SweetComedyGirl

on the common app it has one question with a possible 7900 character responce box and the question is:
How did you first learn about Colgate (counselor, parent, current student, Colgate graduate, reputation, college fair, guidebook, etc.)?

Would an applicant just write, for example, "My guidance counselor recommended Colgate University to me" or do they want a big essay about why someone would applying to colgate?

Here is what I have so far but since Colgate has such as simple supplement I'd rather not ruin it by taking this responce further then it needs to go.

"While speaking to my guidance counselor one of the first college-related points that I made was that I wanted a small liberal arts college that could provide me with a quality education and give me the oppertunity to study anything that interests me. My college counselor took out a book and flipped a few pages, but before reading off any names of colleges she suddenly replied "How about Colgate?" After doing extensive research to see if Colgate truly fit this description, I found that Colgate offered more then just that. It turned out that my fathers co-worker was a Colgate alumni who has happy to tell me about his college memories and experiences and it made me more eager to apply to Colgate. Fortunately, my college counselors initial responce was the best one she could give. Colgate's studio art program offers an education in both computers and arts, which is what I am looking for in my college experience and I would also enjoy taking advantage of the recreational, and possibly the Division I athletics offered by Colgate."
CC is definintly welcomed.

lulubelle12

I know this is coming a little late and you may have already submitted your application, but I thought I'd respnd anyway. I was confused by that part of the application as well becasue 7900 characters seemed like a lot. Mine's about 300 words long so it's only about 2000 characters. Also, I went into detail about how I became interested in it, why it's appealing to me, etc. I hope that helps. Good luck with all your applications!

CK2308

mine is short (about 3 sentences) but its well written..but i was wondering the same thing so i just kept it short and sweet

ticklemepink

It's just a simple question! Just say "I learned about Colgate from my guidance counselor as I was looking for a small, liberal arts college... " No essay.

jhl

ticklemepink, do you mean one sentence is enough?

andykcom

^^ I do not understand why it shouldn't be. I didn't even write a sentence, just a word - friend. The description clearly lists possible options.

jhl

Yup, one sentence or two..

whirlybird

I think mine was like three sentences, like a well written version of "I heard about it from teachers. I went on the website. I totally loved it."

5757

colgate requests that it be 3 or 4 lines.

andykcom

^^^ source?

Julzz389

It's not supposed to be an essay-just a simple answer. I think I wrote one sentence (I learned about Colgate from a friend who currently attends) and that seemed to be fine because I was accepted.

Adaman

Suddenly now the supplement doesn't allow you to write more than 20 or 30 characters (a rough guess). I know it used to allow more – a few weeks ago I wrote an answer that was several sentences, and when I looked tonight it was cut off. My guess is that Colgate saw this thread and how confused some people were about that question and therefore changed the character limit to reflect their true wishes?

debater88

Either that or they saw that they were getting rediculously long answers from early applicants.