Regarding the Common App, my son’s school sent a link to a webinar about it…unfortunately it is still during vacation and we will be traveling (flying) to visit family then. I have a feeling Sept and October are going to be nuts. He did attend an essay writing workshop locally, he may have a general topic. I think that is as far as he’s gotten…so not far.
We just finished up some last visits. He liked both schools; one is a good target (but is not super selective so I’m hoping that makes it an easier target? I don’t know. The other is a more of a reachier target.) In any event, I thought he might be averse to them because they are pretty out in the middle of nowhere, in a rural area. But there is lots of outdoor stuff to do (skiing, fishing), a pep band or jazz band, and an Indian restaurant nearby and so I think he felt reassured by all that.
One tour guide mentioned his buddy caught a muskie in the nearby river - I think that is what sold it. (I have since learned a lot about muskies). I felt that both schools would be a good fit for him in many ways, too.
@L_NewEngland Would you mind sharing what your counselors say about the activity hours? We have pretty much non-existent counseling at S27’s school. And feel free to DM me at any point in this process–I think our robotics kids will probably be targeting at least some of the same schools….
@GraniteStater , I have now looked up what a Muskie is. Those teeth!
Is anyone here from the midwest? I’m trying to help a friend whose daughter doesn’t want to go more than 4 hours from near Chicago. I can give her schools to consider, but many of the smaller ones are unknowns to me. I’m wondering if any of you would be willing to give me the general perception of about 5–7 schools.
There are a few ways to handle the hours. A straight average works…total hours divided by number of weeks, even if there are fluctuations. Some of the ranges can be large though. Say, a paid job where work is 10 hours per week during school and 40 in the summer. One could still do an average, but I would make sure to include the details on the range in either the description (150 characaters) or org/group (100 characters).
I also think an average across the busiest time period works, but I would still list the full weeks a student participates in this activity, even if some weeks are much lower than the busy average. Same comment as above about putting range details where it can fit.
It is ok to use sentence fragments and common/obvious abbreviations in the activity section. Highlight impact and use action words, like in a resume. College essay guy has some good overall guidance and some great description examples.
IME no AO is trying to trip up the applicant when reading these numbers/estimates. They are paying attention to the roles and descriptions, and looking at a typical commitment per week. Don’t let that commitment during the school year get too high, say more than 40 hours or so, unless there is a specific reason for that. If so, communicate that.
It is uncommon that an AO will double check activities, I typically only do that a handful of times each year. Generally not because I don’t believe what I am reading, but more so because I might not be familiar with an organization or I want to look at a publication.
Here’s what the Activity and Experiences section looks like:
One related point regarding the Responsibilities and Circumstances section. If the student has activities here (directions say 4+ hours/week to check each of these off), the applicant should ALSO list that activity in the Activities and Experiences section.
It’s not enough to just check the box in R&C…it’s to the student’s advantage to give details and descriptions for all the ways one is spending their time outside of school. If one just checks the box in R&C, the AOs have no idea for how long the applicant had these factors in their life and/or how many hours they spent on them each week. Noting that some R&C items aren’t activities though, like experiencing homelessness (obviously that would be addressed elsewhere like in the additional info section). Here’s what the R&C section looks like:
Thanks, that is a thorough response that I’m sure others will appreciate!
It is annoying that the Common App questions are so vague that an applicant might want to use precious space in their most significant activity descriptions to clarify something about time.
As an aside, I noticed that the app moved the position box. It is now a popup text box that only shows if you click yes to the “specific position or leadership role” question. Same character limit as before (50).
That way of doing hours seems so much worse for spread out activities – my kid’s main activity has one busy week a month but is done at a lower level the rest of the time. So it came out as 8 hrs/week 47 weeks/yr the old way, but the busy weeks are more like 17 hours, so doesn’t that look like over counting if done the way the new app suggests? And if she puts 8 instead, will they assume less? My very mathy kid will hate this – she went through and made a careful spreadsheet for the old way for fly-in apps that I guess aren’t updated to the new style. Concentrated activities will be OK with this style, I guess. Trail building is 70 hours a week (10 hrs/day every day) – but only a couple weeks/yr, so it’s clear.
My kid has been mostly building trails this summer, and has used the bit of computer time to do fly-in apps, so is totally dragging her feet on the main common app essay. She’s also pretty stuck – without a more specific question everything she writes ends up sounding like an activity list. It doesn’t help that she HATES all college essay examples she’s ever read and so she’s trying to write something that sounds terrible to her whether she does it well or badly.
We haven’t talked about the college list at all for months. I feel like she needs to get a handle on the essays first.
Ok, I was really relieved to come on here and see other people whose kids are (a) filling out the Common App and (b) confused. I’m at that point in the process where I swing wildly between “She’s got this” and “she don’t got this.”
D27’s list is worryingly short, only six schools. Mostly that’s because she wants a very specific major (animation BFA) but knows that it’s a risky enough life path that she only wants to apply to schools that have great reputations in the field and a good relationship/track record with studios.
She had a portfolio review a week or so ago, and it went really well, I think? So that’s good.
She won’t ED anywhere, mostly because my experience with C24 was such that their preferences changed dramatically between November and April of their senior year and having ED-d would have ended poorly for them. D27 doesn’t have one school she loves above all the others, so she’s keeping her options open.
I am tempted, tho, tho have her apply this month to one of her schools – it’s got rolling admissions to their Animation BFA and if she did get in, she’d have a lot less pressure throughout the process. Just trying to decide if I should encourage her to refine her portfolio further before applying.
Honestly, if there are 2 likely schools on there, I think that is a sensible number… sometimes kids have such narrow interests or detailed requirements, small lists make sense to me!
My 25 “connected” or whatever it is called on Niche direct admissions early on with a very likely school and it was a HUGE relief for them knowing that they were in somewhere that had their major in a state they would live in:) I think doing a rolling or similar early is a great idea if kid is up for it…
That sounds very frustrating! And this is super hard for many kids as it is writing unlike most of them have ever done, as it is not a 5-part essay for school, or an academic analysis, etc.
I assume she knows that this is actually kind of important to a lot of schools?
Also, the best advice I got about it was to make sure it includes info that is (primarily) not included in other parts of your application -you get SO little room in an app; use it to add new info (or at least primarily new info)
It’s time! D27 did work on her Common App in June before leaving for the summer. She was home a mere 24 hours during her break this weekend. It was so hard for me, but I controlled myself not to bring up college. She has little time off from work so she needs to have fun and relax. A few more weeks and then I’ll start with a weekly plan.
She knows it’s important, and tries (like spends an hour to spit out a sentence or two she dislikes), but struggles SO much with the concept. Almost certainly somewhat autistic, and the whole idea of a college essay just does not match how her brain works. (if she was trying to understand someone better, a bulleted list of interests and activities is exactly what she would want!). I signed her up for an essay class even, but she’s been so busy this summer and struggles so much with every word of this that it’s hard for her to even get enough of a thing written for the teacher to review.
I also have some questions about the “not included in other parts of the app” aspect, particularly for activities, since it seems like those are barely comprehensible at best in 150 characters (she tried to explain her intertidal ecology research/coding project in that space and I don’t know what people will make of it). And also about background stuff. Like — yes they can look up your zip code, but will they? And will they then understand what it actually means to be from a community of a couple hundred people not connected to the road system, where it’s an expensive and weather-dependent process of bush plane or water taxi to get anywhere else?
We are in the same boat. My S27 (BFA Theater Tech/Set design) only has 7-8 schools total on his list, and only 2 that he really likes, both of which look likely and he will apply EA to both…I keep reminding him to start working on his portfolio but I’m not sure he has done anything with it yet. He did look at the supplemental essays for both of his EA schools, and has a good start on the main common app essay.
Even though both of his EA schools look likely on SCOIR, I know anything can happen in admissions, especially for the BFA schools where the portfolio and required interviews are so important! I have offered to take him to visit other schools farther down his list this summer while we have the time, but he is resistant. I am really hoping one of the EA’s come through!
I think THAT can be discussed! I agree they will know it is super rural (eg. population size) but I suspect it won’t auto-generate it is accessible by plane/boat only. I think that is fine to discuss, actually, if is what it means to her specifically etc etc., writing about her experience in a unique place etc. totally makes sense. Mine almost wrote about their 3 part commute …
I actually think it is important that this part of her life experience comes across somewhere.
The essay writing is so different from what they’re used to! D27 is a very strong writer but HATES talking about herself so the struggle is on over here. Fortunately, she’s had a lot of time this summer to work on it so she has rough drafts to a few different prompts. She figures she can repurpose them for other supplementals and that it’s good to get some of her ideas written down before deciding which one gets to be the main essay.
Final list and number of schools is still in flux. She loves her safety and it has rolling admissions, so she’ll get that one done before school starts. Her top 2 schools both really like ED and she would love to be done early, so I predict she’ll go ED to one of them. They are both great fits with absurdly low acceptance rates, so she’ll shoot her shot and hope for the best. I think the final list will end up being pretty short, especially if her rolling admit comes back quickly. For now all I know is her safety and two high reaches. I doubt she’ll tell me the final list until it’s time to pay application fees
In the middle of our whirlwind college tour, I’m pleasantly surprised that my D27 has liked some of the schools we visited, UGa and USouthCarolina. Before the trip she had said she didn’t want any southern schools (we’re from Chicagoland area). I really liked Georgia and she liked it as well. Everything I’ve read about South Carolina, I thought it would be a good fit for her. But we get there and there is a lot of construction going on around campus. I thought she was going to hate it. But she liked how it was a closed off campus but the town was right there as well.
We also visited Wingate and she felt it was too small and a bit too rural (way small town) for her.
I asked 27 if they thought would be taking Sept SAT on top of august…
They decided yes, so went to sign up for Sept and noticed their August registration was CANCELLED! WHAT!??
They had missed an email they got on 7/30. Just one email. My kid, who is super organized missed the email. They get so much spam from college board they hadn’t noticed. They got another August spot (but very far away ARGH) and just in the window of registration. GRRRR
Did a second visit to the top choice and 27 has confirmed they will apply early decision there. Crossing all fingers and toes. It’s a fantastic fit and they got the chance to talk with their admissions counselor while on the visit, which went very well.
