If you’re a sophomore or junior in high school, you probably are already thinking about what you need to do to be getting ready for college. Before I was a high school senior photographer, I was also a high school student not too long ago. I went to the University of Washington and graduated with a degree in biochemistry and remember the years leading up to college.

What do you need to be doing prior to college to make sure that you’re making yourself competitive in the application process and setting yourself up for success? Let’s talk about my three biggest things that I believe you should be doing to set yourself up to be a competitive applicant to your dream school!

PS: These views are based on my own experience and shouldn’t be your only source behind doing certain things in the application process. Please only use these as a guideline and as always consult your guidance counselor or other career center individuals for the most up to date information!

 

Think About Your Extracurricular Activities

While it’s easy to only worry about getting a 4.0 GPA in high school, you’re going to also need to set yourself apart from other applicants by doing things that are unique and to show that you can handle the rigors of college while also balancing other commitments. Activities like sports, clubs (NHS, Key Club, DECA, etc.) and playing an instrument are all really good starting points. The biggest things that colleges will be looking for is that you have been committed throughout the course of a couple years. If you’re a senior and you’re just starting a sport so you can put it on your application, chances are they’re going to notice that. Many athletes don’t start with sports their senior year and they’ll want to see that you’ve been committed from the beginning or early on in high school.

While these are good starting points, don’t think that these are going to get you in. Many other applicants will also have these qualities, so you’ll want to make sure you have these plus other strong areas of your application.

I recommend doing extracurricular activities that you love. Doing something that’s more obscure that you love will stand out in the application process and also give you something to talk about when it comes time to write your essays. Plus, it will come across as more genuine.

Begin Picking Your Schools Early

I’m sure you’re aware, but the application process is going to come and go super quickly. You want to make sure that you’re giving yourself an insight into where you should be applying and begin picking your schools early! I recommend starting to look at this towards the end of your sophomore year and beginning of junior year. For every student, I recommend having about 2 safety schools, 3 match schools and about 3 reach schools that you plan on applying to.

So what are safety, match and reach schools? Well, they’re exactly how they sound! Based on your ACT or SAT test scores and your GPA, you should begin looking at schools and see what their average admissions statistics are. Each school will list their median and ranges for both of these statistics for the previous admitted class. Safety schools will be schools that you are traditionally on the upper quartile (upper 25%) for their admitted student body, match schools will be where your test scores and GPA are within the range and then a reach school is a school where your test scores are still within the range, but may be on the lower quartile (bottom 25%).

By picking an assortment of these schools, it ensures that you’re likely to get into at least 1-2 of your schools. Each year is different and the last thing you want is for May to roll around and not have any offers you want because you applied to all safety schools you didn’t want to attend or all reach schools that you really wanted but might not have been admitted to. Once you’ve picked your schools or been admitted to a certain school, you’ll want to set up a college visit. Some schools can appear amazing on paper but once you get there you find that it’s not a place you want to spend your four years.

Another thing to look at is to make sure you’re applying to at least one or two state schools. The reason for this is that admission is usually easier for residents of that state and it will also play a role in how much you will end up paying to attend.

Don’t Be Too Serious In Your Application

The admissions committee is going to be getting a lot of applications. Each person is going to have similar credentials and you want to be able to show the admissions officers what you’re like as a person. Don’t be too serious in your application.

Now I’m not saying that you should be completely silly, try and make jokes and not take the admissions process seriously… But if you’re someone who also has funny stories that you’ve learned from and can tie this into your essay, do it! You’re still going to have the test scores and GPA but your essays are what are going to help set you apart from others at the end of the day.

Want to know more about what you need to do during the application process?

Click here or the photo above and I’ll send you the FREE Guide for Applying to College! This will give you a head start in what you should be thinking about during the college process based on things that I learned when I applied to college!

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Sean Brown is a senior portrait photographer based out of Vancouver Washington and Portland Oregon. His goal is to bring out every senior’s personality in their images and is dedicated to making sure that every senior session is different so that no two senior images are alike. Sean is now booking the Class of 2020. To learn more about being an SBP Senior, click here.