College Admissions: Myths and Realities

Everyone’s Talking about College Admissions

So, What Does it Take to “Get In?”

Some Facts There are college options for most students More college have “Open” or “Liberal” admission policies than “Highly Selective” Selectivity is driven by application numbers More applications than seats in the class!

Some Buzz Words “Holistic Review” “Shaping the Class” We look at the entire application file – everything is considered “Shaping the Class” Institutional Goals determine the number of students, students admitted to various programs, geographic diversity, etc. “Demonstrated Interest” Some schools track campus visits, phone calls & e-mails as a part of the application process

Personal Information Academic Interests Extra-curricular Activities Has the student has transferred schools? Does the student have college credit/ AP scores Is English the first language/spoken at home? Is the student the first in the family to enroll in college? Special circumstances

Small things make a difference Things that have an effect: Typos and grammatical mistakes Including the wrong name of the college Work that is messy, crumpled, hard to read

Academic Review High School transcripts are the heart of the academic review We look for: Grades in all classes Grade Trends Course selection

Academic Review Myths All we look for is the grade point average OR… Grades aren’t important at all All we look at is the ACT score OR… ACT scores shouldn’t be considered

Things We Notice Strength of the senior year schedule If the student is protecting the gpa by avoiding challenging coursework PSEOP/ Dual Enrollment coursework Upward (and downward) grade trends

Extra-Curricular Activities Looking for leadership skills, time management Will the student contribute to our campus? Will the student be able to balance academics and activities when they are on campus? Students don’t have to have 20 clubs, or any one specific activity Activities don’t out-weigh academic performance

Special Considerations First Generation Low Income Minority status These all help us with “Context” Does the student have help at home in completing application, writing essay, social capital? Are there barriers the student has over come? Evidence of resilience and grit

Letters of Recommendation Best ones “paint a picture” of the student No need to repeat information already in the application packet, i.e. grade point average, activities list Teacher recommendations best when talking about how the student acts in the classroom

The High School Profile Please send us the profile! Shows “Context” of the student’s high school experience What courses the student had available Grading scale Special programs Socio-economic information for your school

Tough Choices In a selective process, colleges are selecting the students who have the most to offer Students can put together the best application packet possible, and still be denied. There are always options for students Community College Transfer opportunities

Case Studies