Here’s a good thread on this topic:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/56545-what-past-year-has-taught-me.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/56545-what-past-year-has-taught-me.html</a>
It should probably be moved into this area.
<ol>
<li>Get to know your counselor and an academic teacher, before senior year. Go in and introduce yourself with your recent transcript and resume. You will be needing a lot of “last minute” recommendations for applications, scholarships and internships. Write a Thank You note, and slip in a gift card to Starbucks. :)</li>
<li>When you apply to colleges, have your list of activities (from senior to freshmen year), extra-cirricular, community activities and awards/scholarships printed out and ready. Then get a copy of your recent transcript up to junior year. When you apply to UCs, they will ask each of your a-g grades and give you 5 slots to list your most important/impressive activities, work experience (they will also want to know what you did with your earnings; did you squander it away on iTunes, or help pay for your AP exams and loan $$ to mom for household needs?), community involvement and awards/scholarships.</li>
<li>If you apply to University of California schools, take a workshop on how to fill their apps out. The online application opens Oct 1st–work on it the whole month, tweak it, upload your essays. Then when Nov 1st comes around, you are ready to send. (UC deadline is Nov 30th).</li>
<li>Keep a notebook calendar of every deadline, every college web portal and your password, your ACT/SAT scores and financial aid deadlines.</li>
</ol>
Taken from this thread,
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/918119-advice-please-umass-amherst-salve-regina-providence-colllege.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/918119-advice-please-umass-amherst-salve-regina-providence-colllege.html</a>
which shows the extended anxiety involved for those dealing with waitlists.
Instead of applying 20 schools and crossing your fingers, pick a few that you want to pursue during the entire process. Email the admissions rep from your region with updates (like if you win an award or are named captain of a team). This shows them that you’re genuinely interested in their school. The admissions officers love their school, and they want to see how much you love it!
I only did this with two of my schools, I had the more successful outcomes there than I did at several schools that should have been easier to get into. Wish i had realized this trick sooner.
Identify which schools are reaches, matches, and safeties. I probably should have applied to more schools at my level like NC State, Purdue, and UMich instead of gambling on Stanford, which was not going to happen with my grades and SAT scores.
<ol>
<li>Apply to schools you love</li>
<li>Apply to schools you can get into, but don’t be weary of adding a reach or two</li>
<li>Don’t apply to so many schools you forget where you’ve applied</li>
<li>Always try to visit a school before you apply (you never know what you may cross of your list and for what reasons)</li>
<li>Do not let your friends/parents/teachers opinion of a school/the school’s ranking dictate whether you apply. If it is ranked 41 but you love it apply, if it is ranked 9 and you HATE it. Don’t apply.</li>
</ol>
I know all of those things seem really simple but you’d be surprised at how many people don’t always adhere to those rules.
To the ex-me: “Dontbother” and 10char
Don’t go to a school where 150+ applicants from your class, all of whom are as equally as qualified as you, apply to your top choices. Especially if it’s the most competitive year for college admissions in U.S. history. And if the colleges, for some reason or the other, decided to put a very low quota on how many they’ll accept from your school.
What I wish I had known? Top school admissions are absolutely unforgiving when it comes to international students. Also, it’s better not to be too ambitious in terms of coursework. Take AP classes, but don’t try to take 5 or 6 in a year if you can’t handle it. In retrospect, I really wish I had dropped my AP Econ class in first semester of junior year so that I could focus on my grades in other classes. Not counting Econ, I was already taking 3 APs anyway.
I wish I had known to take grades more seriously freshman and sophomore year.
I wish I had known more about the financial aid process, but I am learning.
I wish I hadn’t wasted so much time.
More here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/1099647-billymc-s-advice-future-applicants.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/1099647-billymc-s-advice-future-applicants.html</a>
I wish I had:
<ol>
<li>Retaken the SAT. I took it only once in October 2010 and while I got 800 in Math and 790 in Writing, I only got 670 in Reading. I could have raised it to 750+ in December, but I wanted to pay attention to my essays.</li>
<li>Applied to more liberal arts colleges than absolute crapshoots like Caltech and Cooper Union. That way I would have had more college choices now. :(</li>
<li>Not emotionally invested in Stanford. After being deferred REA I went in a frenzy and sent them 2 additional recommendation letters and a ton of updates. But they still didn’t take me and that’s when I really got depressed.</li>
<li>Pursued more non-science EC’s. I tend to look too nerdy on my application.</li>
<li>Shown more interest in the school in my ‘Why X’ essays.</li>
</ol>
In the end, my only affordable option in the US is Lafayette (I’m an international applying for aid-extreme ‘un’ hook!). I got waitlisted by 3 Ivies (Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth) and Tufts, and rejected everywhere else. So please don’t make the same mistakes I did, guys. 
Hi there.
My daughter has been accepted to BU, NEU, Emerson, Elon, UGA and UNC Asheville.
The aid packages from BU and NEU were terrible. Emerson was so-so, but Elon was much better. Even tho she thought she wanted an urban setting, she may have to go where the cost will be lower and she will still get a good education. She’s not really interested in UGA because so many people from our area go there. We still need to visit UNCA and are still waiting on possible financial aid from them as well. She wants to major in marketing/communications/public relations. Any thoughts from someone with a similar situation?
Thanks.
Nothing else to say. Everyone has a unique heart, believe it or not.
Do not love/get emotionally invested in your reach schools… but at the same time do not disregard them. I let the realist in me get the better of me, and I did not look into my reach schools because I did not expect to get into any of them. But when I did eventually get into MOST of them, I am now in a dilemma of picking one.
Spend most of your time on your essays, at this level of selectivity they really do make a difference. I have had admission officers at several of my top choices specifically address a couple of my essays and tell me how well they resonated with the committee. In a game where everyone is qualified, you need all the attention you can get.
The SAT does not matter that much, or at least in my case it did not. Get a score that is decent enough to display you cognitive reasoning and you’ll be fine. Your 2100 will not make you get rejected over someone’s 2300 on the basis of SAT scores alone. Anyone that will let you believe this is lying to you. Though it goes without saying that the higher your score, the better.
It really does work out in the end.
On what you can do to improve your chances, I’ll borrow a piece of advice a close friend of mine gave me. Do what you love, do it well, do it lots. A sure way to be a competitive applicant (assuming you have the academic background to back you up)
CC is great as a resource, but some questions are better directed at the schools’ admissions offices. The level of misinformation here is surprising.
Eat, pray, love, repeat.
If you’re an international, especially the kind with two last names, expect universities to mess up your names all the time. ALL. THE. TIME. Even if your name is not all that unusual in the US, it’ll freak them out to see two last names there, haha.
Everyone, from CollegeBoard to every single university I applied to, called me something different. Common variations (original name Student Name1 Name2, add more confusion if there’s a middle name):
Student Name1-Name1
Student Name1Name2
Student Name1
And one university even wrote down my second last name as my first name and my real first name as my middle name (Name2 Student Name1). They got it right on my acceptance, but wrong on my FinAid documents…haha.
Be aware of these errors. If you submitted you SAT scores 2 months ago and they’re not showing up, DO drop admissions a call and ask if there might have been a problem due to your name. It’s really easy to get that rectified and it’ll save you from a lot of anxiety knowing this from the start.
Completely disregard the stats you see on CC and don’t get discouraged. You don’t need a 2300+ SAT to get into a good school, I promise. If I went by what I saw on CC, I wouldn’t have applied to half of my schools. I ended up getting accepted everywhere I applied, so don’t be afraid to take that chance!
I would have applied to far fewer schools (probably 6-8 instead of 13). So much time and effort diffused into random apps–and after a happy EA acceptance, too!
I actually wished I applied to more schools rather than just 6. I got rejected from my first choice school, but you know what? It all worked out in the end because I am SO glad I’ll be attending HC instead. I never gave HC much thought and research, but after I found out I was accepted, I looked into it more and fell in love <3 I discovered that it was almost everything I’d hoped for in a college, plus it was more prestigious than my first choice school. (Prestige isn’t everything though of course!) Applying to HC was just by chance because I expected to be rejected since I applied to the two most competitive majors/programs they offer (Biology and Pre-Med). But surprise, surprise. Life just works out that way I guess.
My advice for prospective students: Take chances! You never know what’s in store for you until you try 
I joined CC when I was a sophomore after I got excited that all these colleges were sending me mail. The first thing I noticed upon joining, though, was how I didn’t compare to most of the CC population. Sure, I am a straight A, 4.0 student, but my SAT scores are below the CC par (even though I got a 1900 on them). As you can imagine, I thought I was screwed for college admissions. However, I really wish I knew that you can get into a good college. You are more than just an SAT score, so don’t flip out too much over the SAT! And the CC people are in a league all of their own, so you don’t need to be constantly comparing yourself to them if it results in a negative self image.
I also wish I knew to ignore elitist opinions. A lot of people look at the colleges I applied to and were like, “Megan, you could do so much better.” Sure, I could have applied to a top LAC…maybe I would have had a chance. However, I visited those schools and wasn’t nearly as happy with them as I was happy with my “inferior” schools. Do what’s best for you, even if it means some mean comments from elitists and not going to a name brand school. The most important thing is that you are happy…you don’t want to spend the next four years of your life miserably!
Oh, and finally, email your admissions counselors and be active in the admissions process. They like to see interest! I found that out the hard way when I was deferred from a school. After I showed interest, though, I was accepted, and my counselor said that was key in my acceptance.
That’s all, good luck you guys. (:
I wish I knew to impress upon my kids how important it is to be out-of-the-box in creating new amazing things [clubs, causes, businesses, etc.] and not just doing excellence in things already established at one’s school [sports, existing clubs, leadership…].