I agree–the instructions for the optional essay were pretty vague. I just explained a certain part of my life in greater deal that I briefly touched upon in the autobiographical essay.
@yesorno0101 My SAT score was a 2060, with a 720 CR, 540 M, and 800 Writing. I would imagine that SAT scores, especially since General Studies is designed for nontraditional students, are one of the least important aspects of an application. The SAT is designed to determine how successful a student can be in college. Since most GS applicants are submitting transcripts from community colleges/4-year institutions, they prove themselves there instead. Cornell does not even require transfer students to submit SAT scores.
@nickdrake@System Thank you guys for sharing scores with us. I’m not sure the average score of accepted students but those are pretty good scores. Hope we will all get accepted.
@yesorno0101 College Board has average scores listed for General Studies. Again, I doubt they play a major role in the admissions process. I’ve read in previous posts that they are mainly used to determine an applicant’s proficiency in reading and writing.
I believe they will release all the decisions on March 1st. I checked the Fall 2015 admissions thread and those that applied by January 15th all heard back on this date.
I just read the Fall 2015 admissions thread and like you said, some people heard back on March 1st. But what is kind of weird is that last year’s March 1st was Sunday. I thought that the decisions were sent on weekdays.
@nickdrake Yeah I submitted the Optional Essay. I talked about why I decided to apply to US universities and the change in attitude I had. Pretty much what I couldn’t fit into my Required Essay. @Systema@yesorno0101 I’m not sure if you submitted for the Jan. 15th deadline but if not, you should try to submit the optional essay. Most things that say ‘Optional’ in any application should be seen as ‘Really really strongly suggested’. The admissions committee won’t know if an applicant didn’t submit one because the instructions weren’t clear enough or if the applicant had bad organisation skills and couldn’t finish one on time or if the applicant was just lazy. You can really show that you put in the extra effort. A friend of mine knows someone who has experience as an admissions officer (at CC) who not only stressed this point about how to perceive ‘Optional’, but also said that its a great opportunity for us to really convince the committee that we’re meant for the school (and what we can bring to the environment etc.). It can really be the icing on the cake to our required essay.
In saying all of that I’m still in the same boat as everyone else so maybe when I get in (fingers crossed), I can write the same thing for the next wave of applicants. Anyway, best of luck in the application and hope we all make it.
Also for those who plan on submitting the optional essay, I received an email from an admissions counselor about a month ago to not exceed two and a half pages double spaced. She also said “we ask that you focus on the autobiographical essay to present yourself to the admissions committee.” So while I would strongly encourage prospective applicants to submit the optional essay, as it can only increase your chances of admission, I would also suggest not stressing too much about it either. The required, autobiographical essay is far more important.
I agree with @nickdrake. Also I would say that the committee doesn’t think we are lazy if we don’t submit an optional essay. I believe an optional easy is where you discuss aspects that you didn’t talk about in an autobiographical essay and tha are helpful for them to understand us. Thus, repetitive contents might not be beneficial.
Has anyone uploaded your picture?
I uploaded a picture and a resume.
They said the picture doesn’t affect admissions decision but I find it humanly impossible that they won’t judge your photo. Unless they look at the picture after the decision is made.
So hopefully mine looks fine.
@yesorno0101 I agree–save the optional essay for parts of the autobiographical essay that are a bit less relevant to the overall theme of the piece.
As for the picture, I also uploaded a pretty formal/professional one. Though I would agree that uploading a picture that could be perceived as inappropriate would be a bad move, I can’t see the picture having much of an impact on an admissions decision. Go with something relatively neutral and spend more time on polishing your resume/essay.
I uploaded a picture and a resume too with hoping that the picture makes me more relatable to the committee. I thought that knowing the face makes some difference because they are human too.
I think a few people got phone interviews. Someone posted that he/she got one for the Spring 2016 admissions a few months ago. No idea if getting the phone interview is an indication of anything though.
I would imagine that applicants receive interview requests if they’re right on the edge of rejection/acceptance–so if a candidate is considered either very strong or very weak, they won’t be asked to interview. In that case, not receiving a request could either be a very good or bad sign. I could be totally wrong though.
Sounds about right @nickdrake
I was just reading last years fall admission thread and it seems like interviews were used for the admissions team to get that little extra information so that they can decide. It didn’t specifically say that but I think that sounds logical and makes sense if they are really on the fence regarding acceptance/rejection.