Students who aspire to take SAT to study abroad start thinking about it in their intermediate and even start working on it in high school. However, not many have the correct knowledge or information on the direction in which they should channelize their efforts. It is good to start working on improving your SAT college profile as early as in your junior high school but directionless efforts or efforts in too many directions are going to do you a little to no good – depending on how you choose to present those achievements. There are numerous little things that you need to keep in mind to surpass the brilliance of your competitors’ college applications. Here, we’re going to detail the nitty-gritty of a perfect SAT college profile.
1. Incorporate Quality Stuff
It is appreciable that you have been a part of various extra-curricular activities in school, held a position in the student council, written for your school magazine – all this while maintaining decent grades. However, while preparing your college application you need to steer clear of superfluous and unimportant points that unnecessarily make your application lengthy and a read that is not worth the while of the admission committee. Instead of listing all your achievements since grade 1, be a little more scrutinous and choose judiciously.
Incorporate activities that show your ability to work efficiently in a team, like your sports stints where your team bagged a position or your contribution to community service. Doing a project out of your curriculum that requires you to go out of your way to accomplish what you have set out to achieve also gives the impression that the individual is open to challenges and risk-taking. The inclusion of such a pointer will definitely impress the admission committee. Hobbies can include various fields of performing arts like singing, dancing, instrumental music, etc.
You can even combine your various areas of interest into an online blog, like writing and photography, videography and editing, and simply provide a link to it too. This serves as a sample work and also a means to check the veracity of your claims.
2. Maintain Good Scores
A majority of students observe a downward trend in their grades after the 10th standard. This is either because they adopt a casual attitude towards studies or the curriculum gets tougher with a drastic change in subjects or introduction to new subjects. If you want your SAT college profile to be flawless, make sure that there is no drastic fluctuation in your grades after 10th. A sudden and steep fall in grades shows a lack of interest in studies and this is the last thing you want your SAT application to say about you.
3. Present Well
No matter how praiseworthy your achievements are, they are going to hurt your chances of selection if you do not screen them well – that is, choose the order and the way you wish to present your achievements in. Prioritize the pointers – achievements that resulted in a greater good, for example, brought laurels to your school or did a good turn to the society should be given an upper hand over trivial information like having won the first prize in a singing competition in Grade 2.
Also, make the information more detailed, rich and informative. That does not mean that you should go overboard and embellish your write-ups with all the technical jargon in the world. Rather, you should follow the golden rules of communication – being concrete, concise and complete. If you are writing about an extra-curricular project that you undertook with a team of other friends, you should mention the reason as to what prompted you to take this up, what role did you play in the team and how long have you been active in taking up such projects.
4. Take an Advanced Placement Course
According to the College Board, AP courses are rigorous, college-level classes in a variety of subjects that give students an opportunity to gain the skills and experience that colleges recognize. The purpose of these classes and tests is for students to earn college credit while they’re still in high school. College admission officers view your application in the light of what you have done before, academically speaking; and the fact that you have challenged yourself and taken the extra effort to learn what the college has to offer you will surely make your application stand out. This talks about the various benefits that you can derive out of taking the extremely helpful AP classes.
5. Be the “T Student”
It is understandable that during the course of your schooling, you develop an interest and liking towards various extra-curricular activities, like sports or performing arts, and become a part of it, all at the same time. However, admission officers look for a rather discriminating focus on one activity in their potential students. Hence, even though you wish to incorporate all the co-curricular activities that you have taken up and won awards in, it is essential that you also show a spike in one field (like the T, with the horizontal bar covering a wider area but the vertical bar showing a spike at only one point). Being firm on choosing one activity to practice and master shows decisiveness and also the ability to actually work wonders in the field and also bring laurels to the college.
If you pay heed to the advice on this page, there is nothing that can keep you from creating a par excellence college profile and earn some brownie points by impressing the admission committee – talk about the odds of getting into your dream college! However, you must keep in mind that, along with maintaining a great SAT profile, you must also know the right way to prepare for SAT to get an excellent score.
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