I am printing out, and receiving applications for the colleges I wish to apply. In the applications it doesn’t say anything about writing an essay and it doesn’t have any place to fill in my extra-curriculars or include letters of recomendation. I know that most colleges want to see a list of extra-curriculars as well as receive an essay and recs. I am wondering what I am missing here, and why these applications only ask for my school record and nothing else. Am I just supposed to include a list of my extra work? Also, I was wondering if it is better to type out a paper application and mail it in, or to fill them out online?
If anyone could respond I would appreciate it!
<p>i’m very clueless myself, but if you can get the app online, i think it’s much easier</p>
<p>Are these applications you’re getting in the mail? They’re just sending you one part. Rice, for example, sent me an application, but ONLY part I, where you fill out basic info and stuff like that. Part II will make up for that, it’s like, 16 pages long!</p>
<p>Maybe you have the Secondary School Report instead of your app? Or more likely, this is only Part I of the applications. Trust me, most schools will definitely ask for essays and ECs. </p>
<p>Now, about online vs. paper…it mostly depends on you, but online is becoming more and more popular. Some schools specifically indicate that they prefer online filing (Columbia, for example, is one of them). A lot of people want to see the physical application before they send it off…that’s just a personal preference. But the schools view paper/online the same way, so it won’t affect your chances or anything.</p>
<p>So How do you find Part II of the application? Do you send in Part I and they send Part II? I’m very confused on that, I just went to the school’s websites and printed the applicaton. Western Michigan for example, I went to the website and printed an application, but all it asked for was my background and school records. Then it said to take it to my school, have them fill out the rest and send it in along with my fee. It didn’t say anything about a Part I or Part II. How can I figure this out? I’m not sure how this works! Help would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>They might not have released part II yet. Most applications come out in late summer/early fall. They want your Part I and app fee as soon as possible so that they can create a folder for you in their system. Then they will usually send along Part II (or make it available online) at a later time…</p>
<p>Ok, Thank You so much for letting me know that, I understand it all a lot more now!</p>
<p>Not all colleges do the Part I and Part II thing. If they do, you mail in Part I with your application fee, and then they mail you Part II along with all the forms for the GC/teacher recs and your transcript. </p>
<p>However, you are early. For the time being, why don’t you look at the 2005 Common Application at:
<a href=“http://www.commonapp.org/[/url]”>http://www.commonapp.org/</a></p>
<p>The common app is an application form that many colleges have agreed to accept in addition to their own forms. Some colleges do not have their own forms and only use the Common App, although they may have supplements. Looking at the Common App will at least give you some idea of what an application looks like. After you gather together all of the information such as your high school’s CCB code, you GC’s phone # and fax #, and other stuff like that; it doesn’t really take long to fill out the forms. They all have the same basic format. The hard part are the essays. You could be working on your activity-list/resume at this point. </p>
<p>You might look at “Acing the College Application” by Michele Hernandez. The book is concise and it tells you about the whole process.</p>
<p>Use the essay options in the common app to get an idea of what essay topics might be if you want to start working on that. It’s a good idea to get your main essay started in the summer, as you are likely to use that one over and over again. A lot of colleges will ask you a very broad question “tell us something about yourself” “something that changed you” etc. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that many colleges that accept the common app will require a supplement (often additional essays). Don’t forget to do the supplement when you are applying. (These supplements probably arent available yet, so I wouldn’t worry about it right now)</p>
<p>So I send in the Part I of the application to the colleges, and all this does is create a folder for me there, then they send me Part II, I fill this out, send it in and they put all of it together to decide if they want to accept me? Does that sound right for the application process?</p>
<p>Yea, that’s pretty much how it works. In addition to your Part I and II, you will need to get teache recommendations, school report (transcript) and perhaps an interview. All those things contribute to your application folder.</p>
<p>Do I send in the teacher recommendations along with my Part II of the application? - Thanks for all of your help!</p>
<p>Your teacher should send that in.
You will get the forms for that when you get your Part II…and then you should give those forms to your teachers along with stamped and addressed envelope. Teacher recs are due the same time your application is due, so if you’re applying regular decision, that should be around January 1. </p>
<p>Even though you may not have the forms to give to your teacher when school starts, you can ask the teacher politely if they will fill out a rec for you and then give them th form when you have them.</p>
<p>My teachers and principals have written me To Whom It May Concern…I recommed her to any college of her choice letters last year- can I just send these in instead? Will these be good for anything?</p>
<p>They’re fine, but some schools will have forms for you teacher to fill out, stuff like “rate her on this” “check this box for this” etc.</p>
<p>You can’t use the “To whom…” letters. There is a form for the teacher and GC recs which asks them to rate you in different categories. They then include a letter along with their form and mail it themselves.</p>
<p>Also, there is a form for the registrar at your high school to attach to your official transcript and they mail it directly.</p>
<p>The parts are:
Application form (may be in two parts)
Supplements to the app form (supplements to the common app, essays, your activity-list/resume)
GC rec form
Teacher rec forms (2)
Official transcript
Mid-year Senior transcript</p>
<p>Some schools don’t have a rec form and some schools may even want the rec online. You just have to check with each school you’re applying to. But really, you have plenty of time for this later, once school starts.</p>
<p>Morgan what type of schools are you applying to? Some have very simple applications - no essays, no Parts, minimal or no recommendations. People are describing the selective college app system, not a typical state school system. Univeristy of Western Mich probably only requires an app, transcript, score report and fee. They may ask for the GC’s rec, but i doubt they want an essay.</p>
<p>I am looking at Michigan State, Western Mich, University of Arizona, and CU-Boulder. My extra activities are outstanding, but my GPA and test scores aren’t that stellar ~ I was always counting on being able to submit things like letters of rec, extracurriculars etc… If they don’t ask for those is there anyway to include them? I’m afraid that those may be the extra thing that gets me accepted. Why wouldn’t Western Mich ask for that? How do I know if a part II will be coming?</p>
<p>You can include a brag sheet with your ECs listed…a lot of apps will give you a place to put “additional information” so you might be able to include it there.</p>