Our Comprehensive Approach

At AdmissionSight, we take a comprehensive approach to the college admissions process. In this day and age when admissions is so incredibly competitive, we find that the students who have the best chances of getting into elite universities are also the ones who have a complete college admissions profile. A complete college admissions profile touches upon three pillars of the admissions process: academics, extracurriculars, and the college applications and personal statements.

Every student is different – some are more academically talented who can nail some of the toughest academic competitions, whereas others are more go-getters who can take incredible leadership to see their ideas through to fruition.

Some of our students may find that they’re better in one area or the other, and we work with all of our students to gauge their strengths and weaknesses. At AdmissionSight, we take a personalized approach and consult with each of our students on a case by case basis to determine where to best allocate and maximize their efforts to improve their odds of success.

Academics

1. GPA: the unweighted and weighted GPA tells us the strength and rigor of your courseload and also your academic performance in the classroom. While these universities don’t have a minimum GPA requirement, the grades on your transcript are one of the first signals that the admissions committees look for.
2. SAT and ACT scores: getting strong SAT and ACT scores is helpful, although many universities have gone test-optional and the UC’s no longer accept standardized test scores. While standardized tests have certainly lost their luster and value, nearly all competitive applicants still take these exams to show their academic strength to the admissions committee. We still advise all of our students to take the SAT’s or ACT’s and consider test scores a valuable aspect of the admissions process.
3. AP Exams: The AP exams are a semester’s worth of college level material that take place over the course of the entire high school school year. The AP exams are a critical component of the process that demonstrates the student’s academic aptitude and ability to handle rigorous college level work. Taking a rigorous courseload of AP exams are important and our top students will have scored high marks on a significant number of AP exams through the conclusion of the junior year.
4. Academic Competitions – beyond grades and test scores, winning academic accolades is really what separates the good students from the great students out there. If you think about it, there are so many students with top scores and grades – what is ultimately going to set you apart on an academic level? These accolades and awards are particularly even more important for top colleges such as the Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and many others. If we’re strictly talking about academics, getting regional and national distinction for your work is going to set yourself apart from all the other students with 4.0 GPA’s and 1600 SAT scores. This might mean qualifying for the Intel Science and Engineering Fair, for example, or competing in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition.

Extracurricular Activities

1. Leadership: What is your “hook”? What is your “spike”? Every applicant needs a powerful narrative to build their college admissions profile to stand out to the admissions committee. This typically takes the form of a nonprofit or leadership organization that a student has established to demonstrate his or her “hook.” There are standout and unique extracurricular activities to pursue to help differentiate you from all the other applicants out there. This is a critical component of your application and we typically help with this aspects through our flagship Passion Project Program.
2. Academic Research: Academic research is an incredibly important part of the process. At the end of the day, these colleges and universities are research driven institutions who push the forefront of academic knowledge. Conducting academic research and presenting these in science fairs and getting published in research journals demonstrates a student’s intellectual inquiry and innovative thinking. Our flagship Science Research Program (which is also applicable for humanities students) will help your compete in the nation’s most competitive science fairs and get published in academic journals.
3. School Clubs and Organizations: Every high school has a wide variety of clubs such as Model United Nations, Science Olympiad, Amnesty International, and other clubs just to name a few. By participating in school clubs and actively engaging with the school community, students can show their extracurricular depth and involvement. While these clubs may not necessarily set a student apart, they’re valuable organizations to have to bolster the resume.
4. Community Service: Admissions officers want to see students who have contributed to their community in a meaningful way, especially with regards to demonstrating clear social impact. Whether it’s helping senior care citizens or tackling environmental sustainability, we want to see students who demonstrate evidence of benefitting their community. Nearly every university asks how students have contributed to their community in a meaningful way, and we want to cover this important ground in the admissions process.
5. Summer Programs: Attending prestigious summer programs such as the Research Science Institute (RSI) or the Stanford Humanities Institute (SHI) will dramatically increase a student’s odds of admission. Some summer programs have been around for decades and are name brand programs that Ivy Leagues, Stanford, and other colleges value and respect. By attending a prestigious summer program, a student can signal to the admissions committee that they’re capable and qualified to do challenging academic work.
6. Athletics/Music: Sports and music are supplemental activities in the application, but still nice to have especially activities such as varsity sports like tennis, basketball, football, swimming, track and field, and others. If you’re at the collegiate level caliber, then it may be worth taking a look at college NCAA recruitment.

College Applications and Personal Statements

The college applications and personal statements are what ultimately make or break an applicant. We’ve seen weaker students get into great colleges with incredible personal statements and essays. On the flipside, we’ve seen strong students such as valedictorians of their high schools get rejected from every Ivy League in the country.

The college applications and essays should be personal and demonstrate how your formative experiences have shaped you as an individual. More importantly, they should reflect the depth of your experiences and how you think and approach the world around you. We want to see that inner thinker in you, and how your perspectives give us a portal into the type of person you are.

The college application essays are the most important part of the admissions process. I’ve always argued that a strong application can in theory get a weaker applicant in, and a weak application can also keep a strong student out. The essays are the one part in the application that is going to separate you from all the highly accomplished applicants with strong GPA’s, SAT scores, extracurricular activities, and academic competitions to boast.

At AdmissionSight, we help with all aspects of the college admissions process. If your goal is to get into the top universities in the country, you also need to be a top applicant. We don’t believe in any “magic” formula that can get you into your dream university. By building a complete college admissions profile, you will increase your odds of success.

That’s why as a college admissions consulting company, we seek to help bolster our students’ academic and extracurricular profile as much as possible, and then try to seal the deal with spellbinding personal statements and essays. By accomplishing these milestones, we can get ahead of the

At AdmissionSight, we have over 10 years of experience guiding students through the competitive admissions process to get accepted to the top universities in the world. On average, 75% of our students are admitted to an Ivy League university, Stanford, MIT, UChicago, and Caltech, one of the highest track records in the industry.

Our programs include but are not limited to:

• College Admissions Counseling
• College Application and Essay Editing
• Science Research Program (Intel ISEF) – focus on deep learning and artificial intelligence
• Passion Project Program
• Humanities Competitions
• Summer Program Applications
• SAT/ACT/AP Preparation
• AMC10/12/AIME Tutoring/STEM Olympiads
• UC Transfer Admissions
• Ivy League Transfer Admissions
• Graduate School Admissions
• Athletic Recruitment
• Private Consulting – work directly 1-on-1 with Eric Eng, Founder and CEO of AdmissionSight

We’ve been featured on US News & World Report for our insights on college admissions, and we know exactly what you need to do to get into the very best schools. We’re a full service college admissions consulting company that promotes the highest level of academic standards to push our students to become leaders, scientists, researchers, writers, and gamechangers of tomorrow.

In this day and age when there are tens of thousands of strong students competing for a coveted spot, you need both strategic academic and extracurricular guidance, and a compelling college application (and personal statement) to seal the deal.