Anonymous wrote:While I fully appreciate that admissions at selective colleges are incredibly competitive and often unpredictable, I think I bought too much into the pessimism here and on CC. DC was admitted to several highly selective schools and maybe should have been more aggressive in applying to reach schools. DC is at a great school that's a great fit, so I can't complain too much. But it certainly raised the anxiety.

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.

Anonymous wrote:SAT instead of TO if in the mid-range

Anonymous wrote:My kid would have EA-ed to Georgetown (where they are a legacy) rather than Yale (where they were deferred in SCEA this year.) Would have been awesome to go into RD with (maybe) a GU EA acceptance in the pocket.