Grcxx3

At the end of the online application (page 8 - More About You) is the page where you can upload a Personal Statement. The intro to that section says that the Personal Statement is optional.

But then there are a series of question with 500 word limits for answers.

Some have basic Yes/No answers (Do you live on a family farm, or have strong ties to the farming community?, Do you have family obligations that keep you from participating in extracurricular activities?). So, I am assuming if you have "No" as an answer, no written part is necessary.

But then there are 3 more questions.......which definitely seem to need answers.

-Discuss any obstacles and/or hardships you have encountered and how you dealt with them.
- Describe the reasons you have chosen to enter the major that you selected previously in this application.
-What is your view of diversity and its importance in education?

DS thinks they are optional, just like the Personal Statement. I tend to think they are required.

Does anyone know for sure????? DS is ready to submit the application - but this issue is keeping him from doing it.

Thanks!

PackMom

Grcxx3, I would tend to agree with you but it's hard to say for sure.
Your best bet might be to call the NCSU admissions office first thing in the a.m. to get the "for sure" answer and peace of mind.

Grcxx3

Thanks PackMom. I was thinking of doing that. Was even considering a little "side bet" with DS!!!!

What about the "Discuss any obstacles and/or hardships you have encountered and how you dealt with them" question?

Virginiafan13

If it helps this is how I treated them.

Obstacles/Hardships- Didn't really have any besides a possible incident freshmen year with a bad teacher. However I didn't want to come off as making excuses so I put nothing down for this.

Why this Major?- This was completely answered in my personal statement, so I didn't put anything besides "see personal statement.

Diversity Importance- I put down a short answer for this.

I kind of wish now that I had put something for Hardhips/Obstacles, but I assumed that it is like that optional question on most applications in case there is something that you feel like the admissions officers need to know.

PackMom

Grcxx3, Did you get any info. fr. NCSU?
I would think your S could use living overseas and returning to h.s. in the U.S. as a sort of obstacle unless he covered that in the personal statement.

Grcxx3

PackMom - yes....talked to a nice young lady this morning. She said that "technically" the questions are optional, but that they ARE used by the adcom folks to get a more personal "feel" about the applicants. She stressed that they didn't want students to just throw together an answer just for the sake of putting something down, but that they did like to see simple, well-thought out answers.

As for the hardship/obstacle question....another application had a similar question but more focused on obstacles that limited extra-curriculars/leadership/work experience. For that one, he did talk about being overseas - where the school was very small with few ECs for high school students (and no well defined leadership roles for those that did exist) and also about how our summers were spent visiting family/friends, doing a multitude of medical checkups, and shopping marathons to get ready for the next year overseas - so no time for work experience, camps, etc.

But....I just don't think that really fits with this question, so he may leave it blank. Also, his personal statement is actually all about his trumpet playing and being thrown into the whole band experience - so I guess he does cover "obstacles" in that.

Thanks for all the help!