We had the opportunity of interviewing Meera Parikh, a junior at Georgetown University, about: College Apps
In high school, Meera was involved in track, tutoring, and coaching Girls on the Run. In college, she does intramural soccer, South Asian dance, and GlobeMed (a global health club). Meera is passionate about pandemic preparedness and global health security and hopes to be involved in advocacy and public policy after she graduates.
Here are some key points she shares:
I think having good grades and test scores were the strongest part of my college applications.
The main thing that I did was start writing my college essays early in the summer before senior year of high school.
Q: What do you think was the most important thing in your college applications that made you stand out?
A: I think having good grades and test scores were the strongest part of my college applications. I had relatively average extracurriculars, though I think my volunteer experience looked attractive to colleges, especially the one that I attend now. I volunteered as a tutor, mentor, and coach during high school which gave me experiences to write about in my application and also showed that I was dedicated to service. In high school, I didn’t really do anything just for the college application, but instead I chose to do activities that I wanted to do, which I was able to make clear in my applications.
Q: What were some of the major steps you took when preparing to apply for college?
A: The main thing that I did was start writing my college essays early in the summer before senior year of high school. I had my Common Application essay written before school started and I had outlined most of my supplemental essays as well. I had also made the list of colleges I was applying to early on, which helped me plan out which test scores and essays I would need ahead of time. The summer before junior year I studied for the SAT which allowed me to take it in the fall of junior year and spend all of my senior fall doing applications.
Q: What is something that high schoolers tend not to realize when they are applying for college?
A: I think a lot of times high schoolers think that there is only one school that they will be happy at, which I know for a fact is not true. A lot of my friends did not end up at their top choice school and they all ended up loving where they are now. Also, I’ve had friends transfer from what they thought was their dream school. I think in the end, people end up where they are meant to go, but I know that while you’re applying to colleges it might not seem that way.
Q: Was there anything unique about Georgetown’s application process? If so, could you please describe it?
A: I don’t know how much has changed since I applied, but Georgetown had a unique application in that it was not part of the Common Application. That meant that it took a lot more time to apply to other schools since they had their own application questions and essays to fill out. Also they used to require three SAT subject tests which were more than most schools. They also required that you send every test score you had, not just the best ones.
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