Succeeding with The College Application Process

Samaya Sinha
Staff Writer

I thought I would try and finish most of my college applications during the summer so that the school year would be easier—that never happened. As usual, I found myself procrastinating. I remember looking at the various supplement essays for the colleges sometime in August and trying to decide what to write—I found myself beginning essays, rereading my work, and then throwing them away because they sounded fake. It seemed so daunting to just suddenly begin a pile of applications.
However, I found something that has really helped me through my applications so far—I came across A is for Admission and Acing the College Application by Michele Hernandez. I really liked these two books because they gave examples of really good essays and activity lists, especially emphasizing the qualities necessary within an application that can maximize a student’s chances of being admitted to a school. These books especially taught me ways to try and make my application “stand out” from the rest. Additionally, the book discusses ways of keeping colleges interested even after a student is placed on the college’s wait-list. I found out that most admissions officers consider academic achievement to be 60% to 80 % important, while extra-curricular activities tend to be 20% to 40% important when considering the entire application. Most colleges tend to consider the transcript as the most important component of the application, followed by SAT or ACT scores, extra-curricular activities, essays, and teacher’s recommendations.
Another extremely important component of an application are the financial aid forms. With the current economic crisis, finding ways to pay for college or work through college have become exceedingly important. In fact, many college books recommend bargaining with the various colleges one is accepted into so as to try and maximize the financial aid received. Often, colleges increase financial aid if students make convincing requests to increase financial aid. Most colleges also tend to have an on-campus minimum wage rate that they pay to students who take up jobs on campus—and college minimum wage rates tend to be pretty high.
Another new and different component of the college applications process is naviance and the edocs that are available to current applicants. Indeed, the edocs seem to be better for sending the transcripts and counselor recommendations, drastically reducing the “snail mail” that has slowed the application process in the previous years. The online Common Application allows the colleges to immediately receive submissions from a student, including singing, art, dance and research supplements. However, many students prefer to submit hand written applications—certainly, sending out a paper application seems more tangible than simply clicking the submit button on a website.
What’s more, the early action and early decision deadlines for most colleges have just passed—
“Early action and Early Decision really force people to make a choice. The thing I take issue with is that people feel it will increase their chances and so they apply early because of that, not because they want to go there more than any other school necessarily,” says Harriton senior Hope Silberstein. Indeed, there are many ethical issues involved when filling out college applications. The early decision in particular forces a student to commit to a single college, regardless of the other acceptances that the student receives. Many students try to fit a certain profile that they believe the admissions officers are looking for—“It almost feels like you’re selling yourself to your favorite school. The question becomes, ‘Will this look good to colleges?’ rather than ‘Do I want to do this?’” says Hope. “And then, there’s always the fear of losing motivation after finding out that you have gotten into college.”
Indeed, it’s very nice to dream of getting into your favorite college with nothing more to worry about. I wish all seniors the best of luck on college applications!

Chris Paine/The Harriton Banner