Tips on Updating Colleges: What Do Admissions Officers Want to Hear?
Tips on Updating Colleges: What Do Admissions Officers Want to Hear?
You might be surprised by how many factors outside of your actual application determine whether you will receive acceptance to a college.
The state you live in, if you have visited the campus, and whether your application was among the first or last read by your admissions officer—called AO for short—could significantly move the needle in your favor.
While some of these factors are out of your control, like the number of similarly qualified students who applied from your state, you can control your communication with the admissions office.
One great way to advocate for yourself a few months after hitting the “submit” button is through sending an update email. This is a delicate art because you do not want to add another item to the list of things your regional AO must review during reading season.
But when done right, an update email can equip AOs to argue your strongest case, improving your chances of landing an acceptance.
Things to Tell Your Admissions Officer
Most of your update email should cover new ground. Rehashing what’s in your application is counterproductive.
Even among new things that happened, not all are relevant to your college applications. Winning your 5th Perfect Attendance Award, for example, doesn’t do much to strengthen your candidacy. Your AO can deduce that you will dutifully attend class from the four you’ve already earned.
Pick and choose wisely what you highlight so that your letter will be packed with reasons for why you’re a strong applicant. Focus your update on the following four areas:
1. Awards and Achievements
Did your team make it to the national competition for a math decathlon? Were you elected to a leadership position in a school club or recognized by your city for your exceptional dedication to community service?
If so, write your AO to share with her the exciting details. Make sure to emphasize the “Who, What, and Why” of your awards and achievements: who recognized your achievement, what did you do to earn it, and why is it notable?
For example, you can explain how your math decathlon team made it to the state competition in January. Everyone doubled down on preparing for the event and spent most weekends studying linear algebra and calculus. During the competition, your team placed 3rd out of 27 schools in New York. It’s the first time in your high school’s history that a team made it to nationals!
Giving contextual details on your achievements helps to emphasize why its noteworthy. Often, numbers are helpful too. Earning an A on a chemistry lab sounds like a common achievement but earning the sole A out of 50 students shows you are exceptional among your peers.
2. New Activities or Projects
The “Who, What, Why” framework can also be applied to talking about new activities or projects. However, you might answer the questions in reverse order.
Why did you decide to take on another extracurricular activity or start a community project? It’s best to tie this to one of your intellectual interests—ideally what you hope to major in—or another activity that you have been involved in.
What are your responsibilities? Emphasize leadership duties if possible and the unique contributions only you can bring to this activity or project.
Who do you impact and/or serve? The “who” does not have to be a person. It could also be a cause, such as environmentalism, but the idea is to show the greater goals of your endeavor.
Use this framework as a basic outline to tease out the different components of your new activity or project and then use the strongest details for your update letter.
3. Contact with Current Students and Alumni
A wonderful way to demonstrate interest in a college is to seek opportunities to talk with current students and alumni, or even professors and staff members. Your guidance counselor may be able to connect you with a student who graduated from your high school and now attends your college of interest. Or perhaps you can sign up for a college interview with an alumnus.
When you write an update letter, reflect on your interactions with them and give tangible examples that demonstrate why you belong at X college.
“Mark Su, an English and Art History double major, told me I would love learning from Professor Adam Green because of my interest in Impressionism.”
“During the interview, once I told Isabella Munoz (Economics ’98) that I founded Microfinance Club to help low-income residents launch startups, we dove into a 2-hour brainstorming session on how to garner support from local businesses. Before we parted, Isabella said the Economic Department’s entrepreneurship program would be perfect for me.”
When writing about someone associated with the college, it’s best to include their first and last name as well as their graduation year. It makes them easier to place for AOs and shows you pay attention to details.
4. Application Corrections
Try as we may to correct them, errors happen. Perhaps you forgot to add that third language you’re proficient in to the Profile section of the Common App or wrote the wrong title for a senior class in the Education section. In either case, you could write the admissions office or your regional AO to address the error(s).
But not all mistakes should be pointed out. Typos in your essays and activities list are best left alone. If you accidentally wrote “their” rather than “there” in an essay, let it be and hope your AO won’t catch it.
Here’s a basic list of what you should address:
- If you put in the wrong contact information for yourself or your high school counselor.
- If you did not list all the languages you speak.
- If you wrote the wrong scores for the Test Scores section.
- If you chose the wrong preferred start term, college, or dorm plan in the Questions section.
- If you transferred to another school from 9th to 12th grade and did not note this.
Things to Do Before Sending the Email
Your letter should cover all of your important updates in one. Do not write separate update letters to talk about different categories because that means more work for your AO. It should also be concise and not too long (there’s no need for this letter to be longer than your personal statement).
Have a teacher, parent, or an admissions expert proofread your email before you send it off to ensure it’s spotless. While the language does not have to be poetic, strive for high-quality, error-free work. Every piece of writing you send to colleges builds their impression of you as a writer, either positively or negatively.
Timing is also important. If you submitted your application in January, you might wait until mid-February to write an update letter so that there’s more time for you to accomplish new feats. Avoid sending emails on Fridays or over the weekends, because they can get buried at the bottom of the inbox.
Now that you know how to go about writing an update email, make a list of all the things you should include and get started on your first draft!
The expert admissions consultants at Wise World Prep have helped hundreds of students maximize their potential of being admitted to their top choice colleges and universities. Over 20 years, we have successfully guided students through each stage of the application process – from choosing competitive high school courses to building an appropriate college list to drafting winning essays to writing persuasive update and appeals letters. We would be happy to answer your questions and partner with you to create a successful admissions roadmap.
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