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Expert's Forum
Getting In: A College Admissions Primer The
Duke Gifted Letter at Duke University's "Talent
Identification Program" interviewed college admissions officers
at several leading universities for insights into what students
and parents should know about the college admissions process.
They share their advice with us here.
1) DGL: What major assumption do high-achieving students
often have about getting admitted to your institution?
Admissions officers agree that students’ biggest
misconception is that high test scores are all they need to get
in.
UC-Berkeley: They do not realize the importance of their
pattern of courses and grades earned over time, the strength of
their overall curriculum, and the rigor of their senior year.
Sewanee: Test scores come in third to strength of
curriculum and performance in that curriculum. Most [experts]
know that rigor and classroom performance are better predictors
of success in college, and that is what we are trying to
do—predict who is going to be successful in college.
2) DGL: Should my child take the basic coursework and get
straight As or take AP and advanced courses and risk getting a
lower grade?
The consensus is that students should do both. However,
admissions officers would rather see a student take the hardest
classes available and get lower grades than take nonchallenging
classes and get easy As.
UT-Austin: In a selective-admission environment, the
reality is that enough students will have done both to fill [an
incoming freshman] class before reaching those who did poorly in
advanced courses or well in basic courses.
Oberlin: Students seeking academic challenges will risk
getting a lower grade in order to take a more challenging class
to feed their love of learning.
Davidson: The purpose of choosing challenging courses in high
school is not to help you get into college but to help you once
you arrive on campus. The more challenge students encounter in
their high school curriculum, the more prepared they are to deal
with the rigors of higher education.
Northwestern: One of our first expectations is that
students are in the AP courses; we note negatively when a
student seems to be dodging most of the tougher courses, even
with As.
3) DGL: How should students approach writing the application
essay? What things grab your attention or increase your interest
in an applicant?
Admissions officers stress that students should not rehash
information on the application but should tell them something
new and let their personalities show. Most important, the essay
should be well organized and free of grammatical and spelling
mistakes.
Oberlin: Students should do the best they can without
trying to guess at what will impress the admissions office.
After all, every reader in an admissions office is different,
and several people may read a given application. Be yourself,
but keep in mind that most readers disdain poorly proofread,
unfocused essays that don’t comply with the rules of standard
written English. There is no magic essay that will get a C
student into a selective college. Yet an A student who submits a
disorganized essay full of grammatical mistakes may join the
ranks of those who are not admitted.
Duke: What grabs our attention is a well-written,
insightful, personal essay. Gimmicks are not necessary and
generally don’t work. The essay should be approached as an
opportunity to write well about a subject of interest and thus
reveal something about the writer.
Davidson: The best advice for students is that the essay
is the only part of the application where others are not
speaking for you and where you have a chance to speak directly
to a staff member about your hopes, fears, opinions, and
experiences. A successful essay will incorporate personal
anecdotes and thoughts in captivating prose. The chances are
that you will not pick a topic that is entirely unique, but you
can highlight what distinguishes your experience from that of
other applicants and why that makes you a solid candidate for
admission.
UC-Berkeley: When you answer the essay prompts, avoid
generalizing or summarizing what has already been provided in
your application. Help us understand your assertions by
elaborating with specific examples.
4) DGL: How do admissions officers deal with the dilemma of a
parent’s editing or helping write their child’s essay? How much
help is considered too much help?
Everyone agrees that parents should only help proofread. Any
help with writing and editing would not only be unethical but
take away from the student’s self-expression.
UC-Berkeley: It’s fine for parents to provide feedback
and suggestions, but students should write their own essays.
When reading the essay, readers are looking for the authentic
voice of the applicant. A parent’s help can reduce the impact of
the message.
Duke: Too much help is when the student’s voice is lost.
Essays can become overpolished. At that point they sound like
the writing of an adult rather than of a 17- or 18-year-old, and
they become weaker rather than stronger. We don’t expect
students to avoid help, just to place that help in the proper
context.
DGL: Do you recommend that applicants put their energies into
only one or two extracurricular activities, or do colleges
prefer applicants who are involved in a large number of
activities?
Although students naturally want to try out lots of different
activities, admissions officers caution against excessive
involvement without depth. They want to see a student’s ability
to commit and succeed.
Sewanee: Serial participators rarely leave a mark at
their high schools or colleges. We would rather see meaningful
involvement [in a few activities] than superficial involvement
in multiple activities.
Davidson: As they search for an area of interest,
students will often come down with the “sampling syndrome” and
jump from one activity to another. While this exploration is
understandable, we look for leadership potential and
extracurricular experience that will help enhance the student
body. The most successful applicants follow their interests with
dedication and make real contributions to each organization or
endeavor they pursue.
5) DGL: What role does community service play in an
applicant’s admission file? How do you know that the service is
genuine, not something done just to make an applicant look good?
Not all colleges require community service, but they all look
for commitment and impact in any extracurricular activity.
Davidson: Demonstrated service leadership in a community
or a school tends to stand out, especially when students
consistently support causes or groups for which they have a deep
passion. I would certainly caution against using service as
résumé “padding”; [what counts is] not always the amount of time
spent on a project but the action taken and outcome of the
effort.
Oberlin: We look for students who fill their time with
passionate pursuits. These might include community service,
working after school to help support the family, practicing a
musical instrument several hours a day, or simply commuting a
long distance to attend a more academically satisfying school.
6) DGL: How do you ensure that students from small, rural, or
economically disadvantaged high schools with few AP courses or
opportunities for honors-level work are evaluated fairly
alongside students arriving from large, more comprehensive high
schools?
Admissions officers emphasize that they carefully review each
application in the context of the academic opportunity available
to the student and do not penalize students for the schooling
that is available to them.
Duke: We pay very careful attention to the profile
provided by the high school and evaluate each student’s academic
Accomplishments in the context of what is available at his or
her school.
Northwestern: We ask ourselves what the student did with
what was available to him or her; using this contextual reading,
we are able to admit a good number of students from rural or
underserved urban schools.
Oberlin: We consider evidence that the student has sought
additional academic challenges outside his or her home school’s
traditional curriculum, perhaps at a community college or
through a summer experience, documented self-study, or a private
study under the supervision of a trusted teacher from the
school. We look for students who love learning and are
successful at pursuing their love. This success can be expressed
in a myriad of ways beyond simply having “AP” on their
transcript.
UT-Austin: We add no extra weight in our process for the
high school that a student attends. Most students don’t have a
choice about where they will attend school, and we don’t believe
that it is fair to punish the student for the level of schooling
his or her community is able to afford.
7) DGL: If a student is wait-listed for your school, what
does this really mean? How likely is it that the student will
eventually gain admission? Can the student increase his or her
chances for admission once on the wait list? If so, how?
Those colleges that offer wait lists make it clear that most
students on the wait list do not gain admission. However, they
do have some advice for those students.
Sewanee: First, finish your high school year strongly. An
upward trend in grades always impresses admissions folks.
Second, if you really want to be selected off a waiting list,
then make sure you express that to the college or university.
Let them know that they are your first choice and that you would
come if selected.
Northwestern: We keep a relatively small wait list, so a
wait list offer does connote genuine interest in and respect for
the student’s record. Students should let us know of their
continuing interest; the reply card is nice, but so is a note
with any senior year updates that makes clear the student’s
continuing interest.
8) DGL: If your institution accepts letters of recommendation
and/or teacher evaluations, what do you look for in support As
with the student essay, colleges want to hear new information
that is not included on the application. In particular, they
want to hear personal stories about the applicant that back up
the information on the application of an applicant?
Northwestern: Detailed information, beyond the grades or
list of activities, that encourage us to think that the student
will be an active contributor to the classroom and campus.
Duke: Anecdotes that support the qualities referred to in
the recommendation. Generalities without support do not help
distinguish an applicant.
Sewanee: The best recommendations come from individuals
who really know the student. It is incumbent on the student to
ensure that the individuals writing the recommendations know
them well.
The undergraduate admissions office personnel who
participated in this forum were Pam Burnett, University of
California, Berkeley; Debra Chermonte, Oberlin College;
Christoph Guttentag, Duke University; David Lesesne, University
of the South (Sewanee); Page B. Neubert, Davidson College; Keith
Todd, Northwestern University; and Bruce Walker, University of
Texas at Austin. Duke University TIP. 1121 West Main Street,
Durham, NC 27701-2028. Phone: (919) 668-9100. Fax: (919)
681-7921.
Email:
information@tip.duke.edu. Copyright © 2005 Duke University
Talent Identification Program.
Reprinted with permission from the Duke Gifted Letter (www.dukegiftedletter.com)
and Duke University Talent Identification Program (www.tip.duke.edu). |
College Admissions Primer