<p>Well, for me, the college process has finally passed and left me with a great deal of experience to pass on to the next class.</p>
<p>I have been lucky and was accepted to my top choice school, but also applied to more than 25 other schools due to my own self-doubt and uncertainty regarding my “level” of competetiveness.</p>
<p>Lets begin with the things that ought to be done before you become a senior:</p>
<p>SAT and SATII scores.</p>
<p>The SAT is an incredibly coachable test. All that is necessary to do extremely (and I mean EXTREMELY) well on it, is a couple of Prep Books from your local Barnes and Noble. If a structured class makes more sense for you, then take one, but you absolutely must prepare youself for this exam. The only thing that the SAT tests is your amount of determination to do well on the SAT. If you study enough, you will do well. Keep studying until you can get scores >2200 on practice tests.</p>
<p>The SATII is a less coachable test, but the material on it is predictable and can be easily studied. You should begin studying the material for the SATII you are going to take at least a few weeks in advance, and it should be material that you have studied in a class at school during some point in your academic career. Once again… keep taking practice tests until you are able to consistently obtain scores >700. Keep in mind, however, that many SATII practice tests are made to be alot more difficult than the actual test. In my experience, the practice tests in the princeton review are the more accurate representation of the difficulty of the actual test. But if you want to leave no room for error, pick up a more difficult book and strive to get scores >700 on the more difficult practice tests!</p>
<p>The Transcript</p>
<p>The classes you take are more important than the grades you earn. A person who consistently takes the hardest classes and gets an even mixture of As and Bs is better off than the person who takes slightly easier courses and gets straight A+s. Don’t take World History when you can take AP World History. Don’t take Chemistry when you can take AP Chemistry. Stretch the limits of the math track that you are on. Typically the teachers who teach higher level courses are BETTER than the teachers who teach the lower level courses. You may find that the “harder” classes are actually easier for you simply because of the teaching quality. </p>
<p>Extra Curriculars</p>
<p>Be consistent. Find one or two passions that reflect genuine interests and pursue them to the best of your ability. Big community service projects mean nothing if they do not reflect one of your passions. Nothing means anything unless they reflect one of your passions. Personally, I had two passions. One passion was a purely solitary activity that no one at my school ever knew about. The other was a leadership position of a very small team/club which was for an activity I loved doing. (Although I actually FAILED at being a good leader and growing the team). I know of other classmates who have done great things with their free time, and been tremendously involved in the community. However, all of the things they did were “random” and really did not reflect anything deep about their personal passions.</p>
<p>College Application Process</p>
<p>The first thing that I must tell you is that there is no real “ranking” of schools from least to most difficult to get into. Every school is looking for different things, has a different application, has a different admissions process, ect. </p>
<p>I was able to get into my top choice, but was waitlisted/rejected from other colleges that anyone at CC would regard as inferior options. However, as my previous “musings” have probably revealed, it is very possible for different colleges to evalutate me in different ways. (eg. to what degree does a school admire “community involvement”, and does a school prefer course rigor, or course success.)</p>
<p>Here is my advice for seniors beginning the college application process:</p>
<p>1) Do not discount any schools because you think that they are too hard to get into. </p>
<p>You should be reasonable, but if your weighted (with APs getting an extra point) GPA is greater than 4.0 you are a candidate for every school in the nation. If your SAT scores are > 2100 you are a viable candidate for every school in the nation. The arbitrary nature of the college admissions process might work in your favor, so fill out those applications and you might get lucky!</p>
<p>Many of my classmates who were in every way more qualified than myself, grossly understimated themselves. They were admitted to their “top choices” but they could have easily “reached” alot higher, but instead didn’t even apply.</p>
<p>2) Be passionate, genuine, and awesome in your essays.</p>
<p>Write your essays in a passionate genuine and awesome way for every college. Spend time on them, read them outloud, make sure that the content and form is “good.” Most importantly:</p>
<p>Avoid Arrogance ALWAYS
Avoid Racism/Elitism/ect.
Avoid Abstract Language (Fancy language does NOT enhance the message of an essay, it merely obscures it)
Be Idealistic rather than Cynical
Be Humble, Nice, and Fun</p>
<p>3) Your essays should be about YOU, not one of your experiences.</p>
<p>This particular “point” of advice is just something that I want to “throw out” to you, it is merely personal conjecture. (But all information helps, doesn’t it?)</p>
<p>I varied my essay techniques throughout the process. For every school for which I told a casual relatively-unstructured “story” of how I discovered one of my passions, I got accepted. These essays were literally just a casual overview of the past few years of my life with occasional commentary. I just thought about why I did the things that I did (and trust me… the things that I do are not all that incredible…) and tried to explain them in the context of my equally uninteresting life-experiences.</p>
<p>4) Put your full effort into every college application. </p>
<p>I spent only 3 days (over christmas vacation) working on my applications. During those 3 days I fell “in-love” with each the schools to which I was applying. Put your full effort and commitment into each school’s application, and avoid “tunnel-vision” where your heart gets “set” upon a specific school.</p>
<p>I do not know how useful this information will be to all of you. It was based on my personal experiences, as well as my observations of my friends and classmates.</p>