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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What are the most critical in terms of getting into a really good college/university?

GPA
SAT Score
Difficulty of Classes (AP, IB, etc)
Sports
Leadership
Clubs and Activities (musical instrument, other languages, etc)
Charity Work[/quote]

+ a great essay

Some of the things in this list are basically boxes to check so that your application passes the initial cut and gets a second reading. Unweighted GPA and SATs serve as thresholds to get over. Same for foreign languages: 3+ years of a foreign language is pretty much required for the most selective colleges. Checking all these boxes will likely get your application a second reading, although it doesn't guarantee acceptance.

Sports aren't necessary if you have other outstanding ECs (judging by the kids we know who got accepted at top colleges). Although if you're recruitable then it's obviously a different story....

Also, the clubs and charity work have to be meaningful because college admissions officers have good BS detectors. Apparently they aren't impressed by scattershot participation in a wide range of clubs, instead they prefer demonstrated passion in a few areas. And leadership in one or more clubs is good, in admissions officers' eyes.

On DC's college tour, over and over we heard about how being "well rounded" was out. These days, colleges want "pointy" kids who have demonstrated their passion for a few things. Also, nerdy and geeky are definitely cool, at least as far as admissions committees are concerned.[/quote]

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