<p>Congrats to you both, pinecone.</p>
<p>ACongrats to your daughter, @pinecone. Though Cal doesnāt have a reputation for being terribly holistic in admissions. They do, however, like many publics, weigh GPA heavily (the opposite of certain privates eager to rise in the rankings, who weigh test scores heavily). GPA and great essay probably did the trick.
The ECs probably landed her the scholarships, however.</p>
<p>Though I may be wrong on Cal. According to a poster on CC, UCLA is more focused on scores/numbers and Cal looks at ECs.</p>
<p>@xiggi, re the Stanford roommate essay ā my D is not applying to Stanford so Iām afraid weāll never know.</p>
<p>Re lookingforward, post #86: I donāt think any of the schools that QMP applied to had 13-16+ pages for the studentās self presentation. I count maybe 5 at the upper limit. That includes single-initial CC schools, with single-digit admission percentages. MIT does reputedly have a long application now, but QMP did not apply there, so I donāt really know.</p>
<p>I am not counting utterly factual fill-in-the-blank type questionsāso home address, parentās education, etc. are not part of āself presentation.ā Choice of ECās to list on the form definitely would be part of self-presentation. The very short fill-in-the-blank type questions on the Princeton and UNC Chapel Hill app at the time seemed good to me. I enjoyed reading QMPās answers to those, and thought that they gave an accurate self-portrayal, all by themselves.</p>
<p>I donāt count letters of recommendation as the studentās āself-presentation.ā I suppose at the schools where students are permitted to read the letters written on their behalf, they might count that way. But otherwise, itās someone elseās presentation of the student.</p>
<p>Oh. You donāt. Hmm. Ok, whatever.
PT what source? A poster who knows or who heard somewhere? Cal has info online about their process. </p>
<p>I think a lot of guidance counselor recommendations are based almost entirely on ābrag sheetsā provided by the students, so those should be considered part of self-presentation. Careful thought should go into that brag sheet.</p>
<p>@Strad199 wrote:
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<p>Iām an alumni interviewer for Duke and I had never heard this. Can you please provide more information on how you know this information? The reason is that Iāve always been told that the Essay and SAT have equal weighting. Please explain.</p>
<p>Seriously, lookingforward, I donāt know what you are talking about when you say 13-16+ pages of self-presentation in a college application. What are you counting? I suppose you are counting the high-school transcript as āself-presentation.ā That seems legitimate to me. But even throwing in a transcript from high school (1 page) and a transcript from college courses taken while in high school (1 page), as I recall the questions on the Common App + supplements for various schools, and their word limits, I donāt see how it adds up to the number of pages you mention.</p>
<p>I suppose there are some fortunate high schoolers out there who might have some influence on the School Profile that goes out with the transcript. Iād guess they are a very small percentage of students. I wouldnāt count the School Profile as āself presentation.ā</p>
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<p>That is OK! I was just curious to hear what someone who says has read essays would say ā¦ to compare to what I know. Or think I know! :)</p>
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<p>On the surface, that sounds like the total pages one might get when printing all the relevant documentation that forms the entire package. It does not seem farfetched when adding the personal information, the various essays, the copies of the LOR (when available) AND ā¦ the detailed list of activities that some smart applicants have been using. Fwiw, this is is small hint in the direction of Michele Hernandez and her recommendations on how to ace an application. </p>
<p>@lookingforward:</p>
<p>Someone on CC who reads essays for Cal (or UCLA).</p>
<p>Thanks, xiggi. But I think Hernandez is out for herself.<br>
Qm, we too often end up frittering over some small piece of what I wrote, sometimes as small as a clauseā¦ Not getting us anywhere. I suppose if I say I have an idea about the roommate essay, well have to dissect that. :)</p>
<p>ps, not only does Cal describe how they review, so does UCLA. </p>
<p>@pinecone1ā
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<p>In another thread you mentioned her fairly low SAT, so Iām going to assume youāre a URM.</p>
<ul>
<li>California resident</li>
<li>URM (assuming)</li>
<li>single parent</li>
<li>low means</li>
<li>first generation (assuming)</li>
<li>perfect GPA</li>
<li>app supported her pursuing a niche STEM</li>
</ul>
<p>Good story and not that surprising, actually. The admissions book Iām reading now says the top colleges regularly fly in interesting URMs. In fact, believe it or not, the most sought after students are full pay URMs.</p>
<p>@GullLake:
- Iām not sure why you think people would find your last sentence hard to believe.
- You may be right, but then, you may be wrong. You assume a ton, kid. When you get older, youāll figure out that that is not a smart thing to do.</p>
<p>And itās some pretty tough assuming, starting with low SAT = URM.<br>
Time to pull out my old example of guidance to my kids: *Donāt fall into, āI think it, so it must be true.ā And its sister, āI read it somewhere, so it is true.ā</p>
<p>What book is that, Gull? At elites, the edge isnāt āfull payā in the absence of quality. And admission to the Ivies is need-blind. </p>
<p>The most sought after students are full payā¦period! </p>
<p>@WasatchWriter I was wondering that too! Iāve been in Girl Scouts for 10 years and it has nothing to do with my intended major (environmental science), but I wrote my Personal Statement about my experience in Girl Scouts and now Iām second guessing that choice because it doesnāt have to do with my major :O</p>
<p>@lookingforwardā āAnd itās some pretty tough assuming, starting with low SAT = URM.ā Youāre (deliberately?) removing context. The context being getting into Cal with a low SAT + getting called for a fly in.</p>
<p>āAt elites, the edge isnāt āfull payā in the absence of quality. And admission to the Ivies is need-blind.ā I have a bridge to sell you. Iāve read more than once about adcoms literally high-fiving each other when a qualified, full pay URM app comes across their desk. </p>