"The Experience"
I Didn’t Get In … Is There Anything I Can Do?
Author: petersons, Category: Getting Started for College
In an ideal world, you’ll have started your college search early, created a list with a good mix of favorite and safety schools, and gotten in — if not to your first choice, at least to a school that you’re still excited about. Sure, it might not have a film co-op or 24/7 organic salad bar, but you’ll be able to deal, and most importantly, get a great education at a price you can afford.
Now let’s back up a step or two. Say you didn’t start early…and didn’t create a list. Although counselors advise against it, a number of students still apply to only one college, perhaps assuming they’ll get in and not wanting to deal with the extra paperwork. Best case scenario, you do get in, and everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. But what if you don’t?
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The Waitlist
Author: petersons, Category: Getting Started for College
Waitlisted. Application deferred. You put in your college application and that’s the response you got! Even after you spent hours filling out forms and laboring over the perfect essay! What does it mean, though, and is it a good thing or a bad thing? Well…
Deferral
The first thing you should know is that there is a difference between a deferral and being placed on a waitlist. If your application gets deferred, it means that you haven’t been accepted yet…but you might be…later. Hmmm…what are you supposed to do with that?! Well, if you applied as an Early Action or Early Decision applicant, your application has basically been converted to a regular application. You’ll be reviewed again during the normal admission season with all the other applicants. However, you’ve also been freed from any obligation to attend their school if accepted, and you can go ahead and apply to other schools as you wish. Read the rest of this entry »
What to Do with Those Admission and Acceptance Letters
Author: petersons, Category: Getting Started for College
Congratulations! After hours spent trolling the Web, poring over books and catalogs, taking tests, visiting campuses, filling out stacks of paperwork, writing and rewriting your application essay, and, last but not least, keeping up your grades — you’re done! All that’s left to do now is to wait and see what sort of news the mailman brings you so you can plot your course for the next big step: heading off to college. Read the rest of this entry »
The Block System vs. Semesters
Author: petersons, Category: Getting Started for College
With so many high schools operating on a block system (where students take fewer, longer classes each term), this is not big news anymore. Admission officials realize that they have to make decisions before they see final grades (or any grades in some cases) in some important senior subjects. However, it’s essential that they know which classes are planned. For example, if your first semester transcript includes English, a foreign language, and history, but you expect to start calculus and physics in January, it should be made clear on your application.
If your school uses a block system, make certain that this is made clear to admission officials so they’ll realize that what may look like a single semester of a subject was really the equivalent of a full year course. Read the rest of this entry »
How Admission Decisions Are Made: Making the Final Cut
Author: petersons, Category: Getting Started for College
Oh…to be a fly on the wall when the admission committee is meeting. What do you think you might hear?
“3, 5, 8, 6, 9”
The first thing you might hear is the rating each committee member gives your application. If there’s not a consensus, the next thing you might hear is the sound of bickering. Oh, your aching little fly ears! “Look how well she plays the harp!” one man calls out over the protests of the woman pointing out your 390 math SAT score.
NOT! At colleges that accept just about anyone, there probably isn’t a committee — perhaps just a secretary with a rubber “Admit” stamp. However, at the most competitive colleges, your application won’t even be discussed in committee unless you’re firing on all cylinders, meaning excellent grades and scores are a given. What then? Read the rest of this entry »
How Admission Decisions Are Made: Test Results
Author: petersons, Category: Getting Started for College
Test scores are strategically listed after your transcripts. While that may mean that they’re less important than your grades, at schools which require them, they’re still significant. Sometimes, they can make or break your application.
Why they matter
In general, it’s fair to say that admission officials prefer students who demonstrate their ability to perform well in school. This information will be reflected on your transcript. Your test scores are important because they help admission officers get a more focused picture of the type of student you are. Read the rest of this entry »
How Admission Decisions Are Made: Hooks
Author: petersons, Category: Getting Started for College
A hook, in admission parlance, is any advantage that makes you attractive to a particular college. This varies from school to school and from year to year. You may try to hide your hooks, preferring to be admitted on only your merit, or you may choose to fight furiously to exploit even your most inconsequential connections.
Having a hook can give you a higher rating from the get-go or even move your application from the deny pile into the admit (or waitlist) stack. They most often come into play when admission officers are judging equally qualified candidates. If a college has to select one of two students who look the same on paper and one is the child of an alumnus and the other is not, the alumni’s child is probably going to be the one decorating a dorm room in the fall. Read the rest of this entry »
How Admission Decisions Are Made: Extracurricular Activities and Leadership
Author: petersons, Category: Getting Started for College
Colleges aren’t terribly picky about how you spend your down time, as long as you’re doing something meaningful. They won’t know if you spend hours upon hours playing video games; they will certainly notice a lack of notable activities on your college application. But you don’t have to be king (or queen!) of the world, with a long list of stellar accomplishments. As long as you can demonstrate to the admission committee some level of accomplishment, initiative, commitment, and leadership, then you’re on the right track. Read the rest of this entry »
How Admission Decisions Are Made: Essays, Recommendations, and Interviews
Author: petersons, Category: Getting Started for College
The personal essay
A great essay can really make an admission official sit up and take notice, although personal preference may prevail. Some evaluators are all about content and are impressed by sophistication and insight, while others won’t get past your writing style and mechanics if there are errors. How do you know what you’ll be evaluated on? You probably won’t, unless it’s been clearly defined in the application materials.
However, it’s fair to say that most colleges aren’t going to place the same emphasis on your essay that they will on your transcripts and test scores. If you’re a poor student, your essay isn’t going to change that, but putting your best effort into it certainly won’t hurt. You don’t know who will be impressed with what you have to say, but it may be the one thing that sets your application apart from the 50 others they read that day.
Whatever you do, don’t blow it off. That will most definitely work against you! Read the rest of this entry »
How Admission Decisions Are Made: Academics
Author: petersons, Category: Getting Started for College
In evaluating your application, your high school transcript is almost always the most important ingredient. (Keep in mind that there are exceptions to this rule, especially for students in areas like art, music, and drama.) Among the many pieces of paper they review, admission officers will probably receive a profile of your high school detailing the curriculum and the grading system — it may even list average grades for each class. Don’t worry, though. This comes from your high school, not from you!
Admission officials are skilled at understanding the discrepancies among schools and the ways that grades are awarded, recorded, etc. They know, for example, that at some schools, only students who walk on water will earn A’s, while at others, anyone who hands in their homework is considered an honors student. They can read between the lines of transcripts and school profiles to ascertain your school’s strengths, such as what percentage of graduates go on to four year colleges and what advanced classes are offered. Read the rest of this entry »
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