by May Plaige

Created on: February 03, 2009

You may have heard a lot of different things about what the college application process is like. Myths especially abound regarding what exactly those mysterious "application reviewers" look for in an application. If only there was some magic spell to make a college application irresistible to those reviewers! Unfortunately, such a spell has yet to be developed. Read on to find out what other misguided advice has been paraded around.

MYTH #1: Your recommenders should be well-known people in the field you want to study, people who graduated from the college you are applying to, or some other form of "awesome people."

Not necessarily . . . though if you happen to know such a person, it can't hurt. Don't feel pressured to seek out impressive names to get your recommendations from. Instead, your first criteria should be to choose people (teachers especially) who know you well, especially your good qualities. Make sure to give your recommenders plenty of time (at least two weeks) to write the letter, and provide them with a resume or list of activities you do that they may not know about.

MYTH #2: You can only get in to selective schools if your parents went there or if they make a large donation to the school.

This is false. Though some selective schools will give special consideration to the children of alumni or children of those who donate to the school, admission is not reserved only for those applicants. If you have a strong academic background backed by great recommendations and an impressive essay, you can get into Ivy League and other selective schools.

MYTH #3: If the application deadline has passed, you no longer have a chance to send in documents like transcripts, letters of recommendation, etc.

For some schools, this may be the case, but for many, the application deadline applies mainly to the application form itself. Once that form is in on time, there may be a week or more allotted for the rest of your documents to come in. Of course, you'll want to call the admissions/applications office to make sure, but don't give up if one of your recommenders didn't send that letter in quick enough. If anything, at least call and explain why your things are late and see if you can get a grace period.

MYTH #4: Taking the SAT again and again to attain a high score will impress the application reviewers enough to balance out your poor transcript.

Sorry, Charlie: the transcript these days is much more important than the SAT. Don't skip the SAT on that note, though, because even though it is weighed less heavily in your application, it is still a required part for most traditional colleges. Don't waste money and time trying to score 20 points higher, unless you did extremely bad your first couple of tries and are aiming for at least an "average" score.

MYTH #5: Standing out is the only guarantee to getting in.

Standing out is no guarantee in any way, and there are plenty of unaccepted applicants who have baked cookies, altered their application style, and spent money promoting themselves to prove it. In the college application process, there are no guarantees. While standing out by having great recommendations, an original essay (that still meets the essay parameters!) and strong grades is more secure, even that can be tricky at some schools where the majority of applicants share these qualities. The best advice is to be creative with the application, especially on the essay portion, but do not get so creative that you fail to meet the criteria.

With college applications, you want to give yourself plenty of time, put effort into it, and make sure to get the opinions of other people before sending your final product in. Know the myths and the facts, and you're on your way to admissions success!

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