The Do's and Don'ts of College Admissions

Applying to college can feel as complicated as a college semester itself, with applicants balancing an array of essays, exams, and admissions activities alongside the busy school and extracurricular schedule that’s also essential to getting into college. With so much to juggle, it’s easy to wonder what to do next and what to avoid doing, too.

If you find yourself wondering about the do’s and don’ts of applying to college, you’ve come to the right place. Former Harvard senior admissions officer Devery Doran teamed up with Varsity Tutors this summer for a series of events detailing the most important things to do and avoid in the admissions process. Here are the highlights.

The Do’s And Don’ts of School Selection

One of the first decisions you’ll make in the application process is where you’ll apply in the first place. With a growing trend of students applying to more and more schools, this task takes time and thought. Here’s what you should keep in mind as you research and select schools.

Do:

• Research what you want from a school before you even start researching schools themselves. Take tours of local colleges, for example, to begin to get a feel for what kinds of questions are on prospective students’ minds, what features schools proudly tout, and what a school visit looks like. Create a list of attributes you really want in a school and things you want to learn more about to decide what you prefer. That way when you attend events, talk to alumni, and visit campuses you’ll get the most from your time.
• Envision yourself spending a day, week, and semester at that school. What classes will you take and what will they look and feel like? For example, are you working directly with professors or graduate student instructors? Are you learning more in a classroom, lab, or real-world environment? Where will you live and what will you do on weekends? You’ll do a lot of your research in brief snapshots from a website or tour, but the actual college experience is highly immersive. Try to picture it happening and imagine how it will really feel and how you’ll really perform.
• Use a variety of sources to research schools. School websites, campus tours, and admissions recruitment events are the obvious ways to learn about a school, but you’re not limited to just those sources. To get a full picture of the school, talk to alumni and find out about their experience and why they decided to attend. Learn from current students on YouTube, blogs, and other social media to get an even more authentic view of the student experience. And look to find people whose experience is similar to yours so that you can truly envision what life is like in your major, in the extracurriculars you want to pursue, and for students who came from your region and background.

Don't:

• Don’t rely primarily on rankings. There’s a lot that goes into a college, so it’s incredibly hard to distill that into a single number that applies to all students. A school’s ranking may be carried by majors you’re not interested in or attributes you don’t value–if you want to major in business and be heavily involved on campus, for example, a school that’s highly ranked largely for its engineering and study abroad programs may not be as ideal for you. And because there are so many factors to consider, schools ranked 20, 30, or even 50 spaces apart are a lot more similar than the ordered list might suggest. Rankings have a place in school research, to be sure, but far too many students rule out a school that would be perfect for them because it falls below an arbitrary threshold on a list, or get fixated on a school that isn’t what they really want because of a single number.
• Don’t consider schools “safety schools.” Recent trends show that students apply to significantly more schools than ever before, particularly when applying to highly-selective schools. With each school receiving more applications as a result, acceptance rates are down, waitlist rates are up, and overall there’s just a lot more uncertainty regarding who gets in where. So change your mindset from “safety” to “likely” – if your GPA and test scores are at the higher end of a school’s admitted range, it’s likely you’ll get in but not guaranteed. Which means you’ll want to apply to at least a few likely schools.

The Do’s And Don’ts of Admissions Essays

Of all the tasks associated with college admissions, the application essays loom largest in the minds of 12th graders. With limited word counts to stand out and an unlimited number of topics to choose from, that only makes sense–plus there’s all kinds of advice to sift through and apply, too. From the perspective of an admissions officer who’s read thousands of essays at the world’s top schools, here are the most important do’s and don’ts.

Do:

• Think about how you want schools to see you as a candidate before you choose a topic. It’s easy to skim the essay topics and think of the examples that come to mind for “discuss an accomplishment…” or “reflect on a setback…” But the true purpose of the essay isn’t to answer that question, but instead to give the admissions committee insight into who you are and why you’re a great candidate. So before you pick a topic, try to identify what you want the school to know about you. If you most want them to know about your intellectual curiosity, brainstorm essay topics that will tell them that story; if you want them to understand your perseverance and determination, approach your brainstorm through that lens. And feel free to ask your teachers and friends what qualities and stories would best sell your top attributes as a candidate, too.
• Make your essay easy on the reader. When reviewing applications, admissions officers read dozens if not hundreds of essays in a day. So while you may be capable of lots of nuance and metaphor in your essay, there’s a very good chance that they’ll miss it: with that many essays, their attention span is a lot more TikTok than indie film. So make it easy for them to read: use the active voice, clear organizational language (however, therefore), paragraph breaks, consistent verb tenses, and clear, direct sentences. You’re a compelling candidate with an interesting story to tell–you just have to make it really easy for them to see that.
• Write about yourself. Whether for reasons of modesty (am I bragging too much?) or writing style (is it okay to use this much first-person?), applicants are often tempted to write a lot about the other people in their stories such as their teammates or the people who inspire them. But this essay is designed for you to tell your story, and as Devery says “I’ve read a lot of essays that made me want to admit someone’s grandma, but in reading so much about her I didn’t learn enough to decide to admit the applicant.” So take this as a unique opportunity to write about yourself with gratuitous use of the first person. Sell yourself, brag, and be the main character the admissions committee really wants you to be in this format.

Don't:

• Don't write stories that just aren’t yours. Which of course means “don’t plagiarize” but just as importantly, don’t try to force a story if you just don’t have one to tell. As Devery likes to say, if you haven’t encountered much hardship in your life that’s a great thing and she’s happy for you–but you probably won’t get admitted by trying to create an overcoming-hardship story out of an inconvenience. There’s no magic formula or template that you need to try to write, so don’t try to imitate an essay that someone else got in with. Just tell the best story you have to tell.
• Don't write about “immature” topics. Certain things loom large in your life right now–your current or most recent romantic relationship, your favorite music or movies–that just don’t make for great admissions essays. When you choose your essay topic, remember the reader is likely a generation older than you; they have different pop culture tastes and they’re trying to envision who you’ll be as a college student, not who you were as a high school student.
• Don't leave negatives overrepresented or unresolved. It’s okay to write about setbacks and challenges–in fact, some prompts ask you to– but keep in mind that you want the reader to see you as an excellent applicant worthy of admiration, not of pity. And if the bulk of your essay is on the problem and not the resolution, or you never mention the resolution, you’re not painting yourself in that admirable light.
  
• Don't use a thesaurus. As much as a big word may make you sound smart, improperly using that big word can give the opposite impression. And remember, you want to make your essay clear and easy to read. You’ve taken enough classes to have a varied and effective vocabulary: write your essay in your words.

The Do’s And Dont’s Of Getting Application-Ready

Of course, while the essay consumes a lot of your 12th grade time and attention, it’s far from the only part of your application: there are transcripts, test scores, and recommendations, too. What should you do and avoid? Here is some guidance.

Do:

• Give your recommenders plenty of time and information. Your favorite teachers have taught lots of students, so they’re probably being asked to write lots of letters–while balancing another year of teaching, leading extracurricular activities, and having their own lives, too. So give them plenty of advance notice if you want them to write recommendation letters for you: ideally they even have the summer to write, but early in the fall is far preferred to right before winter break when applications will be due. Perhaps less obviously, it’s also not uncommon for teachers to vaguely remember students they had in a previous year: you might have 10 teachers in a school year, but your teachers may have 100+ students. So provide them with some background about who you are, why you’re asking them, what you accomplished in their class, and what you’re hoping they’ll write about you. That way you’re much more likely to get a personalized letter, and it will be easier for them to write.
• Aim for a competitive SAT or ACT score. Even if schools are “test optional,” a high test score is generally preferable to no test score. If nothing else, it’s one more data point affirming that an applicant truly is stellar, and as Devery points out it’s just human nature to value additional positive data points (e.g. more 5-star reviews on Amazon) when making decisions. So your best plan is to take the tests in search of a high score: if you can get a score that’s within (or above) the range a school publishes for its admitted students, apply with your score. If you can’t, then take the option to not submit a score.

Don't:

• Don't leave things until the last minute. Not only do you risk catastrophe (e.g. a power outage right before the submission deadline) but it’s also easy to find out late in the game that a particular application asks for something different from the others: perhaps a supplemental essay or a letter from a particular type of recommender. Give yourself early, intermediate deadlines–such as having all the application forms complete a month prior to the deadline so you can focus on your essays and schoolwork–so that you don’t leave yourself scrambling to handle surprises you could have known about well in advance.

The Do's And Don'ts For After You Submit

If you’ve followed all the advice to this, you can confidently submit your applications well in advance of the deadlines and then you’re done with college admissions until you consider graduate school. Right? Not exactly. The “finish line” extends a little farther than most people realize, and understanding that can give you a competitive advantage with these tips.

Do:

• Keep achieving. You may submit your applications well before any senior year grades are in, but schools can still look at your transcripts. It’s rare that a school will revoke an acceptance but it can happen if your grades fall off a clip. On the other hand, achieving high grades gives you a chance to reach out to the admissions office with good news, and that’s important because you should also…
• Show schools you’re still interested and still striving. Schools tend to get far more applications from qualified applicants than they have spaces available. And the same is true the other way, too: lots of applicants get admitted at multiple schools. So schools do place priority on students they know will choose them–particularly when it comes time to offer acceptance to applicants off the waitlist as the timeline narrows before school starts. So it pays to stay in touch with schools even after you’ve applied: attending admissions events, writing or calling to inform them of accomplishments, and other actions that signal your strong desire to attend can help you be chosen over applicants with similar profiles who don’t seem as likely to attend.

Don't:

• Don't assume you’re all done after you hit submit. As mentioned above, you can still report achievements to schools and those achievements–and the reminder of your sincere interest in the school–will be impactful. Plus the trend is that schools are using waitlists even more prolifically now than ever, so your admissions journey to your dream school may last until the summer. Be prepared to keep achieving and staying in touch with your top schools: in admissions, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.

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