<p>I just spent the past few hours reading up (on the internet) various ways to fill in APP's. I could buy adobe and fill it in, or I could handwrite it, or scan and mark as a watermark on word. Suddenly, it dawned on me: Can't I just write in word, print, cut, and glue-stick it onto my apps? Then I'll simply just go to kinko's and xerox the glue-sticked app onto a high-quality paper much like the initail paper app the school sent me, and then it will all look like one piece? </p>
<p>but wait..</p>
<p>If this is such a great idea, how come noone's ever thought of this?</p>
<p>I'm guessing that there's a problem somewhere along the line where it wouldn't work out,</p>
<p>would the edge of the printer paper be xeroxed onto the fresh paper and look uneven??</p>
<p>Colleges may prefer online applications, but they don't penalize students for submitting paper ones. My daughter did paper apps to U of Chicago and Barnard and was accepted at both; she did online apps to Brown, Brandeis & Boston U. and was rejected/waitlisted. I'm not saying the online apps caused the rejections, but I do think that she felt more comfortable expressing herself on paper than electronically, and the paper apps just did a better job of conveying her personality and interests. She took a creative approach to formatting of some submissions that simply could not have been done via a form. </p>
<p>Highheels, an alternative to buying Adobe is to download a trial version of CutePDF Writer -- it lets you type on the form and save it. The trial version has the "save" feature disabled, but "save as" works - which is just as well, since that makes it easy to save several different versions of the application. If you want to buy the software, it is a lot less expensive than Adobe - but you don't have to - there are no time limitations on the freeware and no nagging to purchase a license.</p>
<p>Highheels, my two girls did precisely this! They did paper apps for all their applications. For the little blanks for basic information (ie., name, address, parents, etc), they filled it in by hand. For any little "lists", "charts", short answer questions, etc., they typed them on a word processor and measured how big of a space they had to work with, formatted it however they wished, printed it out and glue sticked it into the appropriate space. In fact, they did not xerox the cut and paste app but sent it in as is. For longer questions like essays, they attached these by stapling or inserting, not glue sticking. They also attached a printed out resume. They even did the cut and paste with a glue stick for the activity chart which they created on the computer and made it fit a bit better than the way it is designed on the application. The typing of lists, and longer than a blank answers, looked neater and allowed them to make it fit as they wanted. </p>
<p>I believe this is totally acceptable (and yes, it has been thought of before!) and my girls' admissions outcomes were quite positive as they are each attending one of their first choice schools (very selective ones) and had only one full rejection of their list of 8 schools. So, a paper app with typed/glue sticked short answers certainly is A OK.</p>
<p>You can cut (copy) & paste online applications as well. Just put all the information you need into a word document by line for things like name, address, etc. Then have a couple of basic personal essays that can be tailored to the individual school. Many online applications are free and it saves you money and the school alot of time. With some you can then track your application and the required submissions online making it easier to determine if all your documention has arrived.</p>
<p>For online apps: you can write & edit essays in any word procesor you like. Then, copy & paste them into the online version when they're complete. You may have to adjust paragraph formatting after you paste & the online version will not accept font/text formatting (e.g. bold, underline).</p>
<p>For paper apps: Many are available in PDF format for download. Use the same method as above & then copy & paste to Adobe (or equivalent). Then, print out the document & mail it in.</p>
<p>Highheels:
The trick to getting no lines when you physically cut and paste is to tape down ALL of the edges of the "pasted" paper with non-glare scotch tape before you make your copies. Also, remember to sign the finished "copy" (now your real application" and not the taped version. A photocopied signature isn't usually acceptable.</p>
<p>another trick to making sure that the edges don't show is to make sure your hands are very clean when sticking down the tape. alot of time people get dirt/ink/dust/toner on their hands and when they use their fingers to put down the tape, that dirt transfers to the paper or the sticky part of the tape and shows up as a gray smudge on the copy.</p>
<p>Snail adhesive works great for applications such as this. Is sticks well and doesn't make any globs. Also, your hands remain clean so the papers don't have any smudges.</p>
<p>Snail adhesives probably come in different brand names. They look a bit like tape dispensers. As you press and drag the dispenser along the paper, a very thin film of glue about 1/4" wide is dispensed onto the paper. Think of the glue as the adhesive part of Scotch tape without the tape. You will have no glue globs, no bulkiness, no smears, no sticky mess, or any other problems commonly associated with glue. This type of gluing is more expensive than Elmer's but the result is much better. Pricey dispensers are available at scrapbooking stores; cheap ones, which work just as well, can be purchased at Walmart. Refills are readily available.</p>
<p>or the little two-sided stickies that are used by scrap-bookers to stick things on to pages. They are easy to use and leave no visible traces. The paper cutters also used for scrapbookin make really clean straight edges too.</p>
<p>A loooong time ago, they used to kid the new CPA hires at my old firm that CPA stood for cut & paste artist (har-d-har) because we created audit reports with word processor and glue. (This was back in the day when Compaq portables looked like big sewing machines.) The best glue we found for this work was plain old rubber cement. The excess just dries and peels away and no wavy, bumps in the paper after gluing.</p>