Students stress over college admission

by Divya Kunda,
HUB Correspondent–

Attending a high achieving high school or a less competitive one neither helps nor hurts a student’s chances of being accepted into a UC, according to counselor Catherine Pereira. Davis High, which is considered a competitive high school, could “look good” on a student’s college application, but she said that it doesn’t give him or her “a foot in.”

Often times, students are concerned with what they are required to do to be accepted into a “good” college. They feel as though need to get good grades and have a high GPA to stand out amongst their peers in such a competitive community as Davis.

Pereira mentioned that the average GPA for students at DHS is general higher than the norm.

UCs identify top-performing California high school students through the Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) program. A student becomes eligible for this status by successfully completing the 11 UC-approved courses prior to his or her senior year.

Pereira said ELC status is also determined by seeing whether the student has met or exceeded the top nine percent GPA for his or her senior class.

However, she stated that colleges do take into account that there may not be as many advanced placement courses offered elsewhere. Otherwise, taking more AP classes doesn’t give a student an advantage over others; it only gives units towards General education requirements, Pereira said.

“It is hard to get into college because all kids want to get into colleges that are hard to get into,” Sally Springer, who runs Springer Education Consulting, said.

According to Springer, of the approximate 2,100 colleges in the U.S., less than 200 accept less than 50 percent of their applicants. However, the admit rate of well-known or prestigious colleges decreased drastically since 1993, when it was about 78 percent, mainly from becoming more popular.

Springer also said that for the competitive colleges, students should emphasize what “institutional priorities” they can offer, such as grades and rigor, extra-curricular involvement, leadership, community service, life experiences, and academic qualities, some of which are reflected in essays and recommendation letters.

“Just because a college admits a lower percentage of applicants does not mean they are a better college for you. College is a match to be made, not a prize to be won,” Springer said.