Things kids do for fun are important as well. I’ve seen kids write about fostering pets, social media channels and certifications they got outside of school. Whatever you include helps paint a picture of the type of thing your daughter enjoys.
The Activities & Awards section of the UC application has room for more than just activities and awards. You can also include work experience and other coursework (ex. MOOC). You have room to list 20 items and they should complement your PIQ to paint a full picture of who your daughter is, what she does in her free time and what she will add to the campus community.
Many times students focus on the PIQ and burn out by the time they hit the Activities & Awards section. It is smart to start early. Jot down 350 characters about the organizations and another 350 characters what your daughter did/learned from the experience. As she writes her PIQ, she will be able to look at her list and figure out which ones she wants to include and which she doesn’t.
Yes, thanks. I appreciate you checking that we knew this! There’s a lot to keep track of with the major requirements and gen ed requirements between different schools. Kid was interested in the Psychological & Brain Sciences major at UCSB–not exactly the same, I know, but looked similarly interesting.
When my daughter filled her UC application last year, she had used these 13 areas of criteria to answer her PIQ’s while taking utmost care of filling out the activities list. When done with her PIQ’s, she printed it out and read it together to make sure that were no duplication of ideas or events and that it felt a comprehensive summary of who she is and her background. Her UC application outcome was very good.
While I had not read any of @Gumbymom posts during last summer/fall, I highly recommend all future applicants to pay close attention to this post from her in order to be ready with a good UC application. What happens next, is beyond your control.
What does she want to do with her degree? If she is thinking policy perhaps GW, while service-oriented Tulane may be better if she’s looking at field work.
So the applicants will choose to attend a UC over MIT?
Safeties often reject highly qualified applicants using them as safeties. There’s even a term for it “Tufts syndrome” and its happening more often. Look at the posters who are surprised an applicant was accepted by an Ivy or MIT but waitlisted or rejected from UCSB. Why are they surprised? Would that applicant attend UCSB over MIT or CalTech?
Yes, there are students who would accept a UC over a school like MIT; students make all sorts of decisions based on, say, location & funding over ranking; and of course many of the UCs are highly ranked, highly selective, and highly desirable. All schools reject highly qualified applicants. All schools accept more than they can seat and therefore all schools need a certain percentage of their accepted students to reject them.
Scroll up in this thread to all of the families that said they were chasing merit. Many California residents choose a UC or SLO over full-pay schools regardless of the ranking or perceived prestige.
We live in the DC area. My husband taught as an adjunct prof at GW. I don’t like GW at all. It’s in the middle of DC. Completely urban, without even the limited “campus” feel that Georgetown and American have. If your kid wants completely urban, then it’s a good fit. But completely different urban than Tulane. I will also say that there are a lot of very wealthy kids at GW (the kind with parents who call professors if their snowflake doesn’t get an A on a project.) A lot of entitlement there. Plus tons of international students.
I’m a UF grad (I was in-state). Much more suburban feel. But great medical/health programs. It’s a huge school. Must be self motivated. No one is checking in on you. First 2 years, no one will even know if you went to class. But if you have drive and love a work hard/play hard environment, it’s great.
Guess California residents need to convey that to the UCs because kids you think should be accepted are being waitlisted or rejected and I stand by my opinion that yield protection plays a part.
Students who you think should be accepted are being denied or waitlisted at UCs because we have way more qualified applicants than seats, not because the UCs assume certain students only want an Ivy or MIT. I don’t understand anyone denigrating the UCs. Forbes chose Berkeley as the number one school in the world. UCLA always leads in rankings. UCSC is a leader in genomics and is in the news today for the first full, gapless sequencing of the human genome. It also has one of the few aquatic biology departments in the country. Etc.
Came across your comment and glad I did. My husband and I have been grappling with the sticker price of GW. DD22 was recently accepted, and of all of the schools she was accepted to, she did not receive a merit scholarship from GW. I don’t expect much in the form of need based aid because of the EFC calculated. I graduated from a neighboring college in DC and I appreciated that we had a campus, and place to isolate from the DC life when needed, but as you stated, the lack of campus and I have heard situations with the wealthy kids acting like they were above their less wealthy peers and some professors. My daughter will likely cross it off her list as she narrows down a school she will committ to for the fall.
Speechless. Such an impressive EC and list of admissions. I can see the hardwork that would have gone in. All the very best to your family and your kiddo!!!
I can only speak to GW and Tulane. Have you had a chance to visit both? If yes, what was her reaction? If no, I would recommend you attend accepted student events. These two are so different in setting. My impression is that you can get a great education at either place.
GW, no traditional campus, city feel, in the hustle and bustle of DC where they can feel the buzz of DC life. If your D thrives on the feeling of being right there where important decisions are made, this is for her. DC also has interesting “hinterland” with lots of options to get away and do interesting stuff outside the city.
Tulane, while in the city, the feel is more suburban. The setting in the Garden District across from Audubon Park is stunning. Traditional campus. Downtown is close and a streetcar ride away but New Orleans doesn’t have the same buzz as DC, its pace is much slower. But then, Nola is unique, one of a kind. There is not as much to do outside the city as there is around DC.
Both should be easy to reach from FL and both cities have their share of poverty and crime.
FWIW my D was accepted to both schools, she decided on Tulane before we could make it to GW accepted student days, because she said Tulane made her feel like they wanted her there. Hope your D finds that feeling at one of her choices
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend - it’s a beautiful Sunday morning here in England. I really appreciate your support (hug emoji, thumbs up, replies, etc.) - this is a fantastic community! As I re-read my post, I think I may have come across as more downbeat than we felt - yes, my D22 was disappointed by the US rejections (as were we) but she is very grateful to have her UK options and (knock on wood she secures the required A-level grades) is excited to head to Oxford (her overall first choice going in) this fall.
My heart, however, breaks for the academic superstars (such as this student) who had similar outcomes. Yes, they did get some acceptances but for all of the top US institutions to pass on them is quite mystifying to me (in the UK, they would have been snapped up by Oxford and Cambridge). The upside, of course, is that their rare talents are distributed more widely across the US academic ecosystem.
Public service announcement. Posters should know that when you type in the word “research”, or research, something happens…or is it just happening for someone on this thread? Interesting…but potentially a legal problem….you stand corrected @homerdog. His research was not this research, or the research you stated on the link. It seems that when we typed in the word research, it was automatically linked to a paid advertisement by an administrator. On both posts.
Why is this? How very interesting. When this was flagged several times, it was not removed. Here are 2 possibilities: Someone must be friends with the administrator or CC has automatic links to advertisers when you type certain words. Not good, either way.
Ty, wonderful times coming these last months with music festival, prom, visits with family and friends.
We have S18 graduating from college and D22 will join sister at UMD.