The Edge in Admissions: Authenticity
Cycle after cycle, the college admissions process can feel overwhelming and often intimidating. With stories of seemingly incredible students getting denied from their top choice university, it can often leave students baffled as to what the secret sauce is. If so and so couldn’t get in, how could I? The sheer number of factors involved in a final admission decision are outstanding. The student, the college, the major, the essays, the activity list, the year they applied, the institutional priority of the college, etc. The list goes on. Still, many forget to contextualize the conversation when a story comes up about a denial. For the sake of this discussion, it is important to frame the selectivity of colleges in general. There are over 2,000 colleges and universities in the United States alone. Of those, less than 200 have an acceptance rate of 20% or less. Most colleges are accepting a wide range of their applicant pool and well over 60% of their applicants. So why does it still feel so difficult?
If you are approaching this process from a standpoint of hearsay - you’ll start it with sheer confusion. If you approach it with strategy and authenticity - you’re golden.
Let’s begin with the college list. A curated list of schools that meet your needs academically, personally, and social-emotionally. They meet your future career goals, they align with your personal values, and they meet your needs in buckets like major, size, location, support, etc. This list should be balanced. Yes, you’ve probably heard that before - but what does balanced even mean? It’s a list of schools, let’s say 8-10 colleges, that are all not incredibly selective or reach schools for you.
A balanced college list:
At least 2 to 3 colleges you are likely to gain admission to (Ex: academically you are above the average and the college is accepting more than 50% of their applicants)
2 to 3 target colleges (Ex: You are within the averages academically of the admitted student profile, the college is accepting over 40% of their applicants)
2 to 3 reach colleges (Ex: Academically you are below the admitted student average and/or the college is accepting less than 30% of their applicants)
Caveat: Do your homework and work with a counselor to gain a better idea of how a college lands on your list! Go directly to a college’s website, look at things like the Common Data Set to get the most accurate and up-to-date admission data for a specific college, etc.
So you have your balanced college list. What’s missing? Authenticity. With the era of AI, Reddit, and thousands of YouTube videos of Here’s how I got into Harvard - we are often missing the secret sauce - Authenticity. It can be all too easy and oh - so - tempting to go down a rabbit hole of other people’s advice and computer generated content as you begin crafting your applications. We know it is tempting!!! But when every student has similar academic profiles and are applying to the same program - what stands out is your authentic voice. Your story. Your story is different than anyone else’s. Sure, you’ll have similar experiences - you may be on ASB, or have competed in DECA, you may have had hardship and others have too - BUT your take, your experience, your growth, and what you’ve gained from your experiences are different. You have to give yourself the time to really think about your story and how you want to present yourself in the application - and that thinking shouldn’t be conducted in ChatGPT. It should be done on a blank page - in the brainstorming process. Really getting into the feeling and the depth. You don’t want someone else to craft your Why Us essay. You don’t want anyone else to draft your personal statement - because it won’t come across the same.
Give yourself the opportunity to write your story. It’s worth sharing!
Interested in working with a counselor? Email cbarneson@collegiateeducationalplanning.com
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