7 Important Factors in the College Application Process
Last Updated on October 17, 2024 by Jill Schwitzgebel
Beyond GPAs and Test Scores
Every college will consider each factor differently. Therefore, the list below is simply in alphabetical order and should not be interpreted as a weighted scale.
Class Rank?
One consideration for a college when looking at an application is a student’s class rank, although this is becoming less common. Many high schools have done away with ranking, as they feel it does a disservice to their students – a student that is ranked first in their class at one high school, might be ranked 50th at a highly academically competitive high school down the road. Class rank is just not always a fair comparison for students attending different high schools. If your child’s high school no longer provides class rank, don’t fret. Colleges understand and won’t hold it against your student in any way. In fact, just like high schools, many colleges are no longer considering class rank as a factor in admissions.
Demonstrated Interest
Did you know that when considering your application, many colleges will take into account your student’s level of interest? This is usually not one of their top considerations, but if they’re looking at two students who appear to be similar in every way on paper, then the student who showed interest by visiting or connecting in some way to the campus will certainly get the edge. It could be that the student came to the campus for a formal tour, or it could be as simple as some email correspondence between the college admissions officer and the student. Either way, the student has demonstrated that they have taken the time to learn something about the school and are truly interested in attending. In other words, colleges want students that they think want them.
More and more colleges are paying attention to whether students open the email that they send to them. And then, they are paying attention to whether students click on the links in that email. So, if your student is truly interested, make sure they are checking that email!
Essay(s)
The application essay usually carries a great deal of weight in the admissions process with colleges. Whole books are written about how to write a college essay! At some schools, admissions officers will tell you that the essay is what made them remember a student and push for their acceptance. This is not something that a student can just write the night before an application is due. It is worth looking around the internet and reading some essays written by successful college applicants before sitting down to write. It should tell the college something about the student that is not necessarily evident from the rest of the application. And it is a rare student that can afford to write just one draft of a college essay, without spending time polishing it. It should most certainly be edited and proofread prior to sending it.
Extracurricular Activities
Extracurriculars might be clubs or sports at school, volunteer work, or a part-time job. Colleges like to have a well-rounded student body and therefore like to see how a student was involved in high school as a way to gauge how the student will contribute to their college community.
They also want to see that a student was not just involved in the activity as a means of “checking a box”. That means that they want evidence that the student did not just join the club for the sake of being able to list it on the college application. A student should hopefully be able to demonstrate a depth of commitment to the activity, with increasing responsibility or involvement as they became upperclassmen. For a club, that may mean taking on the role of officer within the club. At a job, that may mean a promotion to supervisor or to a more responsible role. I urge your student to not choose activities just based on whether they believe they will “look good” on their college applications. They should choose the activities that they truly enjoy, as that will come through on the application.
There are ten lines on the Common Application for activities and your child does NOT have to fill every line. But hopefully, they can fill at least a few with quality activities that they have enjoyed in high school.
Interviews
Some schools also will consider interviews either with college admissions officers or with an alumnus. Some schools will even require an interview as part of the application process. Generally, the interview is not going to make or break your student’s admission to the college, but it still should be taken seriously. It’s one more way to express to the school that the student is truly interested in them. If you’re doing a campus tour and interviews are available, I would highly recommend that your child schedule an interview that day too, even if it’s listed as optional. If the interview is required, and you live far away, the college will likely either offer you an interview with an alumnus or will offer you the opportunity to Skype with an admissions officer.
Rigor of the High School Curriculum
Yep. Colleges typically care a whole lot about the “rigor of high school curriculum“. They like to see that students challenged themselves and will be prepared for college-level courses. At most colleges, a student who received straight As yet never took an Honors or AP level class will be overlooked in favor of a student who had mixed, but solid grades in those Honors or AP classes. It proves to colleges that the student can handle the work. If your school does do class ranking, then a student near the top of the class is a pretty good indication to the college that they took the more challenging courses available to them, since high schools typically give added weight to those courses.
Teacher Recommendations
This has been controversial lately. There is a feeling that students could be penalized because they happened to ask a teacher for a recommendation whom turned out to be a poor communicator. A student may not realize that – they just know that they have a nice rapport with that teacher. So, is it fair to a student to use that letter, which is completely out of their control, as part of the admissions decision?
Regardless, most colleges still require at least one teacher letter of recommendation. Students should be thinking about this during their junior year, in particular. By this time, hopefully they have cultivated a relationship with at least one teacher, preferably in a subject related to an area that they may be interested in pursuing in college. They will want to ask a teacher for that letter at the end of their junior year, giving the teacher a chance to write it over the summer if they wish.
How to Discover What Individual Colleges Value in Their Applicants
To find out what factors into the admissions decisions of the colleges your student is interested in, check the college’s Common Data Set or you can use a tool like this one on the College Board Big Future website. Enter a college name in the search bar, then click on the Applying tab on the left side of the screen. A screen will appear that looks similar to this one:
As you can see, this particular college highly values things like class rank, extracurriculars and a rigorous high school curriculum. They’ll take your expressed interest into account in their decision, but it’s not one of their top priorities. They would consider your work and volunteer experience to be slightly more important.
The college in the example below has many less factors that it considers to be “Very Important” or “Important”. But the list of factors that they will consider in the application is long. You’ll quickly discover that every school has a unique list of how they weight each factor for admissions.
Sometimes, it’s more tedious to look through, but each college also has a Common Data Set which you can look at to see what their college admissions requirements list looks like. Simply search Common Data Set along with the name of the college you’re looking for.
The College Application Begins Early
Looking at the examples, you can see that your student’s college application process actually begins long before fall of their senior year. It begins early in high school when they receive their first high school grades. That doesn’t mean you should fret if your child’s freshman year grades are not stellar. Colleges will also take into account the student’s trajectory throughout high school. Were they consistent or even improving as students each year?
The most important point is that grades are not all there is to it. The college application process is happening as students are choosing their classes for the following year and deciding what activities they want to be involved in. Their interactions with their teachers matters when it is time to ask them for a letter of recommendation. College acceptance rarely comes down to just one or two factors.
