<p>Colorado School of Mines, Auburn and Virginia Tech don’t require recommendations, and no big essay - some short answers on the application.</p>
<p>teamam re Case Western: But you have to write an essay to get in, and the required seminar courses (SAGES) are very writing-intensive.</p>
<p>There ARE some early “fast track” kinds of applications from schools that do not require essays. DS did one for University of Hartford, and DD almost did one for Siena.</p>
<p>Iowa State has an easy application. An essay is required for the honors program, but it is not due until later.</p>
<p>If I recall correctly, there was no essay at UOklahoma, UKansas, UMissouri and USoCarolina unless applying for merit scholarships/honors.</p>
<p>My son has completed (altho not yet submitted) applications for 3 schools that don’t require essays or recs. And Penn State specifically told us NOT to send recs…that they just shred them.</p>
<p>Requiring no recommendations (and actually stating they do not want any) is almost universal for public universities. Also, a large number of publics require no essay. Moreover, many of your not so high ranked privates do not require either.</p>
<p>University of Oregon does not require an essay and automatically admits if you have a 3.4 GPA, even OOS. If you have below a 3.4 you have to write the essay. No recos though.</p>
<p>When my daughter applied to Pitt (almost five years ago, now), it didn’t require any essays unless you were applying to its honors program or for a merit scholarship. I don’t believe recommendations were ever required. She did the application in 15 minutes one morning and was accepted 10 days later. This may have been a special fast-track application based on her SATs or PSATs, though.</p>
<p>The Canadian universities to which students I know have applied do not require essays or recommendations, either. That’s the University of Toronto and McGill – and I would guess most of the others, too, or all of them.</p>
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From personal experience, I know that this is true at the small Canadian LACs as well as the larger Canadian schools. I’m applying to Mount Allison, and have everything done but saying that I’m applying for Fall 2010, because that’s not up yet.</p>
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<p>At UMissouri, even some of the campus-wide merit scholarships do not require essays; specific scores/rank/gpa combinations can knock a few thousand off tuition. The larger awards do require more involved applications, and scholarships specific to certain schools and majors require essays and recs.</p>
<p>Colleges that I applied to that didn’t require an essay (recs might have been required for one or two, can’t remember): U of Alabama, U of Georgia (Early Action only - RD requires an essay), U of South Carolina, Indiana U - Bloomington. </p>
<p>I know Auburn doesn’t require essays either.</p>
<p>Alabama, Auburn, and Indiana are rolling… Great safety candidates for high-achievers!</p>