According to the 2010 State of College Admission report from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the most important factors used by admissions officers to evaluate college applicants were:
- Grades in college prep classes
- Strength of curriculum
- Scores from standardized admissions test
- Overall GPA
- Strength of the application essay or writing sample
- Counselor and teacher recommendations
- Extracurricular activities
- Class Rank
- Student’s level of interest in attending
Notice that the top four factors are all related to scores, grades and rigor of courses and curriculum. Certainly, earning an "A" in your elective, "International Pastry Desserts" is a delicious thing, but it is no substitute for an "A" in Honors Chemistry. Competitive colleges look for top grades in academic subjects such as the sciences, math, English, history and social studies and foreign languages.
Although recent trends toward a more holistic evaluation of students suggest less emphasis on test scores and other numerical evaluators, unfortunately, that is not the case. Many high schools are doing away with class rank, saying it is unfair and promotes unhealthy competition. But eventually, colleges need to compare their applicants by some standard, and with that important standard gone, the rankings provided by SAT and ACT tests take on more importance than ever.
While most of the factors on this list have to do with the student's achievements, the final factor deserves special attention. Colleges choose students who choose them. Those are the students who are more likely to enroll if accepted, thus increasing the college's yield. Colleges want their yield to be high because it raises their position on lists such as the US News and World Report's college rankings. Furthermore, the application of a student who shows specific interest in attending that school is a better application than one that expresses generic sentiments about college.
Before students can form smart opinions about individual colleges, though, they need to appreciate the future value of their college education. Barbara Cooper, a college admissions counselor and head of Cooper College Quest in New York, emphasizes to students the relevance of college to their future. She notes that since
most people change careers as well as jobs many times during their working lives ... the ability to learn new skills (or adaptability) is vital if students are to be successful. People with more education often enjoy more job opportunities, more on-the-job training and more promotional opportunities. In short, despite our current recession, more education generally means more career options.
As students appreciate the long-term value of their college education, they may be more motivated to achieve the academic success that will lead them to excellent colleges, and enable them to make informed, thoughtful choices among them.
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