Questions About Sending In Additional Information for the Deferred

<p>Hey first off, congrats to everyone that got in and best of luck to all the people for RD.</p>

<p>When I first started this application process, everyone (counselor, parents...) told me NOT to make a resume or send in additional recs because it would "annoy" the admission officers.</p>

<p>I didn't do that and I got deferred from Caltech (don't know if there is a correlation, but because of that, I did leave out additional information). I read on other colleges Q and A that people should not get the preception that it will annoy admission officers and that it can shed a different light on everything. I also know that Caltech has an update form where it asks you to list additional things, so I don't think they will get annoyed. </p>

<p>So do you guys recommend that I get 2 additional recommendations, send in a resume of everything I didn't list (I only listed a few math awards because I didn't think anyone would care about the rest, but that might have showed that I didn't actively participate in everything else, which is not true). I also did not even mention making the US Chemistry Olympiad because people told me that since I came from an easy region (USCNO, unlike all the other Olympiads is split up by local sections --> top 12 or so make National test and since that they have about 1000/10000 people that take local qualify, it was not that impressive--> this was according to my counselor...). However, now that I think about it, that means I left out an entire portion of my app because I really just talked about math. I might also write an essay because I don't think I elaborated very well on some of my ECs as they might give the impression that I am doing one thing when I did something else. </p>

<p>My question is whether I should do all of this? Do you think this will be going too overboard with everything? The space that they give for Updated Information is really small (although they say you can use additional space). Do you think sending in 2 additional teacher recs + resume + additional essay is way too much? </p>

<p>Thanks for any advice and congrats on everyone that got in.</p>

<p>The rule of thumb I had heard was only submit additional stuff if it has something new in it. Two more letters of recommendation, unless you know they are absolutely stellar, probably aren’t going to have much new.</p>

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<p>This is something new that wasn’t on your original app that could cause them to re-think their decision. </p>

<p>Hopefully someone more familiar with the admissions department will post something, but I would advise sending in a note about stuff that wasn’t on your original app. I don’t think two more recs or an additional essay is necessary.</p>

<p>Yea thanks for the advice. I was hoping to get one from a professor at a local university who teacher a math class and my Calc/Multi teacher who knows a lot about math club and would probably elaborate about math club.</p>

<p>send in a resume if it has a lot of awards and info
but i wouldn’t send in the 2 more recs unless it can really show something not on your app already</p>

<p>jdhutchin is right. Only send in an additional rec letter if it will add something new to your app. For example, if you have a rec letter from someone involved with an EC that you didn’t talk about much, but that is important to you, that might be added value. </p>

<p>Also, I wouldn’t worry about “annoying” the admissions counselors. They want to know that people they admit want to attend Caltech. Showing that you care isn’t a bad thing. </p>

<p>Finally, don’t be discouraged. EA apps are very competitive; you still have the same chance as anyone applying RD.</p>

<p>I don’t know anything about admissions. I think an additional recommendation from a university professor with whom you have worked DOES significantly add to the application. And the additional stuff like the chemistry award and the additional essay to elaborate on your ECs would also add significant information. I agree, though, that unless it adds a new dimension or a new depth, it probably isn’t worth sending in. OTOH, you ask “Do you think this will be going too overboard with everything?”. I doubt if they’ll get too ticked off when they invite you to send more stuff in, so in my extremely uninformed opinion it wouldn’t hurt. Good luck to you in all your applications.</p>