How to Get Admissions Officers to Say Yes

Selling yourself to a college is easy. You just have to convince the admissions committee that you're one in 2.5 million.

That's the number of applicants that four-year schools will be sifting through this year. So let go of the notion that the fat envelope would already be in the mail if you could just crack the admissions code. "It would be a lot easier if there was a magic formula," says David duKor-Jackson, associate dean of admissions at Bucknell University, "but there isn't." There's no magic essay topic, either. Says Annalee Nissenholtz, college counselor at Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St. Louis: "If I hear about one more kid who's saving the poor...! The first kid or two who did it—they were really interesting, and then everyone heard that must be the trick. There really is no trick. It's digging deep and trying to figure out what makes you interesting."

http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2008/08/21/how-to-get-admissions-officers-to-say-yes.html?s_cid=related-links:TOP