Many applicants to the most selective university programs share high grades, high test scores, solid recommendations and generous doses of community service and volunteer activities. Yet, if they want to set themselves apart from the pool of exceptional students, a significant research experience in STEM or the social sciences helps.
Portions of the college admissions process should be performed each year in high school. Steady, cumulative completion of set tasks is vastly more effective than cramming everything into the waning moments of senior year. Take control of your admissions process and it will entice you to take control of your future—that is a skill rarely learned in any institution and will serve you well throughout your life.
When is enough ever enough? You might want to ask William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions at Harvard, that very question. This year Harvard received over 35,000 applications for 1,700 offers. That is slightly over a 4.8% acceptance rate. By some estimates, 1 out of every 50 college-ready high school seniors sent an application to Harvard. Frankly, with Harvard’s aggressive financial aid package for any family making HHI under $180,000, and with its single essay supplement to the Common Application, the applicant pool might exceed 40,000 next year.
According to the September 6th LA Times article, "ACT is to SAT as..." the world of standardized tests is in flux. The ACT is rapidly gaining on the SAT. For the recent class of high school graduates, 1.4 million took the ACT, 1.5 million the SAT. Even in California, a regional SAT stronghold, 50% more students took the ACT in 2008 than did in 2004. Still, in all honesty, the raw numbers show that, last year, the SAT in California was taken by over 205,000 students, with 72,000 taking the ACT. Yet, the ACT is starting to close the gap.
