After spending too much time going through the college application process, I have some advice for juniors at City High who want to get into a top 20 school: You are not only competing with other students to get into college; the colleges are competing for you. 

You may imagine an admissions officer as an enemy, or at least someone predisposed to judge and nitpick your life decisions. Try to think this way instead: your admissions officer wants to argue for you, not against you. You must help by giving him reasons to make that argument. In many offices, your admissions officer reads your application, takes notes, then presents your file to the other admissions officers in a committee for discussion. Admissions officers are excited about the students in their geographical location and often wish they had more spots. 

DECIDING WHERE TO APPLY

“Fit” is important. Each college envisions its own ideal community and tempers its admissions decisions accordingly. If you liked a college’s essay questions, or got a good feeling from a visit to campus, you’re likely a good fit for that school. 

 Do you know exactly what you want to do, or would you like the room to explore a range of subjects? In general, liberal arts colleges are more open to students whose major is undecided than universities to which you apply to specific majors and programs. 

If you are really in need of financial aid, look into the program called Questbridge. The disadvantage of using Questbridge is that you’ll have to have everything done early (by the end of September), so start planning in advance. 

EARLY APPLICATIONS

If you know exactly where you want to go, consider applying early. Many schools have a binding early admissions program (Early Decision), which lets you apply by November 1 to one (only one!) private college or university, with the promise of a reply by mid-December. The disadvantage of Early Decision is that you have to commit early, without knowing about financial aid. The advantage is that in almost every college, you’re much more likely to be admitted if you apply early. Elite schools such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and Princeton have an early program, Restricted Early Action, which is not binding.

If you need financial aid, do not apply to a binding Early Decision program. You would be legally committing to attend a school you may not be able to afford.

DEMONSTRATE INTEREST

Many colleges are busy trying to get to the top of various categories on the U.S. World and News Report and other college rankings. The higher colleges are ranked, and the lower their acceptance rate, the more “desirable” they seem to applicants. 

For this reason, demonstrate interest at the schools that want to see it. “Demonstrating interest” usually includes visiting campus, going on an official tour, clicking on emails, connecting with current students, attending virtual info-sessions, and corresponding with your area admissions officer.

But even the most selection colleges admit more applicants than they can provide for because some admitted students will turn them down for another school. A college cares a lot about its yield rate, which is the percentage of accepted students who matriculate. The higher the yield rate, and the lower the acceptance rate, the more highly they’ll be ranked. And so on. Many colleges want to “protect” their yield rate by admitting the students who are most likely to enroll. If you’re a very promising candidate, but you have demonstrated no interest in the school, you may not be admitted to that school because they may fear that if they let you in, you will end up going somewhere else. You’d be surprised at the schools that are reputed to do this.

GRADES AND CLASSES

Grades are nuanced: Your transcript is the backbone of your application. If you want to get into a top 20 school, you must get all As, or as close to all As as possible. There are many applicants with high grades (this is partly due to grade inflation and partly because, again, there are simply too many overqualified applicants). So you won’t be admitted because of your transcript alone. It simply provides ground for the admissions office to feel confident enough about your academic preparation to continue looking at other parts of your application. 

 Take lots of advanced classes at City (APs, accelerated, honors). Also consider Kirkwood or the University of Iowa through the PSEO Program.

STANDARDIZED TESTS

These tests are especially useful to admissions officers for identifying promising students from under-resourced backgrounds.

Decide whether you will take the ACT or the SAT and focus on studying for one exam. Anybody can get better at the ACT or SAT by practicing. It’s therefore often helpful to take the tests more than once. Some people score perfectly on their first exam. But as a mere mortal, I had to practice. (See more tips for SAT math here.)

EXTRACURRICULARS 

Make a resume with your extracurriculars as early as possible, ideally during the spring of your junior year. This helps you to organize your activities and will be useful for when you put extracurriculars into your Common App, Coalition App, or Questbridge Application.

Try to show incremental growth over time in your extracurriculars. These are clearly shown by titled positions, or level of extracurricular. (For instance, JV sports to Varsity; Reporter to Executive Editor. . .) This can also be shown by the number of hours you spent (from one hour per week as a freshman to 20 hours per week as a junior).

Volunteering is good. Find something you enjoy. 

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

Ask two (or more) teachers for letters of recommendation as early as possible. It’s helpful to give them your resumé so that they can write about your extracurriculars if they want to. Admissions officers might look to letters to gain context that you won’t necessarily be able to tell them about, like growth over time, significant challenges you faced, your in-class attitude towards learning, and how you interact with peers. 

Also, talk to your school counselor about what you’d like them to include in your counselor letter, which is required at nearly every college. 

THE BIG PICTURE 

In holistic admissions, you are considered “within your context.” While this context will vary for City High students, we all have an Iowa background, which is rather unique. 

All of the parts of the application should fit together. I was very happy with my admissions results, despite not having achieved various things: I didn’t get all 5s on my AP exams; I was not in a million clubs; I didn’t get a perfect SAT or ACT score. While applying to college, I worried I hadn’t done enough. When I think back, though, I realize that it was okay, because all of the things I was doing made sense together. My application was complete. 

You don’t have to be perfect as a freshman; colleges want to see improvement. It’s not a disaster if your first report card or AP scores aren’t high; you just have to show that you improved a lot during your sophomore and junior years. 

Tip: Get a pet if you don’t already have one. My dog has made me so much calmer!

And remember to take my advice–as well as anybody else’s advice–with a grain of salt. For example, please keep in mind that current events may change the college admissions scene that I described. For each student, there are many paths. Good luck, and just think: in the end, you can only attend one college. One acceptance is enough.