For several years, college admission counselors at the most competitive colleges have been telling applicants who are ranked number one or two in their high schools, with perfect or near-perfect grade point averages and SAT scores, that they're just not good enough. So what is it that these most prestigious colleges are looking for when they admit their applicants? The Dean of Admissions at Dartmouth College offers a hint in the annual report to secondary schools. While Dartmouth seeks academically accomplished students for its incoming freshman classes, "…excellence in extracurricular areas also receives careful attention. We look for evidence of accomplishment as well as the depth of commitment and follow-through that lead to significant contributions and recognition from others."

In other words, competitive schools such as Dartmouth seek a well-rounded class of talented students.

Many talented students usually want to continue to improve in their area of expertise while in college. A swimmer may imagine competing in the Olympics, a musician may aspire to play at Carnegie Hall, a thespian may want to perform on Broadway, a dancer may have hopes of one day joining the Joffrey Ballet, and a science researcher may dream of winning a Nobel Prize. Thanks to the Internet, talented high schools students can make their dreams come true. By using swimming, music, theater, dance, and science research as illustrations, this article will show students how they can find colleges based on their special talent.

Swimming

Richard has been a competitive swimmer since he was seven. By doing an online search of college swim teams, Richard will select colleges that are right for him academically and athletically. Most importantly, he will not limit his choices to those colleges where his high school coach has made a contact or where a college coach will promise to recruit him.

Harvard University has some wonderful links, and whatever you may be searching for can generally be accessed through Harvard's swim site. Richard starts his search by Googling "Harvard and swimming". He clicks on "Harvard Swimming & Diving," and finds the Men's Team. He finds "Schedule and Results," and selects a specific swim meet. He finds a list of all of the swimmers' times who competed at that meet, as well as each swimmer's name, his class, the college he attends, his best (seed) time, and his final time. While on this page, Richard can also look at the actual best times of backstrokers from each college. In order to decide whether a specific college's swim team is right for him, Richard needs to get in touch with some of the team members. He is able to find this information on the team roster, where it has: the swimmer's name, class, event, height, weight, hometown, high school, and e-mail address. By accessing the team roster, Richard can now e-mail swimmers, ask questions, express his concerns, and hopefully gain a better understanding of the college, the team members, and the coach.

To find similar information about swimmers and swim teams from different colleges, go back to Harvard's "swimming and diving" home page. Then look for Harvard's swim links to other college swim teams (or Google "College and Swimming"). You should find a site that has links to all college swim teams regardless of their NCAA Division. Similar links can also be found on the NCAA Web site.

Music

Loren is an exceptionally talented flutist in the top 10 percent of her class with 2100 SATs. Loren knows that the most competitive colleges are a reach for her academically, but based on her musical talent, she may have a chance. She's interested in the University of Pennsylvania and would like to play in Penn's marching band.  Loren Googles "College Marching Bands, and finds Penn's band. By clicking on "roster" or "team," she can find the names of all band members, the instruments they play, their class, and their e-mail addresses. From there, she can select the "flutes section." In a particular year, she counts 10 flutists: 4 seniors, 4 juniors, 1 sophomore, and 1 freshman. Based on this information, she realizes that the Penn Marching Band Director is probably looking for new recruits to replace the graduating seniors. She can e-mail a marching band member and ask specific questions about the Penn Band, the band's director, or about Penn.

Another way to find the same information is to visit the Compendium of Marching Bands Web site, which links to college and university marching bands across the country.

Theater

By Googling "college and university theater" an actor can access a listing of college and university theater departments. By selecting a specific college, the user can visit that school's drama department home page. Here, an actor can read the biographies of the student actors and the faculty. This site should also show the types of performances that have been given in recent years and the performances are scheduled for the upcoming year. The student can view the academic program for theater majors, see online course listings and descriptions, e-mail students involved in theater, and e-mail the theater directors. All of this information gives the actor/applicant knowledge of that college's theater department and some sense as to whether the department and the college would be a good fit.

Dance

Dance department Web sites give the dancer much of the same information as theater sites. By Googling "College and University Dance Programs",  a student can access a list of colleges and universities with dance programs that have Web sites.

Science

Science and math researchers also need to market their talent, but this takes some creativity and intuitive thinking. Brian knows that if he was to be among the 10 percent of students accepted at a particular school, he has to do something to get himself noticed. He was involved in independent science research and spent his summers in labs working on his own projects. Prior to his senior year, he worked on a psychology project and wrote a paper that ultimately earned him recognition as a Semi-Finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search.

To let colleges know about his work, Brian wrote about one of his science experiences for his application essay and included his abstract with his college applications. He also e-mailed psychology professors who did similar research at the colleges to which he applied, and asked his high school science research mentor to write a letter of recommendation on his behalf. Intel did not announce the winners until the middle of January, after Brian mailed his college applications, so once he became a semifinalist, he, his mentor, and his guidance counselor informed admissions counselors at the colleges to which he applied that he was a winner of this most prestigious award.

As colleges become more competitive, prospective students need to develop special talents, skills, and experiences to gain admission from their top college choices. Yet having those talents, skills, and experiences still may not be enough. Students need to market their specialty wisely as they search for the college that is right for them. Also, they need to make their own college selections, rather than leaving those selections to their high school coaches, directors, or mentors. It is the author's hope that by using these strategies, talented high school students will find that "right fit" that will ultimately result in Winning at the College Admissions Game.

About the Author

Bev Taylor, is the Founder & President of The Ivy Coach, an independent college consulting practice located in Manhattan and in Roslyn Heights, NY. Although based in New York, The Ivy Coach works with students from across the country and around the world. Throughout her years working as The Ivy Coach, Bev Taylor has continually motivated her students to achieve their maximum potential while she helps them to discover the range of options available in a college education. As a result, for the past seventeen years, 100% of The Ivy Coach's students have gained admission at their top three colleges and 93% have gained admission at their first choice college.              

Bev Taylor holds a Masters Degree in Guidance & Counseling, a Professional Diploma in Counseling, Psychology & Research in Education, and is New York State Certified as a School Counselor for Grades K-12.

Correspondence regarding this article can be emailed to Bev Taylor, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  

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