@NateandAllisMom – thank you! That’s confirms our gut.
@smiles2122 – welcome!
Regarding the COVID question - D21 answered it with a simple and straightforward list of what had been affected. She did not have any hardships beyond what everyone else had, but I thought it appropriate if she simply list what would have been and then what happened instead. Not an essay. Just a simple list (of two things), a few sentences total. I don’t think AOs are going to frown on that, fwiw. She didn’t make it sound like she had it so very hard (because she didn’t). She simply let them know what would have been on her application if COVID hadn’t happened, in a very matter-of-fact manner.
I have heard different podcasts describe how to answer this question in different ways. Though of course now I cannot remember which exact one said what. I would bet tons of kids are going to answer in the way my kid did, and tons of others will instead put such info in the Additional Info section. D21’s Additional Info section is already kind of full, so she put the COVID info in the COVID section.
We are working with a college counselor. For the Covid section she said to only list significant hardships (family illness, job loss…), or activities that were cancelled if they were on a state or national/international level- nothing that was commonplace. In other words, my D wrote that a state level conference she would have been leading, and two international competitions she was to have participated in were cancelled, but did not mention her spring sport season or internship that were also cancelled.
Late to reply - sorry. FWIW, Mines was S19’s top choice, by far. (We are out-of-state.) He did the Golden Application thing and was accepted. However, Mines offered, frankly, terrible financial aid that made it impossible for him to attend. We are low-middle income and hoped for more.
They are one of the few public Western colleges that doesn’t participate in WUE. At one of their in-person presentations we attended, Mines claimed that they could beat WUE rates and that was why they didn’t participate. In our experience, that was a complete falsehood.
Re: Mines (too late to edit comment)
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S19 didn’t do any of the optional essays for the Golden Application. He hates writing. Mines doesn’t (or didn’t) require an English/writing class at all. He thought that was great, LOL. Throw all the math, physics and chemistry you want at him, but don’t make him write!
This makes sense, and it is along the lines of what D21 did with the COVID section. She can’t compete in her usual competitive sport and thus win regional championships like she did the past two years, so she noted the tournaments were canceled this year. She also noted one of her major summer leadership activities was canceled. That was it. Short, to-the-point, matter-if-fact.
I have another common app question. It seems as if this year, a number of schools are putting in an optional section for uploading a resume. (I don’t remember seeing this last year, except for a couple of schools where my D20 did applications outside of the common app.) My question is this: I know when something is optional, it mostly means the student should do it. However, my D21 worked pretty hard on her maxed out activities section to make it concise and punched up – it reads like a mini-resume already. After reviewing what she has there, I’m not sure a resume is absolutely necessary. Sure, there might be some extra verbiage she might be able to add in a resume, but it would all mostly be redundant information. What says the hive mind here? Should she submit an actual resume? What am I missing?
D21’s is not submitting a resume since she was able to fit in everything within the Honors, Activities, and Additional Info sections. A resume would just repeat the same things.
@amsunshine – I feel like repetition is not a bad thing, though? I mean AOs are moving through these apps pretty fast so maybe seeing things again all in one place is not bad? Resumes for those in high school should be very short anyway. I’d say do a quick one using the same activities and even descriptions. Change a few words or something and add an academic piece at the top. My two cents.
My daughter has an interview with Lehigh University this week. Could anyone whose kids have interviewed with Lehigh please share your experiences? TIA.
Hello all, been mostly lurking since Feb while keeping up with this thread. Thank you so much for all your insights!
S21 has known since 6th grade that he wants a PhD to do nanotech research. Finally took the SAT yesterday. He thinks he aced it. 1510 PSAT. 3.95 UW @ a top 50 HS. AP test scores have all been 4&5.
He’s been in a research based Vanderbilt program 1 day a week, all thru HS. He had just started work in a VU nano lab when shutdowns started. Was supposed to complete an independent project over summer & submit that to the Regeneron STS this semester. He was able to do a little remote work with the lab over shutdown but the project didn’t happen.
EC’s are BSA (working on Eagle project now) and church. He doesn’t have much free time with the extra day of school at Vandy. Both older sisters went to our state flagship: UT Knoxville.
We started college visits when he was 15. GT, MIT, H, Purdue, Vandy and multiple visits to UT. Quickly realized that the best approach was 1-on-1 lab tours & meetings with professors who are doing research that interests him.
We’ve been told many times that where he gets his terminal degree will be much more important than where he gets his undergrad. “Don’t waste your money on a name brand undergrad” said an MIT post doc on one of our lab tours.
S21 wants an R1 school where he can get a solid Chem/Phys/Math degree while doing undergrad research that supports his future goals.
While GT, H, MIT & Purdue all have great nanotech centers, UT has a pretty new Advanced Materials center (kinda the same). But the trump card for UT is that ORNL is only 30 minutes away. ORNL & UT have many joint programs and he’s already made a valuable direct connection at ORNL. So we’re pretty confident that he’ll be able to do undergrad research there. There’s also a chance that he’ll be able to intern there next summer.
We also reviewed Alabama, Clemson, Auburn, Miss State & a few others that have big merit $$. None have labs doing research that interest him.
Parents & S21 are all pretty surprised that, after what seems like comprehensive due diligence, UT really seems like the best choice for his undergrad degree. UT would be the closest, least expensive (possible full ride) and he would overlap 1 yr with his sister. All those are positives to him & to us.
Our current question is whether he should take the time to apply to other schools besides UT. “Would you rather goto MIT/GT/Purdue if $ was no object?” “I don’t think so but I’m not sure.”
Any thoughts?
@seoace – First, welcome!
Second, your S sounds amazing. How fortunate to have found his passion at such an early age!
I take it you’re TX residents so he’s auto admit there? My only hesitation with only one app, even if it’s guaranteed, is what if something changes between submission season and time to make a decision? Could a key professor leave, the lab lose funding, or something like that that makes it not the right choice?
If it were me I’d suggest he apply to two other affordable options just to have something in his back pocket. It’s better to have options in the case the unexpected happens!
Sounds like state of residence is Tennessee, but in any event I think AlmostThere makes a valid point about having a back-up plan just in case things change, which would not be surprising this year…
@seoace , your son sounds amazing and light years ahead career wise for most kids his age. I would have him apply to other schools for full ride possibilities simply for the interview practice and life lessons involved. Besides, who wouldn’t want to say they turned down MIT for UT? That would shut down any conversation questioning why he went to a state flagship school over a “big wig” school!
@eb23282 – oops – I wrote my post close to my bedtime and missed that – tks!
There are actually a lot of publics in the WUE states that don’t participate. And there are some that technically participate but give the exact same scholarships to students from non-WUE states, just under a different name.
Anyway, DD just applied under the golden application. She just wrote a short paragraph for each of the questions.
@seoace Your S sounds extraordinary! Neither of my 21s know exactly what they want to do. I guess I’d have him apply to a couple other of his top choices, just in case.
@smiles2122 Our D21 is probably applying to some of the women’s colleges you mentioned, but we haven’t been able to visit any of them. On paper, she got the impression Wellesley would be too intense. I’m assuming you visited them all? I’m curious, why Bryn Mawr for ED2 and not Smith? Without visits, they’re all running together!
Neither kid has submitted any apps yet, nor completed supplements. People on CC are always WAY ahead of my kids! Our CGO regularly admonishes against going on this site (“toxic”), lol. The way I see it, it’s filled with info. I’m not stressed that I have “normal” kids. And, if they never get around to some apps, just less to choose from!
I’m more stressed that I think they maybe should do ED but they haven’t visited. Maybe I need to bite the bullet and take them and at least drive around. I’m not found of the long flights even in the best of times…
@seoace , Oh yeah, I missed that too. @eb23282 . If y’all are from Tennessee, he definitely needs to apply to some back up schools. Out of State acceptances for UT might as well be a lottery system of kids who have perfect SAT/ACT/NMF/Valedictorians/started their own non-profits/found a cure for cancer type students from what I’ve seen. It is hard core because there are so few seats available for the OOS kids.
I’m confused @seoace - from your post, it sounds to me like you are talking about UT as in UTennessee. Is that not the case? I can also see how your post is interpreted to mean UT Austin. It would help to get clarification here.
@amsunshine (and @seoace ) oooooohhhhhh, I think you are right----if he overlaps his sister by one year, it would be UT Knoxville. Good eye for details.