Welcome back everybody! Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving holiday! Thank you to everyone who responded to the blog that I posted last week-- I've heard some good stories about large application numbers and some of them are posted under the "Comments" section of last week's blog below.

I also received this question over the break and am reposting it here for all of you:

I am a high school junior from Seattle. I have been searching for colleges since freshman year and I've finally narrowed my list down to about 8 schools which I feel are great fits. I am curious to know what factors or aspects make a student's application competitive or strong?

-Lauren

A very appropriate question for the point in the process that we are at now, as our current office conversations are about a number of different factors that we feel are important in the admission review process. First and foremost, we are going to be looking at high school academic performance. The students who are most competitive in our applicant pool have typically taken 4 years of the 5 core academic subject areas during high school: English, math, natural science, social science (history), and foreign language. In addition, we are looking for students who have taken on an appropriate level of challenging Honors and Advanced Placement courses in the context of what is offered at their specific high school. Context is very important to us so a student will never be penalized for not taking a class that their high school doesn't offer... but we do want students to take advantage of advanced level courses in areas they will be successful academically and might want to pursue at the college level (i.e. if a student wants to be a Biology major, we really want to see 4 years of math [through Calculus, hopefully] and 4 years of a lab science... and if the high school offers an AP Bio class, that would be a great class to take!). Of course, we also want students to do well in the demanding curriculums they have chosen, so GPA will be looked at hand-in-hand with course selection throughout our review.

At PC, our admission review is very holistic so we look very closely at the subjective pieces of a student's application in addition to the academic portion. These credentials include extra-curricular involvement, the application essay, and letters of recommendation. We have a very active and involved campus community, and while we look first at academics in the review, we are always looking for students who will contribute to our community as well. Dedication to clubs/organizations/teams and taking on leadership roles in these groups are what we are truly looking for and impressed by... rather than a laundry list of every activity you've ever participated in since kindergarten. It is the QUALITY of the involvement, not the quantity (I think I've talked about quality before...).

As an institution that accepts (and only uses) the Common Application, our applicants have a lot of choices on the college essay. The Common App gives students six essay topics to choose from, and the final one is "Topic of Your Choice." So, you are free to write about anything you would like, and we encourage you to write about something that comes naturally to you. The best essays we see each year are the personal ones, where we are able to get a sense of what a student is passionate about or what is important to them. The essay is a way for us to move beyond the numbers (GPA, class rank, test scores, etc.) and see a student's personality shine through. Whatever your topic is, remember that spelling and grammar are important! Presentation counts! We take the essay seriously on our side of the desk and we hope that you have done so on yours.

Finally, recommendations from your guidance counselor and teacher(s) are the final subjective pieces we will consider. These letters will give us a sense of your high school career; how you've grown, matured, improved in your study habits, etc... (Hopefully you have improved in these areas and not moved in the other direction!)... You may choose any academic teacher you would like for the one required teacher recommendation, although I will say that we do prefer a teacher you have had recently (junior or senior year) rather than a teacher you had just once way back in 9th grade. A teacher you have had multiple times (such as during freshman year and then again junior year) or in multiple settings (a teacher who was also your coach or advisor of a club) often can write a great recommendation, but again, it is completely up to you to choose the teacher who will write the best letter for YOU.

And, finally, as you know if you have been keeping up with my postings (or PC news in general), we are "test-optional" with regard to SAT/ACT scores. Students are not required to submit test scores to receive full consideration for admission. We have found that high school academic performance (curriculum and GPA) is a better indicator of success at PC than standardized test scores.

That's the long answer! Those are the main components we are taking a look at when we review applications, and doing well in each of these areas certainly makes an application stand out in a positive way. What makes an application stand out negatively? Carelessness... misspelled words, incomplete answers, extremely short essays-- and believe me, we've seen all of those things (unfortunately) during the Early Action review process.

Hope this answers your question, Lauren! Thanks for writing!