Response to Elena: there are few early birds

Posted by Dee 

Glad you sent in your question, Elena! (on the AdmitSpit post titled, “Just got a comment…“)

“What’s the point of sending SAT/ACT scores to colleges before senior year? I was trying to guess-timate the costs of applying to college, and I was guessing it’d be about $100 per college with all the tests and whatnot needed to be sent in addition to the actual app. I’ve heard that large colleges like the UCs don’t bother looking at students’ scores because they receive so many, and I’m guessing many privates hold the same policy? Do you know if colleges keep these files on record, or do you have to re-send the scores when you apply there?”

You are partially correct.

The University of California campuses (and probably also most other large public institutions) DO NOT keep your scores on record if you send them before you

Response to Kathleen: Common App and stickers?

Posted by Dee

Kathleen left a very sweet comment on our latest AdmitSpit post titled, “Just got a comment…” saying:

“… I recently visited a college, and they gave me a sample of the 2006-2007 common application. On this application was a sticker saying “application fee waived”. The problem is, the application is for the 2006-2007 season, and I won’t be applying until this fall. Should I remove the sticker from the common application papers? Also, does the common application require fees to send online?”

I think Kathleen that the whole point was indeed to give you a “sample” of the Common App so you could get the gist of the types of questions they give in essays and short answers, etc. I don’t think that they necessarily actually wanted you to use that 2006-2007 form to apply for the 2007-2008 year. So no, you shouldn’t remove the sticker from the common application papers because you shouldn’t actually use those papers at all (and if you’re thinking of reattaching the sticker to the correct version of the Common App papers, I say that’s just a bad idea!)

The Common App does require fees — but those are simply the fees that the

An exclusive Q&A with Zinch.com’s Mick Hagen

Posted by Doreen

A new site, Zinch.com, founded by Princeton student Mick Hagen, is live and, might I say, pretty cool! Here’s an exclusive Q&A with Mick. If you have questions for him, leave a comment. He’s a really nice guy (see photo) and I’m sure he’s up for answering any queries you may have!

Doreen: So, Mick, Zinch.com was launched just this week. How does it feel?

Mick: Doreen, my oh my. It feels so good. No. I take that back. It feels great! After months and months of brainstorming, research, broken pencils, programming, headaches, late nights, sack lunches, and prayers… we’re finally live. Now we just gotta preach the good news of Zinch, and let the students know about it.

Doreen: So, what is Zinch? Tell us about what it does for students, and how it works on the admission officer’s side as well.

Mick: Zinch.com is a tool to level the playing field in college admissions by giving every high school student in America the opportunity to showcase themselves, communicating those talents and accomplishments that make them unique. This information is then sent to the specified college or university the student wishes

They’re out to make college admissions a zinch

Posted by Dee 

Not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s a new college admissions site on the World Wide Web that we here at AdmitSpit think any soon-to-be college applicants may want to check out.

It’s called Zinch, and we’ll post a Q&A with Zinch’s President Mick Hagen (who by the way is taking a year off from Princeton University to test the Internet business waters!) in the next few days.

So look forward to that before the weekend, and in the meantime, check them out – the video that’s on their homepage when you click on the “What’s Zinch?” button is particularly helpful; they’ve got some pretty cool features and scholarship money up for grabs too.

What’s lost when Stanford uses the Common App

Posted by Aaron

Ever since I had heard the news that Stanford will be accepting the Common App next year, I have had mixed feelings about it. 

It is easier to fill out only one Form 1 (since they all ask exactly the same thing), but with the Common App, there are enough supplemental forms that you, almost, might as well apply to each school individually. But for those who apply to 18+ schools (and if you can, more power to you), I can see how it is helpful. But I feel there is something to be said about individual applications.

What bums me out most about Stanford’s transfer to the Common App is the possibility of them losing their more unique essay and short answer topics because there already are generic short answers and essays on the

Response to Horace: if only SAT improvement could ever be proven

Posted by Aaron & Dee

Horace commented on AdmitSpit’s About page recently.

“My son who is twelve and in the 7th grade would like to attend a Ivy league school. He recently took the SAT and scored 1720, i.e. CR = 660; Math = 540; Writing = 520. Do you have any proven tools to help raise his score to acceptable Ivy league level within the next four years?”

Advice from Aaron, AdmitSpit’s newest contributor!…

First, I am assuming that your son took the SAT for a program such as the Johns Hopkin’s Center for Talented Youth (CTY).  You should know that your son is scoring above the national senior average for the SAT already, and he is only in 7th grade.

I took the SAT to qualify for this program and scored lower than your son, but still high enough to qualify. The best way to raise your son’s SAT scores is to not

On recent comments…

Posted by Dee

I was quite heartened by the comments made recently by some readers.

First, Barbara wrote last week:

“Hi! Wow, I just found this today– thank you for not pulling the same shit counselors pull about “doing what YOU want” or “choosing classes you LIKE” or “sleeping” (what is that, anyway? Just kidding.).

Not that there isn’t some truth to that advice, but I’m glad to find something that offers advice that will actually be listened to by someone trying to be competitive for a spot at University of Pennsylvania.

Just wondering: what exactly are the consequences of not going to the Early Decision school that accepted you? I’m not so vain as to think it’s going to happen for me next year, but everything I’ve checked basically just refers to the consequence as “serious”. Do you know what it even entails?”

While I’ll respond to her latter concerns in a separate post, the start of her comment

Response to Mimi

Posted by DeeMimi commented on the post titled, “I was deferred; now what?!” Here’s what she wrote:

“I was deferred from my early school in December. I’ve now finished my RD applications and realized that my new essays are infinitely better than the ones I sent in early. Can I now send in my new essays to replace the ones I sent in a while ago? The RD deadline for this school has passed, however.“

It’s great that you turned in more perfected essays this time around, but I’m sorry to say that I would defnitely not recommend sending in your new essays.

But, before I get ahead of myself… What exactly did the letter from the school say? Do they want or encourage you to send in new or supplementary material? Is there

Response to Denise

Posted by Dee 

In “A short note on changing UC apps,” Denise commented:

“What’s the address to send the “letter to the school, IN WRITING, requesting that your application be looked at under a different major”? Where should I send my request to UC Berkeley and UCLA to? What’s the two addresses?”

Just send your letter to their respective admissions offices, of course!

For UC Berkeley that mailing address would be:

Office of Undergraduate Admissions
University of California, Berkeley
110 Sproul Hall #5800
Berkeley, CA 94720-5800

For UCLA that would be:

UCLA Undergraduate Admissions
and Relations with Schools (UARS)
1147 Murphy Hall, Box 951436
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1436

I was deferred; now what?!

Posted by Dee

I was deferred from Stanford last year.

I checked my decision online during school at around noon, saw that I was deferred, and shrugged it off, until, of course, the second I got into my car at 3:05 p.m., I cried and screamed about how “f*cking unfair” and how “f*cking f*cked up” it was that I didn’t get in early!

Yes, I know, the language was crude indeed, but the point is, it’s fine, I think, to let out your frustration about being deferred; yes, I agree, it’s quite unnerving to have to wait even longer to find out about your admission decision, but there comes a point when you move on and say, “now what?”

I mean “now what” not with a sarcastic tone, but rather “now what do I do to complete my application for my early admission school?”

You may be confused; “Didn’t I already finish my application?”

The answer is no! In all likelihood, the school you were deferred from will ask you to