The dynamics of EA are definitely not the same as ED. In ED, they know that they will get you. In EA, they are giving you a free option.
So EA won’t be much different from RD at many schools. In fact, MIT explicitly says that.
Of course it’s good to be likable and when some humanity and humility come through. But it’s one bullet and the wise kid still runs that through some filters.
By all means create a CA essay that works for all your schools. Combine what you learn each wants. But for the supps, identical is a difficult to fathom shortcut. In this context, generic = common. You have to show 'em you get it. Nice doesn’t always mean the kid has any idea what a school is about.
@lookingforward Just curious, what exactly does “entrepreneurial about their educations” even mean? That they are passionate in one are? Or they go about their education in innovative ways?
@lookingforward
What does this mean?
@bomen I’m not sure why you’re repeating the supplemental essay questions, as if we don’t know them. I mentioned earlier that this is my practice. More importantly, it’s not all as interchangeable as you’re suggesting, because campus cultures of the various Elites ARE NOT THE SAME. (Sorry for shouting, don’t think it’s possible to bold here.) They vary. A number of students try to copy/paste essays from one to another college. There are distinctions among Elite colleges – their programs, their emphases, their opportunities, and the campus cultures themselves.
“It’s not like flipping a coin and it eventually lands on heads. The most selective colleges each have a sort they look for- and need. And that’s more than just stats or success by usual hs standards (more AP, prez of some club, etc.) Columbia’s self-image, offerings, environment and pressures are different than Dartmouth’s. If a kid doesn’t have an idea what each college is about and values (and I do mean the hard work of figuring this out,) and if he can’t pull it together in his apps, then potshot won’t help.”
Precisely, LF.
@epiphany
you can bold with the bold tags [x] where x=b **
I get what you are saying but it doesn’t really make any sense in practice.
First if an applicant shows that they have a passion for improving their community, there isn’t any university in America that wouldn’t like that trait.
On the flip-side as an applicant it would be far too difficult to try and pinpoint the minuscule differences between universities and then try to incorporate that into the essays. Too difficult and impractical. Course offerings and facilities would be the extent of what is realistically possible; which basically boils down to the “why us?” essay.
I feel that when it comes down to campus cultures a lot of the differences have to do with self-selection.
Ah, but when you are older and have developed more wisdom and cunning, these differences become more apparent. A certain number of advisors would be able to direct a motivated applicant in this respect.
@JustOneDad
Okay please tell me what differences I should make between writing an essay to USC and Yale?
Couldn’t tell you right off, primarily because USC is not a word in our household.
@JustOneDad
Okay Michigan and Yale.
You’re joking, right?
It’s too bad that you can’t have the 1st kid go through this twice… because D and me are much smarter on January 2 than we were back on Sept 1, 2014…but what can you do? in her case, she applied to 14 schools…the list grew as we began to better understand the finances and difficulty of getting into colleges…so far, she’s 3 for 4…but i’m not sure i can predict what will happen with remaining 10 (the hard ones)…what i do know is that the rejection is hard…and applying (well) to 14 colleges was very very difficult…and she may not be done yet…there are a couple of safety schools with Jan. 15 that she might shoot for…
@JustOneDad
Kinda.
My point is that if I said MIT & CalTech v Harvard & Yale you could make some reasonable assumptions between what those schools are looking for in students. e.g. the formers are looking for students with exceptional qualities in math and science.
But when it comes to (most) other universities. Even ones so different as USC, Yale, and Michigan, the cultural differences aren’t quantifiable enough to really help in the application process.
@SouthernHope
You can always take a gap year or try transferring later if you learned a lot from the first year of admissions.
Different schools are proud of different things. This is where doing research and getting your hand on alumni magazines (as well as reading through CC and other resources on the web) is helpful.
Yeah, but if your kid gets Yale deferred and you decide that the best course of action is to apply to 20 more top schools, that’s going to take some doing beyond simply making some changes to your essay pool.
@PurpleTitan
USC is proud of the Trojan Family and Trojan Network. Should I write about that like the thousands of other applicants who have received USC marketing information?
Does it work?
@JustOneDad
USC is kinda a stat whore so it doesn’t really matter what you write as long as your grades are good.