It's time for the journey that causes so much excitement and dread every fall: the journey your college applications will make from your doorstep to the schools of your choice. Before you see them off, how can you be sure that you've prepared your applications so that they've got the best possible chance at acceptance?
One common piece of advice is this: A good application starts in your freshman year of high school, with solid grades and extracurricular involvement. When it comes to academics, nearly everyone agrees on the best way to boost application power.
“This is pretty much the standard answer anyone in a college admissions office would give: take the most challenging program you can complete,” said Lynn Gurganus of the University of Montevallo.
The key word, he explained, is complete. “There may be students who can't complete the most challenging courses a school offers. Those students should take the most challenging courses that they can complete. That level will be different for different students.”
John Gaines of Vanderbilt reaffirmed this statement: "If a student's strength is in languages or the social sciences, he may ask us, 'Is it okay if I double up on these courses?' Of course it is. I would say just to make sure you're taking four years of math, even if it isn't AP Calculus. Don't neglect any subject area, but do choose a curriculum that plays to your strengths. At Vanderbilt we expect applicants to be choosing from among the highest-level courses their schools offer, but we don't expect that they'll take every one of those courses. More students are tending to, and that's certainly okay, but you don't have to."
What if you haven't made as much effort as you know you should have in the past? Gurganus' answer was simple: There's no time like the present.
"When someone is in an academic track they can't easily pull out of, summer courses at community college between the junior and senior year can be a great way to catch up and get on track for the last year of high school. Having done that, an applicant can say, 'I made some poor decisions early on, but then I really strove to get more knowledge and be better prepared.'"
And what if your school doesn't offer any AP, IB or other nationally-recognized high-level courses? While this may affect your chances at some schools, Gaines said, that's no reason to give up hope. On the contrary, hard work to overcome limitations in your environment may draw appreciative attention.
"We expect students to bloom where they're planted," Gaines said.
Gurganus recommended some unconventional ways to bloom, such as taking advanced courses at a community or local college, or showing extraordinary involvement in some extracurricular activity.
