Written By A Successful Applicant Currently Attending an InLikeMe Top 16 College

The idea of having to be number one in the class or even in the top ten may be important in terms of high school accolades, but it really is not that important to the universities. Statistics, even on the university websites, may suggest otherwise, but one needs to look between the numbers. Many schools are small and may have only one person intelligent enough to apply to the best schools. So putting that piece of information behind you, it is important to figure what really is most important to the universities in terms of quantifiable statistics.

Number one by far is entrance exams -- SATs and ACTs. There is merit to the argument that it often does not reflect true intelligence, especially with test prepping and time limits. Regardless, there is no other real standardizing tool that universities have to use. School grades matter and colleges want to see that you are getting As and Bs, but with so many schools and different ways to measure grades, schools have little trust in the validity of school grades aside from the schools that they have long standing relationships with.

That said, the test scores are not overly important to the universities because they know about the reasons stated above. What they want to see is that you are smart enough to handle the course load that university throws at you. If they see that from your scores than you past the first step. Then there are AP scores and SAT IIs. If they know that you are smart from the SATs, then they want to see how you utilized your intelligence with college level material, success on these is a larger indicator of university success to them than just about anything else.

From there they look at essays and recommendations and the interview. They want to know more about the applicant as a person. This is about their only insights into the character of the person and it is a vital part of the process. Finally they look at activities, awards, leadership and such. For the few great athletes or students with other tremendous accomplishments, this final step will trump other shortcomings, but by and large, this is the least important aspect of the process. It is still important to have both quantity and quality in these fields, but a little perspective into their probative never hurts.