Don’t Worry About What You Can’t Control
There are some things you can control in the college admissions process and some things you can’t. Each year, we work through an exercise called the GPA Game with our sophomores and their parents that highlights some of those factors. If you are able to attend either of our admissions panels over the next two weeks (2/19 for parents and 2/27 for students), pay attention to the things our panelists talk about as being important as they make their admissions decisions and make a list of the ones you can control. If you are trying to be intentional with how you spend your time with a goal of having as many college options as possible, this list should give you good direction.
For those of you not able to attend these panel discussions, below is a starter list of factors we discussed while playing the GPA game earlier this year.
| Things You Have Control Over | Things You Don’t Have Control Over |
| Transcript (Classes and Grades) | Ethnicity |
| ACT/SAT Scores | Financial Aid |
| Community Involvement | Institutional Priorities |
| Demonstrated Interest | Legacy Status |