HOME COLLEGES GRAD SCHOOLS HIGH SCHOOLS ONLINE EDU WORLD'S BEST UNIVERSITIES Rocketing Past the College Admissions Blunders Deans and college counselors have seen it all, from the sublime to the ridiculous By MARC SILVER August 16, 2010 Student goal: Admission to Oberlin College Strategy: Show some essay love for Julie Taymor, the gifted alumna who dazzled Broadway with The Lion King Problem: Instead of Lion King, the applicant types in Loin King If you're what's known as a "one-read admit"—great grades, test scores, and activities—you can afford a misstep or two If you're a "one-read deny," proofreading won't save you As for the rest of you, you're on the bubble—and you'll deflate your chances with typos, bad etiquette, and other application errors How can you avoid selfsabotage? High school students, gird your lions—better make that loins—and read on Sanitize your E-mail address Spicychick@gmail.com, I'm talking to you Devise a new handle And don't follow the example of the student who came up with "UGafan" and used it to apply to the competition If you're feeling creative, Kristin Tichenor, vice president for enrollment management at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, proposes dyingtogotowpi "We absolutely adore shameless adoration," she says But really, you can't go wrong with your name It helps colleges find your records And you need to keep up with incoming mail from colleges to which you've applied: Weekly check-in, at minimum, is wise Keep nicknames private Some schools ask what you'd like to be called The idea is if your name is James and you go by Jim, you'll be more comfortable if the school calls you Jim The idea is not "You can call me Peanut," Leigh-Ann Nowicki, dean of admissions at Wagner College, says with a laugh P.S Facebook info can be largely private—unless you've "friended" a friendly recruiter But, Tichenor says, "We generally frown upon that kind of interaction in the profession We understand that Facebook is reserved for students on a recreational basis We just don't want to know." Follow directions If a school says it wants letters of recommendation from 11th- and 12th-grade teachers only, here is what it means: We want letters only from 11th- and 12th-grade teachers Recruit enthusiastic recommenders If a teacher seems lukewarm about writing a letter, make a polite excuse, suggests Marjorie Jacobs, director of college counseling at SAR High School in Riverdale, N.Y Then find one who will sing your praises with gusto Extracurrics: Don't overdo it The more, the warier "If you add all the hours they say they're doing, you wonder how the hell are they going to school," says Arnaldo Rodriguez, vice president for admission and financial aid at Pitzer College "It becomes suspect at that point Are they careless, or just trying to pad the application to make themselves look more committed than they really are?" Shun jargon You're president of the LLDC club and a Tiger Paws staff member? LLDC does not compute As for Tiger Paws, are you an animal activist or a staffer for the literary magazine? Explain changes You bailed out of the crew team Is that because you're lazy? Just rowing to impress colleges? Or did you quit because the way the coach berated a team member was such a turnoff? Find a way to make that point in your essay or an accompanying letter Know thy college In an interview or essay, say something specific about the school: Mention a noted professor who teaches a subject you're interested in, internship opportunities at a neighboring medical center, your thoughts about the honor code Keep schools straight It's a classic: A student tackles the essay "Why State U?" by concluding, "And so, I would be proud to be a member of the class of 2014 at Podunk College." "It's one of the [mistakes] we see most often," says Laura Simmons, associate director of admissions at Furman University It won't automatically put you out of the running, but it makes you seem careless "It's like a check minus," says Simmons "Where I can see it really doom a student is in scholarship competition Stakes are higher, and there are more students of their quality or better." Think twice before tugging at heartstrings You're not going to be admitted because a friend committed suicide, a parent lost a job, or a sibling died of cancer Unless you can use a sorrowful story to reveal something more about yourself, it is a tale best not told Keep it clean A profane word is "not an accident, and we don't view it as an accident," says Debra Chermonte, dean of admissions and financial aid at Oberlin "We view that as a deliberate attempt to be noticed." And not in a good way Schools H8 C texttalk You don't want the admissions officer thinking, "This kid spends way too much time on his cell." Explain easy courses You took honors English through 11th grade, then slid down to a standard class Colleges want rigor, not relaxation, so state the reason "Burned out" is not so good "Decided to focus on my real love—science" is much better Own up to any bad behavior Don't lie about school punishments The school is dutybound to report them And don't pretend your suspension for boozing it up at a football game was a one-time thing if you had two warnings beforehand Your school will report that, too What does matter is your take on the experience converted by Web2PDFConvert.com "Accept responsibility; show contrition or lessons learned," suggests Simmons of Furman Optional essays aren't optional Some students think that, since they live in a democracy and are very busy, they can opt to ignore the optional essay Don't opt out, says Jacobs of SAR High School This could be the place to explain bad grades or other glitches in your résumé Be electronically savvy Colleges get calls from students in April They say they submitted the application in December and never heard Guess what: "They didn't click the final 'submit' button," says Wagner's Nowicki And guess what else: April is typically too late to click Don't overcompensate by pressing "submit" seven times Just send an E-mail after a week: "I want to make sure you received my application and all supporting documents." Don't send the E-mail to admissions@favoritecollege.edu Do send it to the admissions staffer you met at one of your high school's college nights or during a visit to the campus Or ask for the name of the person handling your region Handwriting counts A few students apply the old-fashioned way—with penmanship so sloppy that the college admissions office can't read the E-mail address to ask for clarifications "Sometimes you get a handwritten application and it's clearly not the student who filled it out," adds Rodriguez of Pitzer College "You wonder who's interested, parent or student?" One obvious tipoff is when the handwriting doesn't match the signature on the application Don't assume your counselor will handle it Students think high school counselors will handle any request from a college for missing information They can't if they don't know about it in the first place As Missy Sanchez, director of college counseling at Woodward Academy near Atlanta, puts it, "Sometimes counselors are included in the correspondence, sometimes not." Don't be cocky Jacobs recalls a senior who figured he was a lock at two Ivy League schools At School No 1, his parents had a friend of a friend on the board At School No 2, an admissions counselor told him he'd be a good bet Or at least that's how he remembered the conversation Both schools said no Part of the reason was that his test scores were more impressive than his grades He could have addressed that in the "optional" essay, but he didn't feel he needed to write one (see above) He did get into a state university but hadn't bothered to apply for the honors program At the 11th hour, he was giving FedEx a lot of business Eschew artiness College deans will surely groan/If your essay is a poem Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges Tags: academics, college admissions, colleges COLLEGES » GRAD SCHOOLS » EDUCATION » MBA ADMISSIONS » SHORT LIST » Get Federal Student Loan Counseling Online What Law Schools Don't Tell Parents About Financial Aid About the Rankings Methodologies How to Narrow Down Your B-School List 10 Colleges Whose New Grads Are Most In Debt Copyright © 2012 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy converted by Web2PDFConvert.com ... send the E-mail to admissions@ favoritecollege.edu Do send it to the admissions staffer you met at one of your high school's college nights or during a visit to the campus Or ask for the name of the. .. Eschew artiness College deans will surely groan/If your essay is a poem Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges Tags: academics, college admissions, colleges COLLEGES »... résumé Be electronically savvy Colleges get calls from students in April They say they submitted the application in December and never heard Guess what: "They didn't click the final 'submit' button,"