on cc, connotations are the most important

Parent Cafe
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<p>Re foreign attitude toward EC’s:
Thes quotes are from “How to Get into the Top Colleges”. The first person speaking is from King’s College, Cambridge. The second from Christ Church, Oxford.</p>

<p>“No personality or extracurricular features will get you in here.”
“We want hard academic information here, not touch-feely stuff.”</p>

<p>My son and I had a good laugh at that. Those proffering namby-pamby community service or that artsy nonsense need not apply. There’ll always be an England.</p>

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<p>Let’s have a sample rec to review, I offer the following for discussion :</p>

<p>Little Johnny was a student of mine in two courses, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus. Little Johnny is a fine intelligent student who has overcome significant hurdles to make excellent grades throughout high school, an unweighted 4.0 to be exact. He takes full advantage of the resources available at school and has rarely missed a tutorial, study hall, or voluntary teacher conference. Lesser students consistently refused to take advantage of these modalities -but not Little Johnny-he has a dream.</p>

<p>He overpowers the most difficult subject matter with the strength of his will, with grit and mighty determination. His dogged pursuit of excellence is something I truly admire. The time sacrifices he has made to maintain his grades speak volumes about his character and tenacity. When easier courseloads presented themselves he steadfastly refused the easy way out and fought his way through tremendously difficult material to the top of the class. His performance was nothing less than heroic. Lesser students would have and did wilt under the pressure of the most difficult of our high school’s courses. But not Little Johnny-he has a purpose.</p>

<p>I have also had an opportunity to observe him participate in football and one-act play. He was always there to lend a helping hand, and give someone a pat on the rump when they needed it. From building sets, to countless rehearsals, to practices and weightlifting and mandatory track, Johnny did it all. The time commitment of these year-round EC’s gives further credence to the indomitable spirit that resides in Little Johnny. Most students who are playing Junior Varsity or still playing minor roles as a junior would become discouraged , lose faith, and walk away. But not little Johnny-he has a goal.</p>

<p>Little Johnny has set his heights high-for college and beyond. He can clearly visualize himself as a physician and will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to reach that goal. As an admissions committee member at Selective College you really won’t find a more attractive candidate for admission than Little Johnny. He is the finest, most dutiful, and honorable young man I have had the pleasure of teaching in my thirty year career. I would share a foxhole with him anyday.</p>

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<p>The Yale Alumni</p>

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<p>Nicola: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia and other elite schools are used to foreign applicants; indeed, their admission websites mention Abitur and British A levels as well as the French baccalaureate as all acceptable (and potentially entitling a student to Advanced Standing–which means second year status). Harvard, in fact, has a long history of accepting German students. </p>

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<p>I would suggest mentioning that your student is #1 in the class. Use the description you’ve used here. >>I consider him an exceptional student, very smart, witty, sociable etc.>> Can you give one or two examples?</p>

<p>As for the ECs, you need mention only those you know–likely those that he has pursued in school. He should attach his own resume and express his extra-curricular passions in his essays. There are several places in the application where he can do so. Download the application (it’s the Common Application plus Harvard supplement). Harvard also allows applicants to send in supplemental materials, so your student can take advantage of this. </p>

<p>Urge your student to apply to schools other than Harvard. Although he sounds like a terrific applicant, schools such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, etc… are a reach for anyone. He should look for schools where he would have a higher chance of being admitted (because the competition would not be quite so fierce) while he would also feel comfortable. Many use the Common Application plus their own supplements. You can use the same recommendation for pretty much all of them.
The University of Chicago, which is an excellent school and which I believe would appeal to him, has its own application form. It can be quite quirky. </p>

<p>You may need to explain his transcript. Grades that would be considered excellent in Germany might be barely passing here. I had that experience with my French livret scolaire.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

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<p>I would say little Johnny was a “Dead App Walking” at a selective school (but he’s a definite “in” at sled dog school!). Obviously, I made the case more strongly than most (O.K. Yeah, I overdid it.) , but if a parent-unaware of the “code” saw this letter, they might think-he’s a shoe-in now. What more could they want? A hard working 4.0 who takes the most difficult courseload plays football and competes in One Act Play competition. The rec even said tops in his career, how could this not be viewed favorably? Is it possible that rec’s are being written this way surreptiously , as was hinted at by Marite, so that if they fell into the student’s hands there would be no repercussions to the writer? Or are there writer’s ignorant of the “code” that fall unknowingly into verbiage that has a meaning substantially different than what they intended? or both? Remember, as I believe Marite posted earlier, there is almost as much in what is not said as there is in what is said.</p>

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<p>Nikola - like curmudgeon, I don’t feel qualified to answer your post and, if we are lucky, some of the most qualified posters will see and respond to your need.</p>

<p>However, if you haven’t already been provided the recommendation “form” from Harvard, I would ask your student for it. Or as an alternative go to <a href=“https://app.commonapp.org%5B/url%5D”>https://app.commonapp.org</a> where you can download both a Guidance Counselor form and a teacher recommendation form. One of the best things you could do for your student, I think, is to indicate that he is “one of the best I have seen in my career” or whatever the similar phrase is that shows up on those forms. The forms can guide you a bit on how to be most helpful to him.</p>

<p>Good luck and I, for one, appreciate the efforts you are making and concern you are showing to do justice to your student.</p>

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<p>here are a few thoughts on things you might find useful in building a quality application/package:</p>

<p>The Yale Alumni Schools Committee web site has an interesting page devoted to how to write up the interview report for the Alum’s who interview kids… and they offer examples of helpful reports, inconsistent reports, well documented reports… you might find this worth reading to get a better idea of what verbage is in vogue today… and use their examples to strategize what you would like your recommendations to include. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.yale.edu/asc/guidelines/writing.html[/url]”>http://www.yale.edu/asc/guidelines/writing.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Our HS guidance office also asked for parents to complete a two page form on our child to assist them in their official guidance office submission… if your HS does not offer this, perhaps you can obtain a form from a school that does and complete it and submit it unsolicited to supplement their information… </p>

<p>My recollection is that the Dartmouth application asks the student to provide 5 words that describe themselves … certainly that is a fun exercise to try when on a long drive…perhaps when traveling to one of the colleges you will visit… and I believe the A is for Admissions book has a section on recommendation letters and the words and their meanings to readers… </p>

<p>I was asked to write a few different reference letters last year for folks seeking new or different jobs… since so much was at stake I used the web (google) to find links to sites that offered guidelines and example letters… I found a lot of great information and my writing was stronger and more compelling as a result. </p>

<p>There is nothing wrong with asking the teacher if they want some input from you on what your reference letter should focus on, or include information on… in fact, one of my S’s letter writers asked for an autobiography and significant highlights for consideration in her letters. </p>

<p>I also think kids can use the documentation/package submission needed for National Honor Society as a first pass on what it takes to build a successful college app. They also have a great web site with excellent information on what makes for a successful candidate. </p>

<p>The company I work for had us all go thru a resume writing exercise in the mid '90’s (a significant downsizing time) and one of the most difficult things for everyone was to write about yourself in a strong, positive, active tone. For many folks, it feels like bragging, when the truth is only YOU can truly represent you. Helping your child shape how they are perceived is a gift, if they are willing to accept the assistance. You can’t micro manage it all, but it is certainly important to know which words are a kiss of death!!</p>

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<p>I am with Marite on this. My sister in law who is not American applied to Harvard Business School. Since she was working for a European company, her primary recommenders, one the CEO of the company, were not American. They gave her copies of their recs, and none of them would be considered particularly stellar from Americans. She was accepted. My H who works with Europeans a lot says that those who are experienced in dealing with apps and people from other countries know what to expect.</p>

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<p>momrath; lol. Forget where, but somewhere I read a series of student quotes about the Ox-bridge interview process. Shy, inarticulate candidates were at a disadvantage when trying to demonstrate subject knowledge. Witty candidates were far more confident–and, in fact, more likely to be admitted. </p>

<p>Mind you, the English sense of humour is already keener than the American sense of humour…ie, witty at Ox-bridge is very witty indeed. :)</p>

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<p>off topic slightly…</p>

<p>a book I was just reading about parenting noted the following:</p>

<p>“report cards are a cross between a romance novel and a legal document.”</p>

<p>Might the same be true for recommendation letters?</p>

<p>On another note, when my husband came home from his first day working for the large UK firm which ate his US company he was completely amused at the thought that in one day he had suddenly become so “brilliant”!</p>

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<p>For any doubters out there , check out the “brutally honest rec” thread by canadia1, and their response to robyrm’s on target post. I remain thankful to all of you fellow posters. Especially you vets.</p>

<p>I continue to feel as if I had opened the front door to find a flaming paper sack and the cc chorus yelled -“Stop. It’s (poop).” just in time to save my favorite slippers.</p>

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<p><em>subscription post to get the thread in my cp</em>
just ignore me</p>

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<p>OT: a connotation one needs to be aware of-- “elite.” Most on CC use elite to mean absolutely excellent, as in “an Olympian is an elite athlete” rather than the connotation of superior/snooty as in “member of the power elite.”</p>

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<p>SBmom, I agree, elite is a term I’m trying to avoid. Leaning toward selective and super-selective. Same for safety. It has such negative connotations.</p>

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<p>Curmudgeon…I realize you are getting into which buzz words or descriptions might be the kiss of death or ho hum, etc. But what is really important here are not so much which superlatives are used. What makes an excellent recommendation is when ANECDOTES are used and from these descriptions, one can infer much about the candidate. This is more important than the use of superlatives.</p>

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<p>soozievt–I agree. I think that would especially apply to ASAP’s earlier post asking how one would describe “an ability to empathize and relate to others.” Buzzwords simply can’t do justice to a quality like this, but one or two anecdotes would surely clarify and highlight such an attribute. And an anecdote from someone’s life would bring the application to life in a way that an adjective cannot.</p>

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<p>Having read this thread, and the “brutally honest rec” thread, and enjoyed the parsing of code words, I’m persuaded that any attempt by admissions officers to make selections based on adjectives is hopeless. A good, brief anecdote to illustrate a point is a different matter, though. I’ve been mulling the comment by James Fallows in “The Early Admissions Game [or Racket, I forget which]” that despite all the criticism SATs are increasingly important in admissions, and these threads have helped me understand what he’s getting at.</p>

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<p>Soozie–your post hit while I was composing mine, obviously, I agree.</p>

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<p>Soozie is, of course, absolutely correct that anecdotes are necessary to really make an applicant come alive. I would think that a teacher who wanted to describe a student as original would need to buttress that statement with an example; a teacher who described a student as hard-working and went on to say that the student came early to school in order to ask clarification of the readings or get extra help with problem sets might not do the student such a great service in the eyes of the adcoms at the most selective colleges.
I should point out, though, that this issue is of more importance at highly selective colleges than at less selective ones. Most colleges are happy to welcome hard-working, conscientious, diligent, etc… students.</p>

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<p>The anecdote point is exactly right.</p>

<p>Show don’t tell works juat as well for teacher recs as it does for kids’ essays.</p>