Top Colleges

Why Bother?• Quality of Education–Only to some extent–Primary variable to success is the

individual• Connections & Opportunities• Environment/ Student body• Great Financial Aid• Prestige

Challenge Accepted?

Criteria to Meet• Passion (You can’t get there as a robot, get into what

you do)• Course Rigor & Grades• Test Scores• Extra-Curricular Activities• Talents/ Achievement• Essays• Recommendations• No single thing makes or breaks you (unless you’re

extremely talented)

Passion

• Make your interests and work synonymous• The things you do should support a life goal

so that you will work that much harder and be able to write that much better about it.

Course Rigor & Grades

• Relative to class availability of the high school– Take the most (or close to the most) challenging

schedule available• AP/ IB Courses• Four years of a second language = good idea• Keep grades up• Progressive grades are still good

Test Scores

• Practice before taking to yield best score– Official books (Red and Blue)– Take practices and look over mistakes

• The higher the score the better but it only goes so far.

• SAT or ACT (Practice your Junior summer and take at the beginning of the year)

• SAT Subject Tests (Practice Junior year, take during Junior year or study Senior summer and take at beginning of Senior year)

Extra-curricular Activities• Do not pile them on without doing anything• Active role is key to activities– Leadership roles– Events, projects– Awards

• Clubs allow you to do things you are interested in and make a difference for the school/community, take advantage of them.

Talents• Sports, Art, Performing Arts etc.• Greater recognition means more value• Regional is admirable• State is desirable• National/ International is very desirable

Essays• Allow admissions to see you as an individual• Originality = Memorable = Good• Write essays (rough drafts) during the summer– Universal prompts • Personal Essay• Future Aspirations related to major• Conquering a challenge

– Create a www.commonapp.org account

Recommendations

• Get to know your teachers or counselor.• Counselor – tell them your goals and

keep them updated• Teachers – be a good student, they have

to fill out a form that looks like this

What Colleges are in my range?

Time to see how you measure up

Students Me Shikar Kathleen Jemima Taylor Ryan Nikil

W. GPA 4.39 4.73 4.58 4.77 4.71

U.W. GPA 3.72 3.93 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00

SAT/ACT 215034

222033

2060 1970 208034

2350 227032

Subject Tests

M2–800Phy–710

Lit-750M1-690Phy-620

M2-710Phy-750US-710

Chem-800M2-760

Rigor 11 AP 6 IB, 1 AP 8 AP 6 IB 11 AP AP AP

Clubs Physics 1, NHS 2, MBand 3,Media 1,AcaDeca 1

NHS 3,Creative W 2

NHS 2,AcaDeca 2,Interact 3,MBand 3Dreamcatcher 1

FCA 4,Green 3,NHS 2,HHS 2,Fashion 2,M.A.T. 2,International 1

Mband 4,FCA 3,Mathletes 2,Physics 1,NHS 2

Math 3NHS 2Gentlemen 1

NHS 2Math 4Gentlemen 1

Other Activities

Family ,B-dancing 2 ,Work 4,Piano 3,

Boy’s State,Volunteering,Website,Babysitting 3

Assistant Soccer Coaching

Babysitting Rock Band 3EC-Classes 2AZ Benefit 1P2P SummitP Kiva 2

EC- Classes 1AZ Benefit 1P2P SummitHarvard SSPP Kiva 2

Awards &Achievement

AD Regional Physics Gold

Academic Letter,98% Club attendance

AD Regional Econ Bronze

Academic Achievement,Discus

NM-Commend Flinn,NM-Scholar

FlinnNM-Scholar,Tennis All-Region

Students Me Shikar Kathleen Jemima Taylor Ryan Nikil

Leadership Physics (CF, P)Media (P)

AcaDeca (Sec) Interact (Sec)Green (Sec)M.A.T. (Sec)

Band (SL, VP, DM)Mathletes (T)FCA (S, VP)

P Kiva (CF), Math (P),NHS (VP)

P Kiva (CF),Math (VP),NHS (P)Tennis (C) 2

Sports Rec-Basketball

Track & Field 4Soccer 3Volleyball 2

Softball 2 Tennis 3 Tennis 4

Special Talents

Schools rejected

Berkeley,Stanford, Caltech, MIT, Harvard, USC

Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Notre Dame, Duke

Caltech,USC, Stanford, Dartmouth, Harvard

Stanford, MIT (E)

Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, Yale

Schools Accepted

ASUUSC (Appeal)

NWU (E)ASU (H)

Wake Forest, ASU, Pepperdine

Stanford,U Denver,U Portland, U Pacific

Harding, Pepperdine, UNC, Wake Forest

NWU, Wash U, Trinity

Duke, USC, NWU, Rice, Wash U

Schools Wait-listed

HarveyMudd Barrett

Will& Mary,Barrett

Duke U Penn, Harvard

Take a Moment…• Is this realistic for you?• Where should you put your time and

energy now?

Alternatives

Honors Colleges

• Still good• Easier to stick out of the crowd• Less competitive scholarship applicant pool• Decide earlier so you can take advantage of

all scholarship opportunities• Closer to home• Flinn!

Good Colleges• Still somewhat prestigious• Easier to stand out of the crowd• Less competitive scholarship applicant

pool–Merit Scholarship (Taylor’s

Pepperdine Example)

Scholarships to Watch For

• Presidential– Most schools have one, usually full-tuition or close– Usually based on GPA and test scores

• National Merit Scholarship– Study for the PSAT over Junior summer– Usually close to a full ride– Score about 215 or higher

• Flinn ($20,000 a year + benefits)– The in-state alternative to top schools

Scholarships to Watch For Cont’d

• Limit Competition–Region specific scholarships• Ex. Jade Woman’s Club scholarship

–University specific scholarships• Ex. Medallion Scholarship

Other Scholarships• The Key to many of them– Community Service– Leadership

Now what?

• No matter what your ultimate destination is, you are good enough to do something great.

• School is about more than good grades and test scores; get involved in clubs and sports, and save money.

Some more advice• Helpful College information websites–www.collegeboard.com–www.collegeconfidential.com

• Helpful scholarship website–www.fastweb.com