Help! How do I get in to college?

Question

I'm a high school junior who has her heart set on attending either Princeton or Yale. I have a 4.6 G.P.A. (4.1 ***), I have lettered as a varsity track runner for 3 years, and I'm involved in multiple clubs at my school, and I am president/co-president of three. I also do volunteer work. I'm the typical teenage-student, so how do I get into a place that looks for unique qualities? (I do realize that my schools are dreams, and yes I have other options, but any advice would be great.) Thanks!

Answer 1

Just think about who you are, and what you want out of college and out of life. You've worked really hard to build your application; now look at it and figure out what makes you stand out. Are you falling into any stereotypes? If you are, what makes you stand out? For instance, I might have fallen into the category of "Asian math/science girl with a 4.0 who won a jillion math/science awards and ran the science club" but I also won various writing contests, danced (and I still dance), didn't play an instrument, ran the school newspaper, and studied a rare martial art.

I have a feeling that you don't quite belong to that stereotype... You're the varsity runner who probably does a some of: newspaper, yearbook, or student council; you're probably in Model UN or debate; you've done upwards of 200 hours of volunteer work, possibly volunteering for political campaigns, you might do a bit of tutoring on the side, and are a member of the NHS. You might have had summer internships (by the way, what are you doing this summer?) You probably don't have that many national-level awards, but who can blame you? Math/science awards are everywhere and getting them is easier than cake by comparison, but they just don't make that many liberal arts awards.

No problem, you probably also have a great personality that'll really show through in your writing, and that's your best shot at standing out. You need to somehow capture your essence in a few 500 and 250 word essays... be creative. Let them each be vivid images of you, which together give a picture of all of your many sides. By the time the adcom finishes reading about you, they should feel as if they have just met you in person. You need to be a 3-dimensional, real person, while most people will be as flat as the pages of their application.