The Top 10 Absolutes in College Admissions

Parent Cafe
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• Coursework – make sure to know what college prerequisites are required and take the most rigorous classes that interest you and/or are related to your future major(s).

• SAT/ACT – take both tests (including prep) to see which one yields you the better score

• Guidance Counselor & Teachers – get to know your GC and teachers really well as they will submit information on your behalf (e.g. LOR). Provide them a “cheat sheet” of your EC’s, courses, leadership, passions, commitment to causes, etc.

• Essays – don’t tell them about yourself, “show” them in a clear, concise manner. Based on your essay, what is the takeaway the AO has if they had to describe you in a sentence? Likeability is important.

• Extracurriculars (ECs) – when in doubt, less EC’s but more depth is better than many ECs with little depth. Your ECs should be in line with your interests and/or future career choice (if known). Be actively involved in your ECs and take it beyond the superficial level.

• Research Colleges for Fit - fit can include academics, cost, location, major, selectivity, internships, big v. small, etc. Review common data sets and visit as many colleges as is feasible.

• “Packaging” – your college application resume should be packaged to show you in the best light and to bring together your body of work in high school. What’s your personal narrative?

• Apply to Reach, Match, and Safety Colleges – make sure to have a good mix of colleges so you don’t end up shutout come April.

• ED/EA – if you are pretty sure which college you want to attend apply early decision (or early action) this might increase your chances for acceptance.

• Keep Everything in Perspective – life really is the journey not a destination, try to enjoy the process, have a positive attitude, follow your passion(s), work hard, and you will be successful at whatever college and career you choose. Some of the most successful people I know never went to a top college but instead made the most of the opportunities that presented themselves.

What do you consider are the absolutes in college admissions?

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Know what you can afford before making the application list.

3

College Admissions is competitive not just because there are lots of students with stellar GPA’s, scores, and ECs, but because you’re up against kids with “hooks.” Students who have something the college needs which on top of GPA, scores and ECs are irresistible, and add to the competition for fewer and fewer seats (given more domestic apps and international apps) such as: recruited athletes, legacy, FP, first gen, Posse, Questbridge, and URM, and orchestra needs of each school. For example, 20 - 25% of a class may be reserved for kids who are first gen, if that’s not you, you have fewer seats you are competing for.

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Try not to get caught up in the hype. Don’t concern yourself with your neighbor’s grades, achievements, scores, applications, etc. Stay focused on yourself and what will make you happy.

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That’s a good, thoughtful list. But “absolutes” is a big word, and I disagree that some of what you wrote really are “absolutes.”

– If you take the SAT or the ACT, and you think your result represents you fairly, there’s no particular reason to take the other test. You don’t get extra points for it. Even if you are going ultra-ambitious, if you get a 35 or a 36 on the ACT, you really don’t have to take the SAT. (Unless you are a National Merit Semifinalist and you care about being a National Merit Scholar.) Even if you don’t score the maximum or close to it on the first test you take, if you know from some research and practice that you do better with one style than the other, it’s fine to concentrate only on the one that’s better for you.

– At most large schools, it’s a lot more important to build a real relationship with a couple teachers than it is with your GC. The GC may not actually “say” anything about you, other than ticking some boxes. What you have to do is to know your school, and work within its system. It’s a big advantage to you, however, to have teachers who feel that they know you, and who are willing to be advocates for you. And it’s an even bigger advantage if they write well enough to be very effective advocates, and if they understand the selective college admissions game well enough to know that they shouldn’t be telling Harvard how impressed they were with the amount of work you put in to keep up with the class.

– If your ECs dovetail with your career interests, fine, that makes it easier to tell a coherent story in your application, But most peoples’ ECs don’t dovetail with their career interests. And frankly it can get a little boring if everything points in the same direction. Telling a good story with your application doesn’t have to mean telling a boring or monochrome story. Go deep in your ECs, but don’t feel like they are invalid if you don’t intend to make a career of them.

– Reach/Match/Safety; ED/EA/RD. There are no hard-and-fast rules. You need to have a thoughtful strategy. If your strategy has you applying rolling admissions to a “match” college, and you get accepted, and you can afford what that college will cost, then you don’t need a “safety.” If you like your match and/or safety colleges, and would be excited to go there, you don’t need a “reach” just to have one (much less ten). You can get an admissions advantage through an early application (much more Early Decision than Early Action), but there are real potential costs to that, and you have to understand them. You may even decide to apply early to a college that isn’t the only one you like best.

And one “absolute,” maybe the only real absolute, is missing from your list: Both parent(s) and student must really understand college costs, financial aid, “merit” aid and other scholarships, and how they all work with the family’s finances. And they need to understand that on a college-by-college basis – because they differ – before you start submitting applications. It’s a lot of work, it’s a lot less fun than looking at shiny, happy colleges, and it can lead to some really uncomfortable discussions. But that’s way better than having a family tell a child that she can’t go to her “dream school” that just admitted her because they just realized there’s no way to pay for the family’s share, and waaay, waaay better than leaving college because you can’t afford it. College time is time for everyone – parents and children – to be more adult about family finances.

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“Know what you can afford” is indeed very close to the top of my list of absolutes. I think that @JHS is correct that this should extend to understanding college costs, financial aid, and so on.

“Research Colleges for Fit” to me is probably the other of the two two items.

“Keep Everything in Perspective” to me probably rounds out the top three.

In terms of taking the most rigorous classes “that interest you and/or are related to your future major(s)”. I agree with the part that I just put in quotes. In particular I do NOT think that students should feel compelled to take the most rigorous classes in areas which have nothing to do with their interests nor their major. For example, a student who definitely wants to major in engineering, could take AP Euro History or AP US History if they want to do it, but these are very demanding classes and IMHO a potential engineering major should not feel compelled to take these in high school if they really don’t want to.

“get to know your GC and teachers really well” is also a good idea.

I also agree that fewer ECs that you really like and participate in with some depth is better than a huge list of ECs that the student doesn’t care about much.

I don’t think that I agree that all of the other items in the OP are in fact absolutes. For example:

“Apply to Reach, Match, and Safety Colleges”. I would agree that “apply to safety colleges” is an absolute. “Find at least one and preferably two safeties that you would be okay attending” to me is also an absolute. However, if you find a really good fit in a safety and/or match, then I don’t think it is necessary to apply to any reaches. As one sort of extreme example: While we live in the US, my youngest decided to apply to schools in Canada. Given her stats, there were no reaches in Canada. Every English language university in Canada was a safety for her. There are however some very good schools up there, and she found several that she and my wife and I all agreed were great fits for her. There may similarly be some students for which their in-state flagship is both a safety and a great match for them (eg, perhaps a straight A+ student from Michigan with 1500+ SAT, 800 on the math SAT, who wants to go to U.Michigan and study CS might not need a reach if U.Michigan is a low match for him or her).

I might add “spend at least as much time thinking about safeties as you spend thinking about reaches”.

In terms of taking both the SAT and ACT, as @JHS said there will be some students whose first sitting of either of these tests is sufficiently strong that they are done with testing if they want to be.

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You need to know your college budget FIRST. So…if you are a parent…please communicate this to,your kid before they start looking…and if you are a student…ask your parents what net cost they can support for you to attend college.

Build your list from the bottom up. Choose your sure thing Colleges first…two of them…because it’s nice to have choices.

Only apply ED if you are sure the finances will work. Having an admissions edge does you NO good if the school is not affordable.

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Don’t feel like you have to apply to HYPSM (or WASP, for the LAC types) because that’s what it feels like people know about and respect.

Or, put more pithily: Prestige is prestige, not education.

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@JHS - All excellent points.

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I mostly agree with the original list plus the addenda people added.

I would also like to note the following, though:

  1. I do not think that extracurriculars should be chosen to persuade a college to admit you. I think they should provide fun and relaxation, and allow you to explore interests and find passions. Sometimes they may be related to your major, but sometimes they may not be, and that is okay. I know kids with a diverse range of unrelated activities and no formal leadership roles who were admitted to top colleges. They used the common app, their recommendations, and their interviews to help paint a portrait of themselves that was appealing to admissions officers. Do what you love. When August of senior year rolls around and the Common App opens, then you can think about how to describe yourself and your activities in a way that connects the dots for the admissions officers. Before that, do what you enjoy doing. When you start these activities, you may not know what lessons you will learn along the way or what aspects of yourself will develop through them or what they will “show” about you.You will realize those things when you look back at your activities while completing your application.

And admissions officers respect people who work jobs to help support their families. These jobs may not be related to their future careers or intended majors! That does not matter. A.O.’s have been making a point of that lately in their presentations, so that first gen and low income students are not scared away by hearing about fellow applicants with fancy extracurricular activities.

  1. “One and done” works just fine for SAT or ACT if you land where you want to be the first time. Unless you are applying for merit scholarships with exact cut-offs, the admissions officers will be using the SAT/ACT tests mostly to confirm your grades, since grades differ from high school to high school. Unless your scores are not in the middle or higher of the ranges for your favorite colleges, you may be better off devoting time to doing well in your coursework, and to participating in interesting extracurricular activities or jobs, than to trying to raise your score from a 1470 to a 1500 or from a 1530 to a 1550. (If your scores are bottom 25% or near that, then the test prep may be worthwhile, if you do not have a substantial hook... or you might change your college list.)
  2. I think it is important to apply early action or rolling admissions to a relatively safe school if you also are applying early decision somewhere or early action to a very selective college (unless you are limited by a college to single-choice or restricted options... but even those usually allow you to apply early action to a public university). That way, if you get rejected or deferred by your first choice, you do not spend months worried that you won’t be admitted anywhere!
  3. For students applying to top colleges, you should have both high matches and low matches (by percentage of students admitted and/or scores), so you can still go to an amazing college. Some people aim too high in their “matches” and end up at a safety, which is fine if they have chosen their safety with care, but still they might be more excited to be admitted to a more selective college. A low reach can still be a top college with top students which will provide a very similar experience to one offered at your reach or high match. (Example for a top student: reach: Williams, high match: Bates, low match: Connecticut College, safety: a smaller SUNY).
  4. Choose your matches and safeties with care, and try to end up with a choice of at least two colleges in the end. You may end up attending your safety, and you want to be happy and excited in April. Look for safeties that are similar to your top choices in the aspects that attract you to your top choice, or else that offer something else really exciting that maybe your top choices do not.
  5. There are no rules. Try to enjoy high school. You only get to go once! Then enjoy using your application to show who you are.
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I agree money is the top of the list. Also that getting to know teachers is far more useful than getting to know your GC. You don’t need to make an enemy of your GC, but at least in our school they have 200 other kids, most of whom were needier than ours were. Your junior year teachers OTOH generally know you pretty well by the end of the year.

I’d say don’t get hung up on safety, matches or reaches. Apply to two safeties so you have choices in the spring. If you get into a school EA or rolling admissions it is automatically upgraded to safety status. If you have two safeties - you don’t have to worry about how hard it is to get into the other schools on your list. Of course if you have a kid who will be devastated by a lot of rejections - maybe you will need to play it safer.

Try to enjoy the process. My younger son in particular learned so much about himself by being forced to think about who he was. I was amazed by how much he matured over the course of the year.

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We have 5 guidance counselors for 2800 kids. If the GC knows you really well you’re probably suicidal or on the way to jail.

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A few points:

  1. regarding taking both the SAT & ACT to see which score is higher, you need to remember a 35 on the ACT is about 1/2 of 1% of all test takers. If you get a 35, you are done. For mere mortals (the average is 21) they might do better taking the SAT and vice versa?

  2. I believe the cost of college is very important consideration and why I listed it as part of the college fit. If you can’t afford the college, it’s a non-starter. Move on to different schools you can afford.

  3. Is it not helpful to know your guidance counselor well as this person will be submitting information about you to the colleges? For example, the GC will list your kid’s course load as “very rigorous” or not, which brings in subjectivity. If you have been working diligently with your GC on choosing and refining your course load during high school they may give you the benefit of the doubt when checking the box? If this is incorrect, please explain.

I can see another benefit of having a great relationship with the GC; they know your peers very well, and whether we like it or not, they are competing with you for college freshman spots. I can also see the GC helping with interpreting the Naviance results for your particular HS and guiding and tailoring your classes and target schools accordingly. While the quality of the GC varies from school to school, I have to believe they have some wisdom, inside information, and unique perspective on college admissions from their high school that can benefit the college applicant.

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1 is budget. #2 -- see #1. #3 -- see #1.

If you don’t know what the budget is, then everything else you do is garbage. Driving at night without the headlights on.

If you get into Harvard but can’t pay for it, then you are not going to Harvard.

Which is the same as not going to Harvard because you didn’t get in. Which is the same as not going to Harvard because you never even applied.

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Another thing. It’s okay to be on the literary magazine only because your friends are. It’s okay to be on Science Olympiad even though you aren’t ever going to be a scientist. It’s okay not to do Model UN because that the drinking crowd and you don’t like the kids and you don’t like their parents even more. Even though International Relations is a major you are considering.

I never thought of my kid as in competition with other kids. My older son lost out to a very good friend of his. Well she was a female applying to tech schools, but also rank slightly higher and at least in some respects had an edge in ECs as well. I wanted them both to get in.

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“Is it not helpful to know your guidance counselor well as this person will be submitting information about you to the colleges? For example, the GC will list your kid’s course load as “very rigorous” or not, which brings in subjectivity. If you have been working diligently with your GC on choosing and refining your course load during high school they may give you the benefit of the doubt when checking the box? If this is incorrect, please explain.”

Our GCs simply do not have time to know every kid well. I don’t want to be on the radar as a time waster. Course plan is selected in March by filling out a card and turning it in, GC calls in only if there is a conflict which is rare at a very large school with multiple sections of most classes, even APs.

If you are in IB- automatic most rigorous. Didn’t worry about this for kid #1 as she was IB, and also only applied to one college where this question is asked. Second kid had 1 AP freshman year, 2 AP sophomore year and is planning on 5 AP junior year and 5 AP senior year. If this is not most rigorous I don’t want to live in that world and she will have to accept that.

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The LACs are getting so many applications. To weed out prospective students, they look at whether a child has visited the school. Visit the colleges that truly interest you. Schools want good stats and would prefer to offer a spot to someone who has visited and preferably interviewed than a person who is throwing darts at a board. Great kids with wonderful test scores, grades and ECs are getting deferred or waitlisted at schools they have not visited. Many schools also have software that shows if a prospective student is reading the emails that are sent out and looking at the college website. We were visiting a college and after my son’s interview, the jovial admissions officer turned her screen around and showed me how the colleges can track the interaction a child has had. She said it is important to contact the admissions rep for your area. Write thank you notes if you have an interview and follow up but don’t be a pest, if you have any questions or want to show interest. I told a friend this process reminds me of blind dating. The other “person” (in this case the college) wants to know if you have swiped left or right on them before they show a lot of interest in you and vice versa. Exhausting!

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Dadtwogirls makes a good point when he questions the absoluteness of the reach-match-safety approach. But i dont think he goes far enough.

Once you get into flyover regions, you will find something inconceivable to many collegeconfidential posters: a LOT of students’ first few choices are colleges they will certainly get into. In many states (e.g. Kansas, Idaho, Nebraska) even a lot of honor students don’t give the slightest glance at anything but in-state publics, which often automatically admit even applicants with barely mediocre grades & test scores.

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It’s certainly not a disadvantage to get to know your GC. And at some schools, it’s probably both possible and helpful. For our school though, to get the checkmark it’s not subjective. It requires completing the IB diploma. And if you are doing the IB diploma, there are only a few course decisions to make. So not much refining to do with respect to courses.

My D actually did get to know her GC somewhat well, but she moved to another job fall of D’s senior year, so a brand new CG who had only met her once filled out the forms.

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What if your high school doesn’t offer IB (like D20’s school)? They have lots of APs and AP capstone diploma. How is the most rigorous curriculum determined? Does the GC have any subjectivity in deciding?

At D high school, they have 4 regular GC’s and 1 college dedicated GC for about 1800 students.