{"id":1395695,"date":"2017-01-23T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T17:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.sparknotes.com\/?p=1395695"},"modified":"2017-01-24T09:48:04","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T14:48:04","slug":"9-things-you-should-do-right-now-to-make-your-college-applications-stronger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/9-things-you-should-do-right-now-to-make-your-college-applications-stronger\/","title":{"rendered":"9+ Things You Should Do Right Now To Make Your College Applications Stronger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/Legally_blonde_harvard_lawn_LargeWide.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"701\" height=\"394\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some things on this list may seem pretty obvious, but hey\u2014you never know! I also went ahead and covered a couple of bases, namely recommendations for the actual app <em>and<\/em> all the stuff you gotta do IRL to actually put on that thing. Have a tip I left out? Please share!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Show the school love:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Tour the campus.<\/li>\n<li>Friend the university on Facebook.<\/li>\n<li>Meet with admissions officers.<\/li>\n<li>Follow up with questions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Get to know the professors with whom you want to study. Ask to sit in on their classes!<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>If the college\/university offers them\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6enroll in a summer course<\/strong> for high school students.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>Optional essays? Write them! Elaborate whenever possible.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>Research the school <strong><em>thoroughly<\/em><\/strong> and then talk\u2014in your essay\u2014about how much you like what you discovered.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>Include supplemental materials that demonstrate your hobbies and passions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Link to videos of performances, music clips, photography portfolios, or personal (and appropriate for viewing by a college admissions board) websites and blogs.<\/li>\n<li>If possible, include newspaper clippings about your involvement in the community or your participation in a local (or national!) competitions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make sure the college accepts these supplemental materials!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>Show the admissions team that you engage with and contribute to your community beyond the classroom.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Volunteer! Possible organizations to join: the Red Cross, Boy\/Girl Scouts, Habitat for Humanity, local tutoring organizations\u2014check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.volunteermatch.org\/volunteers\/\" target=\"_blank\">Volunteer Match<\/a> to see what&#8217;s available in your area!<\/li>\n<li>Participate in competitions within your particular area of interest, both academic, creative, and athletic.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Volunteer to work in your school&#8217;s front office.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Take part in a school fundraiser.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li>Demonstrate a deep commitment to and genuine appreciation for what you spend your time doing by starting your own club\/organization\/group.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"7\">\n<li>Make sure your letters of rec are not just run-of-the-mill rave reviews. They need to be very specific in terms of description of your talent and ability. If it&#8217;s possible for someone to write a letter for you who has known you a shorter amount of time than other teachers, but who was your supervisor on a project that connects with your intended area of study\u2014go with the latter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"8\">\n<li>Study hard. Prepare for SAT and ACT exams and retake them if you don&#8217;t do well on your first try.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"9\">\n<li>Get a part-time job. \u00a0Not only does this look good on a college app, it will allow you to put away money for books and tuition.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some things on this list may seem pretty obvious, but hey\u2014you never know! I also went ahead and covered a couple of bases, namely recommendations for the actual app and all the stuff you gotta   <a class=\"continue-reading\" href=\"#\"><span class=\"continue-text\">continue reading<\/span><svg class=\"continue-icon\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" alt=\"\">\n    <path fill=\"#007acd\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\" d=\"M13.442 5.558L19.885 12l-6.443 6.442-.884-.884 4.934-4.934L4 12.625v-1.25l13.492-.001-4.934-4.932.884-.884z\"><\/path>\n  <\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[124,509,14693,4789,23477],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395695"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1395695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1395695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1395695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1395695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}