Tips on the College Admission Process

Applying to College Admission Stories
21

The advice I gave above is general: “apply boldly to a range of colleges of varying selectivity.”

Good luck in your applications.

22

all of this speculation is just bull crap. no one can give you advice b/c here’s the kicker: if the guy reading your application likes you then your in, if not then your out. test scores, gpa, and dark chocolate are only ways to make him like you more, but in reality this is beyond anyones control. i have been lurking these forums for over 2 years and am yet to uncover any peice of useful info that cannot be attianed through common sense alone. do what your good at and if they like you then they will accept you. BAMF

23

One piece of information I have learned is that at a lot of colleges there are more than one reader and those readers have to present their files to a committee for a final decision on each application.

24

A great post, Tokenadult. Thanks.

25

thanks for posting!!

26

I appreciate the expressions of thanks. I hope this helps some students who are coming up on their early action deadlines soon.

27

Thanks for posting this; it was really helpful!

However, it says to boldly apply to ranges of schools if you have a most rigorous course load and high grades in them, but a mediocre SAT. For someplace like Harvard, would a 600 on the CR or math, be mediocre or waaaayyyyy to low it could be scoffed at? I mean if it’s on a section the student has no interest in, and the other two sections are in the 700s…

28

Apply where you are interested in getting in. Get interested in a “safety” college if you are applying to highly selective colleges. My definition of a safety college is one that

  1. is pretty much certain to admit the applicant, based on its known behavior in acting on recent admission applications,

  2. has a strong program in an area the applicant is interested in,

  3. is affordable based on its known behavior in acting on financial aid applications,

and

  1. is likeable to the applicant.

Good luck in your applications.

29

woah! thanks soo much for the post!!!

30

JBVirtuoso–have you ever thought of self-studying for an AP exam? If you have a strong interest in history, economics, or other subject you can get a book and prepare yourself for at least one AP test. This shows initiative and partially makes up for your HS not offering any APs.

31

From what I understand going to different Open Houses with my D is that GPA is the most important thing in getting admission followed by SAT or ACT and then extra work, essays.

32

Hi, jb12, what kind of colleges were you visiting during those open houses? Most of my sources of information have been national research universities with sufficient endowments to travel nationally to recruit students, so I can well believe the relative balance of different admission factors depends on what kind of colleges a student is looking for.

33

I second the comment about self-studying for AP tests. This shows so much about you - initiative, challenge, love of learning - that is attractive to the most selective schools.

34

Thanks for the comment on self-studying for AP tests. Yes, College Board of course has the cynic’s reason for encouraging students to do that, but it genuinely tries to make it easier for students whose schools don’t offer a particular course, homeschoolers, and self-studiers of all kinds to have access to the AP tests. That’s a big contrast with the policy of the IB program.

35

Wait, so self-studying for an AP exam that your school doesn’t have entirely is possible?

I thought it was only possible for the classes you had at your school, but schedule conflicts - cannot take them. Since the school administers it or w/e…never knew.

36

You can take any AP exam you want to. Just buy a study guide.

37

<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/369861-self-studying-aps-improving-your-app.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/369861-self-studying-aps-improving-your-app.html&lt;/a&gt;

Or did I already put a link to the AP self-study thread in this Tips on College Admission thread? It certainly deserves a look.

38

So if my GPA is 4.4, but SAT score is only 1900.. I can still consider applying to brown or princeton??

39

^im in a similar situation…and i really want to know too

40

What kind of courses did you get your grade average in? (For example, in what grade did you learn algebra? What foreign language did you take in high school?)