Recommended, but not required?

Posted by Dee

What exactly does “recommended, but not required” mean?

You see this phrase every now and again in college application guidelines regarding interviews or additional essays or supplementary recommendations, etc. But when an AdComm writes this, do they honestly mean that they don’t care if you submit it or not, or is it a test where they say it’s not required but they actually do expect you to complete it?

My conclusion is if they say a part of the application is “recommended, but not required,” do it! I don’t think it’s a test so much as if they recommend it, and you’re serious about going to a school, there’s probably good reason they recommend completing something.

But, it may depend on which part of the application it is. I’ll give examples on three of the most common areas of the application where this phrase is applied.

Essays — if they say an additional essay is “recommended, but not required,” then definitely include another essay unless you’ll just be restating everything you said in the first ones. Use the supplementary essay as an opportunity to present new information or stories.

Interviews — if they say an interview is “recommended, but not required,” then definitely, DO an interview. Unless it’s just physically not possible for you to arrange a time and place for your interview, maybe because interviews aren’t offered in your area for example, then you can forego the interview.

Recommendations — if they say an additional recommendation is “recommended, but not required,” then also, definitely submit an extra recommendation. Why wouldn’t you want the AdComm to read about another person saying good things about you? So that brings me to my point; if you know the additional recommendation would present good things about you then definitely submit it, but if you’re scrounging to find another teacher or coach to write a recommendation just because it’s “recommended” and you’re worried they may not have the best things to say, then just don’t submit the extra rec.

A “duh” tip #2

Posted by Dee

Following the October 21 blog post titled, “A ‘duh’ tip #1,” let me remind you of another “duh” tip.

Someone recently reached AdmitSpit by searching for “can we go over 1000 words for personal statements?”

No! If the application says you get 1000 words for your essays, you only get 1000 words. I presume by the way that the Web surfer here was referring to the UC application, but regardless of what school you are applying to, do not exceed the limits they set! If however the application says “about 1000 words,” well then, I guess they’re allowing you some space to add on a bit.

Just make sure you’re aware of what the application directions are!

How “x” does academics: x = Stanford

Posted by John

To begin with an unbiased statement, Stanford is a school known for the well-balanced academic and social lives of its students, its top-tier academics in both fuzzie and techie fields, and its beautiful and enormous campus.

Stanford really is one of the most flexible schools in the US. Students are encouraged to take a wide variety of classes and to combine majors in new and unique ways. Let’s start with an overview of the academic requirements at Stanford, and I’ll then elaborate on how those promote flexibility and such.

Stanford runs on a quarter system rather than a semester schedule. This means that there are three major divisions to the school year: fall quarter (before winter break), winter quarter (until spring break), and spring quarter. There’s also summer quarter, which is about the same length (hence, “quarters”), but that’s primarily

Choosing UC’s extended response, and more

Posted by Helen

In the October 27th post titled, “Basics of the UC essays” I wrote about some essential information you’ll need about going about writing your personal statement for the University of California application. Now, here’s information on how to choose which of the three essays will be your extended response, along with some extra tips I decided to add on! 

How to choose the extended response:

To some an obvious answer may jump out, however to others the choice may be less obvious. One of the best ways to decide which essay will be your extended response is by answering all of the suggested questions for each prompt on a piece of scratch paper. (The questions are found in the AdmitSpit post I wrote titled, “Basics of the UC essays.”) Jot down all information you deem to be relevant. Then, you can then look at the lengths of your different answers, and visually see which prompt you are likely to have the most to write about. This should be your extended response.

General writing strategies:

1. UC is specifically looking to make sure that you think critically about your responses, and write analytically. Make sure you question your responses, and answer the “What?” “Why?” and “How?”
2. To reiterate, these essays are essentially your own recommendations for yourself. Make sure they are persuasive in advocating for your admission.
3. The short responses are only 200 words, so make the most of them. Don’t be verbose or indirect. Go straight to the point! Don’t include excess background information or examples.
4. Make sure your long response supports, not restates, the information on your application.
5. Organization is key! Check your transitions and relevance level for all paragraphs.
6. Lastly, make sure that your personal statements reflect who you are. The best statement in the world is valueless if it is not personal.

Remember, remember the first of November

Posted by Luke

This long-awaited date will be upon us in just four days.

Four days. That’s all you have to write more clichéd epiphanies into your essays and beef up those resumes with newly-discovered extracurriculars, for in four days, all you Early Decision hopefuls must have your applications post-marked, if not already submitted, to your dream school, and then wait the agonizingly long month and a half buying college sweatshirts and waiting for your letter to arrive.

I know most of you have probably already convinced yourselves that it’s your destiny to be accepted to your Early D school. Let me burst your bubble; you’d better wait until April to pop open the champagne. Realistically speaking, most of you will not get the answer you want (or for our arrogant readers: the answer you deserve…) on December 15th.

Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, and Stanford all have acceptance rates around 11-ish percent. That means that you have a 89% chance of not getting in. If you apply to all of these fine schools, your probability of not getting into a single one is (.89)^6, or about 50%. If you apply to other selective schools such as MIT, or even the Ivies with relatively higher acceptance rates, like Brown, UPenn, Cornell, and Dartmouth, your chances of not getting in to any of them is much lower. (I would calculate it for you, but I’m terribly lazy. You can see the AdmitSpit post titled, “Admission statistics for top colleges: 2006“ and do the math yourself).

So, you should apply to schools with higher rates, but, that said, don’t sell yourself

Basics of the UC essays

Posted by Helen

The University of California system will begin its application filing period on Wednesday, and will accept applications through Nov. 30. Since well over 50,000 students will be applying to the University of California, we thought we should talk a little about what you need to know regarding the personal statement portion of the application.

Basics:

1. The application consists of three essay prompts designed to explore the following three areas: the applicant’s academic achievement, potential to contribute, and additional information.
2. The three essays combined are limited to 1,000 words, divided among 2 short responses (200 words) and one long response (600 words). Do NOT break these restrictions. Applicants may choose whichever essay they wish to be the long essay.
3. Remember: The UC system does not accept teacher or counselor recommendation forms. Your personal statement is your chance to be the advocate for your admission, so treat it accordingly!

Prompt #1:

The first prompt on the application is the Academic Achievement Prompt. This

Do I need a private college counselor?

Posted by Dee

I struggled with this question myself beginning at the very start of high school. At first, I was sure that I needed a private college counselor, but by senior year I never got around to finding one. Overall, college admissions turned out fine for me, but I can’t help going back to this question, wondering if I had hired a private counselor, would things have turned out differently. Better? Or worse?

I think there are several issues you need to keep in mind when deciding if you need a college counselor, and ultimately when you do get one.

First, private college counselors are not inexpensive. As it is, college admissions is a pretty expensive game — from College Board fees to application fees to test prep books, etc. Seeking out a private college counselor is a serious purchase to be considered.

Second, how confused are you about the college admissions process and what resources are available to you at school? Most high schools I know of, both public and private, have some sort of college center that students can go to for college admissions resources. Unfortunately, most of these college centers are serving

A “duh” tip #1

Posted by Dee

It’s common to reuse essays for several college applications, but when you do so, if you include the name of the school in your essay, make sure to use the right name for each application!

You’d be surprised how often someone writes an essay that mentions Yale, for example, and then accidentally submits the essay elsewhere, forgetting to change “Yale” to the name of the second school. Watch out for this. I know it’s obvious, but people screw up the “duh” items too, ya know!

How “x” does academics: x = Berkeley

Posted by Doreen

In previous blog posts, Dee has written about the importance of knowing about the schools you are applying to. This is particularly important for answering questions about what you want to major in, or what you are looking for academically in a school, whether it be in an essay or short answer format, or during an interview.

I was talking to Dee about this once. She told me that during her Princeton interview, the interviewer asked what Dee wanted to major in. Dee said that she wanted to double major in economics and something “science-y.” Except, Princeton apparently doesn’t have double majors. Oops.

So, every week or so, AdmitSpit is going to commission students from top universities around the country to write blog posts about how academics are done at their school.

Since we have a Cal student on the AdmitSpit staff, we decided to start off here.

Basically, Berkeley is a big school, with lots, I mean lots, of classes to choose from. Most classes are usually 3-4 units, language classes are usually 5 units, and seminars are 0.5-2 units. There are over 100 different departments at Berkeley, and

Really good tips for the online UC application

Posted by Dee

The UC online application isn’t all that difficult to deal with, but here are some top tips for making sure you don’t screw up.

Basic settings:

- Don’t lose your username, or else you’ll have to start all over again
- Turn off your pop-up blockers
- Don’t use your web browser’s buttons to move forward and back. Use the buttons through the application system so you don’t lose your work.
- The UC does send you emails, so make sure they aren’t going into your junk- or bulk-mail folder.
- The check boxes show when you complete a step, which is a great feature that helps you remember which parts of the application you’ve already done. This means that you can work out of order, but keep in mind that a partial completion of a step may result in a checked box, so make sure to look over the whole application before submitting it to make sure you didn’t miss anything.

For campus choices:

- This part can get confusing because there’s lots of scrolling and each college may or may not require you to select an alternate major, or for UC San Diego, rank the different dorms.
- Do apply to scholarships! Check both the UC scholarships by characteristics and