The Admission Decision:
How Do Colleges Make Their Choices?

Why did Sallie get admitted to Y.U. and you didn’t? You had a 3.8, Sallie had a 3.5! You were the president of your junior class and were involved in a mentoring program, as well as other academic clubs. Sallie plays sports year-round, but you’re sure she isn’t involved in anything else! You’re in mostly honors and AP courses, and Sallie has only two honors classes! You have no idea what her SAT scores were, but yours were well above average. What gives?

According to Susan Marrs, an member of the panel of experts at Collegeview.com, colleges look first at transcripts and are interested in not only what grades students have earned but what courses they have chosen to take. (Some colleges recalculate grade point averages, omitting grades in courses they think lack academic rigor.) They are also interested in essays, recommendations, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, paid employment, etc.-anything that tells them how students spend their time.

Also, think of all the other factors that play a part in the admission decision. There are usually more students applying than there are spots available. The most selective of schools may only accept as little as 15 percent of the students who have applied. 

The College Choice Web site (www.gseis.ucla.edu/mm/cc/info/app.html) says to, “combine this with the fact that the applicant pool (all the students that apply to a college in a given year) changes from year to year. Remember that admission is not determined by GPA and test scores alone-the whole admissions folder is considered; personal essays, the kinds of classes, and other criteria may also make a difference.”

Colleges are also searching for students that will add to the school’s environment. If the student is a go-getter (started his or her high school’s 4H chapter, volunteers as a big brother/big sister, manages his or her little brother’s pee-wee football team, etc.), then the college or university is more likely to view that candidate as someone who could add oomph to its collegiate atmosphere. 

Even if a student thinks he or she has a dynamite application, remember that most of the college’s applicants think that also. Every other application an admission’s officer goes through effects the outcome of one application, and a college can change its criteria from year to year. 

College Choice also identified five types of student characteristics that colleges and universities consider important:

1) Intellectual Students
These are the students who graduate with GPAs above 4.0 and somehow manage to almost ace the SAT. They are the valedictorians. These are students who win academic awards and National Merit Scholarships. They spend their summers in summer school taking college courses to get ahead.

2) Students with Special Talents
This is the girl who was composing symphonies at age six. This is the guy who sank the two free throws to win the state championship basketball game. This is the dancer, the artist, the writer, the poet, the athlete, or the musician. Students all have special talents-sometimes these talents will help to gain school admission. 

3) Students of Color
Many colleges and universities take into account the ethnic background of the students they admit. One reason is that schools want the student body to reflect the racial composition of society at large and they recruit students that will help them do this. Another reason colleges and universities consider the ethnic background of a student is to assist students that have historically been denied a college education in acquiring the kind of education that everyone has a right to. 

4) Students of Alumni
Some schools more than others try very hard to keep their alumni happy because alumni often account for a significant source of school funding. Unhappy alumni may mean less money for the school. Sometimes if your mother or father went to a particular school your chances of being admitted are increased. 

5) The All-American Student
These are typically all-around great students who would probably do fine at most colleges and universities around the country, but may never get to the college of their choice because of mediocre academic performance or dismal test scores. A profile of your typical All-American Student might include a 3.0 GPA and a 1050 on the SAT. They played varsity volleyball for three years and happened to be a student government treasurer during their sophomore year. They worked on the yearbook for two years, they were in the Spanish club, and they worked ten hours a week at Hank's Pizza House. They have taken mostly honors classes and have passed the advanced placement biology exam. The problem here is there are so many others like this in the applicant pool that it is easy to get lost in the pile. 

Every student is bound to fit in somewhere. Even if a student fits all or none of the above, chances are he or she will be able to get into one choice college, even if it isn’t the first choice. If a student doesn’t get accepted into any of his or her choices, then unfortunately, he or she may have to appeal the decision (each college’s appeals process is different) or go back to the drawing board. Students should start applying to colleges with summer and open deadlines to keep themselves on track.