WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GETTING INTO COLLEGE

By Gene and Kelly Tanabe

Applying to college may seem daunting. There are forms to complete, essays to write and maybe even interviews with admission officers. Without knowing what to expect, the whole process can be overwhelming. The first step to conquering college admissions is to know what it’s made of. To help, here are the major parts of the college
applications and some tips to make sure you’re successful.

• The actual application form.

The form is an interesting collection of blanks, spaces and short questions about your education, test scores, family, activities, awards and work experience. Colleges use the application forms to get an overall picture of your academic, extracurricular and other achievements.

Here’s what to know about college applications.

• Exercise your right to type.

Whether you apply online or on paper, we strongly suggest that you type the application. There’s nothing worse than the admissions officers not being able to read your application.

• Take control of the space.

We guarantee you will want more space than you are given on the application. This is where your skills at prioritizing come in. You need to first put all of your information in order of importance. Then include as much of it as you can.

• To résumé or not to résumé.

If you have a number of additional activities or a lot more detail that you would like to include that can’t fit on the
application, include a résumé with your application. However, make sure that your résumé includes more than what you have on the application form itself.

• Focus on leadership.

Include activities, awards and experiences that highlight your leadership or special contributions. Don’t fill blanks with fluff.

• No blanks blank.

After you are finished, make sure you have completed every blank, including your signature!

• Essays.

Usually the colleges ask you to write your autobiography of about 500 words or less. Sometimes colleges will give you a choice of topics, such as a memorable experience, your personal hero, a page of your autobiography, etc. Usually, there will also be one to four shorter questions for you to answer by writing about your favorite extracurricular activity, book or why you have chosen to apply to the college. The essay will require the most work on your part and is one of the most important factors in college admissions. Here are some tips.

• Be yourself.

It is important to show the admissions officers the real you. You want to show why you think or act the way you do, what drives you, or what has moved you. Choose only the topics that are truly meaningful to you. Speak in your own voice. If you felt secretly happy that your evil opponent lost the quiz bowl, say so. By explaining how you really feel and not how you think the admissions committee would like for you to have feel, you will not only be truthful, but it will also help to ensure that your essay is truly the “original” you.

• Razzle, dazzle and captivate your audience.

When you begin writing, keep in mind that you need to write a truly memorable essay. You want your essay to razzle, dazzle and captivate your audience. To do this, you need to draw the admissions officers into your essay with a quick, catchy and creative introduction. You want to pique their curiosity by posing questions they will want the answers to and dilemmas they too have faced. Most importantly, you want the admissions officers to be able to relate to your essay (not necessarily to the actual events but to the feelings involved).

• How you write is just as important as what you write.

You should constantly ask yourself if you would be interested in your essay if you were the reader. Imagine yourself as the admissions officer as you read the first few paragraphs, and ask yourself what makes you want to finish it? Do not just rely on your opinion. It is also important to seek the opinions of others. If your essay does not captivate, does not compel the reader to finish, you will need to rework it.

• Create some mystery at the forefront.

Start your essay with an introduction that surprises the readers and makes them want to read past the first sentence. For example, you could start your essay with a description of your fear of the sounds of heavy artillery and roaring rapids when you are talking not about your latest trek to the firing range or your summer trip down the Colorado River, but actually about your phobia of visiting the dentist. Keep in mind, however, that you have a limited space and therefore your introduction will have to be fairly brief. Do not get too carried away with your own creativity.

• Raise intriguing questions or dilemmas.

Ponder questions to which you think the admissions officers would be interested in finding the answers. If you raise a question or a dilemma you faced, ask yourself if the reader would be interested in knowing the results of your decision.

• Use original language.

Try to describe people, places and events in a unique—but not awkward--style. Appeal to the different senses. What can the reader see from your essay? Hear? Smell? (Hopefully nothing rotten.) By adding rich detail you can often turn an ordinary topic into a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. The more you can bring the reader into your essay by using description, the better. Try to think of language as a toy, and play with it. Just make sure if you use unfamiliar words, you use them correctly. It is better to use ordinary language correctly than to use roller coaster-exciting language incorrectly.

• Be witty, but only if you can.

Showing your sense of humor will help to make your essay memorable. If you can make the admissions officers laugh or giggle, it will be a definite plus for your application. But, do not go overboard with the humor, and remember to have someone else check to make sure that what you think is funny really is funny. Admissions officers love essays that make them laugh. However, admissions officers also despise essays that intentionally try to be funny but are not or that use humor that is simply silly or immature. Our advice is to forget about trying to be funny and just tell an interesting story. If your story is well told and interesting, chances are that any inherent humor in it will show through.

By keeping these points in mind, you should be able to write a decent first draft toward your ultimate goal of creating that irresistible essay. Remember that an irresistible essay is an original that employs a unique angle, addresses a meaningful question or dilemma and is crafted with thoughtful language.

• Recommendations.

Better start getting onto the good side of everyone you know. Colleges usually require three or more recommendations from your teachers, counselors and (maybe) even your boss. They use recommendations as a way to get someone else’s opinion of you. The best thing you can do to guarantee strong recommendations is to ask those who know you best and give them a lot of time to compose their letters.

• An interview.

These one-on-one discussions with alumni or admissions officers are the only time you will interact directly with a human being during the admissions process. (Note: not all schools require the interview.) Before doing an interview, practice. Think about how you can describe your achievements, what you want out of college and where you see yourself in the future.

• Test scores and transcript.

Most colleges require that you take the SAT Reasoning Test or ACT Assessment and three SAT Subject Tests. It is also highly recommended that you take some Advanced Placement (AP) tests as well. The general rule for when you should take the ACT or SAT is once or twice during the spring of your junior year, and if you are not satisfied with your scores, again in the fall of your senior year.

For the SAT Subject Tests, ideally you should take the subject tests soon after you have completed courses covering the subject because it is easy to forget how to conjugate “estar” in Spanish or the details of the causes of the American Revolution.

The exception is when you are planning to take another course in the same subject area. If you are, you may want to take the test once, take the next course, and take the test again. For example, if you have taken three years of Latin and have a solid grasp of the language, you should probably take the SAT Latin Subject Test in your junior year. If you take a fourth year of Latin, you may want to take the exam again in your senior year as well.

If you plan to take any of the exams again in the fall of your senior year, you should spend the summer before studying. Try to take the exams as early in the fall as you can because later in the fall you will be busy completing your actual applications and will not want to have to worry about taking more tests.

Gen and Kelly Tanabe are the authors of Get into Any College and Sallie Mae’s How to Pay for College. Ask them your questions about how to get into college at www.supercollege.com. Also, search thousands of scholarships for free at www.supercollege.com.