How to capture flag with college admissions

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer

A high school student at the "The Admissions Maze" presentation at Iolani School raised his hand to ask Jacques Steinberg a question, and a hush fell over the 500-plus crowd.

"You talked about how it's better to get a 'B' in a hard course than an 'A' in an easy course," the young man said to the New York Times reporter, author of the best-selling book, "The Gate Keepers: Inside the Admission Process of a Premier College."

"What if you get a 'C'?"

Steinberg urged the student not to give up hope. "This process is not scientific," he said.

Iolani counselor Derrick Kang and other experts added insights:

• The rigor of your class schedule — and the grades you get in them — will be evaluated.

• At the highly exclusive private colleges, your SAT or ACT scores are looked at in context.

• It's better to be a leader in a few extracurricular activities than be simply a participant in a whole host of different ones.

• Yes, admissions officers at highly selective private colleges DO read your essays, looking especially for writers to reveal something about themselves.

• Wanna get a "flag" on your file at Wesleyan? (That's a good thing, by the way.) Be the editor of your school yearbook or newspaper; the captain of a varsity sport; take a fourth year of a language; take calculus; take all three science courses, chemistry, biology and physics; be class or student body president; or be a National Merit scholar.

Students get a boost just for being from Hawai'i — the schools are looking for "geographic diversity."

Reach Mary Kaye Ritz at mritz@honoluluadvertiser.com.