In Search of the Holy Grail: Highly Selective College Admissions Sue Biemeret Bob Foltin Amy Grove Adlai E. Stevenson High School

What is a Holy Grail?  The focus of all our national attention  The best of what higher ed has to offer  Typically admits fewer than % of applicants  Modern-day version of the knight’s search for ultimate truth

The Holy Grail, Round One AmherstBrownCaltechUniv. of Chicago ColumbiaCornellDartmouthDuke GeorgetownHarvardHarvey Mudd Univ. of Illinois MITMichiganNorth- western U North Carolina

The Holy Grail, Round Two Notre DamePennPomonaPrinceton RiceStanfordSwarthmoreVirginia Wash U.WellesleyWilliamsYale

How The Grail Admits Students - Course Selection  Single most important factor in process  Looking for most rigorous courses available at SHS  AP/Honors classes expected  Most common AP classes: English, Math, Science  Senior courses are important!  Looking for rigor and balance

How the Grail Admits Students - Grade Trends  Not just the course rigor, but also excellence in classes  Expectation: All A’s in all APs!!  Reality: Taking most challenging courses and earning top grades  Most HGs expect 4.3+ weighted gpa  Grade trends from freshman through junior year really examined  Some HGs recalculate gpa to include only academic units

How the Grail Admits Students - Test Scores  Which tests to take? ACT+Writing or SAT Reasoning Test with SAT Subject Tests?  Check each school’s requirements!!  SHS policy on reporting test scores  Common scores: ACT 33+, SAT [not including Writing score]  Sometimes used as eliminator to remove applicant from pool  Explain poor test history in personal statement

Some Testing Requirements  Harvard: either ACT + Writing or SAT AND 3 SAT Subject Tests of the student’s choosing  Yale: ACT + Writing or SAT AND 2 SAT Subject Tests  Brown: ACT+Writing or SAT AND 2 SAT Subject Tests  Duke: ACT+Writing OR SAT and 2 Subject Tests  Stanford: SAT or ACT + Writing; 2 SAT Subject Tests recommended

How the Grail Admits Students: Co-Curricular Activities  Answer the question: What do you do besides study? What is your passion?  Well-roundedness or Well-lopsidedness  Depth over breadth  Begin chart in 10th grade and update it; use Resume feature on Naviance!  Don’t join just to look involved!

How The Grail Admits Students: Essays  Single scariest part of process for most students  Deliberately ambiguous writing prompts to elicit how you think, define your passion[s], determine your intellectual curiosity  No right or wrong answer  Be sure to answer the question!!  Secret: develop your voice!

How the Grail Admits Students: Letters of Recommendation  Two types: teacher and counselor  Teacher: How did your presence in class change the class? What did you add?  Counselor: How did you navigate Stevenson? More global view  Get teachers who know you well [not just who grade you well…]  Don’t overstock your app with letters  Get to know your counselor now!

How the Grail Admits Students: High School Experience  This is our job: to tell the Stevenson Story of excellence to colleges  High school visits, high school profile, professional development contacts  Let’s not rank high schools [!!], but know that Stevenson’s history of academic excellence is well known to HG schools

How the Grail Admits Students: Geographic Distribution  All HG schools want national student body, at least one student from each state [except public HGs]  No quotas of high schools or states  Consider our competition….  Increase the odds? Move to North Dakota [and be first chair French horn….]

How the Grail Admits Students: Special Talents/Considerations  Athletic, Musical, Artistic Talent can add weight to application  What’s your “hook?”  Alumni Legacy sometimes considered [but not always….]  “Knowing someone” isn’t going to affect decision [unless that someone has a building named after him on campus….]

How the Grail Admits Students: Demonstrated Interest  The newest piece of the puzzle.  Did the student visit the campus, come to local presentations [at SHS or at local hotels], the admission office with legitimate questions???  Some colleges utilize data to help make decisions about candidates.  Early application is the ultimate example!

Importance of “Safety” Schools  What is a safety school?  NO ONE wants to be known as a safety  Just who is/isn’t safe these days is a moveable feast  Real safety: much more than a place you can get in, but also a place where you can grow, learn, become the best you can be --Should resemble your “reach” schools in location, size, opportunities

Early Admission Plans  May 1 st is Universal Candidate Reply Date  Two Ways of Signaling Your Interest [and Maybe Even Enhancing Chance for Admission]:  Early Action: not binding [can wait til May 1]  Early Decision: binding [must say yes if admitted, can’t wait til May lst] –Real commitment to school [like getting engaged…] –Must withdraw all other applications if admitted –May only apply to one school ED

ED: The Financial Issue  Need to have a realistic view of your financial need [as opposed to want]  Can’t compare aid awards from other schools when applying ED  Estimate? Go to and look for estimator pagewww.finaid.org  Can only refuse ED offer if college does not match your need [as opposed to your want]

Other Financial Considerations  Difference between “ability to pay” and “willingness to pay” [difference between need and want] - confusing difference to many families  Most Holy Grail schools do not offer merit [no-need] aid, only offer need-based aid  Parents: You may have to pay the full cost of a Holy Grail education!

Some Scary Statistics [from 2009] Brown: 24,988 apps % admitted Harvard: 29,112 apps --7% admitted Penn: 22,939 apps % admitted Princeton: 21, % admitted Stanford: 30,428 apps --7.6% admitted Yale: 26,000 apps --7.5% admitted

Even More Scary Stats… 27,000+ high schools in the U.S. Each school has a “top twenty” list of students 540,000 superstars all applying to the same schools! Even perfect test takers don’t always get the brass ring! Our “best” student can become “typical” in the Holy Grail applicant pool We do not control this situation!

Lucky/Unlucky Students  85-90% of applicants to HG schools meet academic requirements, but  7-25% of applicants are admitted  Importance of personal factors, both about the student and by the college  Some students are lucky to be admitted  And others are unlucky not to be admitted  Not a matter of better/best, but of lucky/unlucky

Strategies for Students - There Are No Guarantees  No one is entitled to admission to a Holy Grail!  This is not science, this is an art.  Some of our best students are not admitted  Realize your local, state, and national competition

Strategies for Students - Do Your Homework!  Know everything you can about the Holy Grail schools!  Research, read, check web sites, meet with reps  Visit, visit, visit!  Level of interest becoming key factor at some HG schools  Know more than a school’s US News ranking: know why you want to attend it!

Strategies for Students: Develop a “Split Personality”  Important to balance confidence in your abilities with reality of admission odds  As you complete your application, be 100% convinced of your ability to succeed  After you turn your app in, go back to being 100% convinced that you might not get in!  Importance of confidence in application process, reality in admission process

The Stress Factor  Applying to college already stressful; HG apps hike up the stress to “full throttle”  Student stress  Parent stress  Dealing with stress

Keeping Your Perspective…  Don’t ever forget your talents, your wisdom, your unique strengths  Don’t also forget that there are thousands of equally talented students across the world who also seek admission to the Holy Grail  Instead of admit/deny, think about lucky/unlucky  There IS a right place for each of you!!!

Brown University Providence, Rhode Island  6,013 undergrads  No core curriculum [so admissions looks for independent thinkers and risk-takers]  Brown Curriculum: students must pass 30 courses with no req’ts [must show writing competency plus a Capstone experience]  Self-designed majors are commonplace  Frosh live together in halls; then, housing done by lottery

Columbia University New York City  7,584 undergrads  The ultimate urban campus experience!  “Core curriculum” coined at Columbia!  Students have intellectual persona

Cornell University Ithaca, New York  13,846 undergrads  Largest Ivy  Both public and private, depending upon major [“One foot planted in the Big Ten, the other foot in the Ivy League”]  “Easiest Ivy to get into, hardest to get out of”  All Frosh take required seminar  70” of snow every year….

Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire  4,196 undergrads  “Dartmouth Plan”: school year divides into week terms, 3 courses per term. Most students take 3 terms/year.  Must remain on campus summer after sophomore year, so have “leave time” during soph or junior year. Students may take up to 3 terms off campus.  “Most intimate of Ivies”  Housing crunches common  “Work hard, play hard” place  Rural location - outdoor activities very popular

Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts  6,655 undergrads  Highest yield rate in nation: 79%  World-renowned faculty in every department  Students need to complete a core of 6 “modes of inquiry” courses  Soph and Junior tutorials common  Largest university library system in world  All frosh live in Harvard Yard which skirts campus  No Greek Life

University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  10,337 undergrads  Founded by Ben Franklin: theory + practice  Strong liberal arts core  Most students live on campus [surrounding area very urban]  20% Greek  Students are politically active and involved  Athletics is big here  Campus like “the Secret Garden”: Gothic beauty surrounded by bustling urban Philly.

Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey  5,047 undergrads  The “Ivory Tower” Ivy: deep traditions, more conservative academically and devoted to undergrad experience  Classes taught in seminar or preceptorial format [discussion groups of 15]  Senior thesis required  Honor code  Housing broken into 5 residential colleges, many looking like Gothic cathedrals  Upperclass “Eating Clubs” are Princeton version of Greek life

Yale University New Haven, Connecticut  5,247 undergrads  Great rival with Harvard  Academically liberal; no strict core curriculum; 36 courses required for graduation  Students assigned to 1 of 12 residential colleges but don’t live there til soph year; all frosh live on Old Campus - each college has own dean, faculty, dining hall, etc.

Duke University Durham, North Carolina  6,400 undergrads  Two undergrad schools: Engineering and Trinity College of Liberal Arts  Flexible core requirements, but all students must take Small Group Learning Experience  East and West Campuses; all frosh live on East; most students live on campus all 4 years  “Work hard, play hard” place: intense study, but great support for athletics [“Tent City”]  Campus sits in 8,000-acre forest  Forms Research Triangle with UNC and NC State

Georgetown University Washington, D.C.  7,038 undergrads  Known for Foreign Service and Public Service programs [location…]  Frosh and sophs live on campus; housing guaranteed 3/4 years on campus  Kids use DC for social life and really support their Hoyas!  Jesuit school [only 50% Catholic]

Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois  8,476 undergrads  Operates on quarter system  Medill School of Journalism and Music/Theatre programs world-renowned  Housing either in residence hall or one of 11 residential colleges  Least “rah rah” of Big Ten schools [not always much to cheer about!]  Beautiful suburban campus hugging Lake Michigan  Apps up 25%+ over past three years

University of Notre Dame South Bend, Indiana  8,371 undergrads  Catholic school; about 85% Catholic  Freshman Year of Studies all students take  85% of students live on campus  No Greek; halls function as hub of student social life; many kids stay in same hall all 4 years  Athletics is HUGE! [sometimes even with good reason!]  Kids rely on campus for social life; South Bend not very attractive to ND kids [and vice versa!]  Beautiful campus with golf course, lakes and the famed Grotto

Stanford University Palo Alto, California  6,878 undergrads  Strong commitment to liberal arts  90+% of kids live on-campus, with many frosh in frosh-only housing  Athletics are a big deal at Stanford  Very small Greek life; kids use Sierra Nevada Mtns and San Francisco for social life  8,000-acre campus [“The Farm”] was estate of Leland Stanford