<p>for secret sauce (parents’ POV) my biggie is about whether the school seem to care? is it a friendly place that wants kids to succeed or are they a “Get inline” type environment? Based on my Ds high school experience (sink or swim) this is my key focus. You can tell some of this by visiting the school and talking to students (or just stepping into admissions I found schools really show different sides), but also do your homework about a school’s culture: ask questions about the advising, the orientation process, the registration for classes experience–there are distinctions to be made. Of course, for some kids, maybe sink or swim is exactly what they need-- and if so, the same inquiry would be appropriate, but the answers might lead to a different set of school choices. To bring this point home, we have one friend whose D is one week into school and already parents and D are thinking about transfer options–I know it is a bit early, but her experience from housing, to classes, to billing, has been horrific–they are just a number-- and so this set of inquiry can be critical.</p>
<p>RE: Common App Essay. Step-D’s is longer than 500 words and it’s no big deal. I view it like recommendations. The stated number of recs you are supposed to send is something like 2. Many, many admissions reps we met with on our journey this summer remarked that they have received upwards of 8-10 recommendations from some students! (yikes!) Every rep we met vowed that they do read every word of what is sent to them to make their decisions, but they did ask kindly if we would stick to the ‘frame work’ of what the application requests 
</p>
<p>I wouldn’t think of asking Step-D to cut anything out of her essay. It’s really really good. It’s not way over 500 words, but it’s definitely over and - it’s awesome. If some place does not admit her because they want the essay to be only 500 words, and not one word more, than that place is not for her in the first place. YMMV</p>
<p>To answer the ‘secret sauce’ question. Well - honestly- that’s why Step-D visited over 20 schools between this summer and last. Now, some of those were on a ‘Junior Class Trip’ that her school scheduled, but the rest were with myself and DH or just DH or just myself. I do know some people whom I went to college with, whom had not set foot on campus before they came for orientation and all was well. However, I just think that you get a ‘feel’ of a place and you can, most times, figure out within a few minutes if this is someplace that you would like to be, or that you wouldn’t like to be. </p>
<p>The ‘don’t likes’ for Step-D range widely. Some were too small, some were too large, some were just not ‘right.’ All of them have one thing in common, she simply cannot see herself living there, and studying there, for four years. </p>
<p>I know that some parents of Seniors are doing ‘visits’ after the applications. Some are not doing any at all. As we always say on here, YMMV. But - for our family, the right thing to do was to have Step-D visit every school on her list. Not only did we find some ‘diamonds in the rough’ for sure, but we eliminated schools that I would FOR SURE have recommended that she kept on her list, that would have been a terrible fit for her in the end. There would have been a LOT of wasted time this fall on her part, and wasted money on our part, with the applications to places that she certainly would not attend. </p>
<p>So, to sum, I guess it’s just more of an overall personal feeling for Step-D, combined with her thoughts intellectually about the various AT programs and the like, that comprise her ‘special sauce’ of chosen schools.</p>
<p>So frustrated! I just got an email that the HS will not process any transcript requests before Oct 1, due to the “new system.” They assure that they’ll get out before ED deadlines, but that is small comfort if you are trying to get apps in asap for rolling admissions and merit aid. This is ridiculous.</p>
<p>Yeah, our school won’t send out transcripts until GPA and class ranks are run, which will be mid to late September. S2 has 2 EA applications ready to go as soon as he can fill in the Common App blanks. Oh well, nothing will be “late” just not on my schedule.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The Common App essay does specify 250-500 words but that limit is not technically enforced (unlike many other limits) because the essay is attached to the application, not integrated as part of it (my understanding is that in next year’s completely revised CA the essay will be integrated).</p>
<p>Personally I would like to see a consistent standard enforced for all rather than introduce the additional issue of how far to push the envelope among applicants. However the general advice I have heard is not to sweat going over by a little if your essay will suffer because of it. It is unlikely to be noticed or seen as a negative if the overage is 50 words but probably more risky if its 150. So, if you feel you really have nothing you can remove or re-word in a 535-word essay I would suggest calling it finished.</p>
<p>I’m still trying to come up with a college list…<em>sigh</em> I want to love my safety but I need more info on possible ones. xD</p>
<p>Has anyone here visited U Pittsburgh (like that it’s urban, major city, has an Honors college), U Rochester (cold? know nothing else), or Georgia Tech? Info on financial aid and general atmosphere would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>Undecided major, have a 2310 SAT, 3.7 ish GPA at top 100 HS, just for some context.</p>
<p>Also, I was looking at UVA but read that OOS pay 3.2x those that are in-state. Are there any other top 50 colleges that follow this? I don’t want to be a cash cow lol…</p>
<p>My older child is finishing up at Pitt and loves it there. Weather isn’t too bad, at least, I haven’t really heard any complaints. Is your GPA weighted or unweighted? And what is your rank? It has become quite competitive for the full-tuition scholarships at Pitt but your SAT score definitely puts you in the range. The full-tuition covers the entire tuition (any any future tuition increases). The other scholarships do not cover increases so if you get the $10,000/year it remains that amount for your entire 4 years. The engineering dept. use to award an additional $4,000/year (child used it for his room/board fees) but I don’t know if they do that anymore. If you post on the Pitt forum, you can get more info. </p>
<p>UVA’s out-of-state tuition is high but it is extremely competitive for OOS students. OOS students with ivy league stats gets denied but UVA will meet your full-need (if you qualify for financial aid). </p>
<p>Another school year begins! Can’t wait until June 15th – graduation day for D13! Will be greeting my new students in a few hours (I hope they remembered something from the last school year) – wishing everyone a wonderful year!</p>
<p>That’s my unweighted GPA, and my school doesn’t rank. I’ll take a look in the Pitt’s forum; nice to see that your son likes it there. :)</p>
<p>I just visited Pitt and if you look at the comments a few pages back you’ll see my input from our trip. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’m still here and reading along. </p>
<p>Congrats to all who have rolling admission acceptances! </p>
<p>I really liked what LearninginProg said about recognizing your kid as your kid and not expecting them to totally change their nature based on our timeline. Good stuff.</p>
<p>The Bauld book did NOT work for my D. She felt as though most things she wanted to write about (at least in some context) were ruled out. Then she tried putting humor into an essay and it came off as totally flippant. We pointed this out and she wigged out a bit and then stalled completely. Her writing was very stiff. Finally, on Saturday, I had a bit of a wig out myself. She was angry, I was stressed and irritated. She stomped off to her room, pounded out an essay that was completely and totally different and was ALL HER. Loud and clear and strong. So, maybe the answer is to really just pi$$ your kid off? lol</p>
<p>I’m interested to read the answers to ssacdfamily’s question while I think of my own answers. :-)</p>
<p>About longer-than-requested essays …</p>
<p>If you’re given the range of 250-500 words, then 500 already is on the long range of acceptable. You can push that even further, but adcoms are reading hundreds of essays a day and likely wouldn’t appreciate kids making their jobs that much harder. </p>
<p>JMO, but I used to read other people’s writing for a living. A word limit was published, and if something came in much longer, I discarded it. If something came in a little longer, I happily cut it down while wondering why people can’t abide by a simple guideline and/or think they’re better writers than they are. 
My 2 cents. Tight writing is a difficult thing to master, but, like pornography, most people know it when they see it.</p>
<p>HAHA. I think the answer is to PO your kid! after posting my stress on this thread, I told my daughter that with her college list (all reaches) and no action on her essays, I thought she was on her way to a gap year. She went stomping off, but then surprised me later with a first draft of an essay. It was a topic I had suggested earlier, and she made clear to me that she still thought it was a terrible, boring topic. LOL.<br>
No winners here - only losers.</p>
<p>Morning all According to Sonic, it’s National Back to School Day today, so 1/2 price breakfast burritos. No matter that it’s the beginning of week 4 here ;)</p>
<p>I snuck a peak a D’s essay. It captures something near & dear to her heart, definitely sounds like her, and frames leadership, bravery and courage in a unique way. She did a great job. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the feedback on the word limits. She can tighten it up a little bit without a problem. Hopefully by the end of the week. </p>
<p>Her #1 school finally put their app up this morning. Woot!</p>
<p>Still catching up but I read this and thought it was worth sharing. Not sure I would have thought to mention this to my D:</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Hi Carla2012</p>
<p>On the other end of the spectrum … my son would not see a gap year as a threat but a total blessing. In fact, his focus right now is on the essays required for the application for the cityyear program … </p>
<p>He’s not into essays for the common app, not just yet. It makes me nervous, but he swears he’ll get to it very soon.</p>
<p>On another note … I suppose i can see both sides of the debate regarding the 500 word limit. As a freelance writer i agree that limits are there for a reason and it is relatively easy to maintain them. On the other hand, i doubt i will quibble if my son goes over by 20-30 words…particularly if it is extremely well written.</p>
<p>Things we have found that make colleges special - </p>
<p>U of Rochester offers a tuition free fifth year to certain students. That and the fact that it offers merit scholarships are interesting to my D.</p>
<p>Schools that have 4 week January terms. Besides the one mentioned earlier, Oberlin and Colby also have them. Bates has a 4 week May term.</p>
<p>Some schools we have looked at have agreements with other schools so that kids can take classes on other campuses easily - the Claremont schools, Haverford-Bryn Mawr (Swarthmore to a lesser degree). Extends the feel/size of the campus for small schools.</p>
<p>Carleton had the house where students can go and make cookies!</p>
<p>Wash U besides having gorgeous facilities and dorms, seemed to show a lot of love to the students with extras aimed to keep them happy. </p>
<p>Several LAC’s mentioned honor codes, offering unproctored tests and claims that students can leave their laptops unattended, bikes unlocked, etc. This is so foreign a concept to me that I find it hard to believe!</p>
<p>Our secret sauce is the “extras” schools have to offer. I check out the boards around campus to see what is going on over the weekends. It is hard to put a finger on but even just the looks on the kids’ faces while walking around campus makes a huge difference. One school we looked at had round tables in the dining hall. Round tables promote conversations and little things like that make a difference. It also seems that kids just sat wherever and mingled well, again, a big plus.</p>
<p>I had a J-Term in college and it was wonderful. It was time to explore areas of interest without the commitment of a semester-long class. It was also a time kids used to travel after or before their study abroad programs. Classes ended around Dec 20th, kids would travel from then until about Jan 30th and be back for classes the beginning of Feb.</p>
<p>As for the word limit—one ad comm said that a student sent in a 34 page essay–there is a reason for the limits :D.</p>
<p>Final college “visit” reviews. We did 3 drive through tours yesterday, Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, MD, Gettysburg College and Dickinson. From the photos, Mount St. Mary’s looked like one of the prettiest campuses on our list, not so. Buildings were nice, old fieldstone buildings, campus was kind of goofy set into the side of the hill overlooking the highway. It was only 15 miles south of the Gettysburg Battlefields, so we went. We had originally had a tour scheduled there, glad we canceled. It was an ok campus, probably a good school, just blah about the campus overall.</p>
<p>Drove around the Gettysburg Campus, very, VERY pretty campus, just a few blocks from downtown Gettysburg and the Battlefields. Great campus for anyone interested in history. Red brick buildings, lots and lots of trees. The area around campus was residential mostly. It’s a cute town. If the kids were not sick of visiting schools they may have wanted to visit this one. DS might apply but not thrilled about the obvious presence of Greek life there. My guess is he won’t apply. </p>
<p>Final stop on the college farriswheel, Dickinson. The town of Carlisle is beautiful, very well preserved older town. The nicest we saw out of every town we drove through. Campus is beautiful, the houses around campus are really nice. It ranks up there on my list of favorite campuses. I don’t think either of them will apply though. They have a lot of hoops to jump through for their applications and the kids are just “done” with all of that.</p>
<p>Final count, DD has 10 schools on her list, DS has 12. Out of those schools, about 4 are serious contenders for each of them. Other than DS’s lottery pick, they shouldn’t have issues getting into any of them so it’s going to come down to what the final numbers say. DD needs to get everything in this week so she can get her acceptances and we can do our part for the pre-reads for scholarships, etc. so she can have a decision by November 1st. DS has more time and probably won’t finally decide until after the lottery school notification in April.</p>
<p>Phew! Finally got confirmation from National Merit that one of my sons will be a Semi-Finalist but because his information was only corrected in July his information hasn’t been processed yet but will be in the next day or two. Yeah!</p>
<p>He really likes Northeastern University and they offer a Full-Tuition Merit Scholarship to NMFs! Now I’m really getting excited!</p>