"We evaluate candidates holistically"...truth?

Applying to College
1

<p>Every college swears by this maxim for admitting students.</p>

<p>How accurate/truthful is it?</p>

<p>How much do the tests/grades matter versus the essays?</p>

<p>I want to attend a top university...many of which reject students with 800 SATIIs and such qualifications...that I don't have</p>

<p>However, I can write the hell out of an essay</p>

<p>It actually makes me more optimistic to see students with 800s repeatedly get rejected. I would be nervous if I did have a perfect score. </p>

<p>Theres a lot more than numbers to my academic record...</p>

<p>Me...</p>

<p>ACT: 33</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.5
Weighted: 4.4
Part of the holistic thing is that I didn't realize i wanted to go to a top university until halfway through sophmore year and I really turned it up
Last year I had all IB courses, (6.0 A...higher than AP level). Basically the harder my classes got over the years the better my grades got.</p>

<p>Class Rank: 79/500
...improved 90 places junior year</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
A lot...like everyone else
baseball is the most important varsity captain
then photography club president
NHS
about 5 more less serious but I enjoy them</p>

<p>Extra Credit:
i'm mexican and doing engineering...not common</p>

<p>As previously mentioned can write the hell out of my essays</p>

<p>Awards: AP scholar with distinction
Science fair wins
Various other things, nothing earthshaking</p>

<p>How high should I be aiming?</p>

2

<p>

Depends on the school. Try adding your “chance me” posts on the forums of the colleges you’d like to attend.</p>

3

<p>most “top” colleges give much more weight to the transcript/ GPA and SAT scores than to other factors. Take a look at this survey done a few years ago by the NYTimes. </p>

<p>"On what basis do admissions committees anoint the chosen? The question has preoccupied generations of applicants. “There is no magic formula,” says Gila Reinstein, a Yale spokeswoman. “It’s just not an exact thing.” Nonetheless, the College Board’s annual survey of colleges and universities does ask them to rank admissions criteria. No surprise: high school academic record is consistently rated “very important,” as are standardized test scores (Harvard contends they’re only “important”). But what about all that other stuff? Institutions below admit the country’s best students: 25 percent of their freshman classes, fall 2004, scored 700 or more on the math or verbal SAT and placed in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating classes. But academics alone won’t get you in. Here’s what else matters. "</p>

<p>[The</a> New York Times > Education > Image > Admissions Sine Qua Non](<a href=“The New York Times > Education > Image > Admissions Sine Qua Non”>The New York Times > Education > Image > Admissions Sine Qua Non)</p>