which factor do you think the most important when you apply to college?

Applying to College
1

This is just 3 Question about applying to college.
If u are a high school student or college student, plz share me.

  1. What is the most important factor in applying to college?

    a. ACT or SAT score

    b. Essay

    c. GPA

    d. Extracurricular activities(Sports, Volunteer, Leadership, Discussion program etc.)

    e. teacher evaluation

  2. If you can know your SAT score before the score delivery dates, Are you using that service? based on your answer sheet.
    1. Where do you usually obtain information of applying to college?
2

C - GPA and course rigor
A
D
E
B

3

I will go with C A D B E (D and B pretty equal). There are certainly cases though where it is C A - for example UA full tuition merit scholarship is pretty much all about the ACT/SAT score, with GPA being pretty attainable for most scoring high on standardized test.

4

C
A
B/D
SSR (secondary school report, from counselor)
.
.
E

5

Generally, the top two are:

(C) GPA (and/or rank) + course rigor
(A) test scores

Sometimes, they may be the only factors in admission (though some schools may subdivide admission into different selection buckets by major, division, state residency, etc.).

The other factors you list are more likely to be considered or important at the most selective schools, or if an applicant is on the borderline based on the academic factors.

For each specific college, look on the admissions tab for its entry on http://www.collegedata.com .

6

I will take a different approach, that I think other people responding are subtly acknowledging. I don’t agree with the premise, namely that one of these categories is more important in an application. Why? Because a lot of these factors influence whether or not one chooses (or should choose) to apply in the first place. Once one chooses to apply (because they are “qualified”), the more objective criteria matters because that is what is used by admissions officials to partition the applicants. Once students pass that objective hurdle, now the more subjective things matter. In all fairness, I simply cannot answer the question because I don’t think it gets at how the college admission process truly works.

With all of that said, objective criteria matters the most because it affects more of the kinds of colleges one can apply to (first cut). After that, the subjective matters more because the objective measures fall away in importance.

But good question!