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Here’s some information on how to get into top colleges and universities. Top Test Prep’s admissions experts can help you if you’re applying to college and need college admissions counseling.
Here’s some information on how to get into top colleges. This video explains how one student got into his top college after applying with Top Test Prep’s help.
Top Test Prep’s team helps students with their SAT prep, ACT prep and admissions counseling programs. Call (800) 501-Prep for more information on our college admissions programs.
Here’s our new tutoring and admissions expert, overview video. We hope our family, friends and fans enjoy!
What Admissions Offices Want, Objective vs. Subjective Standards
There are two sides to an admissions application for both colleges and graduate schools: objective vs. subjective standards. An admissions office wants both of these components, although some admissions committees emphasize one more than the other.
For definition purposes: the objective side of your application includes your test scores and your GPA. Whereas the subjective side of your application includes your personal statement, letters of recommendation, resume, extracurricular activities, and academic (or other) awards.
For the most part, an admissions office wants the highest test scores. In fact, test scores are the only objective standard in which an admissions office can compare your academic potential to another person applying. Think of the objective standard – test scores – in the same way that a person buying a new home would want to compare the house they’re interested in with a house on the same block. You can never really know the value of that potential home, until you see how other houses near that address fare when sold.
Also, it’s not easy to know exactly what test scores an admissions office is looking for, but one good guess is to research “median” test scores published by that school. For example, many Ivy League schools, which are ranked in the top 10 – i.e. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, generally have test scores that range above the top 90th percentile. This means for the SAT generally students score a 2000 or higher. For test such as the LSAT and GMAT, students generally score a 165 or higher and a 670 or higher, respectively, on these two exams for both schools. However, if you’re not quite in these ranges, you have two options: re-take the test, or make the subjective side (essays, resumes, recommendations) so good that they de-emphasize your test scores.
I would argue that objective standards such as your test scores and GPA are the gateway to having an admissions officer review the subjective side such as your essays and personal statements. In other words, many admissions officers won’t begin to look at your full application unless your test scores and GPA are strong enough and fit their median range. There’s a little bit of flexibility on the GPA, as there is some grade inflation at certain schools, and admissions offices know this. But for the most part, you want this objective component to also be as strong, as your test scores are. If the admissions office sees a higher GPA and a really low test score (or vice versa), you might have to explain why such a discrepancy exists.
On the subjective side of the admissions application, you really should focus on your admissions essay. In addition, your recommendations can make a big difference especially if the admissions office is comparing applicants with similar test scores. Overall, the subjective criteria that defines your application is the secondary component – but very important – to your potential admission into a top school.
If you need help with college admissions counseling or graduate admissions counseling, give us a call today or fill out our contact form.
Ross Blankenship
Admissions Expert, Founder of Top Test Prep
By Ross Blankenship
Founder of Top Test Prep
& Admissions Expert
So you’ve been put on the waitlist for your top school? Well, it might not be the most ideal situation, but I’ll try to help you get off the admissions waitlist with a few easy admissions tips.
Whether you’re on the admissions waitlist for a top college, medical school, graduate school, business school, these steps will help you get accepted.
Tips for Getting Accepted off the Waitlist:
(1) Reply immediately.
When you get your letter (or email) from the admissions office indicating you’ve been placed on the waitlist, don’t wait until the last minute to send in your reply letter. The sooner you indicate your interest in being accepted off of the waitlist, the more likely you’ll get into this school. I would recommend waiting no more than 48 hours. Also consider writing a certified letter, instead of an email, directly to the admissions office. Consider doing something extraordinary like writing a handwritten letter. There’s no harm in trying a different approach.
(2) Notice who wrote your waitlist letter.
With today’s technology, you can do basic research on any University’s admissions officers. If you received a letter from the Dean of Admissions or their assistant, do a little background check to find things out such as their age, how long they’ve been at the school, and what sorts of things they’re interested in at their current school. You’d be surprised about how much information you can find by doing a Google Search or researching social networks such as LinkedIn. Now, take this information and use it to your advantage.
Write a rapid response letter whose tone is as formal as you know that person to be. For example, if you’ve found that the admissions officer is younger, be less formal in your response. Note: this does not mean writing a casual response! Instead, try to be a little less wordy and more to the point. Your salutations and greetings also can be less formal, depending on your audience.
(3) Be specific.
Instead of writing a general letter or calling to say how interested you are in their school because “it’s [simply] such a great school,” write instead about how you’ve followed Professor “X” academic research and how you want to be part of the school so you can contribute to their academic work. The more specific, the better! Don’t be so general in terms of how or why you think the school is a good fit for you. Do simple research to display how much you know about their school and every department in which you are interested.
(4) It’s not always about you!
This applies to pretty much every setting, whether in your letters or correspondences to an admissions office, or in your admissions interviews. Too often students think these two situations are opportunities for you to go on about how smart or great you are personally. Think about turning the table and making it less about you and more about what you can do for their school, college or university.
(5) Re-take that test.
If you’re applying to college and you’re on the admissions office’s waitlist specifically because of your low SAT or ACT scores, re-take the test! If you’re applying to graduate school – perhaps to medical school or some graduate program- and your MCAT score is low or your GRE score is too low, re-take the test. Admissions officers are people too (yes, hard to believe) and they know how stressful tests can be for students. If your scores are outside of their median whether for the SAT, ACT, MCAT, GRE, and so on, taking the test again will show the school how dedicated you are to getting into their program. This doesn’t mean that you have to continue re-taking an exam over and over again, but instead you should give the test one more try. When you get your improved scores, send these scores directly to the admissions office. Also, write a letter to the admissions office indicating you’ve re-taken the exam and that you are still committed to attending their program if accepted.
I hope these tips for getting accepted off the waitlist help you. There’s no need to panic if you’re placed on the waitlist. In fact, you can use it as an opportunity to showcase other talents that didn’t necessarily come out in the first round of admissions.
Ross Blankenship is an admissions expert who helps students get into colleges and graduate schools. He is also the Founder and President of Top Test Prep.
Top Test Prep provides admissions counseling, test prep, and private tutoring for students applying to prep schools, colleges and graduate schools.
To find out more about Top Test Prep, go to http://TopTestPrep.com or call (800) 501-Prep.
We’ve told you to take your scholarship essays seriously. So where and how do you begin? Here are some helpful questions to get you started:
What attributes do you wish to convey?
- In order to answer this question, you should at the very least read a description of the award. Is the award intended to honor a certain person, and how is he or she described? This will give you an idea of the criteria on which your character will be judged.
- What are the main interests or goals of the organization offering the scholarship? How might you be expected to help achieve these goals? Present yourself as someone compatible with the organization’s mission.
- If you have questions regarding the scholarship, you can always call the organization. Committees want to help students create strong applications.
Do you need to do some research, or is the question more personal?
- Outside research can enrich your writing and strengthen its impact. You may be required to do research in order to answer the question – if, for example, you need to evaluate a policy and take a stance for or against it. If the question is personal, outside research may still be helpful for placing your circumstances in context. Maybe you want to explain just how crucial the lab research you’re conducting is to our understanding of the habits of howler monkeys.
Do you come across as human?
- If so, good! It’s alright – even beneficial – to reveal shortcomings, as long as you have some insight into them and can demonstrate that you’ll give a challenge everything you’ve got. Have a friend read your essay, and see what kind of picture of you it paints.
- Use specific details and examples to convey desired attributes. Don’t just say you work hard. Describe the steps you take to succeed, and how you manage to balance work with other demands.
Lastly, get feedback.
Top Test Prep offers admissions counseling that can help you hone your scholarship essays and grab an organization’s attention.
This article is on how to write scholarship essays. For more information on scholarship essays for applications, go to TopTestPrep.com.
1. Start researching now.
Don’t assume you’re ineligible for a scholarship without thoroughly researching what’s out there. Use the internet, see where your friends are applying, buy a scholarship guide at a bookstore, and ask your college counselor for suggestions. There are scholarships for everything, from tall brunette women to musical prodigies. Through diligent searching, you’ll discover you’re a candidate for more than a few.
2. Increase your chances.
If you start researching scholarships early, you may still have time in your educational career to become a good candidate. A scholarship might require that you’ve completed a certain project or spent time on an extracurricular interest by the application deadline. If you know in advance which scholarships interest you, you can work these things into your free time or your classes.
Another way to increase your odds of receiving scholarship money is to apply for scholarships with very specific candidate criteria, scholarships for which fewer people will be applying.
3. Consider schools that offer academic scholarships to attract students like you.
Review the schools’ websites to see what kinds of recruitment scholarships they offer. Schools will invest in high-caliber students in order to boost their rankings. Additionally, schools may use scholarship money to attract students from different geographical areas, students who can contribute to the school’s ethnic and cultural diversity, and students who are involved in less popular areas of study. Check to see whether these schools require supplemental materials or separate applications from students interested in scholarship money.
4. Take applications seriously.
Be sure to do everything a scholarship application asks of you. Approach your potential patrons with humility: they’re considering giving you money, after all. The application itself – and how well you’ve managed to follow the directions – will influence your eligibility.
5. Write a killer scholarship essay.
Approach scholarship essays with the same seriousness of purpose (and attendant anxiety) you reserve for admissions essays. Remember that the people bestowing scholarship money are interested in you as an individual. They want to sponsor candidates that they can easily picture profiting in specific ways from the education they’ll be helping to fund.
Top Test Prep offers admissions counseling that can help you manage your search for scholarships and financial aid.
This article is on getting scholarship money for colleges. To get help from college admissions experts, go to TopTestPrep.com.
There are two ways to approach writing a college admissions essay: finding a unique subject, or finding a unique angle on a familiar subject. In addition to displaying your writing abilities, a college admissions essay helps round out your character to an admissions committee. It reveals – or is intended to reveal – who you are. Try not to be intimidated when a college gives you the freedom to choose any topic. Once you have a list of possible topics, trust that a unique angle – in other words, your honest perspective – can make almost any subject interesting, even if it’s something the college has heard about many times before.
First, ask yourself if you’ve had any outstanding experiences – a moment in time, a vacation spent volunteering, sports camp, or a semester abroad. “Outstanding” doesn’t have to mean exotic. It can be an experience that meant something to you – whether it made you sad, made you grateful, or challenged you in a particular area. Maybe it was the three months you spent on crutches sporting a giant plastic boot. Or maybe it was the week you helped your parents make all the traditional Thanksgiving foods from scratch.
If your outstanding experience took place over a significant span of time, consider narrowing in on a particular moment that is especially representative. A single moment or anecdote can jump-start your essay, leading into a broader admissions essay theme.
Stories are fascinating. I will always recommend working a narrative element into your college admissions essay, whether it’s starting out with a story, working some background and some analysis into the middle, and finishing the essay with how the story ended.
Ensure that your admissions essay appears polished by 1) giving it a title and 2) making absolutely sure that there are no grammatical errors or misspellings. Enlist an editor you trust to read it over before you submit it.
Top Test Prep offers college admissions counseling, including help with your college admissions essays.
Contact Top Test Prep to get help with your college admissions essays and college admissions counseling by calling (800) 501-7737 or fill out our contact form.
If you need an admissions counselor to help with your applications, admissions essays, and strategies for applying to top schools, get more information here.
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