5 Tips to Get into Your Dream College
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Getting into your dream college may sound daunting, but it certainly doesn’t have to be, especially when you have CIEE for support.
Let’s dive into some recommendations!
How to Pick a College Wisely
Choosing where you want to go to college or university is, like most things in life, entirely up to you! Which means you also get to define what your dream school looks like. It’s important to consider a variety of factors when it comes to your school of choice, including:
- Degree program opportunities
- Location
- Financial options
- Extracurricular opportunities
And tons more!
Read More: How to Apply for College: A Step-by-Step Guide
After assessing these factors and determining what you’re looking for in a college or university experience, start researching your college options based on your new parameters.
And remember, it’s a personal choice. While your dream school may be a small liberal arts college in the Northeast, your best friend’s dream school may be a large university on the west coast — the university landscape truly has something for everyone!
Although all opportunities are exciting, they can also be a bit overwhelming. After all, there are more than 4,000 higher education institutions across the United States. Feeling a bit out of your element is normal when you’re first getting started. Our tips for getting into your dream college can help!
Tip #1: Sort Your Options
As you contemplate your ideal schools, we recommend going a step further and categorizing your options in three ways: safety schools, target schools, and reach schools.
You may ask, “What is a target school?” or a “reach school?” And while we’ll provide you with an overview, keep these categories in mind as you read through our next section all about college prep!
- Safety Schools: Safety schools are colleges or universities you’re most likely to get accepted into because your academic credentials (like your high school GPA and ACT or SAT scores) exceed the school’s requirements. As you research colleges and universities, make sure to note all academic requirements and look at other measurements, like average acceptance rates, to help you categorize your options.
- Target Schools: Just as it sounds, target schools are colleges or universities that are right on target or match your academic credentials. Acceptance rates at your target schools may be lower than those at your safety schools and competition for admission may be higher.
- Reach Schools: Reach schools are typically defined as schools that may top your expectations in various ways, like ideal class size and location, but may be challenging to gain admission into. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible – there are several steps you can take to increase your chances of getting into a reach school!
Experts often advise students to apply to a variety of safety, target, and reach schools so that when your acceptance offers start rolling in, you’ll have options.
And remember, even if you end up attending a safety school, it’s a school you chose out of so many for a reason — don’t count it out! It’s worth noting that if your academic credentials far exceed the expectations of one of your safety schools, you’ll be more likely to receive some sort of academic scholarship, too. Talk about a win-win!
While these three school categories focus on academic credentials and acceptance rates, remember that plenty of other factors beyond academics can help you get into any school, including your dream ones! Let’s take a closer look at this in our next section.
Tip #2: Consider Additional Admissions Factors
When you apply to college, college admissions teams consider your application holistically, meaning they aren’t just quickly scanning your SAT scores and GPA to decide. They really want to learn more about your experiences and values and how you’d contribute to their school as a future student.
This means that while your GPA might not exceed the requirements at your target or reach schools, your incredible experiences, like a volunteer opportunity or sports involvement, captured in your college application, might just be what stands out and gets you in!
These experiences and even your academics are all a part of your pre-college journey, where you might be right now. You can’t highlight a volunteer opportunity on your college application if you never did one!
Tip #3: Enhance Your Application with Study Abroad
If you’re looking to enhance your college application (and, really, your life too!), connect with us at CIEE.
If you feel like you might be lacking some significant experiences or need something new to help make your application outstanding, consider an adventure like CIEE Gap Year Abroad or CIEE First Year Abroad.
Read More: The Differences Between Gap Year and First Year Abroad
Not only are our study abroad programs incredibly fun (you get to explore international cities; it doesn’t get any better than that!), but you’ll also come back to the States with a ton of new skills and perspectives, like learning new languages, problem-solving strategies, and intercultural communication abilities.
College admissions teams consider study abroad experiences highly favorably – in fact, there are even studies that prove study abroad increases employability and career skills. CIEE First Year Abroad is an especially unique option because you’ll start college abroad, meaning after program, your study abroad experience can help you transfer to your dream school (among other excellent options!).
Colleges often welcome transfer students with international experiences and even boast higher acceptance rates for transfer students compared to traditional applicants. And it’s very common to be a transfer student; nearly one-third of college students in the United States transfer schools before earning their degree!
A study abroad experience like First Year Abroad can definitely increase your chances of getting into your dream college.
Tip #4: Use Your Resources
Throughout your college planning journey, we encourage you to use resources to help you prioritize and stand out on college applications.
One route that students take to help in the college planning process is hiring outside help, like an education consultant, to support them along the way.
CIEE recently connected with AdmissionSight, a college admission consulting company to learn more about their perspective on the world of admissions.
Eric Eng, founder and CEO of AdmissionSight, states, “Getting into a top college is no easy feat, and the standards for admissions have increased dramatically in the past five years…we’ve helped hundreds of families navigate this complex process by providing full-service support,” including:
- SAT/ACT prep
- Academic and extracurricular strategy
- Science and academic research
- Passion project development
- Summer program application
- Preparation for prestigious national academic competitions
- College application essay editing
- Interview prep
- Letters of recommendation guidance
No matter if you work with a consultant or decide to prepare for college on your own, it’s important to plan ahead and utilize your resources!
Tip #5: Don’t Forget Other Bonuses on Your Application
As we’ve said, there are plenty of factors that college admissions teams consider when reviewing college applications. Outside your academics, several components on your college application will be key in exhibiting some interesting information about yourself, including:
- Requesting letters of recommendation for college: Make sure to check in with your favorite teachers, mentors, coaches, or anyone else who has made a positive impact on your life to write a college recommendation letter for you. These letters are crucial for college admissions teams. When requesting one, be thoughtful and inform the other person about why you want their support in this next phase of your life!
- The Personal Essay: This is where you can get creative and detail exciting and life-changing experiences, like a CIEE study abroad experience!
- Activities and Other Responsibilities: List other significant aspects of your life, like jobs, sports commitments, volunteer experiences, and more, to help college admissions teams get to know you better.
Read More: What Is the Most Important Factor in College Admissions?
We’ve covered a lot! Let’s do a quick review of all the things you can do to increase your chances of getting into your dream college:
- Organize your college or university options to narrow down what you’re looking for in a dream school.
- Detail (and make sure to actually participate in) experiences that will shape your perspective before college, like study abroad.
- Use your resources.
- Complete every aspect of your college application so admissions teams can get to know you on a more personal level – things like letters of recommendation and the personal essay are essential.
While getting into your dream college may be challenging, if you’re interested in a CIEE abroad adventure, we know you’re up for it! We can’t wait for you to get started.