Hi all – I think my D is finally ready to submit essays for her Fellows applications. Seems like she found the essays a little trickier than expected! Curious … how long did most of you (your kids) make the essays?
I’m so relieved that the time between applying and hearing about invites to the Fellows weekend will only be a couple of weeks. Here’s crossing fingers for everyone!
My son is applying for Scholars but he only applied RD so not sure if this would eliminate him from Scholars since he hasnt even gotten in yet. Elon is probably not going to work out financially for us but worth a try . This essay was not bad just a “Why this” and list of activities.
Oh it was tough for my son, he got them submitted last night. He still has a couple of essays left for other scholarships and definitely burned out. Since he is a music major, he still has auditions for his other choices (he was accepted at Elon for his major - yay!) and hopefully the $$ come through so he can actually afford to attend. Luck to all!
Whoa … we just noticed that there is now a word limit (approximate) for the Honors and Business essays. I could swear that wasn’t there previously. Yikes! Guess there will be more editing tonight!
My D hasn’t even started it. She is only applying for the Arts and Sciences Fellows. Her term ends this week and she has other apps due on Jan 15 as well so the timing is terrible. @onemoremom12 when is the weekend scheduled for?
@MAmom111 The weekend is scheduled for March 8-9 (Friday/Saturday) for Fellows and Engineering. Once you submit the applications, a link to the general schedule is provided … sounds like a great weekend.
In addition to missing the fact that there was a word count suggestion for the essays, we also missed that all applicants needed to complete the list of honors/activities. We thought that was just for the Scholars applicants. So, it was another last minute task for my daughter last night. She got it all done because she needed to get it off her plate – hope it was done well enough!!
Now that it is all submitted, I’m more nervous!
@jgwolf I think if RD applicants were excluded from these opportunities, the website would indicate that. I don’t see it stated, so I’m glad your son is applying for Scholars!
@onemoremom12 Thank you for your comment about the honors/activities list!! My son and I had been arguing about whether that applied to Fellows or just Scholars too. Frankly, the wording is a little confusing. And thanks for pointing out there is now a word limitation for the Business Fellows essay----looks like my son will need to spend some time editing this evening. Honestly he is really “done” with writing essays and, I’m afraid, that is obvious on this one.
@Jahm1820 You’re welcome. We only figured out the activities/honors list because it didn’t let her submit without it! I was a little bummed because she didn’t spend loads of time making sure the list REALLY painted the best picture (kinda cut and paste from the Common App). So do you agree that the word limitation was a late add to the description of the essays? I could swear it wasn’t there before. Frankly, her essays were still in the 600 words, but it’ll have to do. I hear you about being “done” with essays! Thank goodness she did all applying through EA so she’s not having to finish up RD applications this week, too.
Good luck!!
Scholars essay was only 200-250 word and you are right at this point most of the kids are “done” so probably not their best work.
As for the activities- literally just took it off the common app - Stupid since they could get them from their application
Oh jeez!!! Mine was wondering about word count as well. She’s applying to Honors and Teaching Fellows. @onemoremom12 What was the word count? Also, D wanted me to ask if everyones essays were done with the formal 1-3-1 format? Like everyone else, she’s pretty over writing essays!! I just hope it doesn’t show. I think getting accepted or not into the Teaching fellows will make or break her decision to go to Elon.
Not to add more work to others, but after my son submitted for the fellows & scholars, the confirmation email states that you can “provide an updated resume” by 1/15 - I don’t remember a resume the first time around so he uploaded that as well!
@mamawitch The application web page now says APPROXIMATELY (my caps) 500 words. (This was for Honors and Business) As for 1-3-1 format, I would say “sort of.” When my D had to cut from one of her essays, she pretty much did away with the intro bc it wasn’t really necessary.
@MusicMomSC good catch on the updated resume. I assume the list of activities/honors is the same as a resume??? I don’t think my D has ever put together a true resume. Nothing new to add really, so I’m sure she’ll skip that part. Anybody think it’s critical to put together a resume???
By the way … and jumping ahead here … the confirmation email provides general schedule for the Fellows weekend. Does anyone know if parents are invited to the reception Friday night? Just curious.
BTW … @MusicMomSC My D is not at all in the Music field, but from what I’ve been reading the Elon Music and Music Theater program seems very competitive. So CONGRATs to your kid!
@onemoremom12 The word count suggestion (500 words, btw) was definitely NOT there previously because my son was asking about how long the essay was supposed to be when he started writing it and I did a search on the Elon pages here to see what others said about the word count/length for the Fellows essays and there was no information. While he didn’t have to do any RD deadline applications, the promise for “encouraging” him to get all of his applications/essays done in October was just that…he’d be done. However, now that he’s in at Elon, the Business Fellows opportunity sounds pretty interesting so he agreed to another essay…reluctantly. What I don’t understand is why he couldn’t just upload his resume for the activities/honors section? Why force them to copy and paste info from the Common App or a pre-prepared resume…sigh, oh well. Almost done now…
Thx @onemoremom12 !
We already had a resume (education, activities & MUSIC of course and he started a band so emphasized that for work experience) for the list of activities, just shuffled the resume order by the way they asked for the information.
Thank you @Jahm1820 ! My daughter and I were both shocked last night when we went to submit and there was an approximate word limit!! I also remembered previous CC conversations about it; must have been a recent addition to the web page. Again, best of luck to all!
My son submitted his essays for Elon/Leadership Fellows on 1/1 and I don’t think there was a word count. I know one of them, for sure, would have exceeded 500 words. His application page now says submitted so we aren’t able to see if there has been a limit added. He was required to make an academic resume as part of his senior exit project and it was pretty good (visually), but he was unable to submit it due to the specific format that Elon wanted, so he also just cut and pasted into a list. Didn’t look nearly as impressive. He also applied for one of the scholars programs and I did notice that the website now states those accepted will be notified on a rolling basis through April. I’m pretty sure that previously it stated early February.
@onemoremom12 thanks for the date info. That doesn’t leave much time to schedule a flight which means that they will probably be expensive for us. Do you only get invited if you are selected or is it to then compete for a spot? Seems like a lot of hoops to go through for not that big of a scholarship, although the program does look good. Still waiting to see if my D even gets the essay done.
@MAmom111 Yeah, they give one month to arrange transportation. I don’t know the number of invitations for each of the Fellows programs, but select students are invited to the weekend and only a portion will earn spots in the program. Agree that the scholarship is not huge, but the programs themselves are great opportunities, in my opinion. We need the additional $$ to make the school work, but it’s really the programming that seems special to me.
@UNCwhere Congrats on him turning in his apps on the early side! My D swore they’d get done over break, but always easier said than done. Thanks for confirmation about no word limit on the website previously. Interesting that Scholars are notified on rolling basis … wish that were true for the others, as well!