Due to limited time and resources, I haven’t been able to tour any of the schools that I’m applying to, which all happen to be out of state. However, from talking to other applicants, I’ve heard that official school tours or even just talking to reps is really helpful during the admissions process as the adcoms/reps give valuable advice when filling out the application or writing the essays. For example, for Brown, one of the supplement essay questions is “Tell us where you have lived - and for how long - since you were born; whether you’ve always lived in the same place, or perhaps in a variety of places.” While I have been crafting a more creative response, I’ve heard that the adcoms want a literal list, and some current students at Brown who shared their response with me in fact just wrote, “I lived in [city, state] for [time period], then moved to [city, state] for [time period]. Finally, I currently live in [city state].” Long story short, I was wondering if anybody who has advice directly from adcoms would be willing to share it with me I know I could email their offices directly, but I’m afraid of sounding… perhaps a little foolish? My list of schools includes Pomona, Columbia University, Colorado College, Tulane, NYU, Harvard, Dartmouth, Reed, St. Olaf, and Georgetown.
Do not email and ask how to respond to this question. That will annoy them. I think you should answer it the way you want to answer it.
Many of the schools you are applying to don’t consider interest. Many do. You can look at any college’s common data set and see if they consider level of applicants interest. One of the best ways to express interest is to request an interview. It’s not too late, so get in touch with Tulane, who is known for wanting students to show interest, and request an interview. Their website will tell you how to do it. St. Olaf and Reed probably like interest too.
What is your safety school? You haven’t listed one above. No idea about your stats, but all those schools like high stats and most are reaches or maybe matches. You need a safety, which means a school with at least a fifty percent acceptance rate, depending on your stats. Never assume a school like NYU, Tulane or St Olaf is a safety, even if you have a 4.0. Find a safety, quick. I would hate to see you posting in April that you didn’t get in anywhere.
ETA: You need your counselor to send your transcripts to a safety school before the break. Please work fast.
Remember that your essays are YOURS. Whatever you choose to do for an essay, it should reflect you. Yeah, you could get on the bandwagon and write down a list of the places where you lived, or get creative and write a poem that reflects your community.
I visited Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and MIT. I took tours at MIT and Harvard. The most I could talk to them about he admissions process was how many I should apply to… location… major… etc. Not much beneficial info.
Any question on the app or a supp is a chance to show something about yourself. You’ve got to realize competitive colleges don’t ask just to get a literal answer. They want to see how you thought out the question and choose to answer. That can reveal a little more about you.
Just a list of where you lived won’t help move you ahead of the competition.
You can learn a great amount from the colleges’ own web sites.
Don’t email. Nobody will give you further instructions. Use the supplement the way you want to. It is your chance to tell the admissions officers something about yourself. There is no one way to go about answering any particular question. I would use your creative answer for Brown since that was your first instinct.
No, there are no magic application hints or tips given at the info sessions or the tours. What you get (other than what is on the website) is a feel for the place. Of course, it does happen that people ask questions at an info session along the lines of “do you want this or that?”, but I have yet to hear an answer that wasn’t common sense, much one that would make a difference in terms of admission success.
That an admitted student says that they answered that question one way give you absolutely no useful information: you don’t know anything about the rest of their application / their applicant profile. As @Lindagaf suggests, answer it your way.
Listen to @hhjjlala: your best bet is to be as true to yourself as you can be.
@Lindagaf Thanks for your input! I’m applying to UIC as my safety, and since they don’t have any supplemental essay requirements, I didn’t bother listing them during my first post. Also, I have applied and already been admitted to four UK schools, which is why I’m not going to bother applying to any other safeties. I hope I’ve demonstrated interest, despite not visiting the campuses, for all the schools on my list (even if they don’t consider applicant interest!) by signing up for interviews, getting on email lists, etc. Thanks again for your advice, and happy holidays!
I know I could email their offices directly, but I’m afraid of sounding… perhaps a little foolish? My list of schools includes Pomona, Columbia University, Colorado College, Tulane, NYU, Harvard, Dartmouth, Reed, St. Olaf, and Georgetown.