For selective colleges, being a “member” of any group likely will not count for much. Being president or otherwise at the top (e.g., GS Gold, BS Eagle) gets noticed.
Well, it’s too late for me to had a leadership position in clubs that I would join beginning of senior year. I wish I had had this epiphany sooner. My passions were right in front of me all this time and I just realized it. I’ve figured out so much about myself these last few weeks from interests in academics to interests outside of school. I might just apply undecided. Will taking AP Stats and AP Econ hurt me in this case? I don’t even think I want to take AP Econ anymore. I’m taking AP Stats because I need to fulfill a math/science elective requirement and my school offers reg. Stats, but I figured why not challenge myself and take AP Stats.
It is my impression (others?) that if your school offers an AP class, it’s better to take it and get a B than to take regular and get an A, that it’s better to challenge yourself.
I have heard the same. In another year or two, I’ll see how some local examples I know have fared in the college admission process.
Whoa the Harvard person said SAT IIs are actually more important to them than the SAT I? Is that true? What if my GPA is kind of low because of freshman year but it had a huge upward trend up to straight As with the most rigorous work load? Gahh stupid freshman year ruined my chances I bet…
his is great, thank you…
what did you mean about challenging classes, I am an international student so i don’t anything about high school here. I am a sophomore in a small college and i am working very hard to be accepted in a top school for my master. I take only classes related to my major in college, are they considered as challenging?
Quote:
It is my impression (others?) that if your school offers an AP class, it’s better to take it and get a B than to take regular and get an A, that it’s better to challenge yourself.
I’ve heard this exact question asked at a dozen information sessions. The answer every admissions officer gives, with a smile, is it’s better to take the AP and get an A.
I’ve asked that question and received the same answer, with the same facial expression, from admission officers too. It’s asking follow-up questions and checking the colleges’ own statistics
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/567740-selective-colleges-admitting-students-below-3-75-gpa.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/567740-selective-colleges-admitting-students-below-3-75-gpa.html</a>
that suggest that colleges are not impressed by high grade averages in unchallenging courses.
The op is a nice summary, I would add start the process early. It is to your advantage to get references and applications done as soon as the schools will take them. For some rolling admission schools the bar gets raised at things progress and they fill up with qualified folks.
That’s a good point. This year (2009), getting the first application or two in EARLY could be a very good idea.
thank you so much . this helped a lot.
Since CC has been such a great help to me, I’d like to share some tips for any future applicants. These things got me into some fantastic schools with a low GPA and SAT score.
<ul>
<li>Start your extracurriculars early and supplement them with things that applicants normally don’t have. For example, like architecture? Mention in an essay how you regularly send in Letters to the Editor at Architectural Digest. Show your passion! This is incredibly important, more so than a perfect SAT score and GPA.</li>
<li>DO NOT TRY TO DO TOO MANY THINGS! It’s better to be known for one specific trait (“Russian lit aficionado”) than to try to be superficially well-rounded. Again, show your true passion.</li>
<li>Give yourself a maximum of three edits for your essays. I’d also recommend that you don’t start them until a month before they’re due. If you do 20 re-writes and start in July you will lose your raw voice with too many cuts and edits. What you write down 2 hours before midnight on January 1st will be much more “you” than something you wrote when you were freaking out about writing the perfect essay during the summer. Do make sure that you think of topics before you write. Brainstorm, diagram, and discuss ideas until November and only start writing in December. </li>
<li>Don’t set out to write essays to impress adcoms. Set out to show the real you. Impress them with your grades and extracurriculars. Your essays are simply a tool to showcase your personality and interests. They definitely do not have to be perfect in the traditional sense. </li>
<li>Make sure your ECs have MEANING. You need to make it evident that you truly enjoy your ECs and show why you joined them. Random groupings do not make much sense. Make sure your ECs connect to each other in some shape or form. </li>
<li>Interview whenever possible!!</li>
<li>Study. the. vocab. words. on. the. SAT. DO IT DO IT DO IT.</li>
<li>Don’t take SAT prep courses. They are the worst way in life to lose $700. Personal experience here and I still slap myself in the face to this day. It didn’t help me AT ALL.</li>
<li>Visit schools when deciding in April. I was completely infatuated with one school, visited, and absolutely hated it afterwards. You never know until you get there! This also applies when you decide on what schools to apply to. If you’re a big jock who’s set on a party school, visit a small, brainy LAC.</li>
<li>Look up Cal Newport’s blog Study Hacks to get great study tips and tricks.</li>
<li>Whenever you write “Why (blank)?” essays, don’t cram in ten things you like about a school. Pick 2 things that really, really attract you and show how you relate to these aspects and how your experiences shaped your likings. Quality over quantity.</li>
<li>Attach a sheet on your Common App detailing the different responsibilities and experiences you had with each of your major ECs. DO NOT PUT IN HOW MANY HOURS YOU DEDICATED TO AN EC! It will become obvious very fast that you were merely counting away your time. Describe your roles and what you accomplished and adcoms will be impressed.</li>
<li>Before you start the application process, get to know your college counselor well. He/she will be a valuable resource in the year(s) to come and you never know when you’ll need a favor or vouching from them!</li>
</ul>
The bottom line is that you need to make yourself unique, personable, and approachable. Be jovial and don’t try to come across as a nerd with no life. Adcoms are people too and will appreciate personality and humility, so never be afraid to laugh about a fault of yours. The entire process is a huge crapshoot. You may get into schools you never thought possible but get rejected by your safety. Good luck! And thanks, CC, for all your help 
What a great thread. 
Thanks.
bluebubbles - that was great!! thanks so much!
No probs, non arctic. Good luck!
Bluebubbles, that was very comprehensive, and I agree with you on the vast majority of that. There is, however, other sides to a few of your points.
3/4. I wouldn’t hold to a strict limit for essay editing. For example, I came up with my common app essay theme early on (it was about a national problem), and I stuck with it. My first essay I came accross as too bitter and singleminded, and too focused on how others poorly dealt with the problem. My first revision toned down the closemindedness, but I was still not focused on myself. My second revision rearranged the focus on myself, but regained some of that bitterness I had before. My third revision improved both things, but the essay was somewhat dry and forced. I forgot about my fourth revision. My fifth revision focused on what led me to recognize this problem and how I deal with it (so overall, the most comprehensive of the bunch).<br>
Did I lose my voice? Somewhat, but it wasn’t because of too many edits (in my view, I lost my voice after the first edit). But, my first essay was way too critical, and I wouldn’t have been admitted anywhere had I submitted that (trust me on that one). So, another thing, if your natural voice is boring, extremist, etc., you might want to try something else.<br>
Also, if you feel your essay is going nowhere, you should can it. Either start over with a same topic or come up with a new one. And, to support one of your points, one of my best essay ideas came out of the blue at midnight a few nights before the app was due.
<ol>
<li>My “why_<strong><em>” essay focused on the “day in the life” theme, and I got admitted to all the schools I used it at (not a strong correlation, but you never know). Some people list very explicit reasons for wanting to go to a school, but I think a more subtle approach will reflect well with the adcoms, who, by the point they set eyes on your essay, have probably already read a dozen of the same “I want to go to </em></strong>, because…” essays. And, try and write about stuff that others are not as likely to write about and that pertains to that school specifically. Like, for my first (rushed) draft of “why Stanford”, I was more or less like: because of great weather and great academics. But there were too major problems: A)What do you think everyone else will write about? and B)What about Cal, Caltech, UCLA, etc?</li>
</ol>
^ ^ We were just in Harvard Square Tuesday (without the HS senior, just H and me, taking public transport to Logan) and I saw a Kaplan tutoring center there. My first thought was “Why here? This place is crawling with smart kids who ALREADY got into college.” Then I saw the sign out front: MCAT prep!
It never ends.
You can never have too many volunteer hours 
Senior, really liked your idea for a “day in the life” essay. I wrote a really drab “list” essay and was promptly rejected from one of my schools.
To expand on this, I actually thought the “why _____?” essays were the hardest, even if I was absolutely IN LOVE with a school.
Anyone have some other ideas for “why ____?” essays?