Admissions Academy Blog

Why Extracurriculars Matter

•  Posted by Sarah Ziegler on February 28th, 2008 in Extracurriculars
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Expectations are high for students to be involved and dedicated regardless of academic standing. Your job is to create a picture through four years in high school that accurately reflect who you are – both inside and outside of the classroom.

Admissions acceptance decisions are based on your overall profile as a student. Your academic record speaks to your ability to succeed academically in college; your extracurricular record should illustrate what kind of personal contribution you can make to the campus community. If your application does not demonstrate your extracurricular interests, an admissions officer will never know what those interests are.

While colleges don’t expect that every student will have found a passion (or passions) by the time they enter high school, they do expect that students explore, get involved, and try new activities. Think critically about the activities in which you’ve been involved in the past. What have you found meaningful? What have been positive and negative features of previous activities? What kind of extracurricular or academic interests have you not yet pursued? What new activities can build off of a previous interest you have?

Remember, it’s not necessary, or even advisable, to have a lot of different activities listed on your application. What’s most important is that the activities you select adequately represent you. What admissions officers want to see is longevity, authenticity, and that you will potentially continue participating in your activities throughout college. In this case, quality is better than quality.

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Helpful Hints:Tough Questions about Course Selection

•  Posted by Sarah Ziegler on February 12th, 2008 in Academics
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How many Honors or AP courses should I take?
College expectations and averages vary wildly, and just as no two individual students are the same, no two individual students should necessarily take the same course load. Take the most rigorous courses you can while maintaining your GPA.

Can I take an AP class and just not take the test?
Some high schools do require that students take the corresponding AP exam if they are enrolled in the AP course. Regardless of the policy, it’s almost always in a student’s best interest to take an AP exam if they’ve taken the course. Admissions officers have said that even students who earn a 1 or 2 on an AP exam are often better prepared for college-level work than students who either didn’t take the exam, or who didn’t take the AP class in the first place.

Do I really need to have a full schedule senior year?
Yes. Admissions officers want to see that your academics have been getting more and more rigorous as you approach college, not the opposite.

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College Graduates’ Experiences and Values

•  Posted by Sarah Ziegler on February 1st, 2008 in Articles of Interest
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The New York Times recently surveyed recent college graduates (about five years out, or less) to ask them about what mattered to them going into the college process, what matters now that they’ve graduated, and what they would do differently if they had to go through the process again. The results may be surprising, including how reputation or ranking mattered significantly less to students after graduation versus before.

Read the full article and see survey results at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/magazine/30poll-t.html. Also of note, the author, Jacques Steinberg, also wrote The Gatekeepers, a classic book examining selective college admissions

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