’t allow internationals to join school teams or anything so I can’t play in a professional manner.</p>

<p>thanks for the help.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the thread, it is very helpful! :)</p>

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<p>I hope I can get my son to read this ;-)<br>
Thank yo so much for taking the time to share your story, it is invaluable information.</p>

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<p>Jem: I got a 2200 on the SAT. Pretty good, I thought! Which is why I can NOT STRESS ENOUGH how important the essay, and the representation of you as a person is! My first score was an 1800. After PRACTICING the SAT I scored the 2200.</p>

<p>Regarding your ECs, what year are you? If you are a freshman or sophomore you really have a lot of time to dedicate a good amount of your life to a couple solid ECS. If you are a junior or a senior, I suggest you volunteer somewhere within your community (library, senior home, hospital) and explain that these are activities that you just got involved in, but you found real interest in helping people, and would love to continue them at xyz university.</p>

<p>Im going to sound repetitive, but it is SO IMPORTANT to demonstrate 3 qualities in your application above all:

  1. Character - its EASY for college admission officers to learn about your character through an application. make sure the one you depict is one you’d like to show at a meeting with the president
  2. Dedication - colleges admire dedication. no matter what it is - science, volunteering, or baseball cards - colleges love to see what makes a person tick. if you show that you found something you are truly passionate about, and are willing to dedicate a good amount of time to, colleges will know you can dedicate your time to making their university better.
  3. LEADERSHIP - colleges love nothing more than people who have displayed leadership abilities. Leaders are what makes universities and colleges great. You need to show them that you can take their university by the horns and leave a trail there.</p>
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<p>This is great, thanks!</p>

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<p>I took a SAT last week or so without any practice or study at all, I scored 1700. How much do you think I can score considering I do about 10 practice tests?</p>

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<p>I can not predict that :)</p>

<p>My question is, why didn’t you study? Even the smartest people will not do extremely well without studying. And you may be in that top 1% of extremely smart people, but if you are not (hell Im not), not studying does you no good!</p>

<p>I cant predict how well you will do by doing practice tests. Too many variables effect your score. I can almost say with certainty that you will do better…but how much I dont know.</p>

<p>It depends how well you studied. Did you understand why certain answers were right in lieu of other answers on the practice test? Did you pace yourself on the tests? How solid are your basic academic skills? Did you get an unusually hard or easy test? </p>

<p>What Im saying is that too many things effect your score. But if you practice, and practice correctly, you should do better!</p>

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<p>Great thread!</p>

<p>“When the common app asks you to expand on one, really put your heart and soul into that section and explain why that ec above all the other ones make you a great candidate for the schools you are applying to.”</p>

<p>How do you do this with the tight character limit? I’m kind of curious as to how I’ll be able to go into any detail.</p>

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<p>Good question! </p>

<p>My best advice - No fluff! A common misconception is that you need to wordy and have a lot of space to write to really explain yourself and get all your emotions down on the page. You can be just as powerful, if not more powerful, when you use strong, concise words.</p>

<p>Get right into the topic, and use STRONG, but NATURAL words.</p>

<p>Ex.</p>

<p>Instead of saying "Volunteering at the library taught me a lot of crucial things, such as the importance of educating young people, and how good it feels to get involved within the community.</p>

<p>Say
Volunteering at the library gave me potent leadership skills, and showed me the importance of helping young adults and the community.</p>

<p>Use adjectives and words that really deliver, but fit with the tone of the rest of your application. Don’t all of a sudden use words that don’t sound like you.</p>

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<p>I think my essays are pretty personal and “likeable” so far. I’m not trying to look like a genius or anything. That SAT where I scored 1700 was a practice test, of course I’ll study for the real thing :stuck_out_tongue: </p>

<p>My greatest concern right now is my GPA though… it’s 3.4 - I go to an international school in Europe, it’s not easy to keep the GPA up. How much of a problem will that be, do schools compare foreign grading systems with the US grading system? Will a 3.4 make me look like a lazy-a**? Does a 3.4 ruin my chances for schools like Stanford and such?</p>

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<p>How important are the international awards for Ivy league? I got 18 international awards, from 14 different countries with Computer Science. 4 of them at Intel</p>

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<p>Nice post, Sid! And I second the importance of personal statements and representing your ECs well!</p>

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<p>Lol. I have absolutely no idea how colleges view international awards. And gem, I can’t tell you how admission offices think. All I can help you do is make your application look the strongest using the profile you have</p>

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<p>Also, you don’t need to study if you go to BU. :)</p>

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<p><em>subscribes to thread</em></p>

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<p>Sid, do you think the essays on the Common App are more important than the essays in the school’s supplements? My Common App is finished, but I’m worried about the supplements.</p>

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<p>Wow that is helpful, Sidthekid :slight_smile:
I found your point about ‘representation of ECs’ and ‘character’ interesting. I have started filling out my apps, and I realised that my confusion (confused between Eng Lit and the social sciences) regarding my majors is probably showing through my app. I have a feeling that my ECs and most of my application reflects my language skills and creativity, but my essays and short answer questions are about my love for the social sciences. Should I try and bring out particular traits that come together and reflect a cohesive personality? </p>

<p>Also, I’m thinking about writing about my desire to be a social worker, but my community service hours are not too many. Do such things matter? </p>

<p>Plus, when they ask you to stress on one of your ECs, is it better to write about some kind of volunteer work, or would an academic activity do?</p>

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<p>I wish you luck in college and in life, but someone who is just starting college writing about how to choose a college is like a newlywed writing about how to choose a spouse. I would give that person’s opinion more weight after they had been happily married for a decade or two.</p>

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<p>One bit of advice I could add is to take the SAT for the first time in Spring of Soph. or Fall of Junior year. I’ve seen too many kids take it for the first time in the Spring of Junior year, fall in love with a college, want to apply ED, but have only one more time & 6 months to get their scores up 200 pts. to have a realistic chance to be admitted. It really helped our D get more focused on what she needed to do to have a chance at some of the more selective schools she was interested in.</p>