<p>How did you guys work around the 'we strongly discourage resumes' problem? Especially for those who have lots of ECs</p>
<p>By not sending a resume.</p>
<p>You have numerous essays where you can incorporate your ECs, and there is an extra page where you can add anything you want (you can upload a document) at the end of common application.</p>
<p>wait, so does that mean that you could use that last page to list any other ECs? :o</p>
<p>yes, or to expand on something you have crammed into that little common app EC box...</p>
<p>It's recommended that you not; they want you to choose your most important/significant ECs, ideally those that will show a passion/focus. So be careful of what you choose to do with that extra page.</p>
<p>This is the first we've realized that they discouraged a resume. My son's GC already included one in the school packet. He checked all of his schools' application instructions to see if they did not want one in order to tell her to leave it out, but missed Stanford because the request is on such an odd place! The packet's been sent. Should he acknowledge it and apologize or just forget it, since it really didn't come from him, in a way? Aaaack!</p>
<p>^^ don't worry about it. It won't make a difference, in your case.</p>
<p>definitely agree on not having a lot of ECs on that page, but if you do have a passion, the commonapp EC box isn't adequate to let you tell them about how you've progressed in that area, and so that page aptly called Additional Informaiton is a good place to put it. Standard stuff like Varsity sport, editor-in-chief of school paper, Honor socieities etc fit into the tiny common app space ok, but your passions won't!</p>
<p>uh... shoot? I already sent mine in, but I apparently missed the "we strongly discourage resume" note. I put the resume in the additional information section in the common app. On Stanford's additional info section, I attached one of my abstracts for a research project. Will there be any frowning from the admissions?</p>
<p>^^ I assume there would be a bit of frowning, but they probably see it enough not to get too mad. The idea, though, is not to annoy the adcoms in any way. You should be fine.</p>
<p>What if you have lots of awards that don't fit in the tiny 500 character box in the common app. I listed my awards and descriptions in the Additional Information section. Will this annoy the Stanford adcoms?</p>
<p>I think it would be unreasonable for any adcom to be annoyed by information that is of importance to the app. That is the only place the common app offers to provide that information, so it's the logical place to put it. My daughter did the same thing for the same reason.</p>
<p>^^ They want the students to choose the most important ones, ideally those that show a passion/focus. They have 23,000+ applications to go through, so you can see why.</p>
<p>I think we may be talking about different things here. Certainly, they want you to choose your most important ECs, not have a laundry list a hundred long. However, as far as the honors, awards etc column for ECs is concerned (not the academic awards box, which allows more characters), there is a VERY small character limit for it - I think it's about 50 or so. One could not fit in the name and very short explanation of even one of the awards in my daughter's main EC. I am sure she is not the only one with this problem. </p>
<p>i am not an admissions officer, but there are many books written by admissions officers, many of which I have read. They all emphasize that the only way you can show accomplishment in an EC is through external recognition, and that you should indeed use some part of the app to show your level of accomplishment in your EC. If there are only 50 or even 100characters in which to list recognition, only the most well known awards in the most well known ECs can be properly listed. This is contrary to a holistic admissions process, where candidates can have a variety of interests and none is intrinsically better than another, so I would have to believe that the common app Additional Information section is meant for exactly that - important additional information. </p>
<p>Of course, it needs to be relevant and important, and related to your main ECs, not the pee-wee soccer award from 4th grade!</p>
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there is a VERY small character limit for it - I think it's about 50 or so.
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<p>It's 500, not 50.</p>
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One could not fit in the name and very short explanation of even one of the awards in my daughter's main EC. I am sure she is not the only one with this problem.
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<p>Well, nobody has that problem, because nobody's pressured to fit their awards/honors into 50 characters. However, even for 500 characters, students complain. Unfortunately, Stanford doesn't care; they want you to choose the most important ones, which may or may not include your impressive awards. And you can't really expect Stanford to care -- they have thousands of applicants to evaluate: transcripts, recommendations, score reports, essays, applications, etc.</p>
<p>oh dear, I am really concerned that students reading this thread are going to get themselves into trouble. I am not a Stanford admissions office or any sort of admissions officer, but the common app is common to all colleges, and once you submit it locks and you can't change it. If stanford is indeed unique amongst all colleges in wanting 500 characters to describe your passion, and you go with that, and send that to all your colleges, it seems to me you are going to disadvantage yourself heavily, since adcoms from Harvard, Dartmouth, Duke, etc in their books have all been extremely clear about how important it is to elaborate on the ECs of most importance to you in considerably more depth than that. So I am just adding this caution for students, to weigh the consequences of their choices.</p>
<p>My daughter has long since submitted her apps, and though she read instructions carefully, did not take from it that this was the requirement, and so has added more color to her main EC in the Add'l Info section of the common app. I guess, given the nature of the common app, everyone is going to have to figure it out as best they can. I personally find it hard to believe this is really what Stanford wants (they are certainly explicit about many things, including the Add'l Info part of their Supplement, but did not say anything like this for the Common App part) but I am just an anxious parent, and can't read tea leaves.</p>
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If stanford is indeed unique amongst all colleges in wanting 500 characters to describe your passion
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<p>It isn't. There's simply a 500-character limit that the Common App places on that field.</p>
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how important it is to elaborate on the ECs of most importance to you in considerably more depth than that.
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<p>And you do this in the 'activities' short answer, and/or the long essay (perhaps even the supplement).</p>
<p>where does it say they don't want resumes?</p>