Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored
Forget about the leader-follower paradigm, which argues that to get into a top college you need to be a leader and not a follower. There is something that is even better than being a leader if you want to give yourself the best shot of admission to all the colleges and universities on your list.
You may know all about Regular Decision, Early Decision, and Early Action, but do have you heard about the most exciting type of Admission? Instant Admission is pretty much the dream of every student and every admissions officer; it’s fun, fast, and exhilarating.
When you apply Early Decision you send you application in by a specific early deadline and receive an admissions decision earlier than regular decision (usually in the middle of December). If admitted Early Decision you must attend that college. You will be required to sign a statement agreeing to this binding policy – and so will your counselor and your parent(s). Once admitted Early Decision, your high school is not allowed to send your transcripts, teacher recommendations, and school profile to any other colleges on your behalf and you must withdraw any pending applications to other colleges while also informing colleges that have already accepted you Rolling or Early Action or Priority that you must decline their offers of admission.
• Going for Early Decision must be well thought out and carefully contemplated. If you applying to a college Early Decision (ED) it should be your first choice college and you should have visited and attended an informational session for that college. Early Decision should be discussed in detail with your counselor and family.
• The only way to nullify an Early Decision commitment is if the financial package is insufficient; however, this is not always possible and even if it is, this may not leave you much time to apply to other colleges.
Comparing Priority Admission and Regular Decision is not that hard to do. What is hard to understand is why anyone would miss applying by a college’s priority deadline and in the process settle for applying Regular Decision.
When you apply Regular Decision you are applying by a college’s Regular deadline, which is typically in early winter (January or February). Students can apply to more than one college Regular Decision. Decisions tend to be received between March and April.
Priority Admission is when a college sets a date by which applications given the most consideration must be received. This date precedes such colleges’ Regular Decision deadlines. Students can also apply to more than one college Priority. Plus, Priority Admission is non-binding, which means you don’t have to attend the college if admitted. If a Priority Admission deadline is offered by a college on your list, you would be crazy not to apply by this date.
Watch the video below for a more contextualized discussion on the topic of Priority vs. Regular.
Rolling Admission colleges review applications as they are received and make decisions on an on-going and space-available basis. Chances of acceptance at a Rolling Admission college improve greatly if the completed application is sent during the late summer (August or September) of a student’s senior year in high school.
If you are taking AP, IB, or other very challenging high school courses, you should be planning to take SAT Subject Tests to impress college admissions committees; yet, many students have no clear strategy as to when to take SAT Subject Tests. You are not going to be one of those students after watching this video.
Many schools ask teachers to make IB predictions during the first weeks of a student’s senior year. Once the predictions are made students would be wise to avoid confronting their teachers about them.
Don’t worry about the exact methodology or rubric teachers and counselors use to produce and report your predicted IB scores. Instead, focus on what you can do to inspire teachers to give you the highest predictions possible.
Your actions play the largest role in determining your IB predictions; therefore, you are responsible if they are not what you had hoped. To underscore this point just a bit more, we’ve enlisted the support of the sage advice of Oprah herself:
More than ever students applying to college in the US are also looking to Canada for more college and university options. The same can be said of their Canadian counterparts. With this in mind, it’s important to review the major differences between the admissions process in the United States and Canada. While the following information is very valuable in general, please remember that specific colleges and universities may of course deviate from the general rule outlined below. Always remember to check with the college or universities on your final list to ensure that you are meeting their admissions criteria and meeting their priority deadlines. Good luck!
| Canada | United States | |
| Application Deadlines | Apply as soon as the applications are available online (in many cases December or January); deadlines vary by institution but are generally later than the US and typically on a rolling basis. Be careful to not apply to late, as Canadian schools don’t have the same May 1 reply by date as US schools and they typically take long to process applications | Deadlines vary by institution, but are generally earlier than Canada and most have specific deadlines including those for Early Action (non-binding) and Early Decision (binding). |
| Admissions Criteria – Academic Performance | Academic performance is the most important decision factor; requirements vary by institution and by competitive programs. Senior/junior year performance is crucial to many Canadian universities – most all will require first semester senior year grades (or predicted IB scores), so late bloomers can really benefit. | Academic performance is the most important decision factor for both private colleges and universities, with more weight given to rigorous, college-prep curricula. Most US universities will look at grades 9, 10, 11, and 12with more weight on senior/junior year performance. First semester senior year grades are required for admission, unless the student is applying Early Decision, Early Action, or early in the Rolling cycle. |
| Admissions Criteria – Other | Less emphasis on reference letters, essays, and extracurricular activities (most universities will not require this information for evaluation). | More emphasis on reference letters, essays, extracurricular activities, and demonstrated interest (especially at mid- and small-sized private colleges/universities). |
| Admissions Criteria – Testing | Some require SAT/ACT, and rarely SAT Subject Tests, but not all. Inquire with each college you are considering. | Most weigh SAT or ACT scores, and sometimes SAT Subject Tests. An increasing number of colleges are test optional (see fairtest.org). |
| Decisions | Decisions roll out from February to April, or even later. | Decisions can be rolling or with deadline schools no later than April 1. The uniform reply/deposit deadline is May 1. |
More information:
While the cost of college education in the US has reached record highs, Germany has abandoned tuition fees altogether for German and international students alike. An increasing number of Americans are taking advantage and saving tens of thousands of dollars to get their degrees.
More: How US students get a university degree for free in Germany By Franz Strasser, BBC News, Germany (6/3/15)