<p>My daughter is in the process of filling out the online application, and she came to me with a question which I am unable to answer. She wrote to her regional rep, who is on the road until November, according to her autoreply. She then called the admissions office, but the person who said they would call her back within an hour hasn't called in 3 days. So...here's her question: The online application does not seem to provide a way to submit recommendations or to show extracurricular activities/community service/leadership. If those aren't considered, then it's fine. Her concern comes from the Admissions webpage and the Common Data Set, both of which say that one or all are considered. Her GPA is 3.45 and her SAT's are good, but not great (520/540/590 cr/m/w), so she does not need to use the alternate admission path. Should she submit the online application without this information, or will she be hurting her chances. I should say that Oregon is her first choice. Thank you very much.</p>
<p>Recs are usually sent by the high school (electronically most often). Not sure about ECs. My D will be doing her UO app very soon so I will be curious to know what you find out. Pls update the thread.</p>
<p>Thank you, pushydad. This is my 3rd round of college apps, so we are familiar with the protocol. My other daughter applied to and was accepted at Oregon, but did not submit any recs because it was during the automatic acceptance days and she had a 4.2 gpa. This time, we looked at the resources available to see how to best present her to the school. Since many state schools don’t even accept recs, I am trying to clarify what is or isn’t accepted with the online app. I hope the Oregon rep has a chance to answer our questions.</p>
<p>Hi ynottry, I’m very sorry you didn’t hear back from anyone you contacted. Unfortunately, many of our counselors are on the road at this time of year, but I do apologize for the lack of response. I’ve run your question by a few of my colleagues, and we’re going to take a second look at how we talk about extracurriculars (I agree that the differences between the Admissions website and the online app are confusing). The quick answer to your question is that we don’t want a simple list of extracurricular activities, and the best place to discuss them is in the application essay. </p>
<p>Regarding recommendations: we only require these from applicants who don’t meet our standard requirements. However, any that are sent will be read as part of the application review process, and they should be sent directly by the recommender (which is why there’s no space for them on the online application).</p>
<p>UOregon - Thank you very much for the detailed reply. My daughter is fine-tuning her essay, and I’m very excited to get a look at it when she’s ready to share it. I will pass your information along to her so she can incorporate any additional information she might wish to include. Best wishes to you and your colleagues as you go through this busy season.</p>