What is most important when applying for college?

Answer 1

Every single college representative that I talked to (Yale, Stanford, WashU, Emory) told me this.

The most important part of your application is your transcript. Did you challenge yourself with tough classes, and did you succeed in those challenging environments are what they ask about those.

The next most important thing is your standardized test scores. This proves if you are as smart or dumb as your transcript would suggest (to put it in blunt terms).

The three factors on the bottom are you recommendations, essays, and extracurriculars...all equally weighted.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Colleges want to know how good a student you are -- that is, how well you've done in high school and how well you've scored on various standardized tests. And they want to know how interesting and well-rounded a person you are. What activities are you involved in outside of your classes? Do you write poems or short stories? Play sports? Draw cartoons? Volunteer for some social service agency? Sing or play an instrument in a band? Raise animals? Juggle or ride a unicycle or do magic tricks? Speak more than one language? The better the college, the more they'll care about the whole package -- the brain, the body, and the spirit.

Answer 3

Grades/ranking in class and SAT scores. Extracurricular activities come second