In - Your Guide to College Admissions from The Princeton Review

How Do Colleges Make Admit Decisions?

At first glance, colleges’ admit decisions can be tough to figure out. It is not uncommon for an applicant to get into a “hard” college but be rejected by an “easier” college.

That being said, colleges are actually pretty predictable in the factors they consider when making their decisions. Most selective colleges in the U.S. use a holistic admissions process that looks at several aspects of an applicant’s life. (Admissions “randomness” is largely the result of different colleges weighing these factors differently.)

What factors do colleges consider? The Philadelphia Inquirer recently observed the application review process at Lehigh University, a selective college in Bethlehem, Penn. It found that Lehigh’s admissions staff consistently evaluated applicants in the following areas:

• School performance. Applicants were expected to earn excellent grades throughout high school and finish strong. Bad senior-year grades were particularly detrimental to an applicant’s chances.
• High school rigor. If an applicant’s high school offered lots of AP and honors courses, he or she was expected to take many of them. An applicant with a relatively easy schedule was seen as ill-suited for college-level work.
• Standardized test scores. A high or perfect test score would get admission officers’ attention; however, it wasn’t enough to generate an offer if the applicant was otherwise objectionable.
• Legacy status. Applicants with a close family member who graduated from the college had an edge.
• Geography. It helped to hail from a state that was underrepresented among students at the school.
• Demonstrated interest. Applicants who were likely to accept an offer were often admitted ahead of “superior” applicants who seemed unlikely to enroll.
• Intangible qualities. An applicant’s character (as evidenced in his or her recommendations, essays, and community service) factored into many decisions.

Click here to read more on the Inquirer. (Thanks to CollegeAdmissionsPartners.com for the link.)

Want info on other colleges’ admissions processes? The IN Blog has similar posts for Amherst and Grinnell.

Denied by Your Dream College? Why It’s Okay

Even if you didn’t really expect to get in, a rejection letter from a “dream” or “reach” school still stings.

However, such a rejection isn’t the end of the world. Consider the following:

• Highly selective schools aren’t the only ones that produce successful grads. (Read more here.)
• You can end up loving a “safety” school. College counselors often say that most college students are at their “first-choice school” by Halloween of their freshman year. (Read more here.)
• It can be an opportunity to save money. (Read more here.)
• Any school that rejected you probably is not an ideal “fit.” (Read more here.)

So you don’t have to be excited about rejections, but you shouldn't be too down about them, either.

In a recent post on The Choice, a current applicant describes his feelings about being rejected by one of his “reach” schools. Click here to check it out.

How to Handle the News

For many college applicants, the most eagerly anticipated news of the admissions season arrived this evening at 5 p.m. when a number of highly selective colleges, including the Ivies, posted their admissions decisions online.

If you’ve received a much sought-after acceptance, congratulations! You should celebrate. However, in celebrating—both in person and online—you should be mindful of others around you who might not have received such happy news. In other words: don’t overdo your celebrations.

If, on the other hand, you got mainly disappointing news (waitlists and/or rejections), the days ahead will undoubtedly be a bit tough. You should stay involved in your day-to day commitments yet, at the same time, refrain from comparing yourself to those celebrating their recent acceptances. Remember: you have many wonderful things to offer the world that are unique to you.

Two recent posts on The Choice share more specifics on how to deal with emotionally charged admissions decisions. Click here and here to check them out.

Whatever the news you’ve received, don’t forget share it with your college counselor and recommendation writers. These folks have contributed to your application and are interested in the decisions you get!

In College Decisions, “Fit” Should Be More Important than “Name”

Applicants weighing multiple offers of admission have many factors to consider.

The reputation—or “name”—of each college is one such factor. While some counselors shy away from saying so, the truth is that a degree from a highly regarded school can open doors for you later in life.

However, name isn’t everything. As the Huffington Post recently pointed out, “Some colleges, despite their [excellent] names, are not right for many seniors.” Simply choosing the college with the best name ignores the fact that you actually have to go to that college for four or more years.

In the final analysis, your “fit” with a school is more important than its name. After all, if you don’t enjoy attending a college—and aren’t well suited to its academics—your chances of getting a degree there are greatly diminished. (And there are few benefits of attending a big-name school if you don’t graduate.)

The Huffington Post recently shared ten tips on how to make a decision that isn’t unduly influenced by name. Click here to check them out.

“Behind Closed Doors” in College Admissions

As admissions decisions land in mailboxes across the U.S., they raise some interesting questions. Specifically, who are the people making these decisions? And what kinds of considerations are involved in them?

A recent post on The Choice sheds some light on this process. In it, a former admissions officer describes a typical application season, which includes . . .

• “some of the finest educators and counselors in the profession, pumped full of sugar and caffeine”
• “debate about [each] student’s fit for the college and the unique contributions that each applicant offers”
• “the exhaustion of late nights in committee speaking on behalf of [applicants]”

Click here to read more on The Choice.

How to Remember Your College Visits (and Why You Should)

Many students make time to visit the colleges on their list but don't take any steps to ensure they remember the details of these visits.

This is an unfortunate oversight. While global impressions and gut feelings are important, specific people and places are important, too.

According to Montgomery Educational Consulting, it’s the specific details of a campus that will allow you, months later, to distinguish it from the many others you’ve seen. Additionally, visit details can be very helpful when answering the “why are you applying here?” question on applications.

Given the above, it is often helpful to take notes during your visits. What sorts of details should you record? Montgomery Educational Consulting recently identified several of them. Click here to check them out.

Your Waitlist Odds

Earlier this week, I posted some advice on how to get admitted off of a college’s waitlist.

However, before you spend time and energy trying to get off of a particular school’s waitlist, you should ask yourself whether you actually want to be on it in the first place.

As you consider this, it is helpful to have a sense of the odds involved. (The odds of getting admitted off of a school’s waitlist won’t necessarily be related to its overall odds of admission.) Some colleges will compile a moderately sized waitlist, while others will assemble a gigantic one.

Want to know the odds of getting off of a particular college’s waitlist? Check out the College Board’s Big Future website. Within the “Applying” section of a particular school’s profile, you can view its waitlist stats for the previous year: the number of students who were offered a place on it, the number who accepted a place on it, and the number who were admitted off of it. (Thanks to the College Solution blog for the tip!)

Survey Says: Stanford Is Hot, but Debt Is Not

What’s on the minds of college applicants and their parents?

As part of our annual "College Hopes & Worries Survey," we recently asked nearly 10,000 students and 4,000 parents what they thought of the college admissions scene. The results are available today on PrincetonReview.com; click here to check them out!

A couple of highlights . . .

• This year, Stanford was the school most named by students and parents as their “dream college”—i.e., the school they most wish they (or their child) could attend if cost and acceptance were not issues.
• Money is now the biggest driver of college-related worries. Students and parents identified student-loan debt as the most worrying part of the college landscape. (From 2010 to 2012, the most common concern was getting into one’s first-choice college but being unable to pay for it. Before that, the biggest worry—not getting into one’s first choice school—was unrelated to finances.)

What else did we learn? The application process continues to be stressful: 69 percent of respondents gauged their stress levels as "High" or "Very High.” And being able to land a better job is still seen as the main benefit of a college education.

To see additional results from this survey, including the top 10 “dream colleges” for applicants and parents, click here.

Receiving Your Decisions, and Planning Your Next Moves

Over the next couple of weeks, college applicants will receive the bulk of their admissions decisions.

A new series of posts from Montgomery Educational Consulting explains, in detail, how to navigate each type of decision, including . . .

• The acceptance letter. Awesome news, yes. However, each one after the first makes your final choice more complicated. You’ll have to navigate the attached financial aid offers as well as the requests for enrollment and housing deposits (if applicable).
• The waitlist. Do you want to stay on it? If so, you should to continue to show interest in the school and send along any new proof of your awesomeness. (It might be tiresome to stay in “applicant mode” while others around you conclude this process, but it’s the best way to maximize your chances of admission.)
• The denial. If you truly have your heart set on a school that denies you, you might consider going elsewhere for a couple of semesters and then submitting a transfer application. Otherwise, your main task is to move on.

For more information on how to handle each type of decision, click here, here and here.

Elite Colleges Want to Know: How Will You Make a Difference?

Highly selective (a.k.a. elite) colleges receive applications from many more students than they can admit. They deny many qualified students each year, and their admit decisions can seem rather random.

However, the truth is that most—if not all—of their decisions are based upon a single factor: the size of the contribution they expect the applicant to make to their campus community.

The College Planning Blog recently posted some questions that highly selective colleges frequently consider as they read an application. These include the following:

• Will the student share his or her time with those who are less fortunate?
• Will the student bring about positive change through thoughtful and energetic leadership?
• Will the student turn his or her ideas into inventions?
• Will the student challenge others to see the world differently?

Click here for some good advice on how to stand out in a sea of qualified applicants.