2021 College Application Season
Since the summer of 2021, Del Norte High School’s seniors have been applying to various colleges across America for Fall 2022 admissions.
Devam Shrivastava (’22) applied to fifteen colleges. He explained how he chose the colleges he applied to: “I mainly focused on the UC’s (University of California) and around 5 schools which I believed that I could get into. After that, I figured out 5 schools that would be my “dream schools” and applied to them.”
Iris Ding (’22) applied to nineteen colleges. She chose the colleges she applied to based on their GPA. “I decide the levels of each school based off my GPA in comparison to their average admitted student’s GPA: anything way below was a safety, anything in my range was a target, and above was reach.”
Eyaad Mir (’22) applied to twenty colleges. He chose the colleges he applied to based on their rankings for the majors he is interested in.
A main part of the college application is the essay portion. The seniors shared their tips for writing a good essay.
Ding states, “A good college essay shows progression of how you changed to learn a life lesson. A tip I have is to be reflective and specific so you demonstrate that you actually changed for better after a certain experience.”
Mir says that authenticity is the most important factor in writing the essays. “Being authentic is important, because whether or not the application reader thinks you’re authentic, you won’t ever have to wonder if you should have written your essay differently.” Shrivastava has a similar opinion: “The most important aspect of the essay-writing process is staying true to yourself and refraining from “over-glorifying” or “under-glorifying” your accomplishments.”
Furthermore, Shrivastava emphasized the importance of starting early on the essays. “Around May of junior year, consider brainstorming what meant to you the most throughout your life and what you think you would like to write about. Around June, start looking at the Common App and UC prompts and figure out which one you think you would like to write on based on the brainstorming list you have.”
The seniors also shared insights on what colleges like to look for in their applicants. Mir commented that “GPA and course rigor is the most important factor,” while Shrivastava added that “taking a plethora of AP courses actually helps as it shows colleges preparedness for a college experience.” Shrivastava further noted, “That said, do not take courses you think you will not enjoy. Performance solely comes if you enjoy something. Do stuff you enjoy, and when you do them, do them well or at a large scale.”
For many colleges, the application deadline for early action and early decision was between November and December 2021. The complete list of early action deadlines is available on PrepScholar. Many DNHS seniors applied to multiple University of California campuses (UCs) and California State Universities (CSUs). Their application deadline was Nov. 30. The application deadlines for regular decisions for many colleges are in early Jan. 2022. The list of regular decision deadlines for popular colleges are also available on PrepScholar.
By now, most seniors have completed their college applications. They are looking forward to hearing admission decisions from the colleges they applied to, especially from their dream schools. Let’s wish all our seniors the best of luck.