4 ways to guarantee you won’t be accepted

You've put in more than three years of hard work in high school. Don't get lazy now! Take more than a few hours to craft your essays and application.

As the first round of college application deadlines approach, many of you are scrambling to complete your college applications in time. This collection of documents, from your transcript and test scores to your essays and extracurricular achievements, represents everything you have accomplished over the past three-plus years.

As an admissions officer at the University of Pennsylvania, I was always amazed by the mistakes applicants made in those applications. I would often think, "Are they trying to get rejected?" With that in mind, here are some dumb things students do to guarantee they won’t be accepted.

1. Make bad choices early in your high school career

A few years ago, I read a very solid application from a top student. He was competitive in terms of his grades and extracurricular activities, but he had made a few poor course selections. The most egregious choice was to drop math his senior year because he had satisfied his high school’s basic core requirements. Since virtually every applicant in the pool -- more than 20,000 students in total -- was taking the subject, the lack of math put him at a distinct disadvantage and ultimately contributed to his denial.

Long before you submit your college applications, you are building your case for acceptance. Since college is about going above and beyond, admissions officers like to see evidence that students are willing and able to do that. While the most selective schools in the country expect to see you sticking with math, science, English, history or social science and foreign language all four years, every college in the country will appreciate your efforts to take all five subjects in ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades.

2. Get "creative"

I vividly remember one of the worst essays I read as an admissions officer, a piece written in response to the question we posed asking why the student wanted to attend the university. A young woman drew “PENN” in giant bubble letters, and then listed adjectives describing the college within the letters.

There will never be a time when something like this is appropriate. I’m not saying there is no room for creativity in your college applications, but if the application asks for an essay, write an essay. Period.

3. Don't follow directions

At least once a day during reading season I found myself circling a blank activities section and jotting down “doesn’t follow directions” on my reader rating card. We specifically required students to fill out the activities section of the application even if they were submitting separate resumes, and yet students consistently failed to follow these simple instructions.

All applications include directions. Do yourself a favor and read them. Twice. Mistakes resulting from not following instructions are completely avoidable and among the most frustrating to see. If you can’t follow relatively straightforward guidelines when applying, the admissions office will be concerned about your ability to handle the more advanced organization and work required of you at the collegiate level.

4. Fill out the application at the last second

I have truly seen everything when it comes to applications: two-line essays about why a student wanted to study at the university (most were a full page), messy hand-written applications, questions unintentionally left unanswered, essays rife with typos and underdeveloped thoughts, lists of extracurricular activities that bury the highlights of recent endeavors and lead with pursuits students have long since abandoned.

I chalk all of these mistakes up to waiting until the very last minute to fill out and submit the application.

You have worked so hard since you started high school. Honor that time and yourself by making good choices, following directions and taking more than a few hours to craft this important portfolio of your accomplishments.

Elizabeth Heaton is a senior director of educational consulting at College Coach, the nation’s leading provider of educational advisory services. Ms. Heaton began her admissions career at the University of Pennsylvania, where she chaired university selection committees, evaluated potential athletic recruits as one of the school’s athletics liaisons, and oversaw the university’s portfolio of admissions publications. She also served as second chair in the selection committee for the school's flagship interdisciplinary Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology. In addition to unique insight into the selection criteria for students planning majors in business, engineering, and nursing, Ms. Heaton brings exceptional skills to the craft of essay writing, with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Cornell, paired with experience reading and evaluating thousands of University of Pennsylvania admissions essays. Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Heaton worked as a public relations professional and served for a decade as a member of the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.