The Eagle's Nest

(MCT)

Dear Babs,

What’s the one part of my ap­pli­ca­tion that I should fo­cus on the most? Ob­vi­ously, my grades and my test scores are what they are, and there is noth­ing that I can do to change them. I know the es­say is cru­cial, but is it more im­por­tant than the ex­tracur­ric­u­lar ac­tiv­i­ties or rec­om­men­da­tions? How can I be sure to make a good im­pres­sion on the ad­mis­sions peo­ple and en­sure my ap­pli­ca­tion is placed in the “IN” pile?”

Yours Truly,
Lost in the Crowd

Dear Lost,

You an­swered the ques­tion your­self: Your grades and your test scores are what they are—you can’t do any­thing to change them. As for ex­tracur­ric­u­lar ac­tiv­i­ties, pick­ing up trom­bone for one month of se­nior year is not go­ing to im­press col­lege ad­mis­sions ad­vi­sors. They’re no fools!

What you can fo­cus on is your es­say and your let­ters of rec­om­men­da­tion. Make sure you’ve had a good rap­port and more than one class with the peo­ple you ask for a rec­om­men­da­tion. Don’t be shy to re­mind them of any ex­cep­tional work that you’ve sub­mit­ted or of any out­side pas­sions you’d like them to in­clude. You’ll be mak­ing their job eas­ier by pro­vid­ing spe­cific details—and it’s a sure way to stand out from the crowd.

The other thing that you should de­vote your­self to is the es­say. An es­say shows off your per­son­al­ity as well as your writ­ing style. Be cre­ative, be en­gag­ing, be funny. Even if you have mediocre grades, a well-​​thought out and ex­e­cuted es­say will in­di­cate the com­plex­ity of your in­tel­lect as well as your po­ten­tial for cre­ative thought. This is your op­por­tu­nity to shine.

What’s the No. 1 way to make sure you’re in the “IN” pile? Fo­cus your ap­pli­ca­tions on schools that are a good match for your aca­d­e­mic and per­sonal strengths. On­line sites like Cam­pus­Com­pare can help you find and de­ter­mine your chances for schools that are the best match for you.

For those “reach” schools where your grades alone don’t quite meet the mark, put in the ex­tra ef­fort with the recs and your es­say. You will be so much less stressed when the dead­lines come around.

Truly Yours,
Babs

Got a ques­tion for Babs? E-​​mail her at dearbabs@campuscompare.com, or log on to read more at www​.cam​pus​com​pare​.com.

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Dear Babs appears every Thursday on The Eagle's Nest