The main things that stand out about me on my common app are my community service and my skill at languages. I have two test scores and two honors about languages, I’m bilingual, and I took two foreign languages at school (German, then Italian). I wrote my supplement about how I like to teach myself new things, including teaching myself basic Japanese and learning Italian over the summer so I could skip a year in school. I felt this was necessary since my knowledge of Japanese is not shown anywhere in my application, and learning Italian was a huge investment of my time that doesn’t even show up on my app since my schedule ended up not working out and I couldn’t skip a year (even though I passed the test). And most importantly, (even though it’s not the focus of my essay), I mention that despite being denied AP German (not enough kids signed up), I decided to self-study for the AP test (it was my only 4, but I think that’s still good enough to mention, since pretty much only natives get 5s). That last bit is especially important since it looks like I took less rigorous courses (I’ve taken only 6/9 available AP classes, but it would’ve been 7/9 with AP German). I think this information is all very important, but after researching the Harvard supplement some more, everyone seems to be saying that it should be completely different from the rest of your application. So should I scrap my essay? My other option is to write about why I want to study astrophysics, since I haven’t found a place to explain that, either (and you can’t really infer it from my app). Which is more important?
New thought: my German teacher’s recommendation will probably include all the stuff about German and Italian, and maybe if I ask her (and she hasn’t finished) I could tell her to put stuff about how I learned Japanese… in that case would I be better off writing something different?
This is just my personal opinion. But I subscribe to the view that your application viewed *in toto/i should tell a story or paint a picture of who you are as a person. Or, to use an analogy from a recent Stanford grad, you are a painting that is covered, and you have a limited number of opportunities through the elements of your application to uncover bits of it:
https://mix.office.com/watch/13gekrg9zecnz
You want to uncover bits that are interesting and give an idea of the totality of the painting underneath. The best way to do this is to use the different elements to show different facets of yourself. So if languages stands out loud and clear in your ECs, and will be addressed by your recommenders, then writing a supplement about it may not show much more about you, and may represent a lost opportunity. That’s not to say that you can’t use the same basic topic in different ways. For example, an essay about doing Karaoke in Japanese would speak indirectly to your language ability, but could be addressed main in terms of your sense of humor and playfulness or willingness to take risks in public. Or you could speak to a cultural experience that opened up through your linguistic ability, and how it affected you. But from what you say, “I’m good at languages and I taught myself basic Japanese in addition to all the other languages I studied” won’t add a whole lot, in my opinion.
Thank you! I’m planning to ask my teacher if she’s putting those things in it, and hopefully she’ll have all the important things covered. I think I’ll write about why I want to study astrophysics instead
^^ IMHO, you’re doing this all backwards.
Here’s my suggestion, write your essays on the topics YOU want and give them to your recommendation writers and ask for their feedback, both in terms of content and style. Ask your teachers “Do my essays sound like me?” That’s the goal – your essays should sound like you talk, as if you were standing in front of the admissions committee giving an extemporaneous talk.
If your teacher’s respond with “Yes, your essays sound like you and I love them!” you are good-to-go. However, if they have suggestions, listen with an open mind and heart and make those adjustments. Giving your essays to your recommendation writers allows your teachers to read what you’re saying about yourself, so they can re-inforce specific issues in their recommendation letters without being redundant and stress other issues which you may not have covered. It allows avoids that awkward “What are you going to write about me” question.
That’s actually a pretty good idea, thanks!! I still think I’ll have to ask her because there’s this one thing I’m not sure she knows about and I’d like her to include it.
@gibby Actually, could I put all this in the additional info section? I don’t have anything else to write about anyway. That would solve all my problems since I wouldn’t even have to ask my teacher anything.
^^ When you are applying to college, you are painting a picture of yourself – and you want that picture to be in sync. Your teacher recommendations and guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report should compliment what you say about yourself. For example: if your stand-outs are community service and your skill at languages, those elements need to be mentioned by your teachers and guidance counselor. If those items are only mentioned by you, it’s leaves an AO scratching their head wondering why, if they were so important, they were not mentioned by your teachers and GC.
So, while you could put all of that info in Additional Information Section, you would be better served by having those elements mentioned by your teachers and GC. Or, at the very least have your teachers look over what you want to put in the Additional Information section so that they can mention it as well in their LoR’s.
MIT has a great section for teachers on what they look for in LoR’s. I imagine Harvard looks for the same things as well: http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs
Your recommendation writers need to know what information you are highlighting about yourself, so they can reinforce and rave about that info as well.
@gibby I’m absolutely positive my teacher will talk about my accomplishments with languages, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have her look at it. That’s a good idea actually. Thank you so much for the info, you really helped me out!