Apply yourself

For most seniors, this is the time of year when you start doing the unthinkable — applying for college. For those of you who aren’t quite familiar with the process or how it works today (since you applied decades ago), I’ll give you a little run-down. If you’re a teenager planning on applying for college, maybe this will be helpful.
The purpose of the college application is to help a college get to know you. A paradox exists, however: How can a college get to know you in 500 words or less?
1. Basic Information
Applying for college starts off with basic information: Street address, telephone. Eventually, it will ask who your parents and siblings are, whether or not they attended college, and what they got degrees in. There are several reasons for this: First, they want to know what your home life is like and your background. Secondly, and maybe surprisingly, they want to see exactly who your family is. Your parents could be legacies, meaning they went to that school, which means you have a better chance of getting in. Why?... Because the family over time is more likely to donate future children and future money (in the form of tuition, but especially donations and endowments.) Also, they want to see if your family is, in fact, famous and rich. If they see Father: Gene Simmons (lead singer of ‘80s and ‘90s rock band KISS), they know you have money and will be likely to be giving large donations and be able to pay your tuition, and if you are famous yourself, they will be able to boast about how you went there. Yale University admitted George W. Bush because of his father, and now they boast they’ve taught the last four presidents if you count Bush “Jr.” twice.
2. The Transcript
Universities say the first thing they look at on an application is the transcript. When looking at the transcript, they check what courses you’ve taken and the level of difficulty of those courses. Most colleges look for students who are going to challenge themselves, so taking Honors, AP, and IB courses are fairly important. Standardized test scores, such as the SAT, ACT, and AP tests don’t decide whether or not you’re accepted, but they certainly help.
3. The Essays
The most talked about portion of the application is the essays, hands down. Colleges tend to ask questions involving why you want to go to that school, what do you do for the pure enjoyment, which one of their departments do you admire most, what media do you enjoy (music, movies, etc.), and I have even seen an essay question asking you to somehow incorporate a giant yellow container of mustard into a story. Admissions committees, unless at specific denominational colleges, surprisingly don’t want to read a long essay about Jesus’ teachings, but if your faith plays a huge part in your life, including that may be important. What the committees want to hear is whether or not you have a personality and what that is (a strong leader, humorous), what you know about the university that could display your research and interest in that school, and whether or not you’ll take full advantage of the opportunities they present you, and all of this information needs to be portrayed in a concise manner.
4. The Extracurriculars
Selective schools also want to see a list of activities you’ve participated in during your high school career. They want to see if you have a passion or interest, an ability to manage your time by juggling activities and schoolwork, and, once again, whether or not you will take advantage of the opportunities they present you. Important activities may include athletics, clubs, student council, article-writing for the local newspaper, youth group, and community service. Polk County High School is a small school that provides a great collaborative environment as opposed to a cutthroat environment found at other schools. At these certain schools, the line between passion and desire often becomes confused with trying to impress application readers. Instead of doing community service because they want to help others in the community, students at these highly-competitive schools travel to India and Mexico to help starving children for a few months just so they can put it on their college résumé. These are the same kids who pay large amounts of money to have an application counselor tell them how to write their essays and who ask the school to add an advanced placement course for Physical Education.
5. Recommendations
Finally, teachers and guidance counselors (and Duke has an option where anybody can write one, even a 5-year-old) are asked to write letters of recommendation. Colleges don’t necessarily want to read only about how smart the person is — everybody else applying is smart. They do, however, want to see the student’s personality, whether it’s hard-working, humorous, likeable, creative, etc. and if that student does a good job of inspiring classmates and teachers.
If you’re a student reading this, and if you’re also applying to college, I wish you the best of adventures filling out these applications. Don’t procrastinate, get them finished, but do a thorough job. You’ll feel great once they’ve been mailed out. Most colleges are altruistic and just want to accept a handful of kids who they think are the most fit for their school and will be successful in that environment. However, the top prestigious like Harvard want to increase their rejection rate every year to improve their US News Best Colleges ranking—so make yourself stand out as a leader. Don’t sell yourself short. Best of wishes.