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Genuine Self-Improvement for College Applications
The College application process is tough and unforgiving. You have to stand tall among hundreds of thousands of hopefuls and convince committees of adults whose sole jobs it is to read dozens of applications a day to choose you. You have to do so with maybe ten flimsy sheets of information. When you get rejected, there’s no appeal or explanation-you’re left hanging dry, not knowing if you were inches away from approval or directly tossed into the shredder (not literally, you silly). So how do you make the best of this system?
What you can do depends on how far you are through your high school career, but you can definitely do something to improve your odds no matter where you are. I’ve been through the thick and thin of this process and I’m going to show you what you need to know to have a better shot at your dream school.
Part 1. Enriching your High School Experience
Many contenders with very diverse and competitive portfolios have been outright rejected from the best schools they had fully expected to get into with their outstanding resumes. While this could happen to any candidate, it most likely happened because the committee discovered a hole in their folders, a hole that they couldn’t explain considering the strength of the applicant.
That hole is your heart. Admissions officers know how much load the best students can carry, and they can sense your phoniness. You have to invest your time wisely into activities you actually enjoy and develop those activities. You can develop a passion by practicing until you get good. You’ll know when you’ve achieved proficiency when people start complimenting you and you draw attention. Once that happens, you get self-esteem boosts and surprise you start to enjoy yourself! From there on it’s a positive feedback loop and you can get very far if you haven’t started too late.
I used to be absolutely terrible at basketball in middle school and would avoid it. After three years of practice, I can say that I’m a decent player for 5’7, I get complimented regularly about my defense and my grit and that I enjoy it, despite never being on the team. That’s a far from ideal situation.
In the ideal situation, you invest your time in a hobby for all of high school, even during the summer if you can, get leadership positions and win prizes and competitions. What if there are no competitions and no leadership positions to be had? No problem. If your hobby is woodworking, painting or horse riding, you can still demonstrate your involvement through your application and your essays, but more on that later.
Why is all this important?
Admission officers want to see a mature individual with developed strengths and interests that will either serve their sports teams or enrich their campus. Having a passion that you’re invested time in is exactly what they’re looking for, and it also shows that you have your life in control, that you have ambition and that you are patient. These are all valuable qualities to have for a successful college student and a successful person.
If you’ve done something for a long time and nothing outstanding has come out of it, don’t worry. You still demonstrate the qualities admission officers are looking for, it’s just not your time to shine yet. Odds are that if you throw energy, time and passion into something, it will pay you back. See if you’re missing any of the above in your commitments, it might be time for some self-reflection.
I can’t understate how important is commitment. That’s what failed the strong applicants. They throw themselves everywhere trying to satisfy admissions, and that’s the wrong mentality to take. Ever notice that you become the center of attention when you’re passionate and enjoying yourself? The admissions committee can tell that from paper. Don’t overload yourself. Experiment with different things early on, but make some order in your file by junior year. Stick to a few and drop the others. Which ones you keep is totally up to you. You will get recognition from almost anything if you get good enough at it.
Part 2. Grades and Standardized Tests
You’re going to hear about several acronyms that you will be glad to leave behind by the time you’re out of high school: GPA, SAT, ACT, AP and IB are the big ones.
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