OFFICIAL Common Application Questions Thread

Applying to College
201

<p>Okay...
Should I include concert band as one of my EC's, even though I took it as a class? I've been told that it isn't factored into my GPA (so I'm not sure if it would show up on my transcript or not). It is definitely one of my most important EC's. I spend at least thirty minutes to an hour every night practicing my clarinet, and do a lot of additional work studying the songs that we are doing, etc. I have been a first clarinet for all four years of high school, won several band awards, play saxophone in pep band (and I will be an assistant director in pep band next year, hopefully), will conduct a song in band, am section leader in marching band... basically, concert band is one of my most important EC's. Can I still include it on this list?</p>

<p>Also, under the "awards" part, could I also list things such as "organized Earth Day trash pick-up" in addition to my leadership position?</p>

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<p>I'm not sure "organized Earth Day trash pick-up" is really an award...maybe you should put it in the Additional Information section instead.</p>

<p>Also, instead of putting "concert band" as an extracurricular, why not just name the instrument you play? That way, you could incorporate everything. Just my two cents.</p>

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<p>Can someone answer the question of how you submit part of the application to have them "set up a file for you" early on in the process without submitting the entire application at this point??</p>

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<p>i have several questions:
how should i put volunteering on the activities section? i did a variety of volunteering during different years...so how would i fill out the weeks per year and the hours per week thing? </p>

<pre><code>on the common app they have the test info, but i thought you're suppose to mail the colleges the official test scores

do you describe your activities in the positions held, honors won, etc. section?
</code></pre>

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<p>I downloaded and printed the common app. but I can't find the place where we put the schools that we want to apply to. is there a separate document to that? and if we just send in the common app, how do they know where we are applying. sorry if this sound stupid....</p>

<p>ps. do most of you use the online common app or the paper version. personally I feel safer using the paper application, it feels more like applying....maybe it's just me.</p>

206

<p>I have a couple of (hopefully not before answered) questions.</p>

<p>First of all, does anyone know whether speech and debate awards can or should be listed under academic? I didn't list them there, but there isn't really another place (unless I really wanted to waste my personal statement pattering on about which awards and places I got where). I thought maybe supplements would provide, but was curious whether any debaters/former debaters had insight.</p>

<p>Also, does anyone know whether or where AP scores ought to be listed, or are those submitted on the school's side of things?</p>

<p>Ta much!</p>

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<p>achang- im doing the paper version too. </p>

<p>but i hav more questions-
on the paper version i cant find the additional info section.
where do u put the AP test scores?</p>

208

<p>1) Do internships or summer programs that require work (let's say a research program) count as work experience or EC? For example, I researched at a local university last summer. If I list it as an EC, it'll be something like "Research: 10th grade, description." But it fits more like work experience: "Research w/who, from what date to what date, descsription."
2) What do I put in the "additional info" portion?
3) What does PG (13th year high school) mean? If I'm in the same school from 7-12th grade, and have continued the activity from 7-12th grade, does that count as PG?</p>

<p>THANKS! :)</p>

209

<p>PG is post-graduating--if, for example, you took a year off between high school and college, or had a 13th year IN HS for some reason. I believe.</p>

<p>I put my two volunteer opportunities under work experience because I'd run out of EC space and they were more like jobs than your traditional hospital service ordeal...hopefully that's okay. I imagine they're somewhat lenient with the structure since, after all, it's not entirely self-explanatory.</p>

210

<p>I've gone through all the pages of this thread so far so that I don't repeat a question and I've noticed that this thread is hectic and disorganized and many questions are overlooked.</p>

<p>**Here is a list of questions that have yet to be answered. But I will try to answer, however I am not an expert and I am using COMMON SENSE to answer them. **Correct me if I am wrong.</p>

<ol>
<li>Can you overlap between awards in academic honors and EC honors? Can you list the same award twice?
A: Unless you are lacking in awards to put into either section, I think putting it twice is redundant and distracting. App readers are already reading the same thing hundreds of times from other applicants and reading it twice in the same application might make them crazy.</li>
<li>Can you abbreviate words in the name of an organization?
A: I think you can as long as you don't abbreviate the entire phrase, then it looks like cyber speak. Just saying Nat'l Super Powers Club of America is better than Nat'l SprPwr CoA.</li>
<li><p>If I have a name that sounds like an asian name but don't fill in the optional race part, are colleges still gonna find out whether I'm asian or not and treat me as an asian student?
A: I don't think they can assume that because your name sounds Asian that you are. It could be the case that your great-great grandfather was Asian and passed the name down while in fact you are strictly Alaskan Eskimo.</p></li>
<li><p>For the Common App recommendations, do teachers have to fill out one for every single school you're applying to? Or can photocopies be made of just one?
A: Does anyone know the answer to this?</p></li>
<li><p>"For the courses section, there are only 8 spaces each semester, but in Romania we have more courses, next year I am going to have 14 courses I think. What can I do? How can I write the other ones?"
A: Does anyone know the answer to this?</p></li>
<li><p>"I would like to send additional recommendations from people outside the school that i interned for. what form would i use? should i just ask them to write a letter? or should I give them the teacher recommendation form?"
** A: Does anyone know the answer to this?
**</p></li>
</ol>

<p>And here is a list of common questions that have been answered (some, many times)</p>

<ol>
<li>Yes, you can only list 7 activities in the corresponding section. Try to list the 7 most important to you so that you show a passion. If you truly need more space, you can list more activities in the 'additional info' section.</li>
<li>Yes, you should report all sittings of standardized tests you take because CB will be sending them anyway, so don't try to hide your less-than-perfect scores.</li>
<li>Filling out OPTIONAL sections can only help you.</li>
<li>In regards to the Special Skills section, according to knightshield, "This is far more general than people take it. Chocolate cake cooking, web site programming, three-point shots, brooming, yo-yo-ing, organization, whatever. Do not leave that field blank."</li>
<li>The additional info section is commonly used for: AP scores, reporting self-studying, personal circumstances that may have limited involvement, more ECs, more awards, ANYTHING THAT DIDN'T FIT SOMEWHERE ELSE, etc.</li>
<li>The 150-word activity essay should be in essay format. It should tell more about how you effected (affected?) the club or vice versa rather than list things that can be read in other parts of the application.</li>
<li>Word limitations aren't definite, but rather preferred guidelines; An extra 20 words for the 150 and 100 for the 500 seem to be the unwritten rules according to posters.</li>
<li>Some schools are not members of the common application program. To apply to these schools, visit their website and find the section for undergraduate admissions (most have this link on their main page).</li>
<li>No, you cannot submit different essays to different schools using the common app (this is not counting supplements).</li>
<li>Unless you achieved national recognition for an elementary or middle school activity, do not include it.</li>
</ol>

<p>I hope that this will cut down on the same questions being asked over and over again.</p>

211

<p>ok no one has answered this question yet even though I and another user have asked it a few times now....

[quote]

They said that they like to have students in their records early...so how do I just submit the personal info/pre-application part and not the rest of the common app yet? Thks. Btw...gluck peeps.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>After looking around though, I read that you can only submit the Commonapp when EVERYthing (required) is completed, so is this even possible? I just want to know because I know some schools want to start a file early and so they request that you send in a part of the application (like bio data) early on in the process... Does the same go with the commonapp or do you have to submit the commonapp when everything is completed??</p>

212

<p>Q: If I put my Ethinicity or Place of Birth etc...Will this take away from my application? Is it beneficial to include this information, even though its optional? </p>

<p>Q: Will applying for Financial Aid improve or decrease your chances, and what are the benefits of Financial Aid vs. Loaning from somewhere else?</p>

<p>Q: (Sorry if this is already in the thread) Where do I put Volunteer for School related activities and for community, because I am an ambassador of my school and I have gotten over 700 Hours of Volunteering in School and Community. Does this go in Activities, and under Community Service?</p>

<p>Q: Can I use one Teacher Rec. for multiple schools?</p>

<p>Thanks for your time,</p>

<p>AIR.</p>

213

<p>1) choice to include this information is your choice. the debate about the impact of AA is intensely documented here on CC (you need only search the forum for intense discussions about its likely impact) but whatever the thing is, it is your choice. even if you choose not to include this information, it might show up "inadverdently" say, in your teacher's recommendations or GC's rec or whatever... an EC you might do (say, "teaching Chinese to kids" and your last name is a Chinese last name). its your call</p>

<p>2) go look up what the difference between "need-blind" and "need-based". if you are an international, i believe HYP, amherst and MIT are the only "need-blind" schools for financial aid. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org&lt;/a> and type in "need-blind" and read about financial aid. </p>

<p>the benefits of financial aid vs. loaning wil depend on the structure of financial aid that the school chooses. harvard+yale elimiantes contributions from low-income families; some schools will give grants, others loans. again, its different for individual schools. </p>

<p>3) it goes under community service. activiites are stuff like MUN, varisty soccer, school paper, stuff like that. </p>

<p>4) thats the whole point of the common application. </p>

<p>maybe someone else can give more explanations on the first two questions.</p>

214

<p>using some more common sense i think i've got answers to poozislove's unanswered ones</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Here's the thing... I can't find the place on the common app where it says you need recs... i went over the entire app twice. And it's not on my supplement.. can anyone tell me what page/section it's on???</p></li>
<li><p>in terms of course load, I woudl do a combination of any of these 4 things:
a. pick the classes which most closely match up to US courses ( i.e. PE, romainian history, chem etc)
b. Merge similar Classes
c. Call up/email the admissions reps and tell them, ask what their preference is
d. list half of them 1st semester and half of thems econd semester and then mark in additional info that they are all yearround courses</p></li>
<li><p>You would just ask them to write a letter ( preferably on staitionary with a letterhead) and just put it in with your otther recs</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>can anyone answer my question? I've been told that the common app has a section with 1st choice all the way down to 50th...and u only need 1 app to apply to all the schools u want..if the schools accept common app.....is that correct???</p>

<p>but I can't seem to find the section where u fill out the schools that u want to apply to...so ummm is common app just like any other app...u fill one and send it to 1 school...and if u want to apply to more than 1, just make copies of it???</p>

<p>and say if i'm applying to 6 schools, do my teachers have to write all my recommendation 6 times?? or could they just copy it?</p>

<p>HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP</p>

216

<p>um to add schools you go to "colleges" and then pick your schools.....</p>

<p>right?? or am i missing something here</p>

217

<p>Where's the "special skills" part that everyone's talking about? I can't seem to find it!!</p>

218

<p>woa...stanford supplemetn is out on the common app website. I didn't know you could just fill out everything electronically through common app. That is pretty awesome.</p>

219

<p>but i'm using the paper version so where do I put down the schools that i'm applying to??</p>

220

<p>Uh, don't you just send each application to the individual schools?</p>