A How-To Guide for Getting Admitted to College: Tips for 2008 - 2009 Classes

High school seniors in the classes of 2008 and 2009 are facing what may be one of the most challenging tasks in their high school careers to date: being accepted by the colleges of their choice. With record numbers of applicants, just being ACCEPTED anywhere has become a daunting task. As the mother of a high school senior, I just went through the application process with her. Much of this information is still fresh - and in some cases, painfully so - in my mind. As of early April, my daughter had committed to a large Virginia state college, one with which she literally fell in love on her first visit following her letter of acceptance. She is one happy little camper indeed; as her parents, we are thrilled, proud and frankly, very relieved that a process that started in earnest in June of last year is finally over, with a happy ending.

I wish I could say the same for all of my daughter's friends and class mates. With the May 1st commitment due date looming closer every day, quite a few students are wrestling with their choices - mostly because they were terribly, terribly shocked and dismayed to be shut out of their first - and second, third and fourth - college choices. Many are trying to make the best of a college career with the schools which did accept them. Many are still literally dazed and confused, with no easy answer in sight. I'd like to share with the next crop of seniors (and even juniors) and their parents the points that I felt were most useful and important throughout this process. And as a sidebar: My daughter was not accepted to her first choice of college. She was, however, accepted at thirteen other colleges and universities, all of them on the East Coast, and most of them with merit scholarship offers. In the end, she's chosen to go to the college that is absolutely perfect for her, and she's thrilled with her choice and the fact that she was accepted there. Learn from our trial and error experience!

1. This article is geared towards high school juniors, seniors and their parents/guardians. You should be starting the college application/selection process no later than the start of your junior year in school. Hopefully, you've been thinking about it - casually or otherwise - since your freshman year.

2. Course selection counts! A lot of weight - pardon the pun - is given to your weighted G.P.A., which hopefully includes at least two consecutive years of Honors or AP courses. It's even better if you have 3 or more years of consecutive enrollment in an accelerated course. If you can swing it academically, try to take at least two Honors/AP courses every year.

3. If you need a tutor to keep up your grades, whether it's in regular or honors classes, do it as soon as possible. The last thing you want, at the end of your transcript year, is a D in Chemistry or Biology when getting help earlier could have changed that grade to a C or a B. There are lots of options: peer tutoring, private tutoring, spending extra time with your teacher for the last period in the school day for a subject in which you're having difficulty. Don't think of this as a waste of time - it isn't. Whether schools admit it or not, they pay a lot of attention to your grades for all four years.

4. Apply to as many colleges as you can afford. Make a list of safety schools, at least three or four. Be smart about this. Don't apply to any school that you wouldn't want to attend if you're accepted. With application fees of $30 to $75 per school, the costs for applying can really add up quickly. Broaden your perspective: a school that you may feel was 'beneath' your capabilities, whatever they are, two years ago is worth a second look now - especially if it's geographically convenient, has the majors that you would like to - or are thinking of - pursuing, has a decent to good reputation, is geographically accessible, and is within your grasp in terms of SAT/ACT scores.

Don't make the mistake a lot of seniors did this year. We know personally and from anecdotal remarks of far too many kids who applied to one or two schools this year, and didn't get into either one of them. They're now scrambling to find a space at pretty much any college that will take them after April 1st - and the pickings are slim.

5. Apply EARLY. We made our daughter complete the Common Application AND write at least one essay before the start of her senior year. She had received acceptances from three schools as early as October of her senior year.

6. The Common Application is a wonderful application tool to apply to multiple colleges in one fell swoop. Make use of it if you can. It's a huge advantage, especially in getting your applications out early.

7. DO apply to your dream school for Early Decision. By doing so, you're letting the admissions committee know that you've made their school your top choice and are willing to withdraw applications to any other school if you're accepted. They really will be much more inclined to favorably review your application.
DON'T waste your Early Decision application on a safety school! If you are accepted at one of your safeties by applying E.D., you're lost your chance to hear from the school(s) you would much rather attend.

8. DO apply Early Action to as many schools that will accept it. Quite a few of my daughters' classmates - and my daughter as well - were accepted because they indicated Early Action on their applications. You may get lucky, as they did, and be accepted by the college of your choice because you're telling the school that you really do want to attend, and that there's also a very high probability that if they do admit you, you will be attending. You also have nothing to lose by doing this: it's non-binding, unlike Early Decision, and no admissions committees will know to how many schools you've applied to with Early Action.

9. By applying Early Decision and Early Action, you're also popping yourself up to the front of the line for scholarship/merit award money. Students whose applications indicate that they really, really want to attend X University by applying Early Decision/Action are the ones whose applications - and qualifications for awards - will be first in line for consideration.

10. Once your Common Application form is filled out, have it reviewed by someone with an objective outlook. Have it reviewed by someone with an UNOBJECTIVE outlook, i.e., your parents/guardians, or anyone who has a vested interested in footing your tuition bill. Listen to their suggestions with an open mind. Adding or deleting information about yourself can make all the difference in how another objective group, the admissions committee, will "see" you as a candidate.

11. Do the same with your essay. Have your English teacher review it with you. Have your guidance counselor review it with you. Don't pay someone to write it for you. If your submitted essay is spot-on, but you only receive a 460 in the new Writing portion of the SAT, the folks in the admissions office won't be fooled. In nearly every case, your application is going to be reviewed by SEVERAL different people. Someone is going to pick up discrepancies between your scores and grades on your transcript, and an essay that's so smooth and polished, it slides right off of the table.

12. Go outside the box for your essay question. Don't write about the same things that most of your friends are writing about in theirs. You're a unique person: choose to write about the one moment in your (relatively short to date) life that defines who you are. Be as specific as possible, including as many facts as you do supporting emotions to describe that moment. Are you a vegetarian? What made you give up meat? Are you an accomplished pianist? Don't tell them how long you've been playing and how "gratifying" it is to have such a skill. The admissions people want to hear about the first time you heard the sound of a piano, and how it was love at first sight. Write about the challenges it took to get to such a skill level: did you work after school to pay for lessons? Did your parents and other family members sacrifice to make your dreams come true?

Whatever you choose as your main essay's topic, make it an "honorable" one. Don't write about how much fun high school was, and how much you're looking forward to living away from home in college. Write yourself a tuition check to the local community college if that's the direction in which you're headed. ASK people whose opinions you value for their suggestions. They may see a side of you as a person that you never thought of as 'unique'.

Don't zip through the essay process. It may say in the form an essay of "500 words or more.." You're not confined to 512 words. Go the extra distance and make your essay at least 700 to 750 words in length.

13. Be sure to use the best possible 'hook' in your opening sentence of your essay. Get help with this if necessary. You want your essay's opening line to really make the reader(s) perk up and take notice, to want to read more of what you've written. This can be really hard for most of us; trust me, I know from personal experience! You need to word your opening line in such a way that it draws the reader into the story you've put down onto paper, to finish it from beginning to end, to open a window into their world from yours...

14. Make sure that your school resume is as well-rounded as possible. Don't think that filling out the blanks on an application form will suffice. It meets the basic requirement of most applications, but again, you want to stand out from the crowd. Go through every year of your high school career, with pencil in hand. Write down every club, every sport, every volunteer activity, every church activity, everything of consequence in which you took part during that year. THEN, go through each summer as well. Almost forgot about volunteering for a month as a coach for your town's kids' sports program in the summer? Did you remember helping to collect and sort canned goods for the need the Christmas of your sophomore year? Did you take part in a fundraising walk for a good cause, or start a new club at your school or church? Go over each and every year, carefully documenting everything of merit and value that you did that year. Even if you were a member of say, the Film Club, for your freshman year only, be sure to include that.

15. Type up your list of activities as you would an official, business resume. We used a site called "Family Connections", which was made available through my daughter's high school. In it, we were able to fill out a form (which ended up being three and a half pages long) detailing my daughter's sports, community service, honors and awards (both athletic and academic), virtually a snapshot of who she was and how she progressed during the course of her four years at high school.

This is a great resource to have! Even if you apply to a school online, you should make certain to send in a paper copy of your resume. Admissions counselors often get overwhelmed in paperwork, but it's good to have a separate, free-standing 'resume' of who you are as a person and a student to make you stand out amongst the crowd.

16. Have at least ONE of your current and ONE of your former teachers write letters of recommendation for you. Be sure to include these with every application. (And after they have written them on your behalf, be sure to thank them - a small gift is appreciated, a written thank you note is a must!)

17. Get AT LEAST one other person to write letters of recommendation for you as well. In this competitive playing field, you need every advantage. Some of the people you should consider include your clergyman, a church group leader, a member of your town/city local government, an administrator at your high school (principal, vice principal, Director of Guidance), your sports coaches (past and present), directors of groups for whom you've volunteered, people in the professions of medicine, law, science, government, the arts.

Less is best: you want simple, heartfelt and genuine letters of recommendation. Your teachers may/should write letters at least one page in length. For recommendations from people other than your teachers, the more specific and more concise, the better. Their letters should highlight qualities that you bring to the table that are unique to you.

18. Write a Letter of Interest to the Director of Admissions to every school to which you've applied. You should do this no sooner than thre3 weeks after your application has been sent out. In the letter, be brief, but specific. (Be sure to include your student identification number, if you've been given one!)

State why you want to attend this school. State a) what qualities you've acquired during your high school career that you feel make you an ideal candidate for admission. Also, state b) what you intend to BRING TO the campus! Do you intent to take part in student government there? Club sports? The college's environmental club? Sell yourself as a "good hire": You're not only a well-rounded, accomplished individual with good to great grades and test scores, you're also a human being who is really, really looking forward to making a contribution at the college, if they accept you.

19. Take every opportunity of "official visits" and campus tours whenever possible. Be sure to REGISTER for these; colleges start files on students from the first point of introduction, whether it's an email asking for more information, asking for an application or a catalog. You want to take advantage of every chance that you name will be remembered! Sign those 'sign in' sheets on tours! Write an email or handwritten note afterwards thanking that person for the tour or interview!

I hope that I've been able to help you learn some ideas that will make you stand out amongst the crowd! In a year when many schools which normally would accept 50%, 60% of students are accepting 25%, and top-drawer schools are accepting literally 2% to 4%, you need every advantage possible to "sell" yourself in what is mostly a pretty anonymous, "as seen on paper" system.

Most of all, be persistent. Where you spend the next four years of your life will pretty much determine who you will be as a person in the future. It's too valuable of an opportunity not to take every step possible in order to make your dreams come true.