Application Boot Camp - College Admissions, Admissions Counseling, College Acceptance Help » college admissions

Do Your Research

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:15:50 +0000

We can’t tell you how many times kids report to us that they want to go to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, etc… but when we ask them why, they have no good reason. Colleges want to know WHY you are applying — are you impressed by their world-famous chemistry program? The well-known English department? The art history department with a specialty in Renaissance art? Often times students with particular interests do themselves a great disservice by not bothering to check if the schools on their list match their own academic interest. For example, if you like ancient languages you’d want to apply to a school that at least offered classes in Latin, Greek, Aramaic, Sanskrit and the like.

You may find that schools that you’d barely considered before end up being top in the country in particular areas. How can you check? First, it’s often helpful to consult the graduate rankings in a publication like US News and World Report; although, keep in mind that sometimes graduate programs and faculty are separate from the undergraduate, and are sometimes shared. Once you have that list, comb the web sites, course guides and published information from colleges to see if they are strong in your area(s) of interest. Finally, call the school or visit and speak to professors, visit the library, check out the holdings — in short, make an informed decision about where you are applying and why.

Also, bear in mind that if you state a reason for applying to a school, it should be an academic reason. Unless a particular school has an extracurricular program that is truly unique (and, ideally, ties in to an academic interest), the school is going to care far more about what you want to study than about the backpacking trips you want to lead and the underprivileged children you want to tutor. Those are all great things, but clubs, community service programs, and intramural sports are available at almost every college these days.

Faceboook and College Admissions

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:25:50 +0000

A study by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth found that 25 percent of college admissions offices admit to using search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN to research potential students and that 20 percent look for the same information on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. The reality is that the percentages must be even higher because colleges and universities have little incentive to overstate their reliance on these digital dirt web searches, but they have a significant incentive to understate their use due to a fear of negative public relations and likely backlash from many Gen Y candidates who view information that they post to MySpace and some of the other social networking sites as somehow being private even though it is accessible through a quick Google search.

The moral of the story is never post anything on the web that you wouldn’t want your parents or a college admissions representative to read. Don’t post profanity or scandalous photos, and don’t join groups with unseemly names or that have agendas that do not reflect your own just because a friend invited you. Likewise, you may have to delete wall posts with confusing or unflattering inside jokes. On the flip side, if you do have writing talents, or are knowledgeable in a particular area and want to launch your own website do so and when you are “googled” that’s what will come up. We have worked with students who have created websites on their particular expertise and have followed the footprints of visitors and seen that admissions officers did visit the sites.

Likely Letters

admin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:47:48 +0000

As you know by now, college admissions is not transparent. Likely letters, for instance, are a bit on the gray side. Many top colleges will send out a “likely” letter in February—often to recruited athletes, minority applicants, super academic stars and other special cases—saying that although they can’t tell you officially, it is “likely” that you will be accepted in April. YES, that IS the same as an acceptance letter as long as your grades don’t drop or anything. Some things to keep in mind though about likely letters:

Not all schools send them, so if you don’t get one, it may not mean anything.
There is a timing issue — colleges are not allowed to send likely letters after a specific date (usually late February) so if they haven’t had a chance to read your application two or three times, you won’t get one EVEN IF YOU QUALIFY.
Colleges use some kind of ranking scale for likely letters. For instance, Dartmouth uses a 1-9 scale, and usually only 8’s and 9’s (or the equivalent) get likely letters.
Keep in mind that certain targeted groups like African Americans and Hispanics (and sometimes women!) can get a likely even if they are slightly lower on the scale, say 6-7. Every school is a bit different.

In short, you should not panic if you do NOT receive a likely letter. In actual fact, only a small percentage of apps ever get one (usually 10% or less). But if you do get one, relax and be happy! Some of the pressure from regular decision should be melting away….

Do read this article in the Harvard Crimson about 2008 Likely Letters:
http://www.on2url.com/app/adtrack.asp?MerchantID=103138&AdID=427394

Admissions Blogs

admin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:00:21 +0000

Many colleges are beginning to create blogs written by admissions officers. These blogs are helpful resources no matter what grade you are in because often some interesting insight is shared. Take some time to check websites of colleges that interest you and read their admissions blog, if they have one, if not, read the school newspaper online.

RESOURCE: Sample Blogs

Vanderbilt: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Admissions/vandybloggers/

UCLA: http://blog.admissions.ucla.edu/

MIT: http://www.mitadmissions.org/blogs.shtml

Holy Cross: http://admissions.me.holycross.edu/

University of Vermont: http://adms.blog.uvm.edu/

Juilliard: http://blog.juilliard.edu/

If you come across an admissions blog you like, let us know on our blog: www.ApplicationBootCamp.com.