The EDUFAX Educational FAQ

Question #181:

Would competitive colleges happily answer my question: "These are my grades...., these are my activities..., what are my chances?", or would they find my question presumptuously irksome???? (courtesy Roman Roik, Whippany, NJ)

Answer #181:

Most admissions officers would probably answer the question this way: The best way to see if there is a place for you at our school is to apply. They would, indeed, find the question rather irksome because you are asking them to reduce their entire admissions procedure into a short answer formula. You need to understand that colleges select a class, not an unrelated group of individual students. However, your guidance counselor in high school should be able to show you statistics of students from your high school who have been admitted in previous years to the schools which interest you. That should give you an idea of what the schools are looking for from your area. You can also work with an educational consultant who speaks directly with admissions officers and has a fairly good idea of what they are looking for in each year's applicant pool. For example, a suburban kid from the Northeast might need different credentials than a farm kid from Wyoming or an inner city kid from Texas. Finally, your essay and the general presentation of your application make an impression that is not quantifiable. Remember, Harvard turns down hundreds of valedictorians with 1600 SAT scores each year. It would be inappropriate for an admissions officer to give you an incontrovertible answer to your question, although some might give you ranges. Don't annoy the admissions officers. You never know which one will be passing judgment on your application file. EDUFAX provides services for the Collegebound High School Student.

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