When it comes to your admissions chances… Your Major Matters if it’s Engineering!
When looking at admissions rates and incoming freshman profiles be sure to check out the specifics for any engineering majors. A place with an overall acceptance rate of 40% could (and in our case did) have an acceptance rate to the College of Engineering hover around 18%.
As a previous poster mentioned…Naviance is of little help in this department.
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<li>Don’t assume you’ll get a good or bad financial aid</li>
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I remember posting a thread about what schools I was applying to and my financial situation (upper middle class, parents didn’t really save for my education) and many posters were telling me I wouldn’t get good financial aid with my stats. They said that OOS publics are bad with financial aid and I probably wouldn’t get any. Guess what? The OOS public school I’m going to this fall gave me the best financial package! I also assumed I’d get good financial aid from one college because I was a female majoring in computer science at a predominantly male school, but alas, the school I thought would give me great financial aid gave me zero.
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<li>Aim for the stars!</li>
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If you can afford it, try to apply to schools that you don’t think you can get into. I remember being scared of applying to Ivy League schools because I knew I’d be rejected. So I didn’t. A part of me regrets not applying to these schools. Maybe a miracle would have happened! Oh well… which brings me to my next point!
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<li>Don’t regret your college choices</li>
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After applying to colleges in January, I was happy with my choices. Then as time went on I started hating some of the schools I applied to and regretted not applying to other schools. Why didn’t I apply to Northwestern? Vanderbilt looks so pretty, why didn’t I apply? Then I remembered that I made my choices for a reason and didn’t apply to other schools for a reason. Trust yourself! Also, If you don’t want to stress yourself unnecessarily don’t go on Collegeconfidential until you get your college decision. I would have been so much less stressed!
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<li>Don’t base your college choices on other people</li>
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Sure, everyone wants to be known as the girl/guy that got into <em>insert top 25 school here</em> but really, does it matter that much? Who cares if people are impressed by your school. Just make the right decision for you! Going to a certain school certainly doesn’t make you more successful in life. My friend’s dad went to MIT and their family doesn’t make that much money, my dad went to some unknown college in Arizona and makes a lot more money. (Not trying to be braggy, just making a point! lol) Go where you’ll be happy and remember that a college can’t make you successful, you have to do that yourself.
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<li>Make sure the social atmosphere fits you</li>
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Your social life in college is very important. Obviously, academics is the most important but if one of them is lacking your college experience can get bad fast. Make sure you’ll fit in with the “vibe” at the school. One of the school’s I applied to gave off a very “monied” vibe and I didn’t really want to experience that in college. There will always be people who don’t fit into school stereotypes but you might have to look harder to find them.
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<li>Ignore the whiners on CC</li>
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Oh boo hoo I didn’t get into Harvard with my perfect SAT score, 20 billion E.C activities, top boarding school, and my essay comparing Nietzsche to Machiavelli. LIFE GOES ON! Don’t feel bad (like I did) because other people on CC feel a need to whine about how they “only” got accepted to Brown when they wanted to go to Stanford. It sure made me feel inferior to others who always bragged about their accomplishments. The sooner you learn that life doesn’t always go perfectly the better! Not going to a certain school doesn’t automatically bar you from being successful or getting a job at <em>insert Fortune 500 company</em> here. Well maybe in Wall Street or Big Law but we’re not talking about that.
Alright enough tips for today, I’M OUT
Being admitted directly into your major. For students at all academic levels, in all kinds of majors, it can be a crucial, often overlooked, detail. Achieving the required gpa once in college in weed-out courses for your major may be very difficult; and then what? Study the university’s online catalogue.
As a freshman at a selective state university, take heed. In addition to the general things pointed out by others, I’ll add a couple new things: you can’t overlook what actually takes place in college.
Do your due research on your majors and courses for your most likely schools, including your safeties. If, like me, you didn’t/can’t take a huge load of AP classes, know well in advance which APs will help you get some GenEd credits out of the way, saving you time, money, and additional energy you can devote to your major. Know your books, requirements, everything, even after you get accepted. Actually, know this ESPECIALLY after you get accepted. The more you know, the faster you’ll act on it, and the more pleasant your freshman year will be. In summation, do as much academic research and preparation as possible for your top colleges early. As in, your junior or even your sophomore year. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
While it’s stressful enough to get into college, it pales in comparison to actually staying there. At a state university like UMD, where I’m at now, you’ve got to be aware of where your standing is between your college and the university itself. It’s not over once you get in! I have a number of friends I met in college that are in jeopardy of getting kicked out. Even I’m not completely out of the woods yet.
My D and I visited colleges in her junior year, and she was able to narrow it down to the schools that really interested her. We then did more research and revisited schools. Once she indicated her first choice, she applied ED. Fortunately, she was accepted and it greatly reduced that stress. However ED would have allowed her to concentrate on other schools if it hadn’t worked out.
Read “Winning the College Admissions Game” by Peter von Buskirk, preferably early on in high school. One half for parents, one half for students. Absolutely amazing analysis of what the whole process really is and a road map to insure that your son/daughter grows, learns, and reflects as they approach their first major adult decision. Make no mistakes - getting into college is a business and marketing machine driven by the coveted rankings.
Equipped with this knowledge, you can find an excellent place to pursue your goals and get a good education. The best school is the best school for you!
Finances play a role.
Very few schools are need blind.
Based on my personal observations, numbers play the biggest role in universities than you think. People here say you need the numbers as a threshold for top U’s, but what I didn’t know whas how high those thresholds were. When they say it’s in your best interest to have test scores at least in the 75th percentile and a class rank of at least top 5%, they’re not kidding.
I heard that if you want colleges to see you more as a person and put more weight into the subjective parts of your application (i.e. your essays), then try LAC’s. Not entirely sure if stats are more downplayed in LAC’s than universities, but that’s the consensus I’ve received so far.
I sympathize with those who get stumped on the “Why __” essay, especially those who can’t visit. You’re a senior who, chances are, doesn’t know what to study yet. In that case, ask yourself: what classes did you do particularly well in? More importantly, did you like those classes? Are your recs gonna be coming from those teachers? Did I do any EC’s that I liked that points to some direction? Once you’ve got a list of that covered, research the university. Say you did well in math and at least have an inkling of a liking to the subject. Research the course catalog of the school for math classes and see how extensive they are and how interesting they might seem. Also, research the math department of the college. What opportunities, quirks, traditions, programs do they offer? And I say quirks/traditions because places like Haverford, for example, put on a comedy play every year by a hilarious and famous ancient Roman playwright for students taking a certain Classics class. Boom. There’s a unique quality that separates the college from the rest. All I had to do was find out that I liked and did well in Latin, consider being a classics major, researching the classics department, and stumble upon this bit of information.
Speaking of finding out what you might like to study, the people who actually DO know what they want usually stand out (or at least have a clearer image of what they want). Why do they stand out? Because knowing what you want tailors itself into a unique application. Your application takes on a theme, an interest in a field, supported by your EC’s, awards, grades, recs, etc. THAT type of application is much more interesting than just a bunch of leadership positions from various clubs put together. Out of all the people in my class who applied to ivies and top 5 LAC’s, the ones that got decent results were the ones who had clear interests (e.g. two nationally-ranked debaters who excelled in writing/English and humanities while editing the school newspaper and winning numerous writing awards. One even published 3 books. Another friend is VERY involved in Democratic politics, even interning at a law office and death row. He’s involved and head of many clubs that have to do with liberal politics, not to mention won awards in leadership and politics). The others who didn’t see such great results (those who, at best, got waitlisted into ONE ivy out of the 6 they applied to) didn’t have that advantage, and they are at the top of the class (those guys even have a higher GPA than the one who published 3 books, who by the way got into Princeton and Stanford).
So why the push to do these EC’s and such to prove your passion in a field? Because all those EC’s which seem like “extra work” such as interning at a law office are what students at top schools do in their spare time. It’s how they define their experience and dare I say fun at HYP etc. To me, all those other non-academic traditions seem supplementary to how the students spend their time. This may seem obvious when reading it, but you’d be surprised at how much this is overlooked when one is name-obsessed and he/she tries to write the “Why Yale” essay using stuff such as the H v Y football game to differentiate Yale from everywhere else.
I can sympathize with Ivy aspirations. I really can. As crapshooty and prestigewhorish as hitting up all eight of them is, you will probably have the urge to do so.
My advice is to not waste all your reaches on the Ivies, especially if you are capped in the number of schools you can apply to. In retrospect, those reaches would have been more plausibly used on the Ivy-equivalents.
For example, I applied to four Ivies but would have much rather applied to Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Emory, and Notre Dame.
I mean, can the entire Ivy league be a perfect fit for you? I thought the fit was in the name, but that is a terrible frame of mind to be in.
Best of luck to you all!
@Juvenis Is it a problem if I have high SAT, ACT, subject test scores and a 4.0 GPA but since I go to a very competitive school (it’s #1 in the nation, School for the Talented and Gifted) my class rank is not in the top 10%? (I only have 58 people in my class, and I’m ranked #9)
Stop taking yourself so seriously.
Oh, here’s my real advice:
Pose. Most of us don’t know what we want to do when we grow up. A lot of us have an idea, but aren’t certain. But if you have an interest you can write passionately about, even if you aren’t sure it’s “your” thing, write about it. Do whatever you can to capture the imagination of the reader - make them interested in being part of your story.
If you can make your life a good story, your application will be more than the sum of its parts.
One more thing.
Read books about college admissions. I read The Gatekeepers and Admissions Confidential. They made me understand in intricate detail the sort of people who would be reading my application, and how my application would be evaluated. I cannot understate the impact this knowledge had in the two years I spent focused on getting into a top school.
If you want to get in, you must have - or at least keep in mind, a plan. This stuff does not just happen, I don’t care what MIT’s admissions advice webpage tells you.
Don’t sell yourself short:
I took a look at the average GPA’s of people admitted at Pomona and Bowdoin and said I might as well not apply because there’s no way I’ll get in. I ended up getting into Bowdoin regular decision and getting in off the wait list at Pomona (talk about tough decisions).
Visit any college you are serious about attending, you only get an in person impression by being on campus. You can’t do that online or by looking at brochures.
Consider (along with your parents) what the college ‘budget’ will be. More expensive colleges don’t necessarily translate into better education or better job opportunities. Look past the PR marketing hype that some colleges engage in.
It is NOT the end of the world if you get turned down at some colleges you apply to. Very selective colleges get far more applications then they have openings. Be realistic.
College rankings are more for their entertainment value or to sell magazines/newspapers then a serious college selection tool.
Don’t choose a college just to be with your h.s. friends. You may/may not still be friends 2 yrs from now…then what???
5 yrs after you graduate, where you went to college will be far less important then how you perform on the job.
Less reaches and more matches.
Privates can cost less than publics in some cases.
Know what every public in your state can offer you for scholarships.
Don’t skip college visits…the one you just drove past may have been the best fit for you.
Take both the SAT and the ACT to improve your chances.
Use tools like EFC and % Likely To Be Admitted to narrow your choices.
Be aware of admissions reps visits…we were the only family from our entire county who attended a packed session with a Yale University rep.
Now is the time to take your best shot. I still wish my son had applied to Harvard instead of one school.
As a parent, I wish I had thought more about setting up my finances properly to maximize potential FA much earlier. If you read up or get advice, it could save you many thousands of dollars if you do it right. Think about putting as much as possible into retirement accounts as most schools don’t count them for FA. Borrow for college and pay back from the retirement accounts just after graduation. Do the “right thing” and save in a college savings account and most colleges will eat it up as fast as possible. You just need to be disciplined and save more in your retirement than you would have otherwise (as much as you would have put into a college savings account). Use a Roth IRA or 401k if possible so you can withdraw the priciple penalty and tax free…anyway, think about doing it right way BEFORE senior year.
If you still have time, take as many advanced classes as possible. Yes, you may suffer from a few low grades here and there (or maybe not), but taking AP exams can really cut the stress out of college. Plus, you can benefit from better study skills.
I wish I had taken AP Calculus, but I didn’t try really hard in middle school. SO, by the time I was in high school, I was already behind. Now, I have to take Calculus in college during my freshman year which is supposedly EXTREMELY tough.
I’m the parent of a HS junior, but what I’ve learned from the process already is that it is such a crapshoot that you (or your child) should just enjoy high school, take the classes that interest you, do the ECs that are meaningful you, try your best, and find some great match/safety schools to apply to. If you spend four years trying to craft yourself into the perfect HYPSM candidate, and making huge personal sacrifices along the way, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Do those things because you want to regardless of where you get in, or else don’t do them. I’m very proud of my son. His grades could be better, but he’s taken a rigorous course load and done some great ECs, all because he wanted to – not to pad his resume. He will apply to a few reaches which would be a pleasant surprise if he gets in, but we’ve also found some wonderful 2nd tier schools that seem like great fits. No matter how it ends up, he won’t be saying “I did all that just to go to Piddly U?” We’re hearing a lot of that from the current seniors!
To apply since AUGUST, when the application becomes availble. Especially people who are applying to a multitude of universities to get the best financial aid options possible (which can potentially be the deciding factor of whether you are going to the college or not, even if admitted ). Senior year is busy if you want to get into top schools and most likely there will not be enough time to apply and finish all the essays supplements and etc’s once senior year starts, because it’s hard enough to handle all the classes including the extracurriculars. Not to mention scholarships.