NACAC Survey Factors Important to College Admissions

The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) annually surveys member colleges and universities to see what admissions factors figure most prominently into admissions decisions. The results from the most recent survey in 2010 for those factors that are considered important (by percentage of Admissions Officers) are shown in the following table.

Grades in college prep courses	83%
Strength of curriculum	66
Admission test scores (SAT, ACT)	59
Grades in all courses	46
Essay or writing sample	27
Student’s demonstrated interest	23
Class rank	22
Counselor recommendation	19
Teacher recommendation	19
Subject test scores (AP, IB)	10
Interview	9
Extracurricular activities	7
Portfolio	6
SAT II scores	5
State graduation exam scores	4
Work	2

Although grades and strength of curriculum always come out on top over 17 years of surveying, other variables like class rank and standardized test scores change over time. 17 years ago SAT/ACTs were judged to be an important factor for admissions by 46% of the admissions officers while class rank was consider important by 42%. Over the years standardized tests have increased in importance to near 60% while class rank has fallen to near 22%. Thus despite the highly publicized claims by numerous colleges that they rely less on SAT/ACT, the fact of the matter is that vast differences in high school curriculum (and therefore the lower the reliability of class ranking), forces colleges to continue to rely heavily on standardized tests to put all applicants on the same national scale.

Another much talked about trend - a movement away from AP tests - is not borned out by the NACAC data. AP test scores are judged important by 10% of the admissions officers compared to 5% just 6 years ago.

Another "common wisdom" - the importance of demonstrated interested (visits, emails, etc.) for college admissions - is confirmed by the survey data which shows that this factor has risen in importance from 7 percent in 2004 to 23 percent in 2010 for admissions officers.

Note that every college sets its own priorities within the framework of individual admissions philosophies which you may find in their common data set disclosure. For example, Princeton admissions office considers very important:

· Strength of curriculum and grades achieved
· Results from the SAT I or ACT (with writing)
· Results from SAT Subject Tests (any two)
· Class rank
. Recommendation from guidance counselor and two teachers
· Writing as demonstrated in the Essays

Taking the time to understand what a college considers important in the admissions decision will give you a good idea of how your application will be evaluated by that school. Unfortunately it will give you a good estimate of your chances for admissions since they do not disclose the precise weight of each factor they consider important.