- The top colleges aren’t looking for “well rounded” kids. They’re looking for a well-rounded class. That means they need scholars for every academic department; athletes for each team; performers for every arts group; even some “really nice” kids to organize hall-hockey. Think about what this means for you (or your child): how will you be “positioned”? And how can you influence that positioning?
- The corollary to the well-rounded-class truth is that admissions officers don’t really care about a student having a “laundry list” of extracurricular activities. They would much rather see a student who excelled at one or two activities, and who attained a leadership position.
- Admissions officers are looking for reasons to reject applicants, not just accept them. Virtually every college has far more qualified applicants than they can possibly accept. Thus, while admissions officers love having a clear “handle” or positioning upon which to accept an applicant, they also “like” applications which they can easily reject. And the easiest to reject are those with stupid mistakes: misspellings, essay questions not answered, or pieces of the application left blank or missing.
For more insights about how the admissions process really works, go to
http://www.icollegecounselor.net/Revised_iCC/How_to_get_in.html
