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You've heard it a trillion and one times -- so-and-so has a 4.89 GPA, a letter in five varsity sports, is involved in every club (including chess), spends weekends buying groceries for the elderly, but still didn't get in to Yale. Maniacal myth or honest-to-goodness truth?

"Students don't realize that universities aren't subject to supply and demand," says Steve Pemberton, a former Boston College admissions officer, and co-founder of Road to College, a  

college admissions

  consulting service. "[More] students are competing for the exact number of spaces [offered] in the 1970s and 80s."

And, today's college-bounders are as competitive as ever -- so those in your applicant pool are stronger than you think. It's a phenomenon Pemberton and his Road to College co-founder Chuck Hughes call "strong for your school, standard for our pool."

How can you stand apart from the crowd? "Do things you love, and that will reflect in your transcript," says Hughes, a former Harvard University admissions officer. Also know that you don't have to participate in everything. "Having a laundry list [of activities] means you can't commit to anything," says Pemberton. "You need to show you have leadership qualities."

Students often forget that the college application is not just a numbers game. "What makes you interesting is the value you'll add to the institution," says Hughes, so play up the personality factor with a little creativity. One student showed her drive to get into New York University by photocopying her college application onto transparencies and placing subway maps behind the pages.

But be wary of taking it too far. Pemberton recalls a strong applicant who lost college admission by taking a chance on the essay. "The question was, 'What is courage?' He wrote, 'This is.' I felt as though he wasn't taking the essay seriously," says Pemberton. "Certain places are more left of center, and then there are the more conservative ones." So know whether or not your top choice is liberal with its college application.

Also, don't fall victim to the belief that freshman and sophomore high school grades don't count for college admission. "At competitive schools, those years are most important," says Hughes. "They become the filters."

But if you do goof off your first two years, all is not lost. "If there is some weakness, address it," says Pemberton. "Otherwise, you're leaving that up to interpretation." Acknowledge the slow start as your responsibility as opposed to placing blame. "Don't say, 'I had a terrible teacher,'" Pemberton says. "Leave that to your guidance counselor [to explain]." Even so, accepting responsibility isn't a guaranteed in. "It won't weigh that much [in a college admissions decision]," says Hughes.

Most important, realize college choices extend beyond Yale and Harvard. "In the next six to eight years, more schools will emerge as hidden gems," says Hughes. Play the game right, find your fit, and you'll discover a number-one school for you.

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