Applications with Flair: Ticket to the Accept Bin or the Trash Bin?
Competition is certainly heating up every year in college admissions. In desperation, students are doing their best to stand out from the crowd and show their creative side. Yesterday, I suggested that some flair might be a good idea. I did not expect that students would go as far as they have:
A Smith College applicant glued words to a Scrabble board trumpeting her attributes. A Tufts University hopeful designed a neon-green flower made of duct tape. And a teenager desperate to get into Harvard sent in a homemade chocolate replica of the school's Veritas shield.
[...]
"The ultimate question is, 'Does this help the student get in?' " said Debra Shaver, Smith College director of admission. "And the answer is no. It certainly entertains the staff, but it doesn't help the student get in."
Giving an even more pointed answer, William R. Fitzsimmons, Harvard's dean of admissions, said, "[d]on't do it."
As important as it is to stand out in a crowd, none of the admissions officers quoted in the article and certainly none that I have ever spoken with advocate the use of gimmicks to do so. Instead, most recommend that you show your history of creativity through past activities listed in your resume or offer a unique perspective of yourself in the personal statement.
Flair will almost always make it appear as if you are trying to compensate for something. You want to show to the admissions committee that you are proud of your accomplishments and believe that they stand on their own without needless decoration. And as I mentioned in the how to get rejected article, ideas which you think are clever rarely are. Backing up my disdain for the advice given in books about 'great personal statement ideas' is Tufts director of undergraduate admissions Susan Ardizzoni, who gave the perfect summary when she said, "[w]e think there's some guidebook telling them this is a good thing to do."
It isn't. Stick to the materials that the college actually requests and leave the gimmicks to your straight-to-the-trash competitors.
Have a question or comment? Leave me one.Massive Increase in 2008 Applications
Colleges across the nation are seeing a surge in applications for 2008 admissions. A number of factors are cited as a possible cause, the most likely of which include increasing amounts of college-aged students, recruiting tactics, the ease of online applications, and the increasing amount of schools to which a single student applies.
The most selective schools are seeing the greatest increase, with colleges like Harvard receiving 27,278 applicants for approximately 1,700 spaces -- a 19% increase from last year. Ultimately, this means one thing: colleges will have to be more selective and deny more applicants than ever before. And with 3.2 million high school seniors graduating in 2009, the largest amount in our nation's history, the problem seems poised to get worse instead of better.
The actual impact this will have on the selection process is not completely clear. A big cause for the increase in applications is that students are simply applying to more schools. While 4 may have been the average several years ago, students now are applying to as many as a dozen schools. This could be the major cause of a misleading numbers increase.
Fortunately for students, this news is more of a problem for the admissions committee than for the applicants themselves. Colleges now must be more careful in determining not only the amount of students they will accept (remember, schools anticipate that some percentage of students will decide not to attend), but also the amount of students they will waitlist.
So take comfort, applicants, because admissions will not necessarily become harder. The process will certainly become more stressful for admissions officers, and this stress will undoubtedly be passed onto applicants in the form of bigger waitlists and longer delays, but ultimately there should be little effect on your chances of admission. Remember that while the number of applicants is skyrocketing, the average GPA and SAT/ACT scores of the admitted classes are staying somewhat consistent.
Source: NYTimes
Have a question or comment? 2 people do.How to get rejected
Several interviews with a number of deans of admission have revealed several of students' most common application mistakes -- and how to avoid making them. Learn how to get accepted to college by also learning what will get you rejected.
For the list of the common mistakes, click here to read the full article.
The 7-Point Application Inspection Checklist
There are seven things you must check before sending in your college application. Don't get caught making the biggest 'immediate rejection' mistakes that plague so many applicants.
To go through the 7-point inspection, click here to read the full article.
