<p>Omit needless words.
–The Elements of Style</p>
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Mantori, you might want to double check your school’s policy on submitting senior grades.
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<p>Thanks for that advice. I will check.</p>
<p>Re: Essays- maybe this is advice most people already know but I heard it for the first time from an Admissions Director this weekend on a college tour. The three most common essay subjects are:</p>
<p>1) Mission trip/travel
2) Athletics or church experience
3) Why my Mom, Dad, grandparent, etc is my role model</p>
<p>She said they get tons of these and because of that they are usually very hard to slog through. She said you want to write about something unusual and memorable. Something that will make the person reading the essay want to meet you.</p>
<p>^my son’s essay is none of those, though amusingly it does start with an incident in Japan. (The essay is about folding origami.)</p>
<p>My son’s teachers have posted a flurry of new grades as the end of the first quarter approaches. The good news is that his D and F have now become C and D, respectively. The bad news is that an A and a B have also become C’s. So, as of today, nearly halfway through the semester, he has two A’s, one B, three C’s, and a D. That’s a 2.57 GPA.</p>
<p>It happens the same way, every semester, every year: Dig deep hole as quickly as humanly possible. Spend four months slowly climbing out of hole. Finish with mix of low A’s and high B’s, keeping everyone in suspense until report card is issued. Repeat.</p>
<p>The difference this year is that I’m tryingand, so far, managingnot to get excited about it. Sure, it bothers me, but I’m doing my best to have and convey the attitude that it’s his life, his grades, his future. If he wants good grades, he’ll figure out a way. If he defines success and happiness in some other way, then he’ll figure that out, too.</p>
<p>I just want scholarships.</p>
<p>Sigh.</p>
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<p>Interesting, my son’s starts with an incident in Hong Kong. Cool.</p>
<p>Heh heh. MomLive, an admissions person was at S’s school recently and described exactly those topics as “problematic.”</p>
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<p>Yep. I’ve had to come to terms with this over and over again…including the whole college application process (which son is determined to do 100% on his own, even if he does a poor job of it). As a parent, there is only so much you can do. The good news is I know tons of very highly successful adults who were not the top on the class in high school or even college. The majority of them went to the mediocre State U (not that all State Us are mediocre, by any means). Some went on to law school or medical school. A lot of them own their own businesses.</p>
<p>On the flip side, I know adults who were the class val, passed the CPA exam the first time out, attended at Ivy, etc. who are doing, at best, average in life. As much as I want my son to get the best education possible, it really isn’t an gauge on how successful a person will be later in life. That has more to do with motivation,drive and passion than attending the ‘best’ school.</p>
<p>At some point, you learn to let your child ‘own’ the problem and the consequences of their actions but it’s never easy! Especially, when potential scholarship money is involved :)</p>
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<p>Yeah! My thinking has always been, “Even if his big-school dreams don’t pan out, at least he’ll probably get a great scholarship to some school, somewhere.” But lately I worry about that, too.</p>
<p>DS1 had his first interview last night and it lasted an hour and 40 minutes! His interviewer, an alum of the college, did tell him it was the longest interview he’s had in recent years. DS1 felt it went well. Based on what he told me, I think it went well too. We’ll see.</p>
<p>Yale sets a limit on the length of its supplement essay, not on the essay on the common app. I agree if a college sets a length limit, it’s best to comply.</p>
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<p>[Applying</a> to Yale College | Frequently Asked Questions | Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.yale.edu/admit/faq/applying.html]Applying”>http://www.yale.edu/admit/faq/applying.html)
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<p>I’m sure almost every college feel as Yale regarding essay length.</p>
<p>Edit: What happened. How did my post show up below yours?</p>
<p>D’s common app essay was about 570, cut down from an original 620. It is tight with very little fluff. I think (and this is based on nothing other than my own personal opinion) anything shorter than 700 would be perfectly OK and under 300 is too short. I like 500. It’s not too long and not too short. However, no number should be set in stone. Write as much as necessary to get your point across and then stop. You’ll be amazed how close you get to 500 with judicial editing.</p>
<p>CrewDad, it appears that my ability to respond to imminent posts has improved – lol.</p>
<p>My guess is you edited your post after I had posted my response.</p>
<p>Main Common App essay here was at 2500 words before the last round of editing…
ACK!</p>
<p>Mantori,</p>
<p>As the mom of a son just like yours (slow start, initially poor grades, 5s on AP tests), boy can I sympathize with your post #1365. My son in a nutshell was the exact same boy last year…this type of last minute Larry does do well in college because the busy work is reduced…</p>
<p>Good luck with this admissions cycle…</p>
<p>Thanks for your encouragement, anothermom3.</p>
<p>You mention something that has always stuck in my craw. Teachers and counselors always tell my son (and me) that he’d better adapt to this workload, Because It’s Only Going To Get Harder In College. To which I say, poppycock!</p>
<p>My high school was none too impressive, and I thought college was much easier. I graduated 172nd out of 474 from my average, urban, public high school, and got a 4.0 my first semester as a math major in college. I graduated with a 3.5 GPA and got admitted to some excellent grad schools. Nothing in my high school record would have predicted such an outcome except my standardized test scores. The biggest difference was, as you say, the emphasis on actual learning over busywork.</p>
<p>So I take heart. :)</p>
<p>S1 would totally agree, mantori. One of the first things he had to say about college: “the homework is finally relevant!” He was one of those kids who was not always diligent about turning in HW (though he pretty much always did it).</p>
<p>M.S.,</p>
<p>Or as Paul Simon put it…</p>
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<p>from Kodachrome</p>
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<p>I really remember that my HS was generally better than that, but D’s experience certainly mirrors Paul’s.</p>