Leadership and Communication Skills

There was a student who had perfect SAT scores, excellent GPA and was a really good pianist.  He applied to many top colleges in the country.  He did not receive admission to some of the schools.  There were two reasons for his less than desired result.

First, he did not show any leadership in his application.  He was living in his own world during high school.  No clubs, no student government offices.  He was  interested in leading his life, but not in leading others.  The second reason was that he did poorly during the interviews.  Not all schools require interviews, but many recommend having interviews.  Interviews are great opportunities to tell the admissions committee what kind of person you are.  GPA, SAT scores only give a limited picture of you.  Personal essays and interviews help complete the picture.

Grades and test scores are not everything.  There will be more posts in the near future about interviews.

Top College Prep Blog Intro…

Top College Prep:

I was running a web site in which I tried to gather and share information on college admission.  Before turning my web site into a blog, it was a site where I wrote my ideas and opinions on education and preparation for college.  I decided to turn the web site into a blog (well, a blog is a web site after all, but you know what I mean) so that more people can contribute and share ideas.

I am a father of 2 boys.  The older one is in high school, and the younger in middle school.  I have been reading books and websites on college admission, hoping that I can help my own children through the process.  Many people say that today’s college admission is totally different from how it was 30 years ago.  I agree.  I was watching a program (could be local news) and there was a lady in her 40’s helping high school students prepare for SAT.  She said that she probably won’t make it to Stanford now with the GPA, SAT scores and whatever she had back then, although she was successful 25 or 30 years ago.  At any rate, it is difficult for anyone to get into the college of his/her choice.

What I plan to with this blog is to gather and share information on college admission, SAT prep, advice on extracurricular activities and so on.  Also, I hope to discuss various issues surrounding education in the US and raising strong and well rounded children.  I hope to have many quest bloggers and contributors and make this blog meaningful anyone who is interested in education.

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