Countdown to the Common App: Test Scores & Letters of Recommendation

Okay, so technically we have zero(!) days until Common App goes live, but we wanted to put out one last post about the application process so that you can officially begin your college application journey! Our last Countdown to the Common App post focuses on the last two parts of the St. Mary’s application: Test Scores & Letters of Recommendation. Let’s begin.

Standardized Test Scores

We understand. Standardized tests are stressful. First off, they can take over four hours. On a Saturday morning. When you could be doing anything else. Literally, anything else. The younger staff in the St. Mary’s Admissions Office probably still have flashbacks to taking the SAT or ACT in high school. So we get what you are going through. That being said, most schools, St. Mary’s included, still want to see some sort of standardized test scores with your application. Here are some questions that you should ask colleges and universities before applying:

Which test scores do you prefer?

At St. Mary’s, we accept both/either the SAT and ACT test. We do this because many students take both, and some do better on one test or the other. Some colleges only accept the SAT. Some colleges also look at or even require theSAT Subject Tests (St. Mary’s does not require them). Make sure you research each school’s test requirements before sending your scores.

Do you superscore?

At St. Mary’s we superscore– which means that we only take your highest combined test scores. If you take the SAT twice, for example, and do better on the math but worse on the reading the second time, we will take your reading scores from the first test and math from the second. St. Mary’s does this so that you can be rewarded for taking the test again. However, not all colleges superscore! Some see all of your scores for each time you take it. Some only want one score set sent. Make sure you find this out!

What is the average SAT and/or ACT scores for your college?

It is a good idea to see the average for applicants to the universities you are applying to so you can see if your scores are in the ballpark range. At St. Mary’s our averages are about 1200 (reading + math) for the SAT and 27 (composite) for the ACT. We do not use these numbers as cutoffs! They are truly averages, so we do not discourage you from applying if your scores are below these averages! We have many students who fall both above and below. It is true, however, that some select universities might have cutoffs for scores. Ask an admissions counselor or look at the website to see if there are cutoffs or averages before you apply!

Letters of Recommendation:

These can be tricky- especially because usually you don’t know what your teacher or guidance counselor is writing! Would you trust this guy to write a letter about how great you are?

However, if you choose the right teachers, you can get some stellar letters of recommendation out of it. Here are some things to help you get a top-notch rec letter:

• Pick someone who knows you really well. Not just your AP Calculus teacher that you’ve had for 2 months because you think it will look impressive. What about your Honors History teacher who has known you for three years and mentored that really great project you had for National History Day on the history of Drake Crying in Music Videos?
• Give them a copy of your extracurricular resume. Teachers and guidance counselors might not know all of the amazing things you do outside of the classroom, so help them out. Knowing what types of service or sports you do can improve the content of their letters, and provide context for all of the great things they are saying about you.
• Consider picking a teacher who challenged you. It is so exciting for an admissions counselor when they read a letter from a teacher who was inspired by how much their student improved and grew in their class. Consider asking teachers whose classes were tough, but helped you become a better student. You might be surprised how good their letters can be!
• Always write a hand-written thank you note! Teachers and guidance counselors are asked by several students each year to write rec letters, and they can be time-consuming. Make sure you show your appreciation with a hand-written thank you note. A good letter of recommendation can tip your application over the line into the acceptance pile, so make your teachers and guidance counselors feel appreciated.

One last note: St. Mary’s accepts non-academic letters of recommendation as supplements to your application. This means, if you have a coach, a troop leader, a pastor, a music instructor, or someone else in your life who knows you in a non-academic context, they can write a rec letter and our counselors will read it as part of your file. This is another great way to stand out as an applicant.

Well folks, this brings us to the end of our Countdown to the Common App blog series. *Sniff, sniff* We hope this has helped you feel more confident about starting your application to St. Mary’s or any other colleges and universities that you are applying to. We can’t wait to start reading all of your awesome applications this fall! Until next time…

GOOD LUCK!!!

Countdown to the Common App: The Essay

One more day until the Common App goes live! We are pretty excited over at St. Mary’s to start having those applications begin to trickle in. Today our post is going to focus on the most time-consuming part of the application process (except for those 4-hour long SAT tests!): The College Essay. And who better to help explain the college essay process than Cher Horowitz, that wise-before-her-time high queen bee who has been teaching us how to navigate high school since 1995?

Let’s start with the essay prompts. This year, Common App has five prompts to choose from:

• Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.   
• Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure.  How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea.  What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content.  What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
• Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

The first step is to choose one of these topics resonates with you most.Think about how you feel when you read them. Does one jump off the page and you think, “Yes! I definitely can remember a time I challenged a belief!” If you don’t feel immediately inspired, try brainstorming different possibilities for each prompt. List a few places you feel perfectly content, for example, and let them simmer for a few days. Then come back to your list, and re-evaluate which topics you feel most comfortable writing about.

Several colleges have their own supplement, so be prepared to write more than one essay per application. One thing that admissions counselors cannot stand is when you write the same thing for both essays.

Some schools will ask you to write “Why are you interested in ____ University?” Some colleges have a list of prompts to choose from. Some have really quirky questions. But all of them want to learn a little more about you, and by taking the time to write an extra essay, it shows that you care about the school you are applying to.

When it comes to tips for writing your college essay, there are tons of great resources on the web. College Board is a great source for tips and advice, including video posts from different deans of admissions across the country.

US News and World Report, which is already a great college search site, also has a post called “10 Tips for Writing the College Essay.” Or try NACAC– the National Association for College Admission Counseling- their tips are good to take note of as well.

At St. Mary’s, we use the essays to learn things about our applicants that we can’t learn from the rest of the application. We already know your high school grades, what you are involved in, your test scores… now we want to hear what you are really passionate about.

We also want to be entertained. A college admissions counselor will read several essays a day– how can you make yours stand out? A former director in our Admissions Office used to say, “Think like a child, but write like an adult.” Make us laugh, cry, rage, but most of all, tell us a story. Even if it seems totally goofy:

As always, don’t hesitate to call or email your admissions counselor to ask about possible essay topics. They probably won’t give you a direct “Yes this will get you into my school” answer, but they can help point you in the right direction. When in doubt, you can always just end your essay like Cher does during her class presentation…

Or not. Good luck!

Countdown to the Common App: Extracurricular Resume

Today’s “Countdown to the Common App” will focus on the next part of the college app– the extracurricular resume. Those of you who’ve read our first two installments are probably starting to feel a lot more confident about the application process, right?

Good! Now, the extracurricular resume might seem secondary to the high school transcript, but it can actually help sway an admissions office to consider you in a different light. Let’s dive in, shall we?

What extracurriculars would a college admissions office like to know about on your resume?

• Community service: school-run clubs such as Habitat for Humanity, volunteer hours, service learning, mission trips, Eagle Scout Award or Girl Scout Gold Award, summer volunteer jobs, etc
• Honor Societies: National Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Tri-M, International Thespian Society, National Art Honors Society, other academic honor and award societies
• Part-time or full-time jobs: over the summer or during the school year
• Sports: varsity, junior varsity, club teams, travel teams, camps, any awards won
• Clubs: any school club you have involvement in, such as Student Government, literary magazine, or Spanish club
• Internships: any internships or mentorships you completed through your school or outside your school
• Awards: any awards given by your school or outside sources

What extracurriculars would an admissions office NOT like to know about?

Colleges don’t really need to see anything you did in elementary school, or in most cases, middle school (exceptions could include service trips or significant awards). We also don’t like to see it when the Activities section of the Common Application is left empty.

Sometimes different college’s applications will ask you to expand upon or explain one of your extracurricular activities. The Common App has an optional space where you can do this. Definitely take advantage of any options to explain yourself further! Admissions counselors don’t always know what different clubs or awards entail, so enlighten us! Think, WWBD– What Would Beyonce Do? (hint– she would be a BOSS and brag about herself!)

What kind of resume stands out most to an admissions office?

This is something that students always ask us at St. Mary’s. The answer is complicated– there is no one perfect resume. An important thing to remember is that as counselors, we understand that not everyone has the same access to extracurricular activities: some schools don’t offer honor societies, some students have to work after school and can’t do sports or clubs. That being said, we want to see something. We are looking for students who have been involved in activities for all four years. Community service is especially impressive. If you have to work, talk about supporting your family in your essay (more to come on that!).

Bottom line, at St. Mary’s, we want to see that you will come here and get involved in our myriad of activities and be happy and successful! That’s really what admissions offices are looking for in the end– students that they know will grow and succeed at their college or university.

Remember- only 2 days until Common App goes live! YES!

Countdown to Common App: High School Transcript

Our next installment of our “Countdown to Common App” series focuses on what is arguably the most important aspect of the college application- your high school transcript. As we begin to think about why the transcript is so important, let’s first look at the Merriam-Webster definition of “university:”

“an institution of higher learning providing facilities for teaching and research and authorized to grant academic degrees”

Within that short definition alone we find at least three words related to school= “learning,” “teaching”, and “academic.” What’s the point of all this? The purpose of college is to learn something.

Because colleges and universities exist mainly as institutions of higher learning, we need something to judge your level of preparedness for said higher learning. That’s why your high school transcript is so important. Imagine if all you had to show colleges you were prepared was the following information:

Not as impressive, right? But we digress– here are some frequently asked questions about the high school transcript that we often get at St. Mary’s:

Do you look at weighted or unweighted GPA?

At St. Mary’s, we look at both. However, when students ask us the average GPA of applicants, we use an unweighted number (3.5 if you were wondering!). This is because so many high schools weigh classes differently that it wouldn’t give us an accurate average to use weighted GPA. However, at St. Mary’s we look at your transcript in entirety, and that includes weighted GPA. Make sure you ask each college you are applying to how they calculate and look at GPA!

Do you look at all four years of high school? I had a rough sophomore year.

At St. Mary’s, we do look at all four years- however, we are looking for a couple of things in our applicants:

• Did you increase the difficulty of your classes each year? Perhaps graduating from honors classes to AP, or adding more IB courses each year.
• Is your GPA steady or increasing over all four years? We would not want to see that junior and senior year your GPA experiences a severe drop, for example.
• Can we see trends over time that indicate your best subjects? If you got an A in Algebra II, Precalc, Calculus AP, and Statistics AP, we probably can see that math is your strong point. However, if you consistently struggle in English class each year, that indicates to us that English might not be your best subject.

What are some things on a transcript that might stand out to an admissions office (either good or bad?)

Some good things that might stand out are: a strong balance of honors, GT, AP, and/or IB classes, four years of math, science, AND English, advancing in art or music classes to a more advanced level, and any community college or summer courses.

Some things that might make us nervous are: a sudden drop in grades senior year (hello senioritis!), a really rigorous course load with really low grades, lots of absences and missed classes, or anything else strange and out-of-place.

*If you think there is something on your transcript that would make an admissions office nervous, then call them and explain. Or schedule an interview– the interview is the perfect place to disclose reasons for low grades or explain and describe your high school career.

How do I send my transcript through Common Application?

Your high school guidance counselor can electronically submit your transcript online through the Common Application. They can also mail a sealed copy to each school’s admissions office. If sending by mail, make sure to get a delivery receipt through the postal office. That receipt can serve as confirmation that the transcript got to the college and didn’t get lost in the mail!

In conclusion, your transcript is what it is by the time you get to senior year. You can’t control the grades you got freshman year when you should have been working harder. You can’t go back and replace that Yearbook class with World History AP (nor should you!). And college admissions offices know that. That’s why the transcript is not the only part of the application. That’s why we also look at recommendation letters, standardized test scores, extracurricular resume, and essays. Remember, you can always call or email your admissions counselor to set up an interview or ask any further questions!

Countdown to Common App: Early Decision vs. Regular Decision

One of the first choices that the Fall 2015 Common Application is going to ask you to make is the choice between Early Decision and Regular Decision. Or, more specifically, the choice to apply to St. Mary’s College through Early Decision I, Early Decision II, or Regular Decision. While this choice might seem simple (especially compared to the rest of the application!) it is actually one of the most important decisions you will make during the application process.

Early Decision at St. Mary’s:

At St. Mary’s, our Early Decision application is binding. This means that if you are accepted Early, you are required to commit to St. Mary’s. We will ask you to pay a commitment deposit and also withdraw any applications from other colleges and universities.

Is Early Decision the same at every college?

Short answer, no. You need to find out a few things before deciding to apply Early at any school. Prepare to ask the following questions:

• Is Early Decision binding or non-binding?
• Do you have an Early Action option? (Early Action is usually a non-binding option where you send in your application prior to the deadline and get an admissions decision earlier than the rest of the application pool)
• When will I be notified of admission?
• Do I receive any merit packages with my Early admissions decision? (St. Mary’s sends merit awards with Early letters)

1. One of the first choices that the Fall 2015 Common Application is going to ask you to make is the choice between Early Decision and Regular Decision. Or, more specifically, the choice to apply to St. Mary’s College through Early Decision I, Early Decision II, or Regular Decision. While this choice might seem simple (especially compared to the rest of the application!) it is actually one of the most important decisions you will make during the application process.

   

   Early Decision at St. Mary’s:

   At St. Mary’s, our Early Decision application is binding. This means that if you are accepted Early, you are required to commit to St. Mary’s. We will ask you to pay a commitment deposit and also withdraw any applications from other colleges and universities.

   Is Early Decision the same at every college?

   Short answer, no. You need to find out a few things before deciding to apply Early at any school. Prepare to ask the following questions:

   • Is Early Decision binding or non-binding?
   • Do you have an Early Action option? (Early Action is usually a non-binding option where you send in your application prior to the deadline and get an admissions decision earlier than the rest of the application pool)
   • When will I be notified of admission?
   • Do I receive any merit packages with my Early admissions decision? (St. Mary’s sends merit awards with Early letters)

   Why apply Early Decision?

   

   Early Decision is a great option if you have a top-choice college or university. If you know that you will definitely go to _____ University if you get accepted, than Early Decision is the choice for you. Also, many colleges notify their Early applicants of their admission in the fall, so you can enjoy the rest of your senior year knowing where you are going to college. That way, when everyone else is freaking out in the spring, you can be cool and collected.

   St. Mary’s has Early Decision I and Early Decision II- what are the differences?

   Many colleges and universities also have multiple Early Decision options. This is to give you more time to make a choice- so if you visit ____ University in November and fall in love, you can still have the chance to apply Early. Also, at St. Mary’s (and many schools), if you are not accepted into the Early Decision I pool, your application gets the chance to be re-read in the Early Decision II pool. This gives you a greater chance at being accepted.

   I have a few colleges that I like equally- how should I apply?

   

   Regular Decision is the one for you! This option allows you to apply to as many colleges as you like. Then, come spring, you have several options to choose from. You can visit the schools and attend an Admitted Student Day program, which is usually designed to help you make a decision!

   How many students are choosing Early vs. Regular?

   

   At St. Mary’s, last year we admitted about 25% of our incoming class through Early Decision I and II. This means that a significant number of students are choosing to commit to SMCM in the fall of their senior year!

   Got it, now? If you’re unsure about a college’s application deadlines or application options, then call or email them!

   

Countdown to Common Application Release!

In celebration of our Common Application opening on Friday, each morning this week this blog will feature a post focusing on a different section of our application process. The application process can seem completely stressful and overwhelming:

But when you break it down into parts it becomes so much more manageable.

Also good to remember- admissions counselors were high school students once too ((even if this is what we look like now):

If you follow the tips on this blog we promise by the end of this week, you will be feeling much more confident and ready to apply to college!