Inside College Admissions

What to do about Theater Boy? That was the question vexing Peggy Walbridge and David Field as the two admissions readers paged through his application to Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. With a 1,420 SAT score, solid grades and top scores on two advanced-placement exams, the applicant--we're calling him Theater Boy to protect his identity--certainly looked like Cornell material. He had appeared in professional musical productions and helped raise over $50,000 to stage plays at his school. "That's pretty amazing," Walbridge muttered. Field chuckled as he read through the applicant's essay about his voice changing from a once beautiful boyhood soprano. Said Field: "There's a nice sense of humor in this writing."

Still, something gave the readers pause. There was nothing outstanding in the applicant's two teacher recommendations. A more gushing letter came from his boss at the pizza place where he worked after school, detailing Theater Boy's rapport with the restaurant's immigrant cooks. "He sure sounds like a wonderful employee," said Walbridge. Field interjected, "But is he a real scholar?" Theater Boy wrote that he wants to study politics and history. But the two readers wondered why he hadn't studied more of them already. Theater Boy's moment was fading as quickly as it had come. "The more I think about it, I don't see enough real scholarship here," said Field. "I just have a feeling we can do better."

They can, because Cornell, like other elite colleges, has seven applicants for every spot in its freshman class. As 1.2 million high school seniors begin the college-application process in earnest this month, competition has never been fiercer. Nor have students been better prepared. These days, kids in junior high take high school academic classes to make room for more demanding courses in the later grades. And in just the past decade, there's been an 83% increase in the number of ninth-graders who take the SAT--just for practice.

But even if you didn't study calculus in the ninth grade, there are steps you can take at application time to better your odds. Last spring three of the country's most selective schools--Rice University, Bowdoin College and Cornell University--allowed TIME behind the closed doors of their admissions deliberations. The one stipulation: that TIME not use the names or certain identifying characteristics of kids like Theater Boy. The insights we gleaned won't substitute for top scores and grades. But they did puncture some of the myths that often prevent an applicant from winning admission to his or her favorite college.

MYTH 1 Make yourself look as well rounded as possible

You would think that a flutist-cum-poet with a 1,520 SAT, an unblemished transcript and a passion for philosophy would find a warm welcome at Houston's Rice University. Renaissance Girl was involved in so many extracurricular activities--band, the literary magazine, the astronomy, philosophy and poetry clubs--that it took minute handwriting to squeeze them onto the application. Yet she never made it off the waiting list.