It's College Application Crunch Time for High School Seniors; What Students Need to Know Before They Press Send

NEW YORK, Dec. 20, 2012  /PRNewswire/ -- Regular Decision college application deadlines for U.S. schools are less than two weeks away.  In this day and age, when students are submitting up to 15 college applications electronically, it's easy to make careless mistakes and difficult to stand out from the crowd.  The team of counselors at IvyWise, an internationally recognized college admissions counseling company, offers students an inside look at the process, as well as some last-minute tips that can help make a difference.

"Students don't realize that many colleges need to admit 'angular students' or specialists in order to build a well-rounded class," says Katherine Cohen, CEO and founder, IvyWise, a former reader in the Yale University office of admissions.  "Each college has its own enrollment model, but schools are not looking for 'serial joiners' or 'jacks-of-all-trades, masters-of-none'."

IvyWise counselors advise:

• Show involvement in fewer activities wholeheartedly over time, rather than 9 or 10 superficially. 
  
  
• If you've spent less than 30 minutes weekly on an activity or stopped in 9^th grade, consider omitting it. 
  
  
• List activities in order of importance to you, fully and accurately conveying your involvement.
  
  

Paying attention to deadlines, following directions and proofreading are important:

• Be proactive about the completion status of your applications.  Many schools allow you to login to your account and see what's been received. 
  
  
• Release your standardized test scores from the testing agencies and have them sent to each school.  Rush reporting is available.
  
  
• Resist the urge to send in extra materials. 
  
  

"Sending in extra materials usually won't send a student to the 'no' pile alone, but it certainly makes him or her memorable for the wrong reasons," says Nat Smitobol, a college admissions counselor at IvyWise, and a former admissions officer at New York University.

• Essays and short answers must answer the questions asked, and within the specified word counts.
  
  
• Spell check isn't enough!  It won't pick up your "sharp angel" when you meant to say "angle." Ask an English teacher to review written responses.
  
  

While students put a lot of effort into their personal essay, they often breeze through school-specific supplements.  Cohen urges, "Supplements are so important, and can often be dealmakers or deal breakers for admission."

Still tackling those personal statements and supplements?

• Introduce new information that can't be learned otherwise from your application. 
  For example, if your activity essay is about being involved in theatre club, don't write your personal essay about starring in the school play.
  
  
• Avoid gimmicks, topics of public consciousness, things that happened in middle school, and intimate details about your romantic life.  Choose a single incident that defines who you are today.

• Tailor each supplement to the schools to which you are applying.  Include courses you want to take, teachers you want to study with etc.  Copy and paste won't cut it! (Especially if you send your "why I want to go to Boston University" essay to American University).

• Be original and personal with "short takes" that require answers within very short word or character counts.  For example, University of Southern California asks "What do you like to do for fun?"  "Go to the movies" may come to mind, but it will be a common answer. One IvyWise student wrote "ballroom dancing with my grandmother."
  
  

While there are services out there offering pre-packaged college essays or an overeager parent or teacher may be tempted to do a rewrite, IvyWise strongly advises against this. Smitobol warns, "Not only is it completely unethical for students to allow someone else to write their essays, it almost always can be detected by an admissions committee and does the student a disservice.  It's important that the student's authentic voice shines through."

For students thinking of waiting until the last minute, Cohen advises, "Give each college application the time and care it deserves, and ring in the New Year with friends and family." 

For more information about IvyWise, visit www.ivywise.com.

Media Contact:

Linda Krebs
LKPR, Inc.
[email protected] 
646-484-4539
646-824-5186 (cell)

SOURCE IvyWise