Hi. I am applying to boarding schools like Deerfield, Choate, Exeter, etc. for the 2021-2022 school year. I submitted my Candidate Profile to almost all of the schools to which I am applying. However, I realized today that I had carelessly omitted information about my community service, student government, and drama activities. I have emailed all of the schools and asked if it is possible to edit this. Are my chances of getting in to these schools ruined because of my mistake? Even if my essays, interviews, and recommendations are impeccable, will I still be denied because I was irresponsible? @Golfgr8 I know that you seem to know a plethora of information about this process. What do you think?
Hello @ballet1210 - please do not worry yourself ! It will be ok.
Good question. There is plenty of time and also other areas on the application to highlight the activities you mentioned. When you have your interviews (either in person or virtually), you can let the admissions officer know about your concerns. Also, if you have supplemental information - dance videos, portfolios, performance highlights - there is a way to provide this in your application. Some schools may have different platforms for providing supplemental information. For example, when kiddo applied there were different ways for different schools to provide dance highlight videos, visual arts portfolio, sports videos. Each school may have their own way of wanting you to submit these materials for your application.
Thank you @Golfgr8 . I really appreciate it!
@ballet1210 First of all, do NOT worry. All of this is totally workable, and you have NOT ruined anything. Still, there might be some things to consider.
Let me ask you a question – are you referring to the candidate profile on the various school websites? Or do you mean “part 1” of the Gateway application? Your comment “almost all” makes me feel like it was on the school websites, which is why I ask. (Gateway would have been “all” I’m thinking.)
As @Golfgr8 points out, don’t worry – you will have plenty of spots to put in forgotten pieces even if it is your gateway part 1.
However, If it’s the school “candidate profile” that you are talking about, I wouldn’t worry one tiny bit – Completely ZERO issue. From my understanding, it seems as though those profiles are just used to know which marketing email lists to sign you up for (“hello from Fancy School Basketball team! let me know if you have questions!”). We filled ours out so fast last year and just super casually mentioned an activity or two. Some school interfaces required an answer for every single field so we needed to enter in something random. (we got emails from a school’s choir department for a year – we must have goofed on that somehow because DD cannot sing a note.) Anyway, my point is – if it’s the school interface, it is a fair amount of work that honestly seems to disappear from the application process. (As a side note: some schools actually called that form “part 1” which confused us when we got to Gateway because we thought maybe they were somehow linking up. they are not. School interface = marketing and sending you catalog while Gateway = application info that will be in your actual application file.)
IF it’s the gateway Part 1, I might be more inclined to give it more thought. I know it’s a drum I’ve been beating here this summer: summer is a GREAT time to draft things up in a word document, but I would definitely not submit anything official so soon. you have a whole semester of life coming up that you will want to reflect in your application, and you want the whole application to be coherent and be really strategic in reflecting the whole person that is you. Part 1 on Gateway is a piece of that. Activities, and the order in which you list them, are all part of that cohesive, compelling narrative that is the amazing, unique YOU. So what I would say is: you almost cannot submit part 1 until you have all the parts put together and you can step back and look at your whole application together, in my opinion. (which is exactly what an AO will do). The fact that you forgot some activities does tell me that you haven’t yet done the work of combing through your life, digging into your activities to find your unique story, and then figured out what the main narrative threads will be. In other words, you are still in brainstorm phase. (Which is great! perfect summer place to be!). But brainstorm phase isn’t the time to submit anything. Don’t submit your draft notes, when there is zero benefit for doing so this early. Send an amazing, completed, thoughtful final draft. There is NO PRIZE for submitting early!!
Please know I am saying this from a place of being in your corner! Also, I am only one person, and if this feels like advice that isn’t right for you, of course, you know yourself best.
Bottom line: do NOT worry. You will have plenty of space to add the info if you did submit Gateway. That said, I would suggest strongly getting your whole application sketched out at least before submitting anything officially.