source: campusaccess.com

I’ve spent the morning researching the difference between the students who were accepted to my #1 school and myself.  Here’s what I found:

• Students who were accepted went to top schools.  I went to state school.
• Accepted students double-majored in things like economics and engineering.  I had one major… in art…
• Several of the students switched to premed majors before they ever graduated from their undergrad work.  I, obviously, did not.
• They spent 1-2 years abroad teaching English, working as surgical team translators, working with public health, or in the Peace Corps.  I spent a total of 14 weeks abroad doing things that benefited only me.
• They were involved in their undergrad community as athletes, newspaper editors, fraternity/sorority members, and more.  I was a returning, married student with a full-time job who spent only my last year in any campus involvement.
• They spent at least one year volunteering and/or working in public programs… youth leaders, camp counselors, hospital employees, etc.  I am only now beginning as a hospital volunteer.

I can talk about my circumstances (my age, my marriage, my kid) as reasons for these differences, and it would all be true and perhaps even legitimate… but in the end it doesn’t matter.  In the end those people had a very particular drive to be excellent in an academic/professional light.  In terms of intelligence, I know I am as smart or smarter than all of them, but I can’t compete with them on paper.

Am I sad about that?  A little.  Although I love who I am and wouldn’t trade my life and family for admission to a school no matter what, I do think that I could have made a little more time a long the way to make things happen.  I could have spent time volunteering more often, done the sorts of jobs that made me a better member of society at large and, as such, been a more attractive applicant.

So there.  There’s a little something, put out there into the big world in the hopes of helping someone else get accepted to their dream school.  In short:

• have a job that involves service to others in some way
• take a language every year of college, preferably Spanish
• work hard in your undergrad, preferably double-majoring and choosing math and science related fields (although at least two of the applicants did have humanities degrees)
• volunteer several hours per week doing something that serves the community – teach classes, build houses, work with sick kids… whatever interests and inspires you
• spend at least a year abroad
• be SUPER involved in school – play on a team, work on the paper, be active in Greek life, stay involved in service oriented clubs/groups

Even if you do all of this and have a stellar GPA, you may not get in, but every one of these things will make you a more attractive candidate.  I’m hoping it’s not too late for me.