College Application Changes

Yahoo news had an article about 8 new changes to the 2010 and 2011 college admissions. The reason for the changes is because of the high volume of high school applicants to the most popular colleges in the U.S. They are also trying to get rid of applicants who try easy A classes and plagiarize their essays.

1. Less time per application. A survey showed college counselors and peer reviewers spending about 15 minutes on each application.
This makes a lot of sense if they're getting about 30,000 applicants a year. Who would want to spend that much time on an application. Advice: put your BEST stuff first. You want your application to sell you as an individual/student so make it short and sweet.

2. Earlier deadlines. Many colleges are encouraging students to take advantage of the early admittance program. They suggest this so they have more time to get to each application.
Plus, some schools are on a first come first serve basis so if you send in your application early then you may get a response early.

3. Less reliance on recommendations. High school teachers and counselors get a lot of recommendation requests from students each year so they may not put a lot of thought and effort into each recommendation which could count against you.
Unless you have a few unique people to write you recommendations I would rely more on the personal essay to sell yourself than your teachers.

4. Less emphasis on high school class rank. Some high schools don't use class rankings so it makes colleges skip over the class ranking on your application.
Honestly, its not just about where you stand in your class anymore. You can have a 3.2 GPA and win awards for being involved in the community or in extracurricular activities and get into the most prestigious schools in the country.

5. More emphasis on tough high school courses. The harder the classes the more prepared you will be for college. Colleges will look at the AP classes and classes that don't consist of art and music.

6. More emphasis on college essays. This can make or break you.
This should be the most important part of your application. This is the chance you get to explain why you should be accepted, what you can bring to their school, and explain any challenges or mess-ups you have encountered in your high school years.

7. More attention to senior year. In the past, colleges have looked at sophomore and junior year as most important but now they are looking at the senior year because they don't want anyone to slack off.
Senior year should be the most important because it the last year you have as a high school student so it should be the year you show yourself off.

8. More application auditing. More colleges are fact checking essays and any information you provide.
This is important because there are a lot of dishonest applicants and if they are caught it gives an honest person a shot.