What are some things you wish you learned about college/college admission process?

Applying to College Admission Stories
21

Some advice from a mother of a kid who had a good success rate with admission (out of 6 applications to highly selective places, 4 acceptances, one waitlist, and one rejection - Harvard).

Be very organized. If your parents are willing to help you watch requirements and deadlines, let them.

Don’t think of any college as your dream school. Instead, think of what you like to do in college (areas of study, major, ECs) and search for schools that provide it at a good level. If you are very advanced in one area, look for colleges with a top ranked program in that area.

Once you identified schools that will be good for you based on your interests, think how you can convince them that you would be good for them. Think why you would be a good fit and why they would want you. What is special about you? Find out what kinds of students they prefer. Make sure your application reflects all of the above. Essays are important, but you don’t have to be a very good writer. My son isn’t. Most important is that whatever you write, you tell about yourself. Through any topic you can convey what kind of person you are. Of course, your personality has to match their preferences. And that’s why it’s so important to find schools that are a good match for you.

College visits are not necessary and costly, unless they are close by. You can find out most that you need online.

Be sure you can afford to go to the school you spent $60-$90 on the application.

Apply EA, ED, SCEA - and be ready to submit more applications by Jan 1st. If you got into a good school early, don’t waste money and time to submit 10 more applications. Only do those for a reason: better program in your major, financial aid, location (unless you were admitted ED in which case you are done).

Practice for PSAT. Ultimately, NMF not necessary to get admitted to top colleges, but you can get a scholarship.

And of course, take the most challenging classes you can handle. Dual-enroll at a local university/community college if possible. Stick to 2-3 ECs, and try to show leadership. Do things you enjoy and I don’t mean video games.

That’s all I can think of at this late hour.

22

I concur with the idea of not making one school your dream school especially with very highly competitive schools. I was deferred then rejected from my number one school (Princeton) but was accepted regular decision to Harvard among others.

You never know what you’re going to get and making one school your primary focus doesn’t always end happily.

23

The one thing that can make or break you on an application, no matter where it is for, how much it is worth, etc… is that dang ESSAY.

Work hard on your essays folks.

24

To everyone preaching the essay…is it that important?

The college s I’m looking at have 60k-96k applicants. Do they really read them all?

I’m asking this because my stats are average (maybe even slightly below, compared to my classmates), but I think I’ll be able to produce compelling, unique essays. Thanks!

25

IMHO,the thing about essays vs transcripts/SAT’s etc is this:
If you have a great academic record/scores, then your essays will be read and will make a big difference in the final decision.
If you have great/exceptional essays, but they are not accompanied by an excellent academic record, then they may or may not help you get in.

26

<ul>
<li>I believe visits are crucial. We are fortunate to live in the NE with a lot of choices within driving distance. My husband travels for his job and had amassed a lot of Marriott points. I run my own business and thus have flexibility at my job so we started visiting winter of junior year.</li>
</ul>

One college was a “love” the first visit. The next time it was “I would never come here.” “Hates” turned into “loves” as well.

<ul>
<li>Try not to get caught up in the “prestige” trap. This was a hard one for both myself and my daughter. A fit is a fit. My daughter will be attending her “safety” school despite acceptances from several higher ranked colleges. She is thrilled. </li>
<li>Save more money.</li>
<li>Save more money.</li>
</ul>

27

@darkaeroga - There is nothing disgusting about the word “crapshoot”. It refers to throwing dice in a game of craps - the very definition of a chance or random event. IMHO, that is an excellent analogy to use for the whole college admission process, which is why I suspect so many people use it.

28

My advice would be to:

<ul>
<li>Take the SAT or ACT once before summer (if you can still sign up) and then if you really want to try to raise your scores, take either once more at the beginning of your senior year.</li>
<li>Make a list of schools you are DEFINITELY applying to over the summer. For instance, I live in WA so I knew I would be applying to UW, WSU and UIdaho. Look at the application for the schools you’re for sure applying to so you can get down to business when the app comes out.</li>
<li>I wanted a couple “for-funsies” schools in DC because I like politics. Oh, and I applied to U Penn too just for the off-chance I would get in (I didn’t).</li>
<li>Don’t expect anything to just fall into place. When I applied to AU and GWU, I didn’t think I would have a chance of being able to afford either of them. See below.</li>
<li>Public doesn’t always mean cheaper. The two schools I applied to in DC (AU and GWU) ended up being cheaper than the 3 public schools I applied to.</li>
<li>Do enough research on your “for-funsies” schools that if you got accepted (and it’s affordable) you would want to go there. Don’t do what my friend did and waste tons of money applying to top schools and not researching any of them.</li>
<li>When asking your teachers for letters of rec, if they have a deadline to get stuff to them, get stuff to them WAY before the deadline. Also, if they don’t require anything, give your teachers several weeks notice to get your letter of rec done - they have plenty of other students asking them for letters, you don’t need to stress them out any more than they already are.</li>
<li>If you live close to a school you applied to - VISIT so that you know you like it! Only visit a school that’s far away AFTER you have been accepted. I’m not about to drop $500 to go visit a school in DC I wasn’t even accepted to.</li>
<li>If you have a question about something, don’t hesitate to email financial aid or admissions. It’ll show you’re interested in that school. </li>
</ul>

I had more to say than I expected. I hope this helps at least one person! :slight_smile:

29

Texas A&M University(TAMU) and University of Texas(UT) will not admit transfer students who have a F or three drops on their junior college transcript. This is an unwritten rule.

30

Pick safety schools that you love. I made that mistake, and I would only enjoy going to one of my safety schools(fortunately, I was able to have a range of options to choose from, at the end of the day.)

APPLY TO FINANCIAL SAFETIES!!! Everyone forgets this, and it’s hard to accept the fact that your parents may not be able to afford to send you to your dream school. It’s a harsh realty, but one you must keep in mind throughout the entire process.

Apply to scholarships! Your local scholarships have less competition that the really big name ones, and lots of small 500 dollar scholarships add up!

31

How many AP tests you take, how many community service projects you write on your resume, how many afterschool jobs you’ve had, how many times you’ve made honor roll— none of it matters. The admissions council spends such a small, insignificant amount of time reading your application that all that matters is your SAT scores it seems. Oh, and how good of a mood your admissions counselor is in at the time he/she reads your applications. So really the college process boils down to one thing: luck. Maybe you will get in, maybe you won’t. But it’s not worth killing yourself to take 5 AP’s and all honors. Just keep calm & carry on and wait. Wait for whatever decision they make because you stressing over it for months isn’t going to change their decision.

32

I learned a valuable lesson from my son’s recent experience: Naviance is less reliable then it seems at first blush. Things change, and often dramatically, in school admission policies so that a “safety” one year becomes a “stretch” the next year. One final thought: demonstrated interest in a school (particularly in highly competitive smaller private schools) does help – a bit!

33

If you did get into a major reach school, be sure you can handle the academic rigor. I’ve seen a few peers drop out and found out that they were at the lower end of admitted students. Getting into an awesome school is fine if you can handle the rigor. But be aware that at many schools, the majority of students were in the top 10% of their class, and come to college with that work ethic which causes professors to adjust their expectations accordingly.

In this respect, a match/safety school may be better for B students than the HMFR (huge mf reach) they somehow got into. Conversely, a high level peer group may challenge students in more ways than they would have gotten had they gone to a safety.

Also, at most schools, it’s impossible for students to take advantage of even 10% of the resources the school offers.

34

There are excellent college experiences aside from the Ivy League schools, the “Top 40 LACs”, the “Top 5 Ivy-like public universities”, etc. Don’t feel that your nascent potential is contingent upon acceptance at a prestige school.

Don’t apply to schools where your GPA/ACT/SAT put you in the 45th or lower percentile, because even if you get accepted, you might still struggle mightily to graduate (on time, at minimum). And don’t apply to schools where you’re less than the 80th percentile if you really need merit money to circumvent the COA.

Do recognize that your HS’s reputation proceeds you and your application, and a strong reputation can boost your application and increase your chances of acceptance, even if you’re a solid-B student perched at the 50th percentile of your target school.

Befriend your college admissions officer, particularly at smaller universities and LACs, and remember to “demonstrate your love” of that school. If you visit, be sure to check in at admissions office, sign in, spend meaningful time talking to admissions folks. Let them learn to associate your name with a face. Visit more than once; let them know too.

Do your homework; don’t count on your college counselor or your friends to form your college application list. Read guidebooks, yes, but be sure to read those anonymous student comments on the other college review sites. For the schools we toured, those comments were usually confirmed by the on-campus visits, even the snarky comments.

35

I think essays are important only for extremely-competitive schools where most candidates are well-qualified and super-competent for admission, and adcoms are looking for reasons to DENY candidates to winnow application pool count. One admissions director told his Open House audience (and us) that at 98% of colleges and universities, reasonably qualified applicants will be accepted at their first-choice school. If so, I suspect that at “98% of schools” that essay gets a quick read-through, mostly to determine that there are no “red flags” for concern, and a strong essay explaining low grades and/or scores may yet save the application of an otherwise desirable candidate.

36

Everything will be okay. It will be fine even if you don’t get into that Top 10 school, even if you bomb your SATs, even if you have to drop an AP class.
Stop freaking out.

Also, you will NOT be denied admission because you are of a certain race, gender, or prospective major. You will be denied admission on the account that you are boring and appear to have nothing to contribute. Or, you know what? Maybe some people are better.

Be proud of your accomplishments, and do not play the victim card.

37

The only matches are safeties.

38

Not exactly true. CSUs, U Iowa, Iowa State, U Missouri (and I think schools with auto-admit plans) are schools where stats can get one in even if one has written extremely poor essays (but then expect to take remedial English) and Canadian schools other than UBC (and perhaps a couple of others) do not require essays at all.

For those schools, if they could admit only the 4.0 students with perfect test scores, I can assure you they will; they’re still confident they can get a well-rounded class without asking for well-rounded applicants. However, there’s a critical class size above which a college can afford to do so.

39

  1. Seriously, apply EA/ED. If you feel very strongly about a school that it just seems to be the only place you can call home, then by all means apply ED. Don’t make ‘being scared’ as an excuse to not apply ED to your dream tippy top. Your RD chances will likely be equally bad or even worse than your ED chances. However, if you don’t have an ultimate first choice, apply EA to some schools. There are many non-binding policies that provide a decision by December, and still allow you time to think until May. I regret not applying EA - three months of waiting and waiting with no college under your belt just isn’t great.

  2. Research carefully before you start filling out apps. I realized a little late in the game that I hated one of my reaches. Too late, though, SAT scores are sent out and essays are half-done. I begrudgingly slave away to get them done during my holidays. Yep, not fun. Got rejected, too.

  3. This is connected to point #2. Don’t apply just because other people say that the college is great. Do your own research and if you dislike it, stay far far far away from the apps. Looking back, I did three of my apps mostly because of what other people think about those schools. I got rejected, too. It’s a waste of your money and your time - don’t do it (unless you have fee waivers and you don’t mind the essays)

  4. Similarly, don’t discourage yourself from applying because of some tidbit that is a slight turnoff. If the school as a whole is great, and it fits your major/interests, then why not? Worry about that minor tidbit later when (and if) you get accepted.

  5. UGH, essays essays essays. The most annoying yet powerful bit :smiley: Oh, and btw, accept every peer review / advice, but definitely don’t follow them blindly. I had someone (with very powerful credentials, think HYPSM admissions experience) volunteer to read my <em>risky</em> essay; she said my app could be thrown into the bin for it. While she has a point (because it is risky!), I’ve sent it to some of my reaches. I was sure it would eliminate me. 3 months later - the two mega reaches accepted me. My point is - you should respect every opinion, but know that they’re not God’s gospel and they’re definitely not etched in stone.

  6. Stay off the chances threads. Seriously. Some people here, I think, like to put down others by masking their glorious stats with over-the-top humility and self-deprecation.

  7. Cherish the college application process, lol :wink: I’m serious. When April comes by, you suddenly feel empty without all the heart-stopping, suspenseful seconds of waiting decisions to come by. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime process, if you wanna think about it that way.

40

Unless you have stacks of money, don’t apply to a US college from Australia. Even Harvard doesn’t understand Australian financial conditions.