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When you want to attend college, you will do everything you can to achieve this dream, especially if you want an acceptance letter from an Ivy League institution. Many high school students will put their all into studying to receive the best possible results in their chosen subjects, but there is more to do if you want to head off to Stanford or Yale.
Applicants should aim to stand out from their competitors; this will improve their chances of attending their dream college. As this post outlines, three of the best tips to remember are making the college essay your own, completing practice tests, and limiting the number of extracurriculars you participate in.
Make the College Essay Your Own
There are numerous templates to follow when it comes to writing your college essays, and these can make it easier to do. If you follow a template down to the very last period, though, you might find that you’ve left a lot of your personality out. Colleges want to know about you as a person; what you have done up until now, what you want to achieve, and so on. As many college admissions consultants say, the subject of a personal statement is you.
To write a personal essay with this in mind, a good tip to remember is if your name was removed from the essay, would it be obvious to your friends and family that this is your story? At the same time, you should also get someone you aren’t close with to read your essay and application before sending them off. As college admissions officers don’t know you, you need to determine how well you have presented yourself to a stranger.
Practice, Practice, Practice Tests
Although practice makes perfect is the well-known saying, practice is actually more important for improvement. How you perform in a test will be the result of how much practice you had put in, unless you are an absolute genius in that subject. Practice exams are useful if you are taking class tests, the ACT, or the SAT.
One way that practice tests help is through highlighting where there are gaps in your knowledge. This allows you to go back through your textbooks and course notes to study this area further until there are no gaps in your knowledge. Additionally, this stops you from wasting time when studying by indicating the topics you know and no longer need to focus on.
A practice exam will let you familiarize yourself with the test layout, question styles, and the process. This will allow you to manage your time effectively and reduce your anxiety. As these situations are unfamiliar, it can be daunting, but taking practice tests will ease any stress you have. You might not be able to practice the entire environment, but completing the practice tests will give you a good idea of what to expect.
Select One or Two Extracurriculars to Shine In
When it comes to choosing extracurriculars in high school, you should think about quality over quantity. Colleges want well-rounded students who will create well-rounded classes, but they also want to see growth and passion from applicants. This can be difficult to achieve if you are splitting your time between six or seven activities in your spare time, so you should avoid joining clubs just to bulk out your college applications. Therefore, you are best to select only one or two extracurriculars.
In your freshmen year at school, you might want to select more to get a taste of the groups and topics. You might find you enjoy one more than the rest, so you would continue this extracurricular throughout your school years. With your continued involvement, you might progress and take a leadership role within the group, or you might even begin to develop skills and choose your school classes in relation to this passion.
Joining an extracurricular group you are passionate about will display a range of qualities, such as communication, dedication, organization, time management, and more, that colleges will be searching for.
By following the three tips listed in this post, you will have a better chance of attending the college of your dreams.
Daniel J. Morgan is the founder of Invidiata Magazine, a premier publication showcasing luxury living, arts, and culture. With a passion for excellence, Daniel has established the magazine as a beacon of sophistication and refinement, captivating discerning audiences worldwide.
