Tag: College Applications

More than 500 colleges and universities throughout the United States accept the Common Application for evaluating students for admission. Students can complete the one Common Application, and submit it to as many schools as they wish, along with their supplemental essays (specific to the school). This makes the college application process slightly more efficient.

However, the Common App essays do require a lot of thought and hard work. There are five essay options provided on the Common Application (click here to review them). Students applying to college through the end of the summer and into the fall should take extra care as they craft their Common App essays.

With the expertise they practice in college admissions counseling, Sandweiss Test Prep recommends these tricks for writing Common App essays:

  • Tell a story about yourself. All of your credentials are included in the application, itself. In your Common App essays, share an anecdote (short story) about something you experienced or did that exemplifies your character or personality.
  • Reveal something about yourself that is not otherwise evident. Your ACT score is meant to tell admissions officers how academically prepared you are for college. Your GPA shows them how hard you have worked and/or succeeded in high school courses. But your Common Application may not show admissions officers how deeply that semester studying abroad influenced your desire to pursue medicine as a career. Share that extra depth about yourself in the essays.
  • Be honest about your achievements. Do not inflate your accomplishments or make up titles for yourself to embellish your essay – be truthful. As much as plagiarism is detrimental to your high school record, lying or exaggerating the truth can hurt your college experience, and may exclude you from acceptance if caught early.
  • Choose your words carefully. Remember that college admissions officers are reading through hundreds of essays, and likely will not appreciate a wordy, long-winded essay. Remove extra words and be clear and concise in each sentence.
  • Remember to entertain. The college admissions officers reading your essay have read (or are reading) many other students’ essays in the short time they have to make a recommendation. To make your essays stand out, include an element of entertainment – serious, funny, inspiring, or quirky.

Sandweiss Test Prep offers college entrance and standardized testing preparation classes, academic tutoring, college admissions guidance and coaching, and more. Contact Sandweiss Test Prep for more information, or to schedule a consultation for your student.

Featured photo from Flickr user davedugdale. 

Graduation season has passed, and it’s time to think about college applications! Recent college admissions trends offer important information to students applying in the next few months…

The Importance of a High School Record.

According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, your child’s high school record is the number-one most important factor in college admissions. Good grades, rigorous course loads, and challenging courses have a stronger influence on admissions decisions than class rank or even standardized test scores. Essentially, colleges want to see that you’ve taken the most challenging classes that your school has to offer, and that you received strong grades in these classes.

College Applications Increase.

Students are sending out more college applications than they used to, and so colleges and universities around the U.S. are getting more and more applications every year. In 2011, 29 percent of the pool of college applicants sent seven or more applications (up from 9 percent in 1990), and the average number of applications per student has increased since then. This increase in the average number of applications per student has resulted in a negative cycle: more applications lead to lower admission rates, which leads to more applications as students try to hedge their bets, and so on.

Acceptance Rates are Dropping.

The lowest recorded admission rate (5.07%, according to research from Ivy Wise) happened this year. The average overall admission rate is probably closer to 50% or more, and several Ivy League colleges are accepting a higher rate of applications for the class of 2018 than they did for last year’s class; however the difference is not great. Many Ivy League schools received a higher number of early decision applications. Since most schools accept a significantly higher percentage of early applicants over regular submission applicants, early decision is to your student’s advantage. Also, now that colleges are receiving so many (and not accepting) applications, it’s critical that students find a way to break through the noise.

Demonstrated Interest is Key.

Most selective schools are becoming even more selective in their admissions decisions. Colleges and universities nationwide are placing stronger emphasis on students’ demonstrated interest in attending their school. They track student visits and interviews, check to see if the student has contacted faculty or alumni, and analyze their supplemental essays to gauge how well the student knows the school (and therefore, the likelihood of enrolling). College admissions officers want to see that your student has done his or her homework on the school. They will almost always look at your child’s social media profiles, too, so remind your student to be careful!

Contact us to learn about test preparation, tutoring, and admissions counseling services to help your student through the college application process.

Featured photo from here, labeled for reuse.