More Than a Test Score

Gonzaga University is another school that has discovered Zinch.com this summer. Yesterday I chatted with Julie McCulloh, Dean of Admissions at Gonzaga. Julie shared some insights and examples from Gonzaga that will benefit any student gearing up for college admissions process. For this reason, and for the fact that Adam Morrison and his crustache, I mean mustache, came to fame at Gonzaga, I’d like to share a few pieces of our conversation…

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Many students wonder whether they should submit their AP scores if they are not high. They wonder if, on the plus side, by submitting them, they at least indicate that they didn't duck the test and avoid it. On the negative side, they will be sharing test scores that will not help them gain admission.

My general advice would be that if you got a 3 or above, list the score on your application. If you got a 1 or 2, don't. If you do not list AP scores (remember, they are not required), colleges will not know whether your scores were low or whether you didn't take the test at all. Not all students take the actual AP exam at the end of a course. Colleges know that AP tests are quite expensive and some students simply can't afford it. (This of course would be an unlikely assumption if your parents are both CEOs, lawyers, doctors, etc)

It's still good to take the AP class even if you don't take the test. Colleges will respect the initiative you took in taking the course and will carefully look at the grade you received during the school year.

Recently, we visited Stanford University. If you didn’t know, Stanford’s campus is huge. We grabbed a Jamba Juice and split a powerbagel for breakfast, then took a bad turn en route to the admissions office. I was driving and Nathaniel (Than) was manning MS Steets and Trips on his laptop. Who do you blame? Than of course! Anyway, eventually we got there.

In a meeting with Densil (an associate director in admissions) we were schooled on Stanford admissions. I’ll share the best parts….

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I've gotten a couple questions about when and how to schedule an interview so instead of commenting, I figured I'd post so everyone would see. Some colleges do (alumni) interviews only after the applications are in. Some colleges do interviews only prior to the submission of the application. Some colleges do both. Call the schools you're interested in to inquire about their procedures because making assumptions will likely leave you out of luck.

The procedure at Dartmouth, which is the only school whose process I can speak for, is that alumni call applicants to schedule interviews after the applications are in, but applicants can also schedule on-campus interviews during the summer and fall. Applicants can do one, the other, both, or neither. I know of another school that does alumni interviews in students's home towns but ONLY before the application deadline. In order to stay on top of things, you've got to call schools to figure out how they do interviews because there's no standardized way in which they incorporate interviewing into their admissions process.

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