<p>Sybbie, my son had similar experiences and also used only the common app forms for 6 sets of recommendations - 1 form, 6 pre-addressed envelopes....even to colleges not using the common app (we figured that the forms were "close enough") -
but I don't think we are going that route with my daughter. D. decided late in the game to apply to Univ. of Chicago EA, so she had to rush to get the recs on the Chicago form, no time to dig up common app forms. She also will be applying to 6 colleges that require recommendation letters, and of course she will remind the teachers to store the first letter on their computers for reuse. But I think I am going to encourage her to have the teachers fill out the forms separately for the other colleges, at least for the ones that are her top choices. </p>
<p>One difference is that my son's GPA and test scores were at the top of the range for the schools he applied for, whereas my daughter is going more for reach schools, with her stats being midrange at best for those colleges- so I think recs are far more important for her. I mean, for my son a letter that conveyed the thought, "he really is as smart as the numbers say his is" probably was adequate, so what if the letter was cloned 6 times.... for my daughter I think we need more tailoring to the school, including the all-important one that conveys how much D. is in love with first-choice college. (ED not an option in our family, unfortunately... so we just have to hope that if she can get the RD in app early and convey her feelings that she will get some brownie points that way. So in her case I don't think it is safe to take a cookie cutter approach to apps- personalizing the app to the school as much as possible is more likely to pay off. I mean, I think she wants the apps to give the impression that she has put a lot of effort into the preparation of each one. The teachers may still choose to print out the identical letter each time.... that's out of our control ... but if we can at least get them to utilize the school's own checklists on the form it might pay off.</p>
<p>I guess the bottom line is that if the school is a reach and a kid really wants to attend, then it is worth putting in a little bit of extra time and effort to make sure that each college gets an app that reflects the kid's best efforts.</p>
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I guess the bottom line is that if the school is a reach and a kid really wants to attend, then it is worth putting in a little bit of extra time and effort to make sure that each college gets an app that reflects the kid's best efforts.
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<p>I think this approach should happen even if it is a safety (or very likely to be admitted) school because you could very much end up there. </p>
<p>Also in our house it helped that D applied to schools which were very similar to one another to the point that there was a lot of overlap even in students being admitted to one or both (For example Richard Nesbitt, Dean of admissions at Williams acknowledged that there was about a 50/50 split in students choosing between Williams and either Dartmouth or Amherst)</p>
<p>D selected went into the process with the mind set that if she were only accepted to one school whether it was in her mind a reach, match or safety school would she be happy attending and would not feel that she settled. </p>
<p>At any given time in the process all of the schools that she applied to could or would have been her first choice school to the point that her final decision was not made unitl right before the may 1 deadline.</p>
<p>It is not to say just because one uses the common app, that they are taking a cookie cutter approach or that they do not still take the time to craft the best possible application to that school.</p>
<p>Because so many CC applicants are top notch, I'd like to hear about bright but less than superstar kids who used Common App online and got in to several good schools. Some CC types with their stellar statistics would have been accepted whatever form of app they used.</p>
<p>DD has applied to three schools. In all three cases, she used the univerities own application and submitted it online (which in all cases was noted as the preferred way to apply BY the college). Two of the schools took both the common ap (with supplements) and their own application. DD looked at both options, and truthfully, the school applications were better for her to complete with regard to the information requested and the space in which to place it. The school essay choices were better choices (and yes, they were different). Also, completing the common ap AND the required supplement would have taken longer in the end than doing the colleges' own applications. I think the common ap is probably better suited for students who are applying to a LOT of schools (doing one application and a bunch of supplements is probably more efficient than doing a lot of separate applications), but for a student only applying to three schools, she found the individual applications more suitable.</p>
<p>pyewacket- my D is a bright but not a superstar. She applied to 8 schools. She did a mix. In 3 cases they were state schools that had their own apps so no choice on those. Admitted to all 3.
For her EA school which was a safety she used the schools online ap. It suited her better then the common app at that time even though she knew she would eventually use the CommAp for other schools. Admitted.
Match school #1 she received a priority app that was shorter then the common app so used that one, done online. She used the CommonAp teacher rec form and counselor form with no problem- admitted
Match 2 and 3. Use the common app online and then sent the supplements by mail. admitted to both.
Match reach- common app online, and supplement by mail- denied.
She made a firm decision to not apply to any reach schools(which as her parent I still don't agree with). So don't know if her approach would have worked for those higher level schools.</p>
<p>My daughter is using the common application (with supplements) for the five remaining schools on her list. At this point, I think she'd go nuts if I even suggested doing five different applications. At this point, I also think I'd go nuts if I had any more worries about college applications getting done on time. She's already in at her safety school and is applying EA to five other match schools. To preserve our sanity and family happiness, we'll take our chances with the common application. :)</p>
<p>DP's - this is probably very old fashioned but I applied with a hand written paper application (using the common app and supplement forms) to each college. I printed everything really neatly. I applied to 6 and was accepted to all. I also asembled a concise portfolio for each college that included a resume that grouped my qualifications and EC's in an organized way that was not possible in the common app format, and included photos and lobby posters form my plays, an excerpt from my best screenplay, a short newspaper article aboutthe quality of my high school and another copy of the essays for that school in each portfolio. I sent the portfolio in with the common app hardcopy in one big envelope by FEDEX. The portfolio was a plain black understated booklet with slip in pages from the container Store. The recommendations and transcripts were sent directly from my school. None of the colleges specifically mentioned my format but I thought if art and music students could submit a portfolio or a tape, why not the rest of us??? a picture is worth a thousand words. How do you convey memorably that you were the comic lead in a play except by a photo from the production??? A line on the common app doesnt tell the story. If I over did it ...so be it..i took the chance.</p>
<p>I can't add to the statistics, but I agree with Pyewacket about the handwriting - mine is bad, daughter's was worse. She printed her apps out though, and sent snail mail - just did not trust online submission, and found it confusing and "scary" that even with the app gone electronically, recs and other forms had to go by paper. It just made her feel more secure to know that things went out in a single packet.</p>
<p>Supervising and working in a field where a few people have to handle large amounts of repetitive textual data - I would have to say the colleges aren't kidding when they say they prefer Common App or online submission - they mean it. The ones that don't have a preference probably haven't updated their computer systems or workflow to take full advantage of the Common App. The ones that still have the own apps do that because "it has always been that way" - inertia is an incredibly powerful force. I don't think any student is penalized for using the Common, I do think some students can present themselves better in a slightly different format - perhaps they should use the Common for the demographics, and present their other credentials in a different way.</p>
<p>D submitted her 3 early apps yesterday by Fed ex (I understand it is over-kill but I have an account where my discount made it a bit better and I picked the cheaper 3 day version.). All common app. Used common app forms for rec's, and gc, did common app essays. She did add a supplemental essay and a supplemental rec from her basketball coach. She also included a detailed resume of ec's and volunteer activities.</p>
<p>I called each school to get a street address . I verified the deadline and that no financial data was due at the time of the app submission. But in those conversations, I learned something. One admissions employee said "All apps go to a processing station where everything is scanned in. We never see it." I had some dinosaur view of the process where what D sent would be reviewed in the original form and the care she took with each item might be noted as something positive. One thing it did tell me, paperclips are the way to go -not staples. Can you imagine what it must be like for the employee scanning the docs in when every two page form or doc is stapled together?</p>
<p>we used electronic version of CA for two app last night. It worked smoothly, and servers were fast. BlueSon did comment, however, how "anti-climatic" it all seemed with a few mouse clicks were; he suggested it would be more "fun" to drive to the PO at midnight....my reaction (since he doesn't have a license): Yeah, right. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>By just googling around, I found a school that accepts their own app or the Common App, and "give equal weight to both." However, under further review (this is football season!), the school's own app asks for a personal essay, and it notes that the "average" submitted length is 1-3 pages. Thus, this adcom will have apps with a 250-500 word common app personal statement, competing with kids on the school's own 3 page essay....hmmm, I wonder whom they end up getting to know better. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Blue, I've noticed the same thing at many schools. While most schools have supplements to the common application, often enough the supplement leaves off one or more questions that the school's individual application asks. I also think it is interesting to compare the school's own essay questions to those on the common application. Frequently, the essay prompts on the school-specific application give quite a bit of insight into what they value in applicants.</p>
<p>Of course, people can still customize the essay on the common application to the school by picking one of the school's topics and do a "topic of your choice" essay. You can also customize what you do in the additional information section, and even how you handle the EC section to a limited extent.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, my daughter thinks i'm out of my mind for suggesting this - she has her common application done and she's sticking to it. :)</p>
<p>Ultimately, there's no way of telling if that choice will make a difference for her and frankly, after a certain point, all of this speculation about what may or may not give a particular applicant an edge is probably overkill.</p>
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Well, I guess my "baby" makes three, to coin a phrase. LOL. Common App or no app so far.
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<p>Let's make it four with my "baby huey." When he walked into his GC's office with six transcript requests, Mr. GC looked at him and asked, "How many are the Common App?" Doddsson replied, "All of them." GC: "I love you man!"</p>
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Ultimately, there's no way of telling if that choice will make a difference for her and frankly, after a certain point, all of this speculation about what may or may not give a particular applicant an edge is probably overkill.
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Agreed! I basically believe in giving this process your best shot, and then you just accept that sometimes things work out the way you'd like and sometimes they don't. Just dealing with the results is a way for 18 year olds to grow in maturity. </p>
<p>fwiw, my son wrote one basic essay, over the summer before senior year. He did not answer a particular prompt, but simply wrote about something that was (and is) important to him. He is a math/science guy, and looks for the simple/elegant solution -- therefore, pretty much every school got the same essay. He's very efficient. Where possible, he created his own prompt, for which his essay was his best answer. He did tweak it where he needed to, in order to answer a required prompt, but he felt it was truly what he wanted colleges to know about him. I might have preferred a unique essay for each application, but I also felt that he should focus on finding a school that wanted HIM just the way he was, not one that he should try to fit into, if that makes sense.</p>
<p>Perfect sense Sjmom. What I've noticed in my daughter is that this whole application process is about much more than just getting into A college, it's also about defining who she is and hopes to become. </p>
<p>My daughter recently sliced several schools off of her "final" list for just that reason - she told me that she only wants to apply to schools that she thinks will "get her" from her essays and application. In her mind, rather than change her application/essay to fit the school, the ideal school for her will see that she's a fit if she presents herself honestly. She also decided to apply as a studio art major, which is a huge decision about herself and what she values and loves. She may, of course, change her mind down the road, but right now she's standing up and saying "This is who I am!"</p>
<p>While all of this is making Mom a little nervous, I keep telling myself that this IS about HER finding HER place in the world, not just about getting into a particular college. A few glasses of wine every evening help as well. :)</p>