Demonstrating interest in a college is a difficult but very important task, especially because scholarships that they might award students and acceptances are partly determined by how likely that student is to take advantage of university resources and attend that school.
Universities have their own version of an attrition rate; in other words, they have a statistic that refers to how many students who they’ve accepted into their university actually attend. This statistic has an important contribution to their ranking, so they have an incentive to accept students who show a very high interest to their school.
This might come across as good news because – if you have the right knowledge – you can effectively demonstrate your interest in the colleges you most want to attend and increase your chances of being accepted.
Here are some ways that you can (and should) demonstrate interest effectively to the colleges that you really want to attend.
1) Visit that school – going on a guided tour around the campus will help you get a feel for the university, determine if that’s a good fit for you, and talk to the tour guide and other current students to get their perspectives on what resources are helpful at their university, what they might want changed, and advice they have for high school students who are in the same spot they were in the past. I’ve taken different high school students on mini-tours around my campus and answered all their many questions, and the advice/tips that I was able to impart was always impactful, even if they didn’t decide to go to my university.
2) Do research into that university and their resources – as I’ve written elsewhere, part of selling yourself to a university is showing that you’re a great fit for their environment and culture. This means that you should tell them exactly what type of resources, clubs, extracurriculars, major, and classes that you would take advantage of if you were a student at that university. This could involve doing a deep dive into the college website and discovering their mission statement, different attributes that make them unique, and the various things that appeal to you above other schools. Hopefully, this research will also help you reflect on why you want to attend that university, and will enable you to understand truly what you think makes that university so different than the others.
3) Talk to current students – if you have any friends who attend that university, then reach out to them and ask them about their experiences at that university. You can also reach out to the counselor at your high school, and ask them if they know about any students from your high school who attend the college(s) that you’re interested in. Chances are, they’ll know somebody or know who/how to contact alumni of your high school so that you can talk to them over Zoom/phone and get to know what the university is like from the perspective of somebody from your area and high school.
4) Attend the seminar given by the college representative of your state. Most prestigious colleges want to recruit bright student and therefore give hundreds of seminars throughout the states and at different high schools to tell students more about the school, the environment, the student body, and the education. If you attend one of them and write down your name and email address, this will give you an amazing opportunity to get to know the person who will be evaluating a lot of the applications. You can also email them with any questions you have after the seminar or you can introduce yourself after the seminar and explain your questions and why you want to attend the school.
These are just some of the ways that you can demonstrate interest in schools. Most of this information is not very transparent, and it can sometimes make-or-break your application if you’ve shown sufficient interest in the school and their offerings. It can help a lot in terms of getting financial scholarship opportunities and showcasing yourself.
Hope this was all helpful. Please reach out with any questions and concerns!
Naman
Hozzászólások