Identity and Impact: What Today’s Top Applicants Have in Common

May 1st marked the college committment deadline for seniors, so with the exception of potential waitlist offers, the admission cycle for the Class of 2025 has wrapped. This was yet another competitive year, with students applying to more schools than ever and the schools at the top receiving record numbers of applications. EX: NYU had received 111,000 applications by October 2024 (the official report date), resulting in a 7.7% acceptance rate. USC received 83,000 with a 10.4% acceptance rate and U of Tennessee received 60,000 with a 38% out-of-state acceptance rate (underscoring the surge in popularity of southern schools).

There are nearly 3,000 four-year colleges in the U.S. and the average acceptance rate is 73%, so most colleges accept the majority of their applicants. The lower the acceptance rate at a college, however, the more sought-after they become, due to our tendency to place value on exclusivity, increasing the number of applications they receive. For schools receiving tens of thousands of qualified applicants, they need to look beyond GPA and test score. Here is what is helping applicants rise to the top at the more selective schools.

Academics

This is the first line of defense. An applicant must pass through this step before moving on in the review.

• Rigor - Colleges look for Honors, AP and/or IB classes - as many as a student can reasonably take while juggling everything else. These do not need to be in all subjects, but should track with the student's areas of strength and interest, and align with the student's intended college major, if known.

• Performance - A strong performance is sought after. At the most selective schools, that means primarily As but a few Bs sprinkled in may pass through. With a logical explanation, a lower grade could pass. The lower the GPA, the more the applicant will need to balance it off with other strengths.

• Intentionality - Both core classes and electives should make sense and follow an intentional pattern that contributes to the cohesion of the application. EX: a student interested in STEM should take stong math and science-related core classes and elective classes that align if offered.

• Test Scores - Even if a school is test optional, it appears that they continue to reward applicants who are submitting strong test scores. Approach test prep as if you will need scores to maximize potential.

  
  

Character and Contribution

Colleges rely on this to separate out those who will stay in contention, when they have far too many academically qualified applicants to offer a seat to.

• Extracurricular - ECs should show intentionality toward our area of interest or strength, and more importantly, should demonstrate impact to our community. Quantify how many people were positively impacted through your actions or how much money was raised through a fundraiser, etc. The larger the scope of the impact, the greater the impact in admissions. Applicant strengths, such as initiative and leadership, should be evident.

• Essays - Bring your application to life with personal stories that highlight who you are, your strengths, passions and goals. While providing new information, your highlighted traits should match the rest of your application, i.e. the classes you chose to take and the ECs you participated in. Admission officers also appreciate seeing vulnurability and humility, the human side of the applicant, in essays.

• Recommendations - Admission officers look for recommendations to corroborate and add context to what they are reading in other parts of the application. Remember we want to be the person we want our recommenders to write about, so demonstate intellectual curiosity, leadership and strong classroom or workplace citizenship.

• Impression - The application as a whole should leave admission officers with a vision of a student who knows why they want to go to college and one that will have a positive impact on their campus.

Uniqueness

Colleges continue to value unusual storylines. Stand out by showing them something they don’t see often. Examples would be participating in a non-traditional sport, pursuing a non-traditional major, having an unusual hobby or cultural experience. Admissions officers are also favoring students who combine two interests (i.e. astrophotography - astronomy and photography) in their extracurricular pursuits, and in their college major and career plans.

Demonstrated Interest and Knowledge

• Yield, Retention and Grad Rate - Remember that colleges are businesses and they live by their statistics. When you demonstrate interest, that gives them evidence that you are likely to accept their offer, benefiting their "yield" percentage. When you demonstrate a strong knowledge of the school, that gives them evidence that you have done due diligence in researching them and if accepted, will be more likely to stay (helps their retention rate) and graduate on time (helps their graduation rate). When an applicant is a borderline acceptance, these can make a difference in comparison to other candidates.

Institutional Priorities

• Out of our control - These are the needs a college is trying to fill to balance out their class that involve recruiting students that meet that need specifically. These can be geographic, major-related, or some other demographic they are in need of. We can't know these priorities or concern ourselves with them. We can only put our best effort forward.

It's important to remember that everyone is on their own timeline when it comes to this level of self-realization, planning and execution. For applicants who do not want to, or are not ready to conform to these expectations, there are certainly very fine schools with more flexible requirements. And yes, there are high school students who are able to address what selective schools are requiring, but a good rule of thumb is to ask: Does the student want this? Are they able to do these things without an abundance of stress? If they can answer yes, then they should take the lead on pursuing these goals. We need to understand ourselves and what is right for us, without comparison to others, and pursue the path that meets our needs on our own personal timeline.