A “duh” tip #5

Posted by Dee 

Because it may not be obvious to all, it is indeed OK to lie in your SAT essay.

Yes, the word ‘lie’ does have a negative connotation; it’s something you’re not supposed to do, right?

But for the purposes of the SAT essay, they don’t care if everything you say is 100% true; they are merely trying to measure your writing ability and score it.

So, while it’s not okay to cheat, it is okay to reflect on the time you learned a particular valuable lesson while away at summer camp in Massachusetts, even if you never have actually been. If a specific made-up story helps you get your point across to the SAT graders, then story-tell to your heart’s content!

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

Judgment day

Posted by Luke

Judgment day has finally come and passed. To those of you who were admitted under Early Decision, I offer my sincerest congratulations and I hope that you excel and are truly happy with the decision you have made. To those of you who were rejected or deferred, I have a few words of advice:

1. Don’t worry about it

Lots of people are not admitted early. The schools tell you that there is a higher rate of admittance for early appliers, but the rate is still rather low and does not guarantee a spot at the university. Consider this one of life’s little lessons that not everything is certain, but just because you were not accepted does not mean that your life is over. If it is any consolation, I was deferred from the Huntsman Program at Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania, but I rebounded and am now attending a very prestigious university with great students and faculty and I couldn’t be happier if I were freezing in Philadelphia. The trick is to not get discouraged, which brings me to my next point…

2. Don’t lose your confidence

Just because one school doesn’t want you in December does not mean that you are not worthy to be there in the spring. You must look within yourself and see if the

A short note on changing UC apps

Posted by Dee

It seems that, although there are no guarantees, if you need to change the major or college you listed for a UC, you can request to change it.

I spoke to an admissions counselor from Berkeley for Lena’s sake in yesterday’s post titled, “Response to Lena on sending scores junior year,” and also managed to ask about changing majors or colleges after you’ve submitted the online application.

Basically she said that you’ve already had the whole month of November to think about what major or college you want to apply to, but if something happens and you really, really feel you want to switch, you can, although again there are no guarantees, write a letter the school, IN WRITING, requesting that your application be looked at under a different major or college. And, you should do this as soon as possible obviously!

Response to Lena on sending scores junior year

Posted by Dee

Lena commented on the post titled, “Response to Stephanie and stressed applicant on changing UC apps.” Here’s what she said:

“I’m a junior in high school currently. If I choose colleges to send SAT or AP scores to (since the tests usually allow you to submit a few free score reports to colleges), what will happen? Will the colleges just ignore the scores since you are not yet applying or is it helpful?”

Well, good news, I did some research for ya, Lena!

After calling up a bunch of colleges nationwide, I’ve determined that the answer is… it depends.

It seems that most of the big-name private schools will keep your scores if you send them junior year, but public schools will not.

I spoke with Mike from the Stanford University admissions office and he said that it’s perfectly fine to send in your scores junior year before you apply; they “index” all

Response to Ralph on applying from Canada

Posted by Dee

Ralph commented on the post titled, “Response to Stephanie and stressed applicant on changing UC apps.”

He said:

“Hi there. My question is on how big a factor test results, nationality and race are in the American admissions process.
I just took the SAT subject tests for the first time last Saterday. I think I got about 700 on the math 1, 650 on the level 2, and no idea on the chemistry, but it’s probabaly in the 500’s. How will the top schools see this, and how much difference would the fact that I’m a Canadian Indian (which legally means I’m also an American Indian) make?
Otherwise, I have a 90% grade average, and scored 88% and 85% on the two Alberta Diploma standardized tests (chem. and pure math) I’ve taken about 8 months ago. I paticipate in a volunteer organization and student government, and I’m sure I could get good teacher references and essays done.
The big question I have is: Would it be worth it to make a 10 hour drive this Saterday to the nearest ACT test center (I haven’t taken it or the SAT before) or should I just forget it? Thanks for your time.”

Here’s what I’d say:

Ralph–

I think it will help tremendously that you are an American Indian! All the US private schools love to up their diversity statistics and American Indians are very well

Response to Stephanie and stressed applicant on changing UC apps

Posted by Dee

Wow! AdmitSpit’s been getting comments galore the past few days (which we’re loving by the way!) and here’s two we received regarding changing your UC application after the due date.

Here’s Stephanie’s comment on the post titled, “Recommended SAT Subject Tests for special UC programs.”

“I just applied to 6 UC’s: Berkeley, LA, San Diego, Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara, with mostly undeclared majors in biological/life sciences. I took the Math Level 2 in June 2006 and scored a 650. Since I wanted to raise my score, I took it again in December.. but I don’t think my score improved much. My Chinese SAT 2 score is 790, and my SAT score is 2080. Will my math score greatly hurt my chances of getting in? And is there any way to change what major I put on my application? Or is it pretty much set in stone…”

And, stressed applicant wrote on yesterday’s post titled, “Response to Britt on SAT retakes,” the following:

“Hello! This comment is not related to the post. I know that I can add an additional campus after I’ve submitted my application. But can I change one of the campus I’ve applied?
Thank you!”

Let us address Stephanie’s comment first: You applied for biological/life sciences-type majors and submitted a decent SAT Math Level 2 score of 650, and a very high

Response to Britt on SAT retakes

Posted by Dee

AdmitSpit received the following comment from Britt today on the post titled, “Typical SAT scores for specific top schools.”

“I need help. Is it wise to repeat SAT in January? I got a good math score but my critical reading was below 600 but above 500. I want to go into a mathematical based field. Please help me before I register to do it over. I want to go Columbia.”

I think Britt’s comment dances around the essential question: under what circumstances should I retake the SAT?

My answer to this is, if you think you can score higher AND you want to score higher, retake!

It’s that simple, I believe. I scored a 2230 on my SAT the first time I took it, and for me, while I think I could’ve scored higher, I did not really want to score higher. Both parts are essential to deciding whether or not to retake.

What I mean by “I did not really want to score higher” is that the idea of sitting in the designated SAT administration classroom for four hours did not, for me, outweigh

The last minute

Posted by Dee

Don’t wait until the last minute to submit your UC application. The horror stories you and I have both heard regarding students waiting until one minute before deadline to submit the online UC app only to find that the server is overloaded may be myth or it may be truth; don’t wait to find out.

Submit the UC application as early as possible, or at least at a random time in the day like when everyone else is at school; not at 12 a.m. midnight between November 30 and December 1!

A “duh” tip #4

Posted by Dee

The question was recently posed to AdmitSpit by a student of whether or not he should take the SATII tests if he was applying to Yale.

He had already taken the SAT Reasoning exam but wasn’t sure if he wanted to waste the time taking the SAT Subject Tests as opposed to just taking the ACT exam.

Based on the post titled, “Standard list for colleges’ standardized testing requirements” he knew that Yale required either the SAT and two SAT Subject Tests or the ACT test with writing.

So, if you’ve already taken the SAT, then just take the SAT Subject Tests for two hours, as opposed to doing the ACT with writing which takes four hours! It seems obvious enough I’d think, but apparently it warrants writing a “duh” tip about. Only point against this would be if you didn’t have two subjects you were good enough at and preferred to take the more general ACT instead; but, that said, I think it’d be rare to be in such a position where your ACT would be better score-wise than two subject tests.