Sealing the Deal
By Leslie Klipsch
In an age where students can become quickly overwhelmed by the thought of competition and getting into their top-choice school, things might be a bit simpler than they seem. Rather than aiming for a jam-packed resume and feeling pressured to be the best at everything your high school has to offer, high school guidance counselors and college admissions officers suggest seemingly uncomplicated advice: hit the books, then go play.
Academics
Before signing up for an extracurricular interest that you believe will look great on a resume but may not be where your heart is, take a step back and assess the value of the activity. Do you enjoy the endeavor? Will it help you grow as an individual? And most importantly, will it hinder your ability to perform well in the classroom? Guidance counselors and admissions officers agree that students must focus on academics first. Not only should students do their best to ensure their grade point average is as high as possible, but they should complete college-prep coursework as well.
“We like to see a solid college prep course pattern that goes beyond our requirements,” says Patsy Reynolds, the Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. “Many students complete their required courses early and then ease off. In areas such as math and science especially, not having these courses in the final year leaves a gap when tackling freshman courses or placement tests.”
Ideally, college-bound students will begin planning appropriate coursework as early as their freshman year of high school. Patrick Downey, a guidance counselor at Bettendorf High School in Bettendorf, Iowa, where 85 percent of students go on to further their education at a two- or four-year school, begins planning the appropriate coursework with students early in their academic careers, keeping in mind that many competitive and private colleges look at things such as AP and honors courses and rate student course selection over their four years. Because of this, he encourages students to plan ahead. Talk of college begins at 8th grade orientation and students prep for the ACT throughout high school.
Once coursework is planned and near completion, Downey encourages students to visit college campuses, prepare their resume, concentrate on entrance essays and gather letters of recommendation. “It’s a lot of work and organization. There are a lot of deadlines,” he says of the application process.
Extracurricular Activities
While it is important to take challenging classes in high school and work to maintain a good grade point average, extracurricular activities have a lot of benefits for students and are noticed by colleges. Reynolds likes to see Southern Illinois applicants that have been involved in extracurricular activities and have held leadership roles. While she says there is not a “magic equation” for extracurricular activities, she does believe that a diverse group of activities is good, as long as it does not overwhelm the student so that their coursework suffers. “In general,” she says, “students that have shown good time management in successfully handling extra activities along with classes will do well in taking on the time management challenge of college.”
Of course, extracurricular activities help students grow in their interests and passions. They can also help students form relationships with other students and adults. When looking for someone to write a letter of recommendation, students can draw from these experiences and engage adults whom they have worked with in an extracurricular or volunteer activity.
Downey also believes colleges like to see students participate in a diverse group of activities because it shows that students understand time commitments. Furthermore, he finds that participation outside the classroom produces students who “understand teamwork, are good communicators, are well-rounded, and will contribute to the atmosphere of the college that they attend.”
Southern Illinois University uses a holistic approach to admission and looks at each student as a whole rather than just one or two factors. However, according to Reynolds, “the main pieces that we look at are the core pattern of college prep courses that a student completes in high school, the class rank, ACT or SAT scores, and grade point average.”
Planning Ahead
Just as students will ideally begin planning for college at the beginning of their high school career, it’s also beneficial for college students to consider whether or not they might like to go on to graduate school while they are working to complete their undergraduate degree.
Karen Eden, Senior Director for Admission at Palmer College of Chiropractic, offers undergraduates this advice, “Strong academic preparation for the specific program [that the student is interested in] is a key factor,” she says. Though she says that students who participate in clubs and organization related to the field—especially those who hold leadership positions—are the students that Palmer seeks out, academics outweigh activities in the application process.
