jhlee1309

Thank you for details about college admission process!!

tomjonesistheman

yes this is useful indeed.
I have a few questions:
1. so about socioeconomic background. how much will it help me, as a low-income student? will it actually increase my chances?
2. also, this question has been haunting me for months- do colleges take into account the competitiveness of your specific high school? for example, if my class is extremely competitive, will that mean it will be harder for me to get into a college? do colleges like to select about the same number of students from a high school each year?
thanks.

vossron

1. Being low-income can both help and hurt, even at the same school. It can help at schools that value socioeconomic diversity, giving your chances a boost. It can hurt at need-aware schools if their aid budget has been depleted and you're on the cusp of acceptance.
2. This has to do with your GPA, rank (when given), and the rigor of your classes compared to what your school offers, but there is no simple answer. In general, the higher these three factors, the better your chances. But, e.g., if your WGPA were 4.0 and you took the most rigorous classes, not being in the top 10% of your class could conceivably hurt your chances at the most selective schools. For diversity's sake, some private colleges may limit the number of students they accept from a single HS, but I haven't heard of this being a factor at public colleges.

dchow08

Also, colleges know about the kind of high school you went to, and they factor that in.

Wiggle

HOW do colleges know about the kind of high school you went to? And how is "kind of high school" defined in this context?

vossron

High school counselors include a profile of your school when they send your transcript to a college.

A sample: http://www.ucls.uchicago.edu/academi.../hsprofile.pdf

mommusic

Wiggle--along with your transcript, your HS sends its "profile" to the colleges, which lists such factors as test scores, number of APs offered, etc.

Wiggle

Do high school GCs typically share this with their students and parents, when asked?

Vossron, thanks for the sample.

vossron

YW, but I should add that this sample is "professional" grade in appearance, but the basic informational contents should be similar for all schools.

tokenadult

My son's high school's counselor shares a .PDF file of the high school profile to parents of juniors. The profile gets rewritten every year, because the school is small.

Another high school near here posts its profile up on the World Wide Web for all to see.

Wiggle

I understand, and I suspected as much. Thanks for the quick reply!

1234d

hi admission experts, i'm wondering if being a co-author of an article in a peer reviewed science journal (Journal of Materials Chemistry‏, if you are interested) is a major tip. I just received news that one of my projects has been provisionally accepted and i'm wondering if i should inform my schools about this.
If anyone has any experience on this please email/pm me. Thanks!

tokenadult

Is this something you have just learned about as a senior applying to colleges now? Most colleges that haven't decided whom to admit already are about to decide.

1234d

^ haha i'm an international student... not too familiar with the application system yet, although i've completed all my application stuff. So how do you advise that i send over my paper? should I just fax the abstract over with a small note?

tokenadult

If you are trying to update pending applications, just send an abstract and whatever notice you received that the paper is preliminarily accepted for publication. Some colleges have already decided whom they will admit; others will very soon.