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College Admissions Trends: An Interview with InGenius Prep CEO, Joel Butterly

Joel Butterly, CEO of InGenius Prep, discussed college admissions trends and said, "These days, top US colleges are looking for students who have a strong interest and talent in one field. Therefore, finding and developing areas of interest and hobbies is more helpful in college admissions than simply getting higher test scores."

"Small differences in test scores are not very significant in college admissions."

Joel Butterly, a college admissions specialist and CEO of InGenius Prep, said that he is afraid many students still focus on test scores when preparing for their college applications and thinking about college admissions trends. InGenius Prep is a college admissions consulting firm, operating around the world. The company started in New Haven, Connecticut, where Yale University is located. All the consultants and coaches at InGenius Prep are either graduates or former admission officers from top US universities, such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and Dartmouth. Butterly himself graduated from Yale Law School and Dartmouth College.

So, what kind of students do top universities want these days? Butterly responded, "students with strong interests and talents in one field." In the past, it was true that top US universities favored students with good grades and versatile skills, but in recent college admissions trends, schools have admitted more students that are experts in certain fields. Rather than using a specific set of standards, admissions officers check the activities list to understand students’ interests and talents. In other words, if a student has been continuously involved in writing related activities, the admissions officer can see that passion and talent even if the applicant does not explicitly emphasize that they like writing in their essays."

Even though the admissions criteria for universities is changing through various college admissions trends, the way students prepare for college admissions has stayed the same. Butterly pointed out that "most students only emphasize high test scores and GPAs on their applications, with too few extracurricular activities mentioned. For admissions officers at universities, an SAT score of 1600 (a perfect score) is not all that different from 1540 or 1580 points. For example, Princeton University considers all scores above 1550 the same. Even after scoring high enough, most students still concentrate on studying to raise their scores further. At this stage, spending the time to find and develop hobbies and interests is actually a lot more strategic for admissions," he added.

Butterly also confirmed that students still choose a college based on ranking and reputation. When students ask which factors they should prioritize, Butterly advises students to make decisions based on their future plans after graduation. He would suggest choosing a school with good programs or majors. "For example, we consider the fact that the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s (UIUC) engineering program is rated higher than Yale in the United States, but Yale is still more highly regarded. If a student hopes to find a job in the engineering field, I would advise him to apply for schools known for their engineering programs such as UIUC, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon University and Johns Hopkins University."

According to Butterly, in terms of college admissions trends, top schools are still receiving an increasing number of applications each year. The number of applicants at prestigious schools rises every year. Butterly said, "Resources and strong financials allow top U.S universities to provide good educational environments and systems, which become a basis for quality education. For this reason, there is still a lot of demand for prestigious universities not just in the United States, but worldwide.”

This interview was originally featured in Chonsun Edu.