Aolain
enthusiast
Posts: 1187
Reg: 11-13-06
|
02-13-12 10:38 PM - Post#145457
Spring is in the air, and HS seniors across the nation are entering the Byzantine world of university applications.
I would like to give my perspective on the much hated essay.
Now, not every university requires an essay, but if your student must do one, here is my advise, and I do have experience sitting on an admissions committee.
1) Avoid the urge to write the essay yourself (you as parent). Committees will say things like "I dont think they wrote this letter." Or, "I am pretty sure they wrote the letter." Members of these type of committees are tenured or tenure track professors or senior administrators (VP level)---they are not stupid.
2) Make sure the letter is personalized. I cannot tell you how many times we have read letters that said "I love FXU." Problem was, we are not "FXU." This shoots the down the student immediately.
3) If a HS faculty member writes a letter of recommendation, make sure they do not make mistake #2 above--I have seen this. Also, make sure the letter of recommendation is "clean" re: grammar, syntax, etc.
4) Do not, under any circumstances, say something like "I deserve to attend Hoity Toity U." You would be surprised how many letters say this....we laugh.
5) If there is a blip in your students HS transcrips, address them. Be honest! Dont say "My grades slipped in my sophmore year, because of major life crisis 1234, but I recovered" especially is the grades did NOT recover. Address the blip honestly.
6) Do not try to fool the committees. Things like "from my earliest memories, I have wanted to attend Marginal Regional University." Statements like that are met, again, with sighs and laughing.
7) Make the letter to the point, and have a thesis in the opening paragraph. A good essay that is well-structured will go a long way.
8) Avoid playing to the "professor stereotype" that we are all raging liberals. Stuff like "I love the rich cultural diversity of your campus" tends to make people gag.
9) If the chosen university does NOT have an engineering program, do NOT say you want to major in engineering...funny how often stuff like this happens. As a funny aside, we once read a letter where the student said he wanted to "major in Baseball." .........go figure.
10) Finally, if the student is an athelete, I would not urge them to play up what a great athelete they are, and how they are unique and will take the university to the heights of athletic glory. Admissions committees look at academic qualifications. It does not matter if the student is a reincarnation of Babe Ruth with some Mark Spitz thrown in, their ability to throw a ball means nothing to a committee---Penn State excepted of course (could not resist. But really, admissions are an academic excercise. The ability to run fast means nothing at most (but not all) universities.
Some of this may seem silly, but I have seen all of these things multiple times in the last 2 years.
Bottom line....apply early, apply often, have back ups and even if knocked down, apply again early and apply again often!
|
sco
enthusiast
Posts: 2667
Loc: allen,TX USA
Reg: 10-26-02
|
02-13-12 11:21 PM - Post#145461
In response to Aolain
Thanks for the advice. My oldest is only a sophomore but the thought of the college selection process is already making me terrified. Fortunately I'm not worried about either one of my kids getting into a good school. (I would never dream of trying to write an essay for either one of my children. There are a myriad of reasons it's a bad idea but for me the primary one is that they are undoubtedly much better writers than I am  )
|
DrivinTooFast
enthusiast
Posts: 1347
Reg: 02-20-08
|
02-14-12 07:53 AM - Post#145463
In response to sco
We just finished up the process. It's a part time job for about 5 months.
My best advice is START EARLY. Apps need to go out the first week admissions is open. Teachers get flooded with recommendation requests. You need your testing scores to give you an idea of where you could place.
Take an SAT/ACT prep course - do the work. Have a gameplan for the SAT/ACT essays.
For the college essays it begins with understanding who you are, your strengths and weaknesses then addressing them in the essay. In some ways the college essay is a self assessment and a bit of life therapy rolled into 2-3 little pieces of writting.
Remember your college application begins on the stage of 8th grade graduation - START EARLY.
|
Levansfour
enthusiast
Posts: 490
Reg: 05-09-05
|
02-14-12 08:51 PM - Post#145494
In response to DrivinTooFast
We just finished our last round of college applications. Our youngest is heading to Baylor University in the fall! We have four kids and the process has not really changed thru out the years. Apply early is my best advice,early apps in some cases have no application fees. Also early apps do not always require a essay!When your child takes the SAT/ACT test they can pick schools to automatically send the test scores to one less thing you need to collect and or send. Also don't forget that you need a High School transcript as well.
Hope these tips are also a bit of help.
|
sco
enthusiast
Posts: 2667
Loc: allen,TX USA
Reg: 10-26-02
|
02-15-12 02:40 PM - Post#145510
In response to Levansfour
I'm going slightly off topic but does it make sense to go visit schools very early in the process? We have gotten invitations to visit schools but my daughter is only a sophomore. She actually can't be excused from class for college visits until junior year but I was toying with the idea of taking her down to SMU this spring. (They've been recruiting her fairly aggressively already.)
|
DrivinTooFast
enthusiast
Posts: 1347
Reg: 02-20-08
|
02-15-12 04:10 PM - Post#145512
In response to sco
I think SMU and TCU are good early summer visits since they are close and do require a bit of academic rigor to get in.
Now the bad part, both are gorgous campuses and the price tag is $40-55K per year. If that is not in your price range I would avoid planting a seed that just cannot grow. Even after scholarships SMU was $40K/year.
If your kid is super smart and you are super poor, RICE is a fantastic school with deep, deep endowment pockets spent on students not athletes.
Your Sophmore only has 3 semesters of grades that actually count so focus on grades and build that killer extra-curricular resume.
Edited by DrivinTooFast on 02-15-12 04:15 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
|
Levansfour
enthusiast
Posts: 490
Reg: 05-09-05
|
02-15-12 05:33 PM - Post#145514
In response to DrivinTooFast
I have 2 TCU graduates and the price has gone up and up and up in the past few years. Even with scholarships it was very pricey.
I have a child at Baylor and it too is pricey,most private schools are.
You can go visit campuses on the weekends they have many different events thru out the year.Check their web sites,if this is your first child visiting as many campuses as possible early so you can can the list down to a top 3 or 5 to concentrate on in Junior/Senior years.
|
sco
enthusiast
Posts: 2667
Loc: allen,TX USA
Reg: 10-26-02
|
02-15-12 11:32 PM - Post#145525
In response to Levansfour
Thanks for the advice. My kids already know that we can't afford a private school unless there is some serious scholarship money involved. I don't want to write them off the list this early but I'm not sure if we will go visit.
|
jogo
enthusiast
Posts: 1319
Reg: 08-31-05
|
02-16-12 09:32 AM - Post#145530
In response to sco
Don't be so quick to write off all private schools. In our experience, we found that we were going to be paying the same amount out of pocket at a private university as a public one after the automatic merit scholarships and other "need based" aid (based on our FASFA) were deducted. Our son had a decent GPA (not top 10% though) and decent SAT scores and we are above the average middle income so this wasn't based on him being super smart or us being super poor either. However, our daughter has her sights set on a real "dream school" (highly selective and highly expensive) and she knows that will only be happening through some type of miracle.
|
DrivinTooFast
enthusiast
Posts: 1347
Reg: 02-20-08
|
02-16-12 10:19 AM - Post#145534
In response to jogo
Don't get me started on FASFA. But I do agree you may get a pleasent surprise. My FASFA advice is to get paid at your job in CASH, hide all your assets in your matress and put the kids college savings in a pickle jar not a financial account.
Then junior can go to any college they can get into, otherwise you are SOL.
|
V-Girl
enthusiast
Posts: 2705
Loc: Allen, TX, US
Reg: 07-12-01
|
02-16-12 02:48 PM - Post#145546
In response to sco
I was toying with the idea of taking her down to SMU this spring. (They've been recruiting her fairly aggressively already.)
Dance scholarship. We have had a few dancers from our studio get one there. Not easy, but it can happen! Good luck!
Crazy doesn't even begin to cover it. 
Will work for shoes!  |
|
Aolain
enthusiast
Posts: 1187
Reg: 11-13-06
|
02-16-12 02:54 PM - Post#145547
In response to sco
Jogo is exactly right about not writing off private universities. There are lots of scholarships available.
Students coming in with the right qualifications application...interview...letter, etc. can expect up to free ride scholarships.
And as Jogo said, many private universities are really only a tad bit more expensive than public universities once you figure out all the scholarships, etc. that are often thrown around like candy.
|
sco
enthusiast
Posts: 2667
Loc: allen,TX USA
Reg: 10-26-02
|
02-16-12 03:21 PM - Post#145550
In response to V-Girl
Dance scholarship. We have had a few dancers from our studio get one there. Not easy, but it can happen! Good luck!
Thanks for the vote of confidence but she won't be trying for a dance scholarship (she's too tall and not interested in pursuing it professionally.) We will be looking for every academic scholarship we can find. I'm assuming our need based aid will be zero but we should have a good shot at merit based aid. On that note, does anybody have a recommendation for a PSAT prep course over the summer?
Edited by sco on 02-16-12 03:23 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
|
jogo
enthusiast
Posts: 1319
Reg: 08-31-05
|
02-16-12 04:11 PM - Post#145553
In response to sco
You'll be getting tons of mail from AHS for Revolution PSAT test prep soon enough - contact College and Career if you want it sooner. My daughter refused to take any prep courses and did reasonably well on the PSAT. She just took her first SAT test and we'll see if she changes her mind about a prep course when those results come in.
|
