How can I make my application the best it can possibly be? What should I be sure to have on my resume?
Are test scores incredibly important?
Not all colleges even use test scores anymore. If yours are very low, you should search for colleges that make submitting test scores optional rather than required. See http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional
For those colleges that require test scores, they can be very important in admissions, along with your grades and the level of your courses in high school, whether regular, honors, AP or IB. Also, a lot of colleges don’t consider much besides test scores and grades/courses in admissions. You can search for a college’s “common data set” and look for “basis for selection” to find out what they look for in admissions, and what is considered “very important” “important” “considered” or “not considered” in admissions. Here’s an example from Georgia Tech, with the info on page 7: http://www.irp.gatech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/CDS_2014-2015-061715-2.pdf
For those colleges that look at your extracurricular activities and achievements in admissions, it’s too late to do much to boost your resume, except perhaps do something interesting this summer related to your planned major. What you can do though is try to present yourself in the best possible way. To prepare, make a list of all of your activities you’ve done in high school, including books you’ve read, places you’ve been, and experiences both in school and out of school. How do those relate to a possible major, or to portraying you as a person with character and skills, and as someone likely to be involved in the community on campus? Quantify your achievements to the extent possible (e.g., worked or volunteered # hours, raised $# donations, ran # miles, helped # people, supervised # club members, performed in # shows, programmed # apps, read # books on a subject, etc.). What honors and awards have you received? You will have to include those as well, so go ahead and make a list. When colleges admit a student, they are admitting people who will not only be enrolled in a major, but who will also be taking part in all the offerings at the university, including sports, clubs, musical and theater performances, art shows, student government, etc. They will be analyzing your application to try to envision how you will fit into their college and into your declared major, if any.
Adding to what has been said:
Depending on the tier of the school, standardized tests and GPA play different roles. As the tier increases, you will find most applicants have a 2200+ SAT/33+ ACT/4.0 GPA and that you are no longer as special as you were if you were to apply to mid-tier schools.
Because of this, I feel the essay/supplements is/are the most important part/parts of the app. With schools like MIT, Stanford, they’re most likely 75% of the deciding factor. Extracurriculars play another important role. That being said, standardized tests and GPAs are the gateway to being considering for a good college. They help you get your foot in the door. The rest, I feel, is up to the essay.
Transcripts and test scores are usually the most important factors on an application. After those come your ECs, essays, letters of rec, awards, all of that. But if you’re thinking about specific schools, you can look up what is most important to them in their Common Data Sets.
Each school places a different value on things like extra curricular, essay, letters of recommendations. The Common Data Sets (you can google them for each school) will tell you what each school prioritizes.
Good answers on this thread. As a rule of thumb, less selective the school the more it is just based on GPA / Test Scores. More selective the school, letters of rec., essays, EC’s in addition to GPA / class rank / test scores
This may be simplistic, but it was emphasized by admissions counselors everywhere we went: the best applications are well-written and do not have any errors in grammar or spelling. They reflect the qualities and interests of the applicant and not his parents or role models. They are not a retelling of past experiences, but express the applicant’s vision of his or her future. They explain what the applicant will contribute to the school community and not merely what the applicant expects to receive from his or her four years there.