I think two mottos that were chiseled into stone on the Temple of Apollo of the Oracle of Delphi are helpful.
Know thyself.
Nothing in excess.
All the rules listed by the OP are helpful but only in context of the student’s (and parents’) having a good understanding of the student’s abilities, interests, weaknesses, and strengths. Make sure that the applicant on paper fits the applicant her/himself, and that the key aspects of the student’s talents and achievements are documented or documentable.
But the applicant is not a god, and shouldn’t pretend to be perfect.
Many things can’t be known – including what the applicant will be doing 5, 10, or 20 years after graduation. The economy, and the world generally, will be changing, so the student needs to keep an open mind. The college years are ones in which the student takes a giant step outside the home, becomes substantially more self-guided, but not completely self-sufficient. Careers evolve after graduation.
You would have to ask the counselors at the school. It is certainly possible that some schools have a specific method for marking how demanding the student’s course selection is, while others leave it up to the counselor to make a subjective judgment for each student. The former method, if published, can let students know what to aim for, while avoiding what is likely to be seen as unfairness or corruption.
i know it’s already been said, but the cost of a school and what an applicant can afford is so, so important. since i’ve been on college confidential, posts from concerned and/or hopeless students talking about not being able to afford some of their favorite schools (the UCs in particular for OOS kids) never fail to appear after every admission cycle. it’s heartbreaking.
— run those net price calculators
— find out what you can afford
— research schools to see if they meet full need
would suggest you revise #1 to take the test ONLY when ready. And that means taking a practice test or two at home or the library under timed conditions. It’s a total waste to money – and a Saturday morning to sleep in – to pay CB/ACT for a “practice” test.
Concur wth JHS on ‘knowing’ the GC in a large school. Just ain’t practical. Our school had a student/GC ratio of 600+/1.
Good idea to start with one or two safeties first, then to several matches and then if you want to, apply to one or two or more reaches. One or two Honors Colleges were safeties for our kid. Felt good to have acceptances from HCs before results came out from a reach or matches.
I agree that they are not absolutes. The exact opposite philosophy can also work…let kids be who they are and simply find colleges that match the student where they are as srs.
My absolutes as a parent are to encourage my kids to be the person they want to be. Some of my kids are very academically oriented; some aren’t. Some have driven personalities; some don’t. They don’t have to be like each other. They don’t have to have the same goals. One of my kids attended a 2 yr program at a CC and has a great career that fits her personality and lifestyle perfectly. Another one will be pursuing a PhD at a top 5 school. Neither one of them did anything other than be themselves during high school. Trying to morph my Dd into being like my ds would have been a miserable experience for her and a complete failure bc her strengths are not his. He is who he is bc that is what comes naturally to him.
Personal success can be defined in innumerable ways and the only absolute I have as a parent is that it is not connected to an admissions letter. My absolutes for the college admissions process is to affirm my kids that they can be successful no matter where they attend.
Re: Knowing your GC. It obviously depends on the school. At some schools (private, really wealthy publics) your GC is going to make damn sure he or she knows you; that's the job. At others, as someone said, if your GC knows you well it's because you are headed to prison or suicidal. But if you plan on applying to top 20-30-40 colleges, you had better make certain you know -- well in advance of your college application process -- what curriculum the GCs consider "most demanding." With my first child, we ran into a wall when we found out that the GC wouldn't check that box for a kid who hadn't taken AP Calculus BC, and it was too late to do anything about that.
My other absolute-absolute, besides looking finances in the eyes: Do nothing to get into a better college. Do everything to make yourself a better person.
OK, maybe not “nothing.” Taking AP Calculus BC to have a “most demanding” tick is acceptable.
But given the lottery-ticket aspects of hyperselective college admissions, the low value of institutional prestige to any individual student, and the high quality of the colleges where motivated students end up, it doesn’t make sense to sacrifice anything major to get some marginal admissions advantage. What does make sense – and what, in the end, is best for your admissions chances as well – is to make yourself into the smartest, ablest, happiest, most engaged person you can. That way, no matter what happens with the admissions lottery, you will be smart, able, happy, and engaged, and those qualities are going to make you successful in life – much more so than Stanford graduates who lack them. No admissions officer will be able to deny you access to them. And what admissions officers want to find in their applicant pool, much more than perfect GPAs or test scores, is people who are smart, able, happy, and engaged. Be that kind of person, and good things will happen.
@mom2pysics “Personal success can be defined in innumerable ways and the only absolute I have as a parent is that it is not connected to an admissions letter. My absolutes for the college admissions process is to affirm my kids that they can be successful no matter where they attend”
While I agree with most of what you said, the point of the thread is to identify areas that will increase a kid’s chances to attend colleges school of their choosing (i.e. to have options). If a kid’s goal is not “connected to an admission letter” then this thread is not for them.
College admissions is a whole lot different now than it was 25+ years ago. I believe students and parents need to have a more structured game plan and be more proactive in the admission process especially when some schools have 50k - 100k applicants.
Someone said they didn’t think the college admission process involved competing with their HS peers, I respectively disagree. From bell curve grading, getting a role in the HS play, class rank, first chair in an orchestra, getting a summer internship, and applying to colleges, etc. our kids, whether we like it or not, are competing with their peers. It’s the same in the 'real world" once they start their professional career. It never really stops but knowing how the process works and positioning yourself in the best possible light can only help you and is one of the goals of this thread.
@socaldad2002 My point is that it is doing kids no favor to tell them if they do a list of x,y, and z then “whateverU” is a real option. Kids can “do” absolutely everything on a “list” and still get rejected. They can have perfect stats, have taken every AP possible with 5s, have focused ECs, and not be accepted. If they have been told that doing x,y, and z is what it takes to be admitted and then they aren’t, they will be left wondering what it is about them b/c the “list” is right. They are left disillusioned with college admissions, themselves, and regret over how they spent 4 yrs of high school attempting to prove their worth to an admissions committee.
For our kids, I would much rather that they pursue what interests them, study what they want bc those subjects appeal to them, etc bc I would rather that their 4 yrs of high school reflect who they are vs. what a list tells them they need to be bc of college admissions. During their jr and sr yrs, we craft a list of colleges that matches who they are vs. spending 4 yrs attempting to morph them into someone “crafted” for admissions purposes.
FWIW, my personal belief after having gone through this process multiple times is that you see higher success amongst the kids who are doing things bc they want to be doing them and would be doing them even if there were no college applications at the other end than you see among kids who do things for college admissions. Real interests and passions go a lot farther than faux polish. Passion isn’t something you can create from a list. It has to come from inside of the student. If they are spending their time reflecting on and pursuing what outside pressures are telling them they have to do to get admitted, then they can miss out on what it is they really want to be doing—which ironically could be the very thing that gets them accepted.
My top college admissions advice would be that there are 100s of colleges in this country, not just 20 to 50, where they can achieve their goals. Help them remember they are themselves first and foremost and that college admissions doesn’t define them. They forge their own path forward and can do that from many different starting points.
That doesn’t logically follow. It’s quite possible to have plenty of options to attend a college of one’s choosing, and yet still not have your goals in the admissions process be connected to receiving a particular admissions letter (or even an admissions letter from a limited set of colleges).
^^if you look over the list again I think most of these areas can be applicable to kids wanting to attend pretty much any college that has a “selection process”. GPA is important, prepping for and taking a standardized test is important, writing an essay that demonstrates your personal narrative is helpful, finding a college that is a “good fit” is a must whether its cost, academics, etc.