Shaver, Haley

9/24/08

Period 5

Dr. Gen

Standing Out

Everyone knows what colleges are looking for. Honors and AP classes, involvement in clubs, as many extracurricular activities as humanly possible, sports, letters of recommendation, stellar grades, and near-perfect scores on the SAT/ACT exams. So if everyone knows this to be true and tries to achieve this, how can one stand out to admissions officers that read thousands of applications a year? How is one supposed to shine in the college admissions world of near-perfect students? The answer to these questions is given in The Gatekeepers by Jacques Steinberg. In this novel, the narrator (Jacques Steinberg) follows Ralph Figueroa, an admissions officer for Wesleyan College, through the admissions process. While reading this, one learns what most colleges really do look for. On top of all the things listed above, colleges look for things that set you apart from the norm such as a unique passion, advanced class placement to show that you can handle heavy workloads, and signs that you can bring to the college.

In The Gatekeepers, Ralph Figueroa informs a parent who asks if it is better to get a A in grade-level courses, or to get B’s in advanced-placement courses that “It is better to get A’s in AP courses (Steinberg)”. AP courses are college-level courses, as opposed to the required grade-level courses that all high schools offer. Colleges want to know that the students they accept can handle the heavy workload inevitably thrust upon when they enter the college environment. Although I have absolutely no idea which college I want to attend, or what I even want to major in, I decided that it is best to pretend that your dream is go get into the most selective college/university out there, and you are pretty much guaranteed a spot in anything less.

While researching colleges, I noticed that all colleges stated that a major factor when considering applicants was “personal characteristics”. What exactly does that mean? Colleges want someone to uphold their reputation, be it ivy-league or state school. They don’t want just another kid taking advantage of their parents’ money that will probably eventually drop out. They also do not want someone that’s only interesting the greek parties and is out partying every night. Colleges want to know that their students are a respectable and responsible people. In Gatekeepers, Wesleyan admissions officers turned down Becca Jannol due to her abstract essay about how she accepted a pot brownie. Although, she learned from the experience and vowed that it would never happen again, Wesleyan was still reluctant to accept to the school and she was denied admission.

When admissions officers reads 100 plus applications a day, they begin to see the same thing over and over again. What they want is something that grabs their attention, a hook of some sort. In my case, my hook would probably be marching band and being a clarinet player. I plan to be attending a college that has a marching band and participating in it. In the story, each potentional candidate for admission had a hook. Becca Jannol’s hook was that she was interesting in politics and had been class president. Miguzi’s hook was the fact that he was Native American and would factor into Wesleyan’s growing diversity.