College Application Secrets
Pick Your SAT Subject Tests Carefully!
This week we would like to focus on the all important SAT Subject Tests (formally called SAT II’s and longer ago, achievement tests). Many students aren’t even aware that they should take these tests after completing the corresponding course work. We want to bust some Subject Test myths.
Why are Subject Tests so important for top colleges? Sure, they are yet another quantitative way to evaluate a student. They help colleges interpret your grades and equalize grading scales from high school to high school. How does an A at school X compare to an A in school Y? Well, if one student scored a 770 on the Bio SAT Subject Test and the other scored a 580, colleges would assume that the first school had a much “truer” grading scale and that the competition was simply not as strong at school Y. In effect, these scores either show that a student deserved the high grades he received, or that the school simply hands out many A’s. Many competitive colleges require 2 Subject Tests. But read on because with many things in admissions it is not what it appears. While schools “require” 2 tests, top candidates often submit 4, 5, 6 Subject Tests.
Students should consider very carefully WHICH tests they sign up for – most students don’t even realize that the average test scores are different on every SAT Subject Test! Most assume that the mean score is 500, but that is NOT the case. See the College Board’s chart for the Class of 2010:
Take the Math Level I and the Math Level II as an example. Many students take the I thinking it’s “easier,” but the average score on that test is a 605. If you miss a handful of questions, you will not even score in the 700′s! Compare that to the Math II — the AVERAGE score is 649! That means you can get a bunch wrong and still be in the 700′s (on a recent test, you could get 7 wrong and still score a perfect 800). In other words, every test has a different group of test takers — the kids who take the II are a smaller group, but a stronger group.
Then there are the tests such as the Chinese with Listening — since almost all the kids who take it actually speak Chinese, the average is very high: 761!
Here’s another fact to keep in mind: the percentile scores do NOT get reported to colleges, only the grade. Most admissions officers don’t differentiate or even worry about if your 760 was high or low for your test. So those who get a 764 on the Korean with Listening test (the highest average of all the SAT Subject Tests) score only 50%, but the score still looks strong.
The message is, it pays to study the average scores and pick tests based on your ability and the scoring curve. The average information is available on the College Board’s web site, as noted above, and is actually printed on the score reports you receive back after taking SAT Subject Tests. Use them to your advantage!
Good luck with Subject Tests if you are taking them this Saturday and one final tip: TAKE PRACTICE TESTS. The practice tests available in the College Boards book: The Official Study Guide for all Subject Tests are only an hour long (the length of the test) and the results are quite true to actual results so will help you study.
Applying Online
Students often are falsely flattered when they receive “marketing” materials from colleges and assume that they will be accepted if they apply. Colleges and universities are marketing and simply buy their names as this article so clearly states.
Things become even more complicated when students are required to apply online given the Hobsons/Naviance role in controlling document flow to colleges. We’ve written about this issue in the past and have reached out to folks at the Common Application organization to no avail.
Essentially it goes like this:
The Common Application requires that supporting documents (secondary school reports, transcripts, and recommendations) submitted electronically to Common App member colleges go through the Naviance/Family Connection system.
With us so far…Okay what’s slightly disturbing is that both Naviance and the Common App have a VERY strong connection through Hobsons, a company that specializes in higher education marketing including enrollment marketing!!
About 90% of our students last year in Application Boot Camp and our private clients were required by their high schools to apply online AND if they didn’t it was a mess in that the schools REQUIRED teachers to submit their recs online. Colleges, therefore, wanted everything online.
Still with us?
Electronic files were lost last year as Naviance noted their “usage” was up over 400%. Well, yes it was because schools were almost forced to use the technology.
We believe the option to submit one’s college application electronically should be the student’s CHOICE not a mandate by corporate connections that leave us scratching our heads.
Practicing for SAT Subject Tests
Several students recently have wanted to cancel their test scores on either SATs or Subject Tests.
To cancel a score at the test center, a student:
- Asks the test supervisor for a Request to Cancel Test Scores Form
- Completes and signs the form before leaving the test center
- Returns form to the test supervisor before leaving the center
Additionally students may decide to cancel their scores after leaving the test center. The request to cancel scores in writing must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the Wednesday after the test date. Students cannot submit cancellation requests by phone or email—their signature is required. More information can be found on the College Board website.
Please note that you can’t cancel one test only – ALL tests you took that day will be cancelled. So, for example, if you took the SAT Subject Test in Bio, Math II and Literature and felt you bombed one test, you probably should NOT cancel the test as ALL scores will be lost. The moral of the story is SAT Subject Tests should never be a surprise. They are very content-based. If you’re not doing well, don’t take the test. Most top colleges require two or three tests.
The best preparation is to take practice tests from The Official Study Guide for all SAT Subject Tests from the College Board and see how you’re doing. This guide contains never-before-published full-length tests and answers for all twenty tests and an audio CD for all six languages with listening tests.
We also want to remind you of a few things when taking standardized tests. And, this is from our own experience with students this year!
*Bring an extra calculator, not just extra batteries. That way if your calculator dies, you aren’t sunk.
*Bring #2 pencils, NOT mechanical pencils as your test will NOT be scored if the lead is too faint!
*Bring tissues. Yes, bloody noses have happened during testing and one of our students had no recourse other than to leave the testing room.
*Do NOT drink a lot of liquid before testing. Yes, you will get bathroom breaks, but the stories of suffering and distraction due to having to go to the bathroom are plentiful. And, there will be long lines during the short breaks. You get the picture.
Students taking the SAT now are lucky as the College Board recently changed their policy on score choice. Note: Any student who has taken an SAT prior to the policy launch (March 2009) or who registers for the SAT after launch will be able to take advantage of this new policy. The students who have taken tests prior to the launch can use the score-reporting feature retroactively. Additionally, this new score-reporting feature will be optional to students. If a student chooses not to select their scores, all of their scores will be sent.
What this MIGHT mean is that students can take the SAT as many times as they like and select which test scores they want to show colleges. For more information head over to: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/scores/policy. What has happened, however, is that a few schools are saying they won’t adhere to the new policy and will demand kids show ALL scores (to give you an idea, a partial list of these schools are Stanford, Dartmouth, Cornell and USC). We guide our students, therefore, to prep before taking the SAT once late in their sophomore year and then January and March their junior year if needed.
AP Exams
Ambitious students flock to AP classes, and with good reason: they are rigorous and indicative of intellectual curiosity. Many top schools expect to see transcripts laden with AP classes. Colleges look at your grades in AP classes and assume that they represent a higher level of achievement than an equivalent grade in a “regular” class, so it’s almost always an advantage to have high grades in AP classes. Many students, however, ask about the value of the AP exams themselves.
First, many colleges give course credit or advanced standing to students who score well on individual tests – usually you need at least a 3, if not a 4. So that’s an obvious reason for taking the test seriously. Even if your intended schools don’t recognize AP credit, you still want to do at least as well on the exam as you did in the course—getting an A in the course but a 3 on the exam will not look good! If you took an AP course and did NOT take the corresponding exam, colleges will wonder why not. It will raise a flag. If you’re a senior, it might be harder to motivate for the AP tests, but if nothing else, you should view them as a culminating achievement and a way to acknowledge the effort that you—and your teachers—have expended throughout the year.
If your school does not have AP classes or only has a few AP classes, you can always take an AP class at a neighboring school or online. You would then ask your school to order the AP test so that you could take it under their supervision. Colleges love to see students who self-studied for an AP as it clearly shows going above and beyond. Some of our students have used K12 Inc, Aventa Learning, The Center for Talented Development at Northwestern University, The Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University, and the Gifted Program at the University of Missouri.
REPORTING AP SCORES
We find that there is still much confusion about AP tests. AP tests are part of the College Board – the very same people who bring you the SATs and SAT Subject Tests, and yet, the sign up and score delivery are different. For those taking APs, there are a few things to keep in mind.
If you take an AP test and you are SURE you did horribly—a 1, maybe a 2—you have until June 15 to cancel your score BEFORE it is scored. You must notify the College Board in writing if you choose this option and your score will be gone forever (interesting enough, an AP representative actually incorrectly told us on the phone that the date was July 15 and that you COULD see your score before deciding to cancel, but he was wrong as we confirmed after several hours more speaking to AP supervisors—nice to know there are those who actually work for the College Board who have no idea what their policy is!).
But, let’s say a student ends up with a bunch of really strong AP scores, say 4 and 5 range, and then one score of 1 or 2—the College Board actually gives you the option (of course this does involve, as usual, more money for them) of paying $12 per school per score to “withhold” a score from one or all of your colleges. This is a handy option especially for students who are thinking of taking an AP exam in a subject they might not have had an actual class for – it encourages students to take risks, so we like it! The key is – and read this carefully – do NOT list any colleges in May to send your scores to because that way it is easier to withhold scores later. You can still withdraw a score even if you sent them already, but it’s a much cleaner solution to wait until July 1 (and, again, spend an extra few dollars to get scores by phone), see what your scores are and THEN pay to send you scores to schools. For more information go to: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/exgrd_rep.html
If you cancel a score, it is gone forever and never gets scored, hence it does not count in your AP average for AP scholar designations. BUT, even though you might choose to withhold a score from a college, note that it DOES count in your AP average and will affect AP scholar designations. In short, use this version of “score choice” to your advantage and take some extra APs that you study for on your own.
One final note: AP information is tough to find on the CollegeBoard.com website. Remember, you have to request your AP scores separately from your SATs. Head here for more info: APCentral.collegeboard.com.
Do Your Research
We can’t tell you how many times kids tell us 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? Oftentimes 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, sometimes shared. Once you have that list, comb the web sites, course guides and published info 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 for academic reasons. 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.
Is the Interview Obsolete?
Dartmouth announced in 2009 that it would no longer offer on-campus interviews. Now Yale is the only Ivy that actually does an official evaluative on campus interview! They say: A limited number of on-campus interviews are available. They are only open to seniors and rising seniors, and are only offered from mid- to late June through mid-November. On-campus interviews are conducted by Yale College seniors. Harvard offers on campus interviews, but they are not added to a student’s file. Neither Stanford nor MIT offers on campus interviews. Middlebury does offer on campus interviews from June – November. Columbia and Penn allow legacies (and they count parents OR grandparents as legacies in this sense) to interview on campus, but not the rest of the crowd. Keep in mind that just about all of these schools DO offer alumni interviews once the student applies.
Why are schools getting rid of interviews? When Michele was working at Dartmouth, every staff member plus a hired staff of senior interviews did 4-5 interviews per DAY all summer. However, only a small percentage of the students interviewed ended up applying. So why spend 90% of your time over summer doing interviews when so few become applicants? Students were in the habit of visiting 10-12 schools, scheduling interviews, and then deciding on one school to apply to early. Therefore, it makes more sense for the schools to wait until a student actually applies before doing an actual interview, hence the value of the alumni interview.
The only downside to the alumni interviews is that not all applicants are offered one as it totally depends upon whether there is an active alum near where the student lives. Also, alumni are not really trained (at least not in most cases) as interviewers, so these interviews can be all over the map in terms of what they ask and how they write up the results.
So the on-campus interview is becoming obsolete at many top schools while the alumni interviews, a better use of time, are still going strong. Some smaller schools do still offer on campus interviews such as Washington & Lee University and they specifically note that they weigh them.
Pursue Learning Outside of the Classroom
Some high schools offer a wider range of classes than others. Rest assured, even the broadest high school curriculum has its holes, and you can always take enrichment classes at other schools or local colleges. Importantly, if your school doesn’t offer AP classes, find a high school nearby and arrange to take the appropriate AP courses there. Or, find a local college and enroll in college level courses in the evenings or during the summer. Admissions officers love to see a student who has pursued learning on their own. If you haven’t already planned your summer, make sure it includes some scholarly focus. Most of the top schools offer summer programs for high school students. You can also pursue specialized studies at places like arts schools or even summer travel programs as long as there is a clear academic component.
Take Your Time Making a Decision
Some of our students (even those admitted Early Action) are starting to receive likely letters and regular letters will be coming in the next two weeks. Students often feel pressure to decide immediately where they will spend the next four years, but such a hasty commitment can often be a mistake.
First, it is wise to wait until you hear from ALL of your schools. Just because you received a likely letter does not mean you have to attend that college. The best thing to do is look through all the materials you can about each school to which you are accepted and then take the full 3-4 weeks (until the common reply date of May 1st) to consider. If you are torn between a handful of schools, visit during the special time periods colleges set aside for accepted students. You’ll have a chance to meet other accepted students, professors, experience dorm life firsthand, etc… Since you’ll be spending four years there, you do not want to rush this decision. In fact, if after visiting you feel you need more time, feel free to call your top schools and ask for an extension, which is almost always granted. Sometimes it’s hard to fit visits in before May 1st, so take an extra few days if you need them once you’ve gotten clearance. Picture yourself living on campus — is it the place for you? Visiting is the best way to get a feel for where you’d be most comfortable. Talk to students with interests in your fields, speak to professors in particular departments and grill people to see what the “truth” is about various departments. You are the consumer — once you’re accepted, colleges will cater to you and answer your questions! Make an educated decision.
Do Extras Matter?
Extracurricular activities DO matter—but only when academics are strong. On the 1-9 scale (using the Academic Index Calculator), if you’re only a 1-4, that means that your academics are low enough that extracurriculars won’t make up for them. On the other hand, if you’re an academic 8-9, they won’t care as much about extras since the academic are so strong. It’s for the middle range of students that extracurriculars and leadership really matter. Just remember, academics are always 75% or more of the decision; once you’re in the range, THEN extras come into play. To say it another way, incredible extras won’t make up for mediocre performance.
So, whether you are a rare coin collector, founder of your school’s history club, tuba player, or editor of the newspaper your activities alone won’t get you into a top college. It is better, however, for you to be a leader in a few activities and distinguish yourself with a high level of participation on a niched area rather than be a member of tons of clubs but with no discernable passion for one area. Show a genuine commitment rather than just signing up at random for a lot of things. In general, an activity such as debate would be better than simply attending a year book staff meeting once every few months.
What to Do if an Interview Goes Awry
Students often ask what they can do if their alumni interview was horrible. How could an interview be horrible? Every once in a while, alumni interviewers (who often have zero training in how to interview) use their interview to reminisce about the “good old days” when they were college students and don’t give you a chance to talk about yourself at all. Though sometimes other problems occur, this is the most prevalent problem we’ve heard from students regarding alumni who felt the need to monopolize the time during an interview. They might even show how smart they are by grilling you unfairly or asked oddball questions.
Unfortunately, alumni interviewers are given as much weight as on campus interviews at most colleges, but the alumni interviews undergo very little training in how to interview kids. It seems that the colleges let alumni do interviews to better alumni relations and help them feel a part of the college community.
As a student, what can you do? If you experience a negative interview or one in which you did not feel that you were given a chance to express yourself, follow up with the admissions office. Chances are, they already are aware of any interviewers who have been off-base in the past or who have had other complaints. By writing a brief note and/or calling to explain, you will at least make sure the interview is not used against you and the admissions office will probably bend over backwards to read your file carefully so there’s no way for you to think the interview had any kind of negative effect.
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