College Admissions Help Blog

Of all of the qualifying criteria a student is judged on, such as high school transcripts and extracurricular activities, standardized test scores seem to incite the most panic from college-bound students. Whether it is because it seems like such a definitive number to be judged on, or because you are not the “testing type”, it is important to know this isn’t the only factor colleges consider.  In this post we break down the relative importance of test scores in the college admissions process and offer a little more background about the tests to put you at ease! (more…)

As January approaches most of you should be narrowing a list of schools and be preparing the applications for submission.  Use this time before applications are due to get a second opinion on your college essay. English teachers and counselors are an amazing resource, but it is also good to take advice from students who have been there when you begin writing your college admissions essay.

Many colleges now incorporate student blogs on their admissions sites to help give prospective students a real taste of college and university life. Students are given free reign to talk about the things they may not have expected or the struggles they may be going through day to day such as a big test, because that is the real stuff! Notably, the MIT admissions blog employs a number a great bloggers that write on relevant topics for prospective students. This blog post “Just Chillax’ [about your college essays]“, posted a few weeks ago by Elizabeth C. ’13 may be particularly helpful for those with essays still in the review process.

My favorite line from this post is: “0% of people who do not apply to MIT get into MIT.” There is a lot of pressure to deal with when writing an essay.  Don’t be afraid of your reach schools, whether it is an academic or financial reach, because you will never know if you do not try!  As a college student recently told us, “Schools below your average can be good as a failsafe option, and schools above your average may unexpectedly accept you.” Acceptance to a reach school may hinge on your essay, so use every resource available.  Elizabeth C. includes her own essay in this post, read it and see where you essay matches up or doesn’t, and consider if any of the techniques used could help your essay.  If your school has a student blog reach out and ask for advice from a student who has been there.

Earlier I wrote about picking a college essay topic, if at this point you feel that you may be working on a topic that isn’t quite right, you still have a chance to rewrite and review before applications are due.  Sometimes it takes stepping away from the whole process for a few minutes to gain clarity. Don’t sell yourself short, use the resources around you to write a great essay!  I recommend checking out this NYT article on “A Few Essays That Worked (And a Few That Didn’t)“, and if you need advice you can post your essay on the admissions forum and admissions experts from the HowToGetIn team can give you advice.

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So the time has finally come, you are putting procrastination aside and sitting at the computer to write that killer college admissions essay. Congratulations! Here are some tips for the best way to approach the task on hand.

• Write in first person
• Share a powerful message
• Connect to the requirements of the essay
• Strategically support your academic profile and goals
• Show your ambition, exude confidence and express initiative

First develop an overall strategy.  Sit with your mentor (friend, parent, brother, sister, grandma, physics teacher, boss, school counselor — an outside reader) Talk about what you want out of college, and that will most likely match with the top colleges on your list. Let this information guide your strategy to incorporate supporting qualities, information into your essay. Qualities that match up with the school’s mission and your goals.

Each short or long essay you write is “a chance to tell your story.” To who? Why? To convince the admissions person reading your essay that you are their ideal candidate.  At this point, your grades and scores have put you into the yes or no column, but colleges must then use the essays to select candidates with the best fit.  Most admissions offices consider the college essay fourth in importance behind grades, test scores, and rigor of coursework. Read more about the school of choice, to figure out what matter most to them.  Connect with the reader based on what you know about the school.  Each school has a tagline, put that tagline in your head, (“The Best School in The West”) while you write and let it guide the story you craft.

Focus on the details that make your story unique, include the facts that are not obvious to the reader.  I had such writer’s block when I started writing my application essays. Don’t let the pressure of deadlines throw you off track – you are too good for that! Pick a topic that answers the essay question, and remember to relate back to it the topic during the story. If you are have trouble starting, remember an English teacher may have already assigned an essay that you can use as a starting point. Look through your old writing, talk to teachers and mentors, and refine your thoughts.

Why is college important to you? Remember you are filling the gaps in of the admissions person’s knowledge. To show yourself in the best light, and to put the reader in a jolly mood, focus on the positive. Stories that have positive outcomes, despite struggle, show initiative and make powerful college admissions essays.

For those who may not have noticed, or are new to the game of college admissions (which probably accounts for 99.9% of those reading this and other college admission blogs), the Common App has changed for the next class of applicants.

Some of the changes are obvious -- such as the reformatting of choices available in reporting SAT and/or ACT scores -- while others are more nuanced, making them all the more likely to lead to mistakes by the applicant, with often unintended, and, sometimes undesirable results.

It is all the more important, then, and incumbent upon the applicant, to read ALL instructions, thereafter, to carefully and thoroughly follow them.

Jeremy Spencer, Director of Admissions at Alfred University (writing for About.com:College Admissions) notes six of the most common mistakes made in the college application process. Read, The Six Most Common Blunders of College Applicants. Many of these errors of commission or omission translate directly from mistakes made on the Common App. These include, but surely are not limited to, missing deadlines, applying Early Decision instead of Early Action, and using the wrong college name in the essay.

Clearly, there is more to completing the Common App than simply filling in the blanks. Even those blanks require you, the applicant, to be concise, clear, and, most assuredly, accurate.

And let's not forget about those pesky short answers, where much more than "check the box that applies" is required.

Allen Grove, of About.com Guide, notes 5 Short Answer Mistakes that could, all things considered, sink what would otherwise be a meritorious application.

And then, there are the supplemental applications, addenda required by many colleges, both public and private.

Surely, you will want to put your best foot forward, presenting yourself and your credentials in the best possible light, most favorable (in the eyes of a college admissions officer) to acceptance at the college of your choice.

The Common App is, in most instances, the centerpiece of your admissions table, and you will want to set it with the knives, forks, and teaspoons properly laid out and pointing in the right direction.

A bit of old-fashioned advice from The College Whisperer as you embark on the road toward college admissions -- engaging the Common App early in your travels, and meeting it head on: Take advantage of all available resources, from your high school guidance counselor to the expert advice of an independent college planning counselor (and, yes, on occasion, even the wisdom of your parents). Along that road there is many a bump and often a detour or two. You drive, most certainly, but always seek the assist of essential navigation to gain the much-needed competitive edge.

Ask Admissions Girl: What do I need to do in my senior year of high school to plan for college?

If you are a rising high school senior, one of the first things on your mind is probably college. From this point, you have about twelve months until you enroll as a college freshman. If you are feeling nervous, disorganized or unsure about what needs to be done, here are all of the things you need to do this year to get ready:

1: Narrow your college list to 5-10 school choices.

2: Make a list of the following:

• Test dates, fees, and deadlines
• College application due dates
• Required financial aid applications and their deadlines
• Recommendations, transcripts, and other necessary materials
• Your high school’s deadlines for application requests, such as your transcript

3: Send in your college applications. Most applications are due between January 1st and February 15th.

4: Have your high school send your transcript to colleges.

5: Contact colleges to make sure they’ve received all application materials.

6: Submit your FAFSA as soon after January 1st as possible.

7: Explore other financial aid options including private student loans and free college scholarships.

8: You should get acceptance letters and financial aid offers by mid-April and you must tell every college of you acceptance of rejection of offers of admission by May 1st.

This may seem like a lot right now, but if you stay organized and on top of deadlines you will have no problems! Good luck with the process!

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Ask Admissions Girl: What is the best way to decide which colleges should be on my list?

Now is the time when rising high school seniors start putting together lists of schools that they might be interested in visiting this summer. There are so many different things to think about when it comes to picking schools and a lot of students do not even know how to begin the process. If you are a prospective college student, here are a few things you should think about when deciding which schools you want to check out:

Location: A lot of students have a gut feeling as to whether they want to go to school far away or close to home. When putting together a list of schools, take that feeling into account. If you are going to want to go home on weekends, do not plan to look at schools that are a long car or plane ride away. On the other hand, if you want to go far away decide on a region of the country and try to look at schools that are somewhat close together. This will make your college search a lot easier.

Public vs. Private: You might wonder why public vs. private matters. Usually, it comes down to money. Public schools tuition are usually much less expensive than private schools especially if you go in state. With a private school, you will likely need more financial aid and scholarship dollars.

Programs Offered: What are you interested in studying? It is important to choose schools that offer programs in your chosen area of study. For example, do not choose a business school if you want to study education.

Admission Requirements: Unfortunately, most schools do have admission requirements that are strictly adhered to. Most schools take your GPA and SAT scores very seriously so it is important to look at schools that are within your league academically.

After you have given these things some thought, narrowing down your list of schools will be much easier. When your list is finalized, work with you parents to arrange day, weekend, or week long trips to visit the schools. Visiting schools is an important part of college planning. When you are done with your search, hopefully you will know where you want to apply, where you will likely get in, and what your number one school choice is.

Good luck with your summer college search and  application process!

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Ask Admissions Girl: As a rising senior how should I prepare for college now?

As the school-year comes to a close seniors will soon be graduating and juniors will be assuming their position as the next group to embark on the college admission process. Although things will not kick into high gear until the fall the summer is a great time to get a head start on things.

May: Think about what you will do with your summer. This is your last summer as a high school student so you should do something meaningful that will help build up your resume. Internships, summer classes and volunteering are all great options. May is also the time to take the SAT II subject test if you plan on doing that.

June: If you are planning on taking the ACT (a standardized test alternative to the SAT) now is the time to do so.

July/August: Use some of you free time to start working on you college admissions essays. You will be extremely busy in the fall with classes and the rest of the application paperwork. Writing you admissions essays early will take a huge task off of your plate for later.

It also may not be to early to start exploring your scholarship options. You can follow scholarship updates and search for scholarships on StudentScholarshipSearch.com. Getting a lot of the leg work out of the way with scholarship applications will also be a huge relief down the line. If you think you might be a candidate for an athletic scholarship, use this time to contact the coaches at the schools you are interested in applying to.

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When starting the college application process some many students wonder how many schools they should apply to. This is a completely personal decision and students can apply to as many or as few schools as they feel appropriate.

No matter how many schools you apply to it is important to have a few different kinds of schools on your list:

Reach Schools: A reach school is a school that is somewhat out of your league. Although you would love to attend your reach school, you are not confident that your skills and academic achievements match what the school is looking for.  However, being accepted to a reach school is never out of the question. Ivy League schools often fall into the category of “reach schools” for many students.

Target Schools: A target school is a school that fits your achievements well. Students who attend your target schools probably got similar SAT scores and high school grades to you.With target schools you will most likely be accepted, but there is still a chance you might not be.

Safety Schools: A safety school is a school that you are almost 100% confident you can get into. There is always a very real possibility that you will end up You should apply to at least one safety school that you would feel very comfortable and happy to attending.

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It’s mid-February and the time crunch is officially on. You’re exploring all the options, have visited at least a few college campuses, and have a pretty good idea of where you want to apply.

So, now that you’ve checked out all the school websites and have a mental list of places you’d like to go, how many should you apply to? First, let’s talk dollars; if the average college application fee is around $35-40, it can quickly become expensive to submit yourself to more than a few schools. Therefore, it becomes very important to narrow down the list to somewhere around this formula:

• 1-2 reach schools
• 2-5 desirable schools
• 1-2 safety schools

You can adjust the above to what you can afford to pay in application fees of course, but if you can swing the extra cost, more is definitely better. Also, state schools tend to have lower application costs than their private counterparts (as low as $10 for UMass Boston in Massachusetts). However, if you’re dead set on going to a school, don’t let the application fee get in your way – ask a family member to let you borrow the money if necessary and apply. If you get in, it will be well worth it.

One other option for paying for these is a student credit card. Many colleges allow you to pay for admissions fees with a card now and it just makes the process much easier than having to deal with paper checks. If you have not already thought of starting one, I would recommend it and just intentionally set a low credit limit ($200-300) to make sure you are only using it for necessities and not overspending. If you have not read any of the blogs over at StudentPlatinum.com, I would recommend that as well; there are a wealth of tips for saving money and managing your finances as a student.

Hello all! Happy Thursday! This week we are once again going to talk about deferment.Deferment can be heartbreaking if it is with your number one school, but with deferment comes a glimmer of hope for acceptance.

So what do you do if you get deferred? In some cases there are ways to improve your chances of acceptance, but tactfully. Here are a few tips:

1: Do not be annoying: Although it is ok to write a letter to advocate for yourself, do not go overboard. One well-written letter that highlights your accomplishments and goals is enough. Do not offer to go out of your way to meet with an admissions counselor. Do not show up in the admissions office unannounced. Do not be dramatic.

2: There is no need to proclaim your undying love for the school: Chances are that if you applied to a school early decision they already know it is your first choice. There is no reason to email the president of the college to tell him how much you want to be accepted. There is also no reason to call the admission office ten times to tell them that not being accepted is the end of your world. Doing these things does not reflect positively on your character and might even get you crossed off of the list.

3: Keep your feelings to yourself: There is no need to take revenge on the school. If you were deferred there is probably a reason why. Maybe your SAT scores did not meed their standards or maybe your high school grades were not as good as the other applicants. Either way do not tell everyone you know how angry or upset you are and do not discourage peers who are also interested in that institution. Also, speaking negatively of the school on Facebook or Twitter can further jeopardize your chances of being accepted.

4: It is ok to have someone advocate for you: It is ok to have you high school guidance counselor write a letter on your behalf. This is especially recommended if you have done something notable since the time you applied. It is also ok to have a notable alum write a letter on your behalf. Sometimes it is not what you know, but who you know.

I hope this short list helps. In the end it is still a waiting game and if it is meant to be it will be!

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