<p>I hated the essay restrictions at Columbia. Only one essay, and 250-500max words at that! That is nothing! I liked the favorite books, events, etc. part, but those don't say as much about you as an essay. I was also going to apply to Bucknell, but then I decided the app was too in depth and specific to Bucknell to bother.</p>
<p>I liked Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, and Yale because they took more than one essay. I liked Rice because of the box (which, incidentally, I haven't done yet. heh). Johns Hopkins is pretty cool because for one "essay" you can answer through any medium.</p>
<p>Johnson181- Yeah, UChi's app was the biggest turnoff for me, too. And the fact that their rep came to my school and said "University of Chicago is not where fun comes to die" in the most monotonous droning voice I've ever heard.</p>
<p>Eravial08- I don't really follow the word limits strictly. Since they say "approx.", and if you think about it 2 pages double-spaced is usually over 500 words. lol</p>
<p>Sorry if I sound condescending but I really don't think that you should choose which college to apply based on its application, or on one rep. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Scripps' supplement asked for a list of all books that D read in the past year! I though it was an unusual question after all of those "What can you add to our diversity?" questions.</p>
<p>DSC: Thanks, but I'll pass on Stanford. CA is nice to visit, but I don't think I could live out there. I'm of the painfully pale persuasion. Anywhere that I'd have to wear sunscreen in March is a no-go.</p>
<p>Whoa. I just had the most major freakout ever. I was thinking about how much I liked the VTech application, because the essays were one, both or neither (I'm choosing neither) and then I realized that I'd never asked my teachers to send recommendations to Vtech! I had a major spaz, but then I checked the website and remembered that they don't ask for teacher recs. Non-existent crisis averted.</p>
<p>coolcc: UChi was a school I was just thinking of applying to just to apply, it was never a serious choice for me. In my particular case I think it was appropriate for me not to apply... but I agree with you in general! I hated USC's application (that enter each course you took year-by-year was the biggest pain in the ass, lol), but I still applied because it was a school I genuinely wanted to go to.</p>
<p>Colby has a pretty restrictive word limit, but it was the most fun to write. And filling out USC's "What's your favourite food?" type questions is refreshing after all the "Why X?" essays.</p>
<p>I don't know if I loved or hated Claremont mckenna's application questions, probably more of the former (it was a pain to come up with something, but once I started, it was hard to keep within the 1000 character limits). Not only did it have the common app essay requirement, it also had a required leadership analytical essay and 3 short essay questions. Unique, if anything else. One asked about "what world destination best defines you," another was "create a superhero that represents you" and "create a piece of clothing that is inspired by you." I liked to play around with words and come up with these grandiose overexaggerated statements that were still true (same goes for the why GW essay I wrote).</p>
<p>ehhhhhh i don't really like writing chicago's essays for the purpose of admissions. I mean they're interesting enough for essays in general, but admissions? I think not.</p>
<p>Haha Sheed, WUSTL makes your imagination/keyboard sweat when you want some dough.</p>
<p>I liked Stanford's application. It had those fun short answers and 3 short essays that weren't too difficult. I liked Princeton's too for the same reason.</p>
<p>Harvard's put me in a difficult spot. I ended up not writing an optional essay and I'm afraid I'll regret it later. :(</p>
<p>The one thing that I didn't like about the uncommon app was that there were too many extracurricular spaces! It took a while to split up violin into solo, orchestra, and quartet and then rank them among my other activities.</p>
<p>Perhaps I am biased, but I really liked Brown's application. One main essay about whatever, and then a "why brown" short essay. The character count did get to be a pain in the neck, but once I shaved the fat off the essay, it wasn't a problem.
I also loved their activities list idea-- I had some offbeat EC's, and the freedom to organize and present yourself with that resume (I added little descriptions) was refreshing. I enjoyed putting mine together, because it was a far more accurate reflection of myself, rather than simply a laundry list of activities.</p>
<p>best: Cornell. it's a simple supplement that doesn't bother you with a bunch of pointless short answers. the essay topic on "intellectual interests" is perfect. sure, everyone sees your transcript, but Cornell asks what those classes mean to you.</p>
<p>worst: Columbia. I don't feel like I've expressed who I am. there's a part of the application where it's just three lists in a row. why not let me expand on what a single book, performance, exhibit, etc. has meant to me? instead, it's all lists no thought.</p>
<p>I hated Notre dames app. when you click on "application complete" it goes on to the payment link. i thought it would give me the option of reviewing or something, but it didnt. once you exit the payment tab will be lost forever. i called them up and they are like "the only option is send us a check". i couldn't coz today is the deadline. ended up making the payment by credit card after filling the long app three times!!!!!! I dont even feel like going to Notre Dame now!</p>
<p>Worst: I wasn't a fan of the UVa app because you had to type in activities as an essay format sort of, instead of just inputting things into a box. There were 3 essays and 2 "short-answer" where you typed in info about activities/extracurriculars. It wasn't that big of a deal, but it just sort of seemed inconvenient to me.</p>
<p>coolcc- It's not as if my decision not to apply was based soley on the application. It was more of the "last straw" kind of thing. Which is probably best- I doubt that I would fit in there.</p>
<p>University of Washington's is awful. I'm applying to many private and public schools, and UW's is longer than any of their applications. And the CommonApp.</p>
<p>I hate it when they ask questions that you know they do not use for anything. Why do they need to know what year my mother got her Associate's Degree?</p>