Category: Getting Ready To Apply To College

This is part three of a six-part series titled “Getting Read to Apply to College” for juniors who are preparing to apply to college in a few months.  For this post I will be focusing on the SAT and ACT.  I am not going to go into details about the test’s themselves, talk about which one is best to take or any test-taking strategies.  We are in a very different world now with most colleges being “test optional” for admissions which means that you don’t have to submit a test score when applying to that school. More than half of seniors applying to college today, decide not to send colleges their test scores. At this point, I still recommend to my juniors that they should have taken one of each test and then they should take the one they did better on again in June. The reason I recommend this strategy is because I have found that most students will perform better on either the SAT or ACT.  What do I consider to be “better”?  If you scored 50 points better in comparison on the SAT than the ACT or two points on your composite score better in comparison on the ACT than the SAT.  The best comparison charts I have found are at http://www.compassprep.com/comparing-act-and-new-sat-scores/. I do not recommend that students sign up to take the writing section of the ACT. Why? Because the SAT doesn’t have a writing section anymore and colleges will not look at your score for admissions purposes.  The 2nd time you take whatever test you did better on should be when you put in the most preparation. You could pay for a course, tutor, etc. or whatever you think is necessary to score your best on the test. Some students can prepare on their own because they are more disciplined to put in the time.

So you take the SAT or ACT for the 2nd time and get your score, now what do you do? This is what I would like to focus on for the rest of this post. Below are my recommendations to rising seniors when it comes to the SAT or ACT.

1. Should I take the test a 3rd time?  Pre-covid, 80% of seniors took the SAT or ACT a third time. Post-covid, in the test-optional world we are in now, less than 30% of seniors take the test a 3rd time. Why? Because after you have taken one of each, prepare and then take the test a 2nd time, your score is pretty much what it’s going to be. Unless you think you could prepare differently or more (because maybe you didn’t prep much at all for your 2nd test), I wouldn’t recommend taking it a 3rd time. The only big reason you may want to take a 3rd test in your senior year, is because you know the college you are applying to heavily values or requires a strong score.
2. If a college is test-optional, how do I know whether to send or not send them my best score? Each college is going to provide their mid-50% ranges for the SAT and ACT for students that were admitted and enrolled at their school for the previous year. These are the numbers to go by when determining whether to submit your score(s). If you are below the mean (average) of the mid-50%, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR SCORE(S). You can find the mid-50% score range information for colleges at collegescorecard.ed.gov, collegedata.com or the most accurate place to find updated test scores in is a colleges website or Common Data Set.
3. Should I always send my score(s) if I’m above the mean score that a college posts? If you have achieved very well in the classroom (4.5 GPA or better) and taken pretty rigorous courses (mostly honors and AP), then you may not want to send your SAT or ACT score(s) to colleges you apply to, even if you are above the mean that they post. You should be in the top 25th percentile of a colleges test score range if you have very strong grades and courses, in order to be comfortable sending your scores to a competitive admissions college.
4. How do the colleges I apply to get my scores? You need to send your best score to each college that you apply to through collegeboard.org (SAT) or actstudent.org (ACT).  Most colleges will not accept a score that is on the transcript as official.  A handful do but you would need to let me know if you are applying to a school that does.  Both testing agencies allow you to send your score(s) to up to four colleges for free if you enter these schools into the “send scores” option when registering for the test.  The college(s) will then get your score when you get them online so you do not have the option of knowing what your score was beforehand.  It does cost $11-$12 to send your score to a college after you know what your score is.  I tell my students never to send your first score on a test to a college but if you want to save money, and the school you are applying to isn’t a reach school, it isn’t a bad idea to send your 2nd score to a college beforehand because it could save you $50 in the end.  Your 2nd score should be your better score anyway.
5. Should I self-report my score on an application? My answer to this question is always no. So many times students have let colleges know of scores they didn’t want to officially send them because when completing the application they just filled in the space when it asked them to self-report their scores and they then gave the college every score they ever had. When it asks you in an application if you would like to self-report your scores, say “no” and send them the official score that you want them to see through collegeboard.org or actstudent.org. For both tests, you have the option of “score choice” so you only need to send them your best score.  There are a few of the most competitive colleges that require you to send all of your scores but this is rare.  
6. Please do not delay in getting colleges your scores. From my experience, the one thing that holds up colleges from reviewing a students application is that they haven’t received the students scores.  Either a student (or parent) forgets to send them and then they end up paying a lot of money to rush them to the colleges.  The student or parents forget that it is their responsibility to send the colleges their score(s) from collegeboard.org or actstudent.org.  I had a student once not be considered for early action because his scores got to the school too late.  He had everything else in except his scores.  Please do not let this happen to you.  Have a plan when you will send your scores in to the colleges you are applying to and stick with it.
7. Remember that a test score does not define you and move on.  Students (and parents) can get hung up on “wanting” a certain score or thinking that their future depends on an SAT or ACT score. Now that most colleges are test optional, an admissions officer will say, “if you don’t think your score is an accurate reflection of your ability and we can get a stronger sense of who you are as a student from your courses and grades, then DON’T SEND US YOUR SCORE”!  I would prefer that you focus on the aspects of the application that you can control.  Can you show any more interest that that you haven’t yet? Have you updated your resume, visit if they haven’t yet, ask to interview, e-mail or call and ask any questions to the admissions counselor who is going to read their application, etc.? These are things they can still control and can really help them get admitted.  I typically do not recommend taking the test a 4th and 5th time because data shows that scores will not go up anymore at this point and may even go down.

This is the the second part of a six-part series titled “Getting Ready To Apply to College”.  For this post I will be focusing on the college application itself.  It is really important to understand that the application is the first thing that colleges will read when you apply to their school.  This may sound obvious but I remind my students all the time that even if they have good grades, test scores and extracurriculars; if their application is not filled in correctly or contains a number of errors, this will put you in the “denied” pile pretty quick.  Nevertheless, completing the application today is a bit easier than completing the application 15 years ago because almost all colleges now have their application online.  When completing it online, it will typically tell you if something is missing or incomplete.  Below is some helpful information and advice when completing the college application:

1. Complete the Common Application if you can. The Common Application (commonapp.org) is the most popular application today.  The number of colleges that now accept it is over 1,000 so the odds are overwhelming that you will be completing it for at least one or more of the colleges you apply to.  The Common Application continues to make user friendly updates each year as well.  Now a junior can complete the information under the “Common App” tab and it will roll over into the new year when they are a senior.  They also added Google Drive integration to make it easy to attach and upload documents from a student’s Google Drive account. Starting in 2022, another new application method is through SCOIR. What used to be the Coalition Application is now the ability to apply to colleges through SCOIR. Not may seniors in the class of 2023 used this application method but I see it definitely getting more popular over the next couple of application cycles.
2. Beware of “Fast Apps”. Some colleges like to waive the application fee and/or provide an application that is quicker to complete than the original.  I am not saying you should not complete these, but make sure you are definitely considering that school as one you would attend.  Colleges do these “fast apps” to boost their application numbers so they can bring down their acceptance rate (which looks good in the rankings).  They know they will get students that fill it out and then decide not to finish the complete application process later on but they can still count the application in their numbers.
3. Fill the application out completely.  Again, the application is the first thing that colleges will read to get to know who you are.  Don’t leave things blank or vague in the application thinking that “it’s on my transcript” or “resume” and make them work harder to get to know you.  Make sure you fill in all of the space provided in an application before you say, “please see transcript” or “please see resume for complete list”.
4. If it says “optional”, it means required.  I tell my students that for any essay questions that say “optional”, you should always complete them if you are providing them more information about you or why you want to go to their school.  There are only three types of essay questions that are truly optional, the first is one that asks if there are any “circumstances that affected your grades”, the second one is if it asks about “disciplinary action you want to let them know about” and the third (for as long as they keep it in the application), is the COVID essay.  You do not have to answer these three questions if you do have any new information to provide but any other optional essay question you should answer.
5. Do not miss deadlines OR complete the application the night before. I always tell my students that it is so important that your application is submitted at least a week before the application deadline.  Why?  Because they won’t even consider if it isn’t.  I go a step further though and say that you should never complete an application the day before.  Ideally, you should complete an application the week before because in most cases you have to submit an essay with that application and you don’t want to rush to get an essay done.  If you do, it will most likely not be a good essay.  You are prone to make errors if you are completing the application and submitting it the night before.
6. What GPA do colleges review when evaluating my application? Every high school senior has a GPA on their transcript that is based on the grading scale their high school uses. At DC, we us a 5.0 weighted GPA. This GPA is what colleges will see when reviewing your transcript, but a lot of colleges today, will recalculate your GPA on a scale that they want to use so that they can evaluate all applicants on an even playing field. Typically, this is on an unweighted 4.0 scale but it could include all courses, just the “core” courses, they could honors “+” and “-” or even do something else unique when recalculating your GPA. The best thing to do is ask each college if they recalculate your GPA, if they say “yes”, ask how they recalculate it, ask what your recalculated GPA is and then check it for accuracy. Believe it or not, college admissions counselors have made errors when recalculating someone’s GPA and that could negatively impact your chances for admission or scholarship money.
7. Completing the SRAR (Self-Reported Academic Record)– Only in the last few years has the SRAR become a requirement for some colleges who now require this to be completed instead of receiving your transcript. They want you to enter your courses and grades into your SRAR account from 9th-11th grade. Click here to access the webpage to create your account and add your courses from 9th-11th grade. You will need your unofficial transcript (in your SCOIR Drive) in order to do this. You will not add your SAIL classes in the SRAR but you should add your Pass/Fail classes.

The applications for most colleges will be available to complete over the summer before a student’s senior year starts (typically August 1st).  So take the time to create your accounts in order to apply, make sure you save your log-in information somewhere you know you can find it and get familiar with the application.  It’s always good to have someone look over it before you submit it as well. Don’t withhold any information that could give more context to an admissions offer of what you can contribute to and how unique you are. They want to bring students to their campus that will bring positive contributions to their campus…not just someone that will study, sleep and do their own thing in their free time. The application is most often times your “first impression” with a college you are considering attending so make it a good one!

I will be writing on as aspect of the college application process that current juniors need to be paying attention to before they begin applying to college in the fall.  The topics that I will be addressing are Course Selection (Part 1), The Application (Part 2), The SAT/ACT (Part 3), The Essay (Part 4), Teacher Recommendations (Part 5), The College Interview (Part 6).

Part 1- Course Selection

It is that time of year here at DC when students are given their course selection forms for next academic year.  As juniors, the courses you take in your senior year are VERY important to colleges.  Here are a some things to pay attention to when selecting courses.

1. When in doubt, err on the side of rigor. The degree to which you expose yourself to rigor in the high school classroom speaks volumes with regard to the likelihood that you can perform well in college level courses. As a result, admission officers are watching to see how you use the curriculum available to you to “step up” each year. Each year of high school should reflect advancement through progressively rigorous coursework in each discipline.
2. Know your capacity to do the work. In contemplating rigor in course options, it is easy to get drawn into the presumptive logic that taking the highest level will be most impressive to colleges. While there is some truth in that assessment, you need to be able to function at a high level in the course. Barely passing a “hard” course produces the double whammy of a low grade in that course and the ripple effect of lower grades in other courses as you spend a disproportionate amount of time making it through the hard course. The bottom line: While it is important to stretch yourself, don’t over-reach in taking courses for the purpose of impressing admission officers. You will need to send your senior mid-year grades (7th semester transcript) to at least half or more of the colleges you apply to so having them see that you couldn’t keep up and be successful in the courses you chose to take senior year doesn’t look good either. 
3. Breadth matters. In other words, keep your bases covered. In each year of high school, you should take courses in the five core discipline areas: math, science, history, foreign language and English. Do this regardless of your career interests. Why? Admission officers, especially at selective colleges, want to see that you have developed skills of critical thinking and analysis across disciplines. Having such an experience gives them greater confidence that you will be able to handle distribution requirements and cross-disciplinary courses you are likely to encounter in college.
4. Substitute value for value. It is not uncommon for students entering the Junior or Senior year to rationalize course selections (e.g. “I don’t like Spanish…” “I want to double up in sciences…”). Generally speaking, dropping a course in one discipline for a course in another is acceptable if you are substituting value for value. This will typically have an impact in admissions decisions at more competitive admission colleges (30% acceptance rate or less). For example, not taking a science is acceptable if you plan on taking an additional math or history course.  On the other hand, dropping it to take an elective or more art would be a bad move within the context of completion at selective institutions. You need to be careful on where you are applying to college though because some competitive admission colleges may want you to continue to take courses in all of the core disciplines no matter what major you are pursuing.
5. Don’t settle for “good enough.” It is common for students to chart their progress through high school by working only to the level of their graduation requirements or to the course “requirements” posted by colleges. The problem is that selective colleges want to see what you will do when you have seemingly satisfied your “requirements”—when you don’t think you have to do anything else. Be careful, then, not to settle for the minimum or that which is good enough. If you want to increase your range of options as a college applicant, push past that which is good enough to that which will make you a better candidate. A common question from students regarding course selections sounds like this: “Is it better for me to take an easier course where I know I can get an “A” or should I take a harder course where I’ll probably get a lower grade?” The best way to answer this question is to take the harder class and get an “A”. God expects the best from us using the knowledge, gifts and abilities He has given us. In my mind, when you assume you will get a lower grade in a course, you are not only selling yourself short but you are also not trusting in Him to bring out the best in you. You know what you are capable of and what would be a wise choice of courses to take, but sometimes you will surprise yourself when you put your total trust in Him.

Below are a few FAQ’s that I get when it comes to course selection:

1)  Do I have to take all honors and AP classes to get into a “good” college? This is a loaded question because the answer is based on how you define “good” college.  There are  so many great colleges in the United States at which students from DC would succeed and thrive, but it takes time to research and learn about these schools.  A number of people think that there are only 30 “good” colleges in the country because of what they hear, read online, see in various rankings or perceive from past experience.  Degree of competitiveness is only one aspect of fit, and does not necessarily determine the type of job you will get after you graduate.  The goal for any senior is to go to a college that fits their personality, preferences, goals, major aspirations and budget.  Now that we somewhat have defined a “good” college, let me answer the other part of this question regarding taking all honors or AP classes.  Colleges want to see a student take the course that will appropriately challenge them.  If you are going to get a C in a course, it is probably going to benefit you to take the course you will most likely get an A or B in.  Colleges do care about course rigor and whether or not you are taking the most appropriately challenging courses.

2) Will taking one more year (typically level III or IV) of World Language look good to colleges?

This really depends on the college(s) you are applying to and the major you may pursue. As a baseline, colleges like to see students who continue to challenge themselves in the “core” classes (English, math, science, history and world language). However, there are opportunities as you get to junior and senior year, to take more “core” classes in subjects that you enjoy more and/or are more successful in. Taking an additional math, science or history class and not taking an additional year of world language is fine. If you are pursuing a major in the arts, taking more art or Theatre would be fine. Not taking a world language, however, and adding art or another easier elective, or just a study hall would not look good to colleges because they see that you are not challenging yourself academically at all when you do this.

3) How many AP classes should I take?

Take the AP courses you will succeed in without them affecting your health and compromising your extracurricular activities.  If you are not getting enough sleep (you may need more than someone else and studies continue to say that you should get 8 hours of sleep a night), getting sick and missing school or just are not your usual self, it may be time to seriously think about dropping down a level in one or more core courses.  I also do not recommend dropping an extracurricular activity (the play, a sport, Hi-Q, Yearbook, Robotics, etc.) because you need more time to do your AP course work.  Extracurricular activities are important outlets for you to expend energy, grow in relationships with others and continue to succeed in something God has given you a gift to do.  Additionally, colleges really like to see that you are involved and growing in the areas you enjoy and succeed at after school hours.

4) Do I have to take all the courses I am recommended for?

The recommendations that you are given on your course selection form are made separately by your current teachers.  Even though you may be recommended to take all AP and Honors courses, you need to evaluate whether it wise for you to do so (please see the answer to question #2).  You and your parents know you the best.  Please do not think that if you opt out of taking an honors or AP class, you are limiting your options when it comes to college (please see answer to question #1).  Some students are capable of taking on more than others but it’s about finding that balance so that you are succeeding in your classes and  succeeding in the areas God has gifted you in and you are passionate about.

5) If I am good at math and may major in something math related in college, should I take a summer math course to get ahead in my math track if I am not on the highest math track?

You should take math classes that you will be successful in. I would not recommend pushing yourself to accelerate your math track if you would only experience frustration and discouragement because you can’t keep up with the pace or fully understand the material in the math class that you are in. Part of what math class you should take will be associated with what college(s) you will apply to. You may need to ask a college admissions counselor at a college that if you major in “X”, what math class do students who apply with that major typically complete their senior year of high school? You can still pursue a math related major in college if you finish high school taking AP Calculus AB or Calculus Honors. Some have even taken Precalculus Honors their senior year and have been very successful in their math classes in college. Colleges won’t like to see students press to take more math, if the grades they receive in the math classes junior and senior year aren’t as good as grades they received in their 9th and 10th grade math classes.