"Ten Stupid Ways to Ruin Your College Application"....Washington Post

Parents Social Lounge
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<p>somewhat tongue & sheet article about the "don'ts" of application efforts.....</p>

<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101600543.html?hpid=news-col-blog%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101600543.html?hpid=news-col-blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>...see the full article for explanations of each point....</p>

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Remember, these are things you should NOT do.

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1. Rack up as many extra points as you can for "expressed interest" in your favorite colleges.

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2. Don't worry about your postings on social networking sites -- college admissions officers understand your need for individual expression and will probably never look at them.

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3. When sending messages to admissions officers, the wilder the e-mail address the better.

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4. College interviewers like jokes and exaggerations, so let fire.

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5. Load up your application with as many activities as you can think of and don't mention anything that makes you look bad.

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6. Use your application essay to expand upon how great your grades, scores and activities are.

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7. Nobody knows you when you are touring a college, so if you want to wear a T-shirt from a rival university or make a cellphone call, go right ahead.

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8. Let your parents do whatever they need to do to help you get admitted.

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9. Colleges are attuned to all the latest fads, so when e-mailing them, it is fine to use text- message abbreviations.

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10. Don't proofread your application carefully and don't bother to check to see if the envelope in which you placed the application or letter of recommendation for College A might actually have the address of College B.

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2

<p>THis article is priceless...Our guidance department actually just posted this on their website......</p>

3

<p>LOL.</p>

<p>To the OP: the expression is "tongue in cheek." Not to be the English Police, just thought you'd like to know. :)</p>

4

<p>mommusic...yikes, of course.... my mental spell check is apparently not working this am :) [I failed the #10 point, but by golly, my kid better never do that!]</p>

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<p>Haha. I've seen all sorts of variants on common expressions, put forth by people whose native tongue isn't English and who are just going on a phonetic understanding of the words.</p>

<p>Oh no, I've never put a bill in a reply envelope with the address backwards so it comes back to me. :D</p>

6

<p>I can't believe 'miss the application deadline' isn't on the list at least once.</p>

7

<p>Forwarded this to our GC. Thanks. Needed something lighthearted on this topic.</p>

8

<p>Great article. They are all true. </p>

<p>Jay Matthews has a kid at my kid's college. So, he's been through this as a parent, like the rest of us.</p>

9

<p>LOL! I sent it to all of my friends whose kids are applying this year!</p>

10

<p>Thanks for posting the link, Papa Chicken! Just printed the article for a couple of kids I'm helping this year.</p>

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<p>Heh, nice article. Some of them seem obvious, though, like #10...</p>

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<p>oh god that scared me. for a minute I thought these were the things we were supposed to do....</p>

13

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I can't believe 'miss the application deadline' isn't on the list at least once.

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<p>It's mentioned, at least.</p>

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The best proof of genuine interest in a college is to send it all the material it requested in good order and on time.

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14

<p>Are colleges really going to look at someones application, and then find their posts on a social networking site? What are the odds?</p>

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<p>I suppose that if the odds exist, that's still one person who might see your "self-expression" and think, "next!"</p>

<p>So as long as there is a chance, you're being quite dumb to risk it.</p>

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<p><em>nods</em> Same risk once you actually get into college, as well. You put evidence of something illegal on there, and school officials can still see it. Not to mention any possible future employers.</p>

<p>There are ways to help protect your privacy, but it's safest not to put things like that there at all.</p>

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<p>Use your privacy settings, duh.....alarmists!</p>

18

<p>I agree - this should be a non-issue, if people use common sense about their networking sites. But I'd still be curious to know how many overworked adcoms make it a point to check out myspace or facebook. I was surprised when my d told me that the common app asks for the applicant's IM name. It's not mandatory to provide it, though.</p>

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<p>Don't think that privacy settings affect administrators of the sites. I'd be willing to bet that administrators at colleges can see everyone on their college's Facebook group, particularly if it's hosted on their network. And your individual privacy settings aren't going to stop them.</p>

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<p>I think the best thing that could happen would be to bust open MySpace and Facebook for the world to read and see what these kids are REALLY like. It might be an eye opening experience. If the want to be in the adult world, they need to act like it.</p>