<p>Tarhunt thanks so much for explaining. I am learning so much on cc.</p>
<p>Jmom:</p>
<p>I know for a fact that Harvard and Princeton accept supplemental letters. </p>
<p>HYP are extremely hard to get into, but a student from East Asia wanting to major in Classics would be of great interest.There are other schools with great classics departments, such as Chicago, Columbia, and others whose names don't immediately come to mind. There are also great classics departments at the top liberal Arts Colleges such as Swarthmore, Williams, Amherst. This is not an exhaustive list. Your son should do some research and draw up a list of schools with varying degrees of selectivity that match his criteria not only in terms of majors but also location, size, and so on.</p>
<p>There are "tricks" to writing effective recommendation letters, and you may have to share tips with your son's Latin teacher (and others). Admission officers are leery of adjectives such as "diligent, hard-working, conscientious" as they suggest that only by dint of hard work can the student do well. In other words, the student is a bit of a drudge. So good recommendation letters will emphasize brilliance, creativity, imagination along with the more humdrum qualities. As well, the author should include examples of such brilliance or creativity. For example, mention might be made that an essay showed mature insights into the works of such and such author. Personal qualities such as initiative and leadership should also be mentioned (as applicable, of course). </p>
<p>I agree with Cheers that your son should send the best 3 letters (which means he or his guidance counselor if he has one, should review all of them).</p>
<p>Marite thank you and thank you so much for your view. I really appreciate this. Here where we live not many know what Latin is nor are interested. My son thought in the beginning that if he learned Latin it with help him with his english vocabularies. Now beyond this he thinks that studing Latin and classics will help him more with understanding the history(root) of western society. He wants to continue this in college. </p>
<p>Marite, when my son writes an essay for hiis college application what do you think he shouild include to show them he is interested in classics. How should my son approach in introducing himself to the adm. com. to show his interest in calssics in a most effective way? since we are not familliar wiith westerners and how they think it will be a challenge for us. Here in asia almost everything is in moderation. We are taught to be modest in everyway. In your opinion what do you think the adcom would like to see in an asian student wanting to major in Classics?
thanks a million</p>
<p>There's an often used phrase in the US. It's "show, don't tell." So in writing his application essay, your son should show his love of Latin, not just tell the readers that he loves it. He can do so through vignettes and anecdotes.<br>
He could explain how he got interested in Latin and now loves Latin for its own sake. He could describe a particular episode that really captures his experience learning Latin. Or he could describe how he wrestled with a particularly difficult passage in Ovid or Vergil or Cicero or some other author.</p>
<p>For that matter, the essay does not necessarily have to do with his academic interests. For example, the Chicago essay is famously quirky. One year, the writing prompt was "What would you do with a giant jar of mustard?" Some people wrote about having a huge feast. Another time, it was about a guest list to a banquet. Some students described their favorite guests (mostly dead). Stanford used to ask applicants to describe what a photograph meant to them. My S wrote about performing a skit with his friends at summer camp. One young woman wrote a wonderful essay about learning to like jogging. It was humorous and wry. You got the feeling that you'd like to get to know this young woman in person, that she would be fun to have around. You get the general idea. </p>
<p>In most top colleges, the adcoms want students who not only can do well academically but will contribute to making the community a more pleasant place to live. So they want students with different kinds of non-academic interests or achievements, whether in the arts, community service, journalism, or something else. They do like a variety of academic interests, geographical diversity and diversity of experiences. </p>
<p>Often the application includes several essays, one required, one optional and several shorter ones (such as why are you interested in this college?) This gives your son a chance to show different facets of himself.</p>
<p>Adding to Marite's wonderful reply, I would also suggest that you see if you can get a copy of one or all of these books, perhaps via Amazon or another online source: Writing the College Essay by Harry Bauld, Fiske Real College Essays, and perhaps also a copy of Essay Writing for Dummies. The first two books contain examples of "real" essays and will help your son get a sense of what an American college essay should be. (However, and this is VERY important, your son should NOT try to model his essay too closely on any essay in these books - he needs to tell his own story.) The last book is great because it explains how to write a great essay in step-by-step down to earth instructions.</p>
<p>I am going to send you a PM with some other suggestions as well.</p>