Rookie mistakes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tips after 3 kids:

1. Your kids have to write their own essays. Editing and suggesting changes, especially topic changes, is fine, especially if coming from an advisor with really good common sense about college admissions. The student's voice must come through. If it doesn't, throw it all out.

2. Do these essays in the summer. Even your kid will thank you.

3. It's fine to apply all over the map for the cost of a Score Send and the Application fee. But in the end, those extra 10 schools he really didn't want to go to anyway cost you $700+. Use that on a nice pair of shoes. (jk) But my point is, please don't apply anywhere he really doesn't want to go in the name of safety. Just need one good one.

4. Carefully research which schools require interest. CWRU and Tulane - I'm talking to you. Don't bother if they didn't show any. Waste of the fees.

5. Do take as many APs as possible. They do look at Senior year schedule - load up. Dual credit and AP are not the same - AP looks more prestigious at 9/10 colleges.

6. Get a job. My unofficial research shows that kids who worked in fast food or really anything with a regular pay check do better in admissions.

7. The most rigorous schedule means the most rigorous schedule. If you are in STEM and BC Calc is offered, take it.

8. Review the various grade inputs that kids do. Every college does it different - weighted grades ,classification as honors or AP or Pre-AP, number of AP, semester or yearly classes. It is so easy to make a mistake if you aren't careful here. Admissions will double check these, but will they catch an error before you've been put in a lower bucket because the computer didn't give you credit for a bunch of weighted courses? So please double check.

9. Triple check that all materials have been received. We had a school (with a verified train wreck of a portal) call to say information was not received at the very last minute. Thankfully, had a fabulous counselor who got it in. But don't assume anything. Have your kid send emails to admissions to confirm they are good.

Ignore #1. No, your kid’s true voice need not come out- at all.

Make sure whoever edits the personal statement also edit the supplementals. So everything is cohesive with the same polish and voice.

Biggest rookie mistake is having an overly edited personal statement and very basic supplementals.

How do you know this had any impact?

DP: I have heard AOs on multiple college admissions podcasts discuss this. They also talked about how students write sloppy or last minute supplementals compared to their main essay and that they care about the supplementals more in making a decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your DC is a visual or performing artist, colleges often impose numerous requirements in addition to submitting a portfolio--e.g., artist statements, art-specific resumes, etc. Some of the requirements appear on the school's website, some of them appear on the Common App, and some of them appear in SlideRoom (the app for uploading portfolios). So, for example, my DC discovered that one esteemed college effectively had an art-specific supplemental essay when he was uploading his portfolio on SlideRoom the evening before his application was due. He had researched that college's website previously and I think it mentioned an optional art resume but not the essay. Also, I recall that Stanford had numerous requirements for portfolio submissions, one of which was that they had to be submitted a few weeks before the normal deadline.

TLDR: If your DC is an artist and submitting a portfolio, figure out exactly what each college requires well ahead of time because the additional requirements can be demanding and surprising.

+1

Cornell required a "home test" in addition to an art portfolio.

What is a home test?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tips after 3 kids:

1. Your kids have to write their own essays. Editing and suggesting changes, especially topic changes, is fine, especially if coming from an advisor with really good common sense about college admissions. The student's voice must come through. If it doesn't, throw it all out.

2. Do these essays in the summer. Even your kid will thank you.

3. It's fine to apply all over the map for the cost of a Score Send and the Application fee. But in the end, those extra 10 schools he really didn't want to go to anyway cost you $700+. Use that on a nice pair of shoes. (jk) But my point is, please don't apply anywhere he really doesn't want to go in the name of safety. Just need one good one.

4. Carefully research which schools require interest. CWRU and Tulane - I'm talking to you. Don't bother if they didn't show any. Waste of the fees.

5. Do take as many APs as possible. They do look at Senior year schedule - load up. Dual credit and AP are not the same - AP looks more prestigious at 9/10 colleges.

6. Get a job. My unofficial research shows that kids who worked in fast food or really anything with a regular pay check do better in admissions.

7. The most rigorous schedule means the most rigorous schedule. If you are in STEM and BC Calc is offered, take it.

8. Review the various grade inputs that kids do. Every college does it different - weighted grades ,classification as honors or AP or Pre-AP, number of AP, semester or yearly classes. It is so easy to make a mistake if you aren't careful here. Admissions will double check these, but will they catch an error before you've been put in a lower bucket because the computer didn't give you credit for a bunch of weighted courses? So please double check.

9. Triple check that all materials have been received. We had a school (with a verified train wreck of a portal) call to say information was not received at the very last minute. Thankfully, had a fabulous counselor who got it in. But don't assume anything. Have your kid send emails to admissions to confirm they are good.

Ignore #1. No, your kid’s true voice need not come out- at all.

Make sure whoever edits the personal statement also edit the supplementals. So everything is cohesive with the same polish and voice.

Biggest rookie mistake is having an overly edited personal statement and very basic supplementals.

How do you know this had any impact?

DP: I have heard AOs on multiple college admissions podcasts discuss this. They also talked about how students write sloppy or last minute supplementals compared to their main essay and that they care about the supplementals more in making a decision.

That does not mean it mattered in your kid’s case.

[Anonymous]

Lots of good insight in this thread. We are just done with this process and I have lots of thoughts about ED but for now I will concur that sports are really not a positive in the selective college app process. In part because they do not differentiate your kid from a mass of others, and in part due to the opportunity cost of spending 20 hours a week playing them during the year, plus summer, etc. It's just not the best use of a finite amount of EC time a student has. I don't think it is meaningful to confect some fake quirky EC either, just that are more strategic ways to use your time (provided you have really strong stats). Fwiw my kid did track/cc the first two years and quitting that and dialing in his academically-oriented ECs that he excels in was, in retrospect, a smart move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is something you or your student did that you would clearly do differently if you had to do things over (and thank goodness, we don't have to do it over!)?

Me: encouraging my kid to write all those Chicago essays for EA when I now know Chicago's EA program is fishy.

Chicago EA isn't fishy

They don't release the breakdown between EA and ED acceptances. Have you ever heard of ANY EA acceptances? I haven't. They push EA deferrals to ED 2. Seems exploitative to me. Fishy.

Yes. My child was accepted EA last year.

[Anonymous]

This does not change the fact that very few UChicago applicants are admitted EA. Very few.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This does not change the fact that very few UChicago applicants are admitted EA. Very few.

But it is not zero like so many others here like to perpetuate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This does not change the fact that very few UChicago applicants are admitted EA. Very few.

But it is not zero like so many others here like to perpetuate.

Maybe not zero, but the EA admit rate is 1) kept secret, and 2) far below the RD admit rate and far below the SCEA schools. So non-zero, but still fishy. It's disingenuous for Chicago to offer EA in this way, in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your DC is a visual or performing artist, colleges often impose numerous requirements in addition to submitting a portfolio--e.g., artist statements, art-specific resumes, etc. Some of the requirements appear on the school's website, some of them appear on the Common App, and some of them appear in SlideRoom (the app for uploading portfolios). So, for example, my DC discovered that one esteemed college effectively had an art-specific supplemental essay when he was uploading his portfolio on SlideRoom the evening before his application was due. He had researched that college's website previously and I think it mentioned an optional art resume but not the essay. Also, I recall that Stanford had numerous requirements for portfolio submissions, one of which was that they had to be submitted a few weeks before the normal deadline.

TLDR: If your DC is an artist and submitting a portfolio, figure out exactly what each college requires well ahead of time because the additional requirements can be demanding and surprising.

+1

Cornell required a "home test" in addition to an art portfolio.

What is a home test?

A home test is a series of visual projects based on themes and/or prompts directed by the art school or college. It is separate from an art portfolio that the applicant submits.

[Anonymous]

Agree. It's quite clear that even if they admit 2 percent or whatever in EA, its primary use is to engage with applicants and convince them to apply ED2.

UChicago is an extraordinary university and I think they do themselves a disservice with how they manage enrollment. It's not as if they are scooping up Ivy kids; they are picking up the layer of students below that group. So they are not directly competing for the tiptop kids and they used to have a real identity as an egghead paradise with conservative leanings and no football. They've lost that, in the chase for ratings and the fantasy of being perceived as having Ivy-level prestige (which they do not have, despite being a much better university than, say, Penn).

I'm sure the strategy is a financial one as well and I can't say how that is working out for them (not well, if the headlines mean anything?). Maybe their artificially inflated yield numbers allows them to borrow money cheaply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of good insight in this thread. We are just done with this process and I have lots of thoughts about ED but for now I will concur that sports are really not a positive in the selective college app process. In part because they do not differentiate your kid from a mass of others, and in part due to the opportunity cost of spending 20 hours a week playing them during the year, plus summer, etc. It's just not the best use of a finite amount of EC time a student has. I don't think it is meaningful to confect some fake quirky EC either, just that are more strategic ways to use your time (provided you have really strong stats). Fwiw my kid did track/cc the first two years and quitting that and dialing in his academically-oriented ECs that he excels in was, in retrospect, a smart move.

100% agree. have found the same to be true for my kid.

oh, and individual awards (sports or academic) are WAY more valuable than a team award. Most AO disregard a team award....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. It's quite clear that even if they admit 2 percent or whatever in EA, its primary use is to engage with applicants and convince them to apply ED2.

UChicago is an extraordinary university and I think they do themselves a disservice with how they manage enrollment. It's not as if they are scooping up Ivy kids; they are picking up the layer of students below that group. So they are not directly competing for the tiptop kids and they used to have a real identity as an egghead paradise with conservative leanings and no football. They've lost that, in the chase for ratings and the fantasy of being perceived as having Ivy-level prestige (which they do not have, despite being a much better university than, say, Penn).

I'm sure the strategy is a financial one as well and I can't say how that is working out for them (not well, if the headlines mean anything?). Maybe their artificially inflated yield numbers allows them to borrow money cheaply.

I don’t really see what you’re talking about. It’s good to go to a school mostly with students who want to go there, not just rejects from the ivies. Uchicago’s undergraduate Econ, math, and physics programs are some of the hardest in the nation, and the school is academically beyond discussions of elite. There’s also a contradiction in saying they’re chasing prestige but choosing an admissions practice to only retain an academic peer group below the ivies. The school is really the same it’s always been. Chicago just got more popular, and they’ve invested heavily into updating student facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. It's quite clear that even if they admit 2 percent or whatever in EA, its primary use is to engage with applicants and convince them to apply ED2.

UChicago is an extraordinary university and I think they do themselves a disservice with how they manage enrollment. It's not as if they are scooping up Ivy kids; they are picking up the layer of students below that group. So they are not directly competing for the tiptop kids and they used to have a real identity as an egghead paradise with conservative leanings and no football. They've lost that, in the chase for ratings and the fantasy of being perceived as having Ivy-level prestige (which they do not have, despite being a much better university than, say, Penn).

I'm sure the strategy is a financial one as well and I can't say how that is working out for them (not well, if the headlines mean anything?). Maybe their artificially inflated yield numbers allows them to borrow money cheaply.

Ah... this finally explains the UChicago hate. A lot of people see it as a backup to the Ivy and then when not given an outright acceptance by the school, the next move is to blame the school for it's "sHadY aDmiSsions PrActIceS". The amount of hubris on this board is pretty entertaining.
But, thanks Anonymous 22:12, I finally understand where the hate is coming from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. It's quite clear that even if they admit 2 percent or whatever in EA, its primary use is to engage with applicants and convince them to apply ED2.

UChicago is an extraordinary university and I think they do themselves a disservice with how they manage enrollment. It's not as if they are scooping up Ivy kids; they are picking up the layer of students below that group. So they are not directly competing for the tiptop kids and they used to have a real identity as an egghead paradise with conservative leanings and no football. They've lost that, in the chase for ratings and the fantasy of being perceived as having Ivy-level prestige (which they do not have, despite being a much better university than, say, Penn).

I'm sure the strategy is a financial one as well and I can't say how that is working out for them (not well, if the headlines mean anything?). Maybe their artificially inflated yield numbers allows them to borrow money cheaply.

Chicago is so interesting. They had a very distinct brand. I think they should have stuck with it. Difficult, intellectual school with people passionate about their interests. A lot of intense public school students and private school nerds finding their home.

Instead, Chicago is choosing to become Wake Forest+ - wealthy, connected, boring.

I don't think the administrators at Chicago understood what the school was historically all about.

[Anonymous]

u Chicago Better than Penn?

I know most kids would choose Penn over Chicago if they had the chance.

Anonymous wrote:Agree. It's quite clear that even if they admit 2 percent or whatever in EA, its primary use is to engage with applicants and convince them to apply ED2.

UChicago is an extraordinary university and I think they do themselves a disservice with how they manage enrollment. It's not as if they are scooping up Ivy kids; they are picking up the layer of students below that group. So they are not directly competing for the tiptop kids and they used to have a real identity as an egghead paradise with conservative leanings and no football. They've lost that, in the chase for ratings and the fantasy of being perceived as having Ivy-level prestige (which they do not have, despite being a much better university than, say, Penn).

I'm sure the strategy is a financial one as well and I can't say how that is working out for them (not well, if the headlines mean anything?). Maybe their artificially inflated yield numbers allows them to borrow money cheaply.