Youdon'tsay

I know kids don't want to do this, but getting a jump on essays would be great. I wouldn't make a huge production out of it, but boys in particular aren't used to the introspective writing that college essays sometimes take. Ds2 has applied for a number of summer programs now that require essays and so has a little bank of writings upon which he can draw. I feel much better knowing about that going into the fall.

entomom

^I agree, at least be thinking of ideas of what to write about. D2 used one of her soph English essays as the basis of one of her main essays.

I would suggest that you all make a tentative list of schools, then check their websites for supplemental essay topics. Most of the more general ones remain the same from year to year. The ones that definitely change are those with student generated topics (eg. UChicago) and those that use quotations (eg. Amherst). Usually kids can mix and match essays, lengthening or shortening, changing emphasis, etc. so that they don't have to write additional ones for each different prompt. We copied prompts into a Word document so that we could see where there were overlaps in topics (full disclosure, ie. the truth: I did this for her, but she wrote the essays !)

He will likely need at least 2 solid 'long' essays on any topic (1 for the main CA and 1 is asked for in the supplement of many schools). In addition he needs a short one on an EC for the CA. The other, more specific ones can wait until he makes a definite school list.

Has he asked for teacher LORs yet? He should definitely do that before school lets out.

Sounds like a wonderful summer, I'm envious that he'll be in Barcelona!

entomom

A few more comments about essays.

My general rule about long essays is: if it's in your application, don't put it in your essay. In other words, your essays should ADD information and insight into who you are, not reemphasize what you've already told them in your academic or EC record.

Also, don't feel like you have to tackle a big or heavy, 'change the world' type of subject. I believe that 'smaller' topics are often much more effective in shining a light on what makes you unique--ie. why the school wants YOU.

One device that both my kids used for an essay was to combine and relate two apparently different subjects. For D1, it was baking and hiking, she described how a hike we took kept reminding her of various parts of the baking process. It was a narrative of how she viewed the world around her. D2 had an essay about playing Scrabble; it included a connection between the aesthetics of certain words and chemical structures, linking her fascination with words to her interest in science.

sbjdorlo

I agree with everything entomom said. :-)

I think essays are one of the key components to the application. They do take time but they give kids a "voice" and give schools a deeper look into who they are and how they think.

I agree that essays don't need to be deep or profound or about changing the world. Probably one my son's best essays was one titled, "Calculus is Like Sucking My Thumb". In it, he described how he likes to vegitate/relax by watching calculus videos.

I would also add, once you've made a list of colleges, sometime in August, have your son contact the colleges by email or phone, just to introduce himself, ask questions, get familiar with admissions, and in that way, he also gets on their radar.

I encouraged my son to email schools and ask questions about two specific areas: homeschooling and diversity. I honestly can't say if it helped schools to know him more from the get go, but he had some really helpful email and phone conversations with several schools and at least one school noted his high interest in them via these interactions.

Also, application deadlines are good to know and making a spreadsheet can help with this. You also might want to have your son download the Common Application as soon as he can so he can familiarize himself with it. (And some schools, like MIT, don't use it)

Barcelona sounds wonderful!!

sbjdorlo

PS. I'll share one piece of advice that my son got regarding essays. On the Common Application, there's a section that asks for more info. Most kids stick a resume there. The advice given to my son was: write another essay. It was really nice to be able to do that.

As a benefit of college applications, I think my son became a better writer. :-)

perazziman

Thanks again for some great info.

I just got back from the Counselor's office at son's high school. It seems like S needs to take three more classes as a senior to graduate on the distinguished graduation plan, next year. They normally take seven courses each year at his school, so he will have a lot of free time in senior year. In addition, the three courses that he needs are not very demanding, Physical ed., Government and Spanish III.

Any suggestions on what he should do with the extra time? He could obviously use some of it on writing essays and preparing for the SAT in October. He could also use the extra time to shore up his ECs or do an internship and fill in other deficiencies in his ECs. Sorry to bother you guys with this again.

Youdon'tsay

I was going to post this on the other thread, but since you mention here ...

IMO, he really needs to take more than 3 or 4 classes next year if he's looking at competitive schools, especially now knowing that one is PE. In our family, we require the kids take a math and a science senior year. Doesn't have to be a hard one, but it would raise all kinds of questions to me to see such a lightweight senior year. JMO.

entomom

I'm confused, I though he was taking AP Calc and AP Physics next year??

If you're looking at some of the highly selective colleges, my recommendation is generally 5 full year solid academic courses each year.

perazziman

Hi entomom, Yep that is what he signed up for. However, today when we met the counselor, she told us, he did not need to take them for distinguished graduation. We asked her to leave him signed up for them anyway, for now. So, I am trying to find out, if this was the right decison?

I think, even with AP Physics and AP Calc he will be taking a very light load. PE, Government and Spanish III are not particularly hard classes. I was wondering what else should he be taking/ doing?

Youdon'tsay

Dual enrollment? Does your school do independent studies? Internships? Research practicuums?

mokusatsu

An English class

Youdon'tsay

Good point! Suprised the school doesn't require four years of English ...

perazziman

^ You are right, I completely forgot AP English Literature after AP English Language. So, there are four subjects required for graduation as I thought I heard the counselor say (but I could not remember what the fourth subject was).

In any case, thanks for helping me see that it is quite common in US schools, for kids to take more courses than they need to graduate. I think there is a consensus that instead of taking four classes and skipping the last three periods, he should stay and atleast take AP Physics and AP Calculus. I will look into dual enrollment to see if he can take an interesting third course too. Even so, it appears he will have a very light senior year compared to his junior year.

Youdon'tsay

Some of that can't be helped because of graduation requirements. My ds will be taking health and guitar next year because he needs health and a yearlong fine arts credit, and he put those off as long as he possibly could. They are unweighted so he didn't want to take them any earlier as they'd lower his GPA. He's also taking soccer to fulfill his final sports requirement but as a ninth period after school. This is the kind of thing that the GC needs to put in the letter or you put in the addl information section of the Common App.

The other reason we opted to wait on those easy classes is so that he can have an easier senior year without really slacking and going to school half a day.

entomom

AP Physics, AP Calc, AP English Lit, Spanish III & Govt. sounds like a solid sr schedule to me.