It turns out the first thing many college applicants consider — cost — should actually be one of the last. Take it from Harmony Pringle’s parents. They didn’t let sticker shock scare them. Instead they gave their daughter some advice that might unnerve other guardians: “Apply anywhere you want to go, regardless of cost.”
One of Pringle’s top choices was Oberlin College, a liberal arts school with a $40,000-plus annual tuition that her family could not afford outright. But when all was said and done, Oberlin wanted Pringle and offered her grants so she could attend. Now a freshman at the Ohio school, Pringle pays only one third of the regular tuition.
More and more students are applying to college each year, compounding the competitiveness even for the brightest students. Between making the grades and completing applications, it’s hard for most students to get into a good school. But even before the first standardized test is taken, there are steps every family can take to get a leg up on the competition.
The Early Birds Get to Learn
First off, start early. Whether a student is planning to go to the local public university or a far-away liberal arts college, the college application process can be grueling, confusing, and lengthy. Because there are so many components to an application — test scores, letters of recommendation, essays, interviews, transcripts — it’s important for a student to begin the process during junior year of high school and leave only finishing touches for the fall semester of senior year.
Pringle had admittedly contracted a case of “senioritis” by the time her last year at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, N.C., rolled around. “My parents sat me down and said I had to stop procrastinating and do my college applications now,” she remembers.
But Pringle had another “early” advantage: she’d had the foresight to take advanced coursework that, when combined with her other attributes, impressed admissions officers. Matt Rubinoff, executive director of the Center for Student Opportunity, a college access program serving first-generation college students, says students should not be afraid to take challenging courses out of fear of lowering their GPA, since colleges take those decisions into consideration.
“The grade isn’t always as important as the preparation,” he explains. “Having experience in writing research papers and critical thinking earlier in your course work will pay off.”
The Numbers Add Up
Some colleges no longer require standardized tests such as the ACT and the SAT, and many others are considering changing that requirement soon, in part because results have been negatively correlated to race and class. For example, data collected on the ACT’s Web site (act.org) and research by the College Board indicate that, in general, wealthy and white test takers fare better than some other groups. Fair Test, an organization devoted to equity in testing, lists more than 750 “Test Score Optional” colleges on its Web site (fairtest.org/optinit.htm). Rubinoff is encouraged by this trend. “The value of a student is more than just a test score,” he says.
Regardless, standardized test scores are still a factor at many top-ranked schools, though some may downplay their importance. “Schools will tell you it does not matter what you got on your SAT, but everyone knows that you have to hit the range,” explains Cody Wiewandt, another Oberlin first-year student. That “range” he refers to is the average score of admitted students listed in college guidebooks like Princeton Review’s highly regarded Best 366 Colleges. Among students at the University of Michigan, for example, SAT Critical Reading scores for the middle 50 percent ranged from 580 to 690. Students who score below 580 might consider Michigan a “reach” school.
Knowing how to take a standardized test — for example, knowing when to guess and when to leave an answer blank — can help improve scores. Test prep courses offered by well-known companies like Kaplan and Princeton Review have proven worth the investment for many students. According to a December 2007 story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Princeton Review prep courses helped a group of 200 Georgia high school students raise their SAT scores an average of 95 points.
The X Factor Marks the Spot
Schools are looking to enroll a diverse student body, and diversity goes beyond ethnicity and race. Many actively recruit first-generation college students, for instance. Also, many seek geographic variety; high school students often prefer to stay close to home, but colleges desire enrollees from all 50 states. So if a student from Arizona applies to a college in New York, he or she might get in before another New York applicant would.
“Colleges and universities typically view diversity from a more comprehensive perspective,” Rubinoff says. “Diversity of race and also geography, socioeconomic class, skills, and talents are what make a college campus dynamic. Students should pursue college options where they can stand out and bring something new to the campus: athletic, musical, leadership, and artistic diversity are important too.” Pringle has practiced Bharatanatyam, a classical South Indian dance, for over four years, and her commitment to that unique art form made her stand out among other applicants.
Students applying to schools that require a personal essay should use that space to showcase the unusual aspects of their background or personality that aren’t called out elsewhere in their application. Jamie Ealy, director of undergraduate student recruitment at West Virginia University, says a good essay can offset a low GPA or SAT score, often convincing an admissions officer to move a file from the “maybe” pile to the “yes” pile. He encourages students to write about challenges they may have overcome, such as a difficult financial situation or discrimination. “It’s not a level playing field to begin with,” Ealy notes. “It’s impressive when the kid has dealt with adversity.”
