Getting into college isn't as difficult as you might think. An annual UCLA survey of full-time freshmen nationally it shows that 70% of students are accepted in their first choice.
It's easier to get into college than conventional wisdom would suggest, so why the disconnect? That's because the vast majority of published press coverage focuses almost exclusively on highly rejecting elite universities, where acceptance rates can be in the low single digits.
This column aims to present 10 other top realities that families may not be aware of, but can help increase your chances of acceptance.
No. 1:
Highly selective schools aren't looking for well-rounded applicants, but instead, they want “sharp” teenagers. Pointy students have dedicated their programs and/or extracurriculars to one or two of their greatest interests. For example, a prospective business major might join a high school's entrepreneur club, use his Instagram to successfully sell T-shirts, and spend the summer interning at an accounting firm.
No. 2:
Forget the part about needing to be smart if a student's goal isn't the most rejecting schools. These teenagers can be as complete as they want.
No. 3:
Both college admissions offices and teens use artificial intelligence to evaluate college applications and create them. Students should be especially careful if they use AI to generate essay ideas Polish essay or rely on AI to write an essay or a good part of it.
Beyond the fact that using AI too much to create an essay is unethical, relying on AI for essay help or inspiration can lead to boring and generic essays, when what universities really want is a student's voice to come through. through his or her writing. And if that's not incentive enough, colleges are trying to protect the integrity of the process by deploying AI to detect plagiarism and authenticity in applications.
No. 4:
Don't be intimidated by the published SAT/ACT for test-choice schools. Students with lower scores will usually not submit them while good test takers will. If many applicants do not submit scores, a college's published numbers may be extremely low.
You can find the percentage of result submitters at an individual school by Googling the name of the institution and “Common Data Set”. The CDS, voluntarily completed by many schools, includes various statistics about an individual institution, including admissions requirements, enrollment, financial aid, costs and student life.
Here is the test submission chart, which you will find in the “C” section of a college's CDS.
No. 5:
If a student's SAT or ACT scores are in the top 25% of applicants to a given school, then absolutely submit the scores, and if they are in the bottom 25%, keep them. The less selective the school, the less teenagers have to worry about showing results if they are in the middle 50%. When in doubt, absolutely talk to your college admissions representative about whether or not you should submit scores. Students will not be asked the question!
No. 6:
Look at the admissions factors that individual schools care about. In their shared dataset, colleges share how important or unimportant 19 admissions factors are, ranging from grades, course strength and test scores to extracurriculars, geographic diversity and character.
No. 7:
It is well known that applying early is a great way to increase your chances of acceptance. Many students are unaware that students who do not receive an ED acceptance have a second chance to apply for ED II.
Many schools offer an ED II after the holidays. This is for anyone who didn't apply to ED initially or was rejected in the first round. Here is one list of ED II schools at Vine College.
No. 8:
The downside to the ED application is that if you are accepted, you are expected to attend. What many families don't realize, however, is that students can get away with admitting ED because schools can't stop them.
Check admissions statistics for ED, early action and regular admission at College Transitions. Early action often enjoys an acceptance boost, but not nearly as much as an ED application.
No. 9:
If applying to a liberal arts college or other small school that conducts holistic admissions, students should contact the admissions representative for their state or region to get on the radar. Find out if they'll be offering online or in-person interviews, and ask an intelligent question about the school that shows they've done their research. You can find the right representative on the school's admissions website.
No. 10:
Applying to distant schools can increase the chances of admission.
According to the latest freshman survey by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, only one-third of students attend college more than 500 miles away. Schools are eager to get students from as many states as possible. When students are equally qualified, it's only natural to pick one from a distant state rather than a prospect 50 miles down the road.