Distressed student looking for advice

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Hi parents,</p>

<p>I’m a senior in high school, from a very rural area and lower income household. I’ve tutored online for the past four years and therefore have no resources to turn to for help with my application essays. I will be applying to Brown, Yale, Amherst, Williams, WUSTL, Pomona, Barnard, and Scripps. Are there any benevolent souls out there who could give me a hand? </p>

<p>A bit of background:</p>

<p>Graduation Date: 06/08
Test Scores
SAT I: 2170
SAT II Literature: 750
SAT II U.S. History: 760 (I created my own course of study)
AP World History: 4
AP U.S. History: 5 (I created my own course of study). </p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 Unweighted, in the most rigorous courses offered.
Extracurricular Activities<br>
? Happy Day Cards (founder and president, since 2004). My greeting cards are handmade, and mailed to soldiers in Iraq and recovering soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. Hundreds of cards have been delivered via the Washington D.C. Red Cross and Touch of Home Support 4R Deployed Military, Inc. I have conducted seminars and card-making sessions with local church and scouting groups, educating community kids about supporting the troops and giving them an opportunity to participate. Using my graphic art skills, I designed a company logo and enlisted a fellow Potter’s School student to help create a website. A global card drive, enrolling digital artists from around the world to contribute card designs is also currently underway.
? Classical ballet (since age three, serious study since age ten). For three summers I was one of 200 dancers chosen from over 2000, to study with Pacific Northwest and San Francisco Ballet (considered to be two of the top three programs in the nation). August 2006 and 2007 were also spent at Inland Pacific Ballet?s Advanced Training Program with an emphasis on contemporary movement. I was one of eight chosen from over 200, to perform with the Kirov Ballet at the Kodak Theater during their previous North American tour. This year, for the second time, I will dance the role of Clara in the Inland Pacific Ballet?s Nutcracker. I was filmed by a Universal Studios crew and will be featured in 2007 advertising. I travel an hour and a half, six days a week to study advanced ballet at Inland Pacific Ballet Academy, one of Southern California?s premier ballet schools. I use the three hours on the road for additional study time.
? Photography, illustration, digital and graphic arts. I have taught myself Adobe Photoshop after reading six textbooks on the subject. My work has been published on digitalart.com. [tiink777.digitalart.org</a> - Profile of Tiink777](<a href=“http://tiink777.digitalart.org/]tiink777.digitalart.org”>http://tiink777.digitalart.org/) . I spent July of 2007 at California College of the arts, in their graphic design program. This past semester I designed a poster for the prevention of fetal alcohol poisoning as well as a series of works encouraging children to read classical literature. These will be displayed in libraries throughout the Inland Empire.
? Church children?s ministry for seven years. This year I teach a class of 2-year-olds in Sunday school, which includes designing a lesson plan for each week and controlling ten or twelve energetic toddlers for two hours.
Jobs
? I design and create custom ballet wear, selling them to fellow dancers. Ten percent of my profits support Happy Day Cards. The remainder helped fund a summer trip to France, where I explored the art and architecture through photographic research. This year I worked toward attending the California College of the Arts Pre-college program.
? I recently dabbled in free lance design work for Los Angeles Ballet Theatre, creating a brand identity and appropriate logo for the company. </p>

<p>Thank you so much! </p>

<p>brainyartist</p>

2

<p>braainyartist: I have a child at both Williams and Barnard. Since they both appear on your list, I take it as a sign that I’m supposed to help you. What do you need?</p>

3

<p>brainy,
My son was accepted at WUSTL, Pomona and Brown, so I can possibly help as well.</p>

4

<p>PM your essays to me.</p>

5

<p>You have a very interesting list of schools, but I don’t see a true safety school on there. Have you been able to identify any colleges that aren’t as selective as the ones on your list but offer many of the same things that attracted you to the colleges you’re already going to apply to?</p>

6

<p>brainyartist: I recently graduated from Scripps, so feel free to ask any Claremont-related advice. I likely saw you as Clara :p</p>

<p>Without knowing exactly what advice you’re seeking, I’d say that you look like an incredibly strong and interesting applicant, but the list you mention lacks any true safety (Scripps is as close as you come), either academic or economic. As a CA student, will you be applying to any UC schools? There are many smaller schools that might offer you merit aid if that’s the environment you prefer. But as it stands, your list contains five reaches and three matches at the very best (and that’s due to the selectivity of the schools, not any weakness on your part). My only current observation. If you say a bit about what you’re looking for in schools, posters might be able to generate some suggestions.</p>

<p>Really, your list of achievements is phenomenal…you come across as a very well-rounded and accomplished person. I certainly hope you find the advice that you’re looking for :)</p>

<p>ETA: Your art is just beautiful. Some of it is, for lack of a better description, quite haunting…</p>

7

<p>Wow! Thank you so much, all of you. The college application process is very daunting when you’re at it alone. I’m so grateful for this forum.</p>

8

<p>I cant advise on essays since grammar is foreign to me, but I hope you have a match school that is known for good aid- from what I have heard about scripps is not really.
( YOu might look at Mills or Smith?)</p>

9

<p>BTW, Brown and Pomona both ask for a photo. Should I send a normal head shot. The company photographer shot a few pictures of me performing Clara last year that are very nice. Would one of those be a more unique submission?</p>

10

<p>I think they just want a photo so they can recognize when you come in- just a head shot is fine.</p>

11

<p>The photo just adds a level of personalization to your application (or so goes the story I’ve always been told). It helps remind admissions officers that there’s a face and a person behind the stats. It can be used for various things, though. I had to send a few in to Scripps (may have been with application, may have been with confirmation of enrollment…I don’t recall) and the photo ended up in the freshman viewbook as well as the lobby of my dorm. I’d recommend sending a headshot, but don’t feel confined to a “school photo” type. You could just as easily and appropriately crop yourself out of a candid shot.</p>

<p>Not a big deal. The explanation I’ve been given is one that I really like, though :)</p>

12

<p>brainyartist: I just looked at your photoshop work, it has really evolved from early 2006 to current. Very nice.</p>

<p>Have you looked into Parson’s School of Design in New York city? They have a very interesting approach along with pretty decent scholarships. I think you might have a good chance there.</p>

<p>Without any idea of where you are now (rural is all you shared), it’s hard to know how your current list looks.</p>

<p>When my D was applying to schools she basically used her senior picture (headshot).</p>

13

<p>Parson’s is a wonderful school, but I’m also very academic. I attended California College of the Arts one summer (won their scholarship for graphic design) and wasn’t impressed with the whole art school culture. I’m such a bookworm that I didn’t quite fit in with the group. That’s why I’m applying to the duel Brown/RISD program(my dream combo). </p>

<p>My location is in the mountains of Southern CA. Not too too far from Pomona and Scripps. </p>

<p>BTW-Thank you all for the nice comments on my photoshop work. I’ve never had any formal instruction, before this summer, and I often feel so far behind others with greater resources.</p>

14

<p>If you don’t mind going to women’s college, Smith could be a really good choice – they are well known for arts/dance, and you’ll probably get lots of merit aid there…</p>

<p>Are you applying to any UCs?</p>

15

<p>Brown/RISD sounds like a perfect place for you, but it is so competitive to get into, so it is a real reach for everyone. I heard that USC has a pretty good art program, and with your stats it is a high match/match. Both Smith and Scripps are great for dance/visual arts. Smith is need-blind, Scripps is need-aware.</p>

<p>Are you by any chance homeschooled? Some colleges might require 3 SATIIs from homeschoolers.</p>

<p>Good luck with your applications! And may be we’ll see you performing with the Bolshoi Ballet someday?</p>

16

<p>Unfortunately, I’ve had some bad experiences with the UCs. The adcoms were all extremely snobbish towards my homeschooled background. They also required almost 3 times as many tests as I had taken and weren’t too keen on my lack of diploma. We finally decided they weren’t for me.</p>

17

<p>Brainyartist, it is too bad that you had such unpleasant experience with the UCs. USC is not part of the UC system, it is a private school. Many colleges express concerns about homeschooled kids and require additional testing because the quality of homeschooling varies greatly. Since you live nearby, have you visited the Claremont Colleges and talked to the admissions at Scripps and Pomona about testing requirements there? You are not listing any math, language or sciences SATII tests or AP scores, and it concerns me a little bit. Have you taken any foreign language classes? Some colleges require at least 3 years of HS language calsses.</p>

<p>From Pomona’s website:
“Home schooled students will follow the same testing requirements as other candidates but will be expected to submit additional testing. SAT or ACT results must be submitted with scores from four SAT Subject Tests or a combination of four Subject Tests and Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate Higher Level examination results in a variety of fields.”</p>

<p>I remember hearing at one of Scripps’ info sessions that Scripps also had similar requirements for homeschoolers, and they emphasized the language SATs or AP testing.</p>

<p>Your background is very unique, and you sound like a very nice and determined person who can make a great addition to any school on your list. I wish you the best of luck with your applications!</p>

18

<p>Maybe you should send a PM to MINI – he is the homeschooling guru on this forum…</p>

19

<p>I will pm him as soon as I get a chance-sounds like a great resource.</p>

20

<ol>
<li>Two immediate suggestions: Consider Chapman University as a safety school for you. It’s a private university in Orange, CA with a great film production department and exciting new options in their Performing Arts. SInce they are a small, private university (perhaps 5,000 students undergrad & grad), they might take an independent look at your homeschooling.</li>
</ol>

<p>You’d have to visit, though, to see if the intellectual atmosphere is sufficient or not. Creatively, I think you’d have options there.</p>

<p>I call Chapman an academic safety for you because their average range for SAT-I’s is someting like 1840 for all 3 scores together. If they have auditions for performing arts, that’d be explained on their website. My S is a freshman there, very happy as a screenwriting major. He had a mail-in audition in the form of a written portfolio. It
was extremely competitive in the creative review, but you might likely pass the academic review. It’s a two-part process there for film, perhaps same so for performing arts. He likes it because he’ll get a B.A. but with a major in a university department as intense as a B.F.A. might be. He enjoys his academic courses in Math, History, Spanish… as much as his film department/production/creative courses over at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. I think you’d be aiming for their Performing Arts major, which is undergoing change to pull together several departments in Dance, Art, Music. They have a wonderful performing arts theater, too, on campus. </p>

<ol>
<li>Spell-check everything you submit to every college. Nobody criticizes misspelling here on CC. We realize there are often some excellent spellers (like moi!!!) who type in a hurry, post, and then are sad to read hasty mistakes. </li>
</ol>

<p>Specifically, it’s not a duel-program with Brown/RISD but a dual program.
Duel is if they are having a swordfight. Dual is double.</p>

<p>ANd more: Spell-check won’t even stop that kind of error. So you’ll need someone nearby to look over your final draft essays for spelling errors. Who might that be:? Think about it. You also need to schedule your days so you’re not writing last-minute brilliant essays with no time for this important step of spell/grammar check by a human being. </p>

<p>– not so perfect, so I understand</p>

<p>PS, When you PM Mini, please be aware that he’s just now recovering from a heart attack, but he’s doing very well, going to the gym, inspring others around him all the tiime!!
He might welcome the contact, but just a headsup: be sure to acknowledge his health, wish him well, and ask with great kindness IF he can respond. He’ll be mad to read this and say, “don’t treat me like glass…” but we’re all a bit protective of our Mini right these days.
He is great with homeschooling and many other topics!</p>