Institutional Priorities

My email inbox has been flooded with college notifications about decision release details and data.  If I were going to sum it all up, I'd say that nearly every college message has touted record numbers of applications and building a class of students that will contribute to making the college a positive learning experience for students in years to come.

One of the important realities as I read the updates from colleges is that they have to turn down incredibly talented students each year not because you wouldn't be successful on their campus, but simply because they have too many qualified applicants.  And with record numbers of applications being submitted that can feel so hard for students who are left confused and wondering why not me.

I have tried talking to seniors many times about the fact that it isn't always about you, but rather it is about the college and their goals and what they might be looking for as they are building their classes.  These are known in the college admissions world as Institutional Priorities and they play a huge part in admissions.

Georgia Tech maintains an awesome blog about college admissions topics that I love reading.  They recently wrote about Institutional Priorities and I strongly encourage that students and parents of every grade level read through it to be able to have a better understanding of why it matters and why your  rejection may have nothing to do with how successful they think you could be at their campus.