If you're anxious about where your little darling will attend high school, you might enroll him or her in one of those programs now. A laundry list of activities and outstanding SAT scores won't make up for weak grades. A feeling of entitlement can also set some private-school students up for disappointment, said Villanova's Gaynor. Creative applications work-to a point. Be a little pushy.
Overbearing parents send chills through admissions offices.
Snagging an early admit to a top school has become another way of one-upping the genius next door. Shake your family tree for alumni connections. Admissions counselors admit they perk up when applications from alumni families arrive. Show them you care. Robert Voss, dean of admissions and financial aid at LaSalle University, said even grizzled college staffers want to be loved.