In my relentless searching of cc I’ve struggled to find anything relating to the basic mechanics of applying to college so I’ve decided to compile everything I now know below. Enjoy!
ECs: So everyone obsesses over extra curriculars but I’ve not found it helpful to be involved in tons of things. Remember that the common app only allows you to include 10 ecs however many applications asked me to go in detail about my role in an organization. For the clubs you do participate in keep these things in mind:
- Consistency. Colleges like to see you’ve stuck to something all 4 years
- Leadership. Even starting your own club looks great
- Community service. Ideally the community service would be impactful and high-comittment but most importantly something you’re passionate about
- Diversity! Sign up for a wide variety of clubs. In my high school years I did two technical clubs, an art club, national honors society, and varsity swimming. Add in something new and challenging, which will make you well-rounded. A sport is always great to try
Keep in mind that if you’re starting late in your high school career that many admissions counselors won’t mind if you take the opportunity to explain it to them. For example my freshman year I was in no clubs because I had no transportation after school. They understand (and there’s an area on the common app to include this)
Class sign up: Every year when signing up for classes pay attention! Don’t be afraid to map out all four years with your counselor to make sure you are hitting all your prerequisites and taking the highest rigor you can. Take as many AP classes as possible but don’t be that person that takes 8 APs and gets a C in every one. Know your limits and then challenge yourself a little past them. Also inquire about double enrollment and online courses if your school is lacking in high rigor courses. My school provides many APs but I only ended up taking 7 because I didn’t plan well enough to end up in all of them.
SAT/ACT: most importantly- take both then no matter how you did or felt about them take it again. I took the Act for the first time and got a 28. Then I took some tutoring courses and got a 34 which has completely changed my opportunities. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND any form of outside tutoring or online courses that are financially reasonable for you. I have too many smart friends that settled for their first score and are going to colleges that are frankly below them. I recommend taking the exams in January and May of junior year in order to get them over with. And don’t fill out those free score sends on the day you take it. You might do infinitely better on the sat than the act then you’ll be wishing you hadn’t sent that 30 to your dream school. If you are financially able, wait until all final scores are in and THEN send your best.
For those of you applying to the higher level schools be sure to keep in mind whether your school requires SAT II. I took the US history and the literature and found that the respective AP classes prepared me well. Some schools only require SAT II for their engineering schools or if you send in the SAT. For these schools if you send in the ACT no SAT II is required.
Class Rank/GPA: Let me first say that valedictorian is nothing special. There’s so many people in classes of 200 or so that got valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA which simply isn’t that impressive. It’s more important to aim for the top 10% of your class. There is no where on the common app to put your valedictorian status. There is however an area to put your class rank as well as percentage rank. My rank of 50 might not sound impressive but out of 3000 students, I’ll take it.
Common App: Yes the common app may seem simple but for me there were a lot of unanswered questions that I had to figure out along the way. Making the app as early as possible junior year is a wise choice, and going through and answering simple background questions is easy to get out of the way. As I mentioned before, there’s a limit to how many awards/ecs you can put in and you’re only allowed around 60 characters to describe the club/role. The recommendations are super tricky and many teachers are busy, so I would recommend asking your teachers over the summer if the teachers are ever at the school for teacher workdays. Basically print out an entire academic resume for them with things like clubs, achievements, etc. If you did anything in their class that you are proud of in particular, add that too. Some schools also require the recommendations to be from academic teachers, but this doesn’t mean you can’t ask your favorite elective teacher as well. You simply send an invitation to as many recommenders as you want (there might be a limit of 10) and when applying to those schools you assign which recommender you want. In other words you can send an impressive ap calculus teacher’s to caltech engineering while at the same time sending your creative writing teacher’s to Washington and Lee arts program. Tackle the common app essay over the summer and leave at least one weekend to complete the additional essay for each school.
Deadlines: Seriously keep on track of those deadlines. Some colleges require you to apply by a certain earlier date to even be considered for scholarships or honors colleges. Being able to say that you’ve applied to all your schools by mid October will make you the envy of every senior at your high school.
TIPS: Carefully consider early action and early decision. If a school offers early action you almost always want to take it
Don’t be afraid to reach. Don’t allow your test scores to define your search area
Always don’t be afraid to ‘stoop down’. A lot of the big south schools offer huge automatic scholarships and have fantastic honors colleges. Save the big names for grad school
The first day of the fafsa is October first. Do it then, no excuses. Always complete the css if your school requires it.
Keep EVERY password somewhere safe whether a diary or a document on google. You will have a lot and you don’t want to forget them.
Look at schools all over the spectrum and all over the country. You might surprise yourself with what you want.
Interviews are important. They won’t get you into a school but a poor interview can certainly keep you out.
Not every essay needs to tell your life story. Admissions officer appreciate a light hearted or simple story
Be HONEST. Be honest on your app, be honest with your parents about what you want, and most importantly be honest to yourself. This choice could define the rest of YOUR life. Don’t make it for anyone else
That’s all that popped in my head just now but feel free to ask any further questions about applications in general or any of the schools I applied to ( UNC Chapel hill, NC State, Duke, UVA, University of Richmond, Davidson, App State, University of TN). I’ve honestly had a great albeit stressful time applying to college and I hope this helps any future students!