The college application process starts the day a student steps foot into high school. When students approach senior year and fill out their Common Application, which is accepted by more than 1,000 colleges, they are asked for their G.P.A. (the average of all their high school grades) and for details on all the activities that they engaged in starting with their freshman year.
When college applications are reviewed, admission officers consider an applicant’s choice of courses and the rigor of one’s curriculum. Thus, it greatly benefits students to choose a sequence of courses that will reflect their future college plans. If it’s likely that they will be applying to college as engineering, business, or architecture majors, they should plan on getting through calculus while in high school. This may mean doubling up on Geometry and Algebra II during their sophomore year or taking one of these courses during the summer. If future career plans will likely be science related, students should plan a sequence of courses that will ultimately include AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and electives such as Organic Chemistry.
Colleges also consider “demonstrated interest” when deciding whether or not to admit an applicant. If a college is within a few hours of home and a student hasn’t visited, they wonder what the likelihood is that he or she will actually enroll if accepted. Thus, students should prioritize touring potential colleges in person. This is ideally done during the academic year, between Labor Day and May 1st, when college classes are in session and its students are populating the campus.
By touring colleges starting in one’s freshman year of high school, there’s a maximum opportunity to identify the qualities one is seeking in an undergraduate experience. Is an urban, suburban, or rural location most desirable? Is a large, highly spirited university most appealing, or a smaller one with greater opportunities to engage with one’s professors? Are specific research facilities desired, or an abundance of internship opportunities, or study abroad programs in a preferred country?
Starting early in one’s high school experience, it’s helpful to use available tools to identify potential best fit colleges. A helpful website is bigfuture.collegeboard.org which offers a career quiz to help identify best fit majors, as well as a search tool that allows students to choose the criteria they are seeking in a college and get a list of schools that fit the bill.
The sooner students engage with these tools, the more time they will have to generate a well-considered list of potential best fit colleges.
Susan Alaimo is the founder & director of Collegebound Review, offering PSAT/SAT® preparation & private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit CollegeboundReview.com or call 908-369-5362
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