A stellar academic record or unique extracurricular activities will help, but cannot guarantee a seat at the IVY League colleges extending to the top 20 universities of the US & UK. A student's admission application has a significant impact on his or her chances of getting into the top colleges abroad. Students can present their applications to selectors and make a positive first impression, thus increasing their chances of being accepted.

It is also critical to recognize that a variety of factors might be relevant, and not knowing them can result in students losing out on significant opportunities. In this article, we will discuss some of the reasons why a student might be rejected by top universities in the world.

1. There are too many errors

Often, I have seen students who do changes in their admission essays just before the application submission deadline ends up making basic errors. Making a typo or a grammatical error in your essays and short answers would be the last thing you want to do. College admission officers will perceive that you are not a serious candidate as this is the basic hygiene that they look for in your college admission application. It may look like you lack in necessary writing skills to draft an error-free application form. This can be one of the biggest mistakes that can directly lead to rejection.

2. The college's preference

Many times students get confused between test-optional, test-waived-off, or test-blind options.  Test optional means that students have the option to report their standardized test scores. However, it doesn’t mean that if any student has reported the scores, then the university won’t consider it. This means colleges might consider students’ standardized test scores who have reported it despite being it optional and give higher weightage to their application. Many colleges have made it optional due to the pandemic. There is no way to predict which colleges will give preference to the standardized tests unless they have clearly mentioned that they are test blind.  Test-waived or test-blind means that the university will not consider any test score if any student reports it. Top US admission counselors in Gurgaon at UnivAdmitHelp always encourage students to attempt SAT or ACT and try to get a score above 1450.

3. The school where you applied is not fit for you

A college admission officer may not look for evidence of a concrete career plan in your application. However, you should understand the vision and mission of the college and how the college can help you climb the career ladder. It is always advisable to apply for the college and find out how you can contribute to the college. Ivy League consultants at UnivAdmitHelp spend a lot of time with the students to build the best-fit colleges list.

4. Does your high school has a connection with the university?

There is no denying the fact that alumni's children receive preferential treatment. This is considered a fair practice by many colleges, but generally speaking, it doesn't matter whether your parents attended the same universities 30 years ago or not. But it does matter how many previous years students have applied to the university from that school. Basically, this helps the university to extend the qualities of the previous students to the new students coming from the same schools. This is not available to a student from a new school who may not have such a relationship.

5. Other people’s opinions about you

In some cases, the letter of recommendation (LOR) may not be that impressive, even if the teacher said it was good enough. You may be the best student in your school and one of the highest scorers. However, your letter of recommendation and other applications may not address those achievements effectively.

So, it could be the case where the letter of recommendation or admission essays do not highlight you as the most effective individual even if you are. This can create a sense of doubt in the mind of the admission officer. For the same reason, the Ivy League counselors at UnivAdmitHelp work closely with the students to extract the best and more personalized LORs from the schools’ counselors and/or teachers.

6. Your application is missing some important things

One of the most significant factors that can lead to your application being rejected is an incomplete application form. It can be that you forget the deadline and submit the application form at the very last minute. As a result, you tend to forget some necessary details or documents that need to be attached.

Missing test scores, recommendation letters, and other documents can delay the review process by the selectors and can create an impression that the candidate is not serious enough. Therefore, it becomes imperative to double-check the application form before submission while keeping in mind the deadlines for submitting the application form.

7. Who reads your file

This is an uncontrollable factor that you cannot control, and you can only hope that it will not happen. The rejection or selection of the application form also depends on the person who reads your file. Human beings are subject to biases as a result of the different events occurring in their surroundings.

Let's say one day your file pops up in front of the admission officer. Maybe that day they might have received a kind acknowledgment from their boss, or maybe their dog passed away last evening. Totally not your fault! But it may affect your application decision. Another scenario can be that they might like your sarcastic and ironic take on different things, or it might cause them to stop reading your file even before finishing your essay. Maybe your application was right after the best essay that they received that year or maybe the worst one. That can have some impact on how your application will be read right after them.

In the end, you would have no way of knowing whether you missed the opportunity by an inch or a mile, nor why you weren't admitted. Even though it is a difficult process that needs to be repeated, you should never give up and keep trying. The most important thing to remember is to avoid general mistakes when filling out application forms and writing essays and personal statements. Make sure there are no grammatical or typing errors. Don't leave any section unattended when filling out an application form. Be careful not to make your statement too long; keep it to a moderate word limit. It is also imperative to work on small errors because they can result in a big difference in your application selection.