What are colleges really looking for?
See the comparison chart of select schools at the end of this article.
for parents with a child looking ahead to higher education, it’s vitally important to know what Pacific Northwest universities, colleges and technical schools are looking for when admitting new students.
Admission to college has always carried with it a little mystery, a lingering sense of the unknown. How is it that one high school student with a 3.75 grade point average is accepted to a well- respected college while another with the same average is not? In preparing this article, we solicited comments from 16 public and private colleges in Washington, Idaho and Utah to find out what the admissions teams are looking for, and along the way discovered some surprises.
overview
Students are sending more admis- sions applications than ever. A generation ago, the advice to students was to apply to three colleges: one “wish” or “reach” college and two in-state “safe” schools where acceptance was likely. Now, students are applying to upwards of 20 colleges. Applications at the University of Washington have risen from 15,995 in 2005 to 24,539 in 2011, an increase of more than 50 percent. At the same time, there are more than 4,000 degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States. According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the percentage of applicants who were offered admission was 67 percent in the fall of 2009.
Advice to parents
As with most advice, it’s important to understand the concept of balance. On one hand, admissions staff will tell you to make certain your student takes the most rigorous curriculum available, such as honors, advanced placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) or Running Start classes. On the other hand, admissions staff are also concerned about over-involved parents who fill their children’s days with soccer, music lessons and club activities, so that the kids have no time to relax and enjoy high school. Find a balance, and remember that you are there to guide and help, but it is your child’s journey and not your own.
Advice to students
Look at your high school years in terms of a personal timetable.
Freshman year: Even though you may not know if you are college bound, take classes that are of interest to you and find one or two activities outside class that you enjoy.
Sophomore year: Take challenging classes in the five core areas—of English, science, social studies, math and foreign languages. Continue with one or two activities. Junior year: In the fall, take the PTSA and begin attending the in-school presentations by visiting college reps. Introduce yourself to the career counselors at your school and use them as mentors. In the spring take the SAT and/or ACT college entrance exam. Plan to spend time in the spring and summer visiting colleges or technical schools to get a feel for where you are comfortable.
Senior year: Don’t slack off. Continue taking courses in the five core academic areas. Begin to apply for college admissions in the fall. Most applications are due between November and January. Apply for free financial aid after January 1, using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, form. Start hunting for scholarships.
Also consider several other issues. Your personal email address may tell admissions and future employers more than you want them to know. By the time you are a high school freshman, you should change your email address to some- thing very vanilla. Replace the hotmama@hotmail.com with first name. last name@hotmail.com and stick with this for all your school-or job-related interactions. Begin to cull any photos of you on Facebook or other social networking sites that show you misbehaving. You need to control how you are seen and per- ceived; do not let friends posting photos do it for you.
Finally, learn to write using real English. Admissions staff will downgrade applications where texting style is used. Texting abbreviations may be fine among your friends, but persistent use in an application will help ensure that you continue to live at home.
Key information from the admissions staff survey
❉ If you had lower grades during high school for a time, address this directly and explain what you have learned from the experience.
❉ Use the essay portion of the application to explain who you are beyond your GPA and activities. Flesh out personal information so the staff gets a feeling for you as an individual.
❉ Leave the thesaurus on the bookshelf. Don’t waste your time and theirs trying to sound sophisti-cated. Instead, be genuine and use your own voice. Don’t try to be clever or dramatic if that is not you. Write like it matters, not as if you are texting.
❉ Visit the colleges you have an interest in attending. Don’t make a selection just because a parent or family member went there. Try to visit when school is in session so you can sit in on a class, talk to students and see if you are comfortable there.
The following are the answers to the questions about admissions we posed to selected colleges and universities in the West. If you would like to go directly to the school’s admissions page on their site, simply click on their logo.
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