<p>Susan, you are so right about why applicants decide to apply to Harvard.</p>
<p>Many whom I have interviewed have said that they applied to Harvard, "because of the name," "It's the gold standard," "It's so prestigious."</p>
<p>Not one of the students who gave such replies has gotten in. That's not because Harvard would reject them because of their reasons for applying. Indeed, Harvard specifically asks alum interviewers NOT to rate students on their interest in Harvard. </p>
<p>However, students who can only superficially answer why they've applied to a college are equally superficial when it comes to writing essays, doing coursework, doing research, etc., and their applications and recommendations reflect this. Someone who isn't intellectually curious enough to find out what the college that they're applying to has to offer them is not intellectually curious enough to be able to thrive on a campus like Harvard's. </p>
<p>"Thriving," doesn't mean get a diploma: Most applicants have the ability to do that. "Thriving" means being able to dive into the EC and academic opportunities and follow their passions and interests.</p>
<p>Pyewacket, there are many different ways to crack a nut. Our experience was that more is not necessarily better, "enough" is what you want, and what is "enough" depends. You've been reading and posting here long enough to absorb what I think is a lot of extremely good advice from knowledgeable folks like Soozie and NSM - just help your child distill it into the best application for her.</p>
<p>My daughter steadfastly refused to do a cover letter, even though I thought it sounded like a pretty good idea. Her high school packages and ships the apps for the students with recs and school profile included - who knows, maybe they include some sort of checklist-like cover, I know they put in a little card for the colleges to stamp and return.
She did do a resume, because her high school also highly encourages use of the Common App, and she had some ECs that did not fit well. Her approach was to make the COmmon App entries very brief and bulletpoint like - much discussion about which were the 3 most important ECs, and how to convey as much as possible in as few words as possible. Then she attached a more complete (but still one page) resume. She submitted no extra materials whatsoever.</p>
<p>I, personally, was concerned about this, because her ED school did not require anything over her Common App essay - no supplemental essays at all. Her Common App essay was not as well written as some of her later essays, not as good as the short answer. She had a tough time coming up with a topic, and didn't get the tone of these essays down, until she had written a couple. Because of her topic in the main essay, you did get a view of her personality, but no sense of why she would want to go to any particular school and no feel for her intellectual curiosity or interests. I wasn't too concerned about the intellectual curiosity bit, I knew she would get at least one wonderful teacher rec, that would speak more powerfully of her as an intellectual, thinking person than anything she could write about herself, but i did think that a little paragraph in the additional materials section on "Why I am attracted to School X,Y,Z" or a cover letter with a few sentences on the same theme, was a really good idea.</p>
<p>She didn't and it all worked out, there are many ways to do this, and sometimes you just give them the best advice you can.</p>
<p>Cangel, I SO agree with you. There is NO formula. Do kids get in with no resume? Of course they do. Do kids get in without cover letters? All the time. I think the thing is, you can read all these ideas and glean which makes sense to take in. That is why I gave the example of a pretty prominent poster here in the past who had advised about sending copies of all the correspondence the kid had with those at the school (his D's got in) but I just could not see doing that but took the idea that when they talked about why they wanted to go, to then mention that they had met with so and so, or observed such and such class or been in contact with certain people and learned such and such which appealed to them for whatever reason. So, you gotta do what works for you. </p>
<p>For some kids, maybe the activity list on the application can say it all. For a kid who is heavily engaged in ECs, it might not. Some send additional materials, we did not (but the resume). It is not so much like there is a right or wrong way to go about this. Kids get in using common app, kids get in using specific apps. Online vs. Paper, same thing. I think you gotta take from various approaches and do whichever works but the bottomline is to show effort and show WHO you are so they get to know you from the application. How you go about that might differ. Certainly, there are suggested ways of going about it that some might find helpful and others won't. </p>
<p>Also, certain ways or approaches are more important for certain types of schools. The "interest" factor is not as big at a big place like Penn State, compared to a LAC. Huge care in presenting oneself is not as critical in more numbers based admissions schools. Also, for more mid range schools, some of these little extra touches are not as important because they are not as selective and lots is based on qualifications. Some of this stuff matters way more for very selective schools when every applicant has the credentials so you want to really show who you are and what makes you tick beyond the numbers because they are gonna look at lots of factors because numbers alone won't set you apart. I'm not into gimmicks but am into really individualizing your application and really showing who you are so that the reader has a picture of you when done his/her perusal. There are many ways to accomplish it.</p>
<p>I'm planning to apply to Columbia ED and this thread is the first time I've heard anything about cover letters. Columbia prefers the online application, so I intend on using that instead of the paper app. It seems a little...overdone to send in another set of papers with a cover letter/statement of intent/resume etc...My school writes down all of my awards and EC on my transcripts and I'm planning on having two extra recommendations. Do you have any suggestions as to what I should add?</p>
<p>I have a question for everyone. I'm applying to a college that asks,
"We are committed to building a superb educational community with students of diverse talents, experiences, opinions and cultural backgrounds. What would you as an individual bring to our campus community?"</p>
<p>What are some things I should focus on in this essay(250 wrds)? I'm trying really hard not to say ' I will bring a suitcase', but I can't figure out what exactly the question asks.</p>
<p>That essay prompt is wide enough to sail an ocean liner through. They are inviting you to write about any unique event, experience, or interest that might add to the tapestry of the student body.</p>
<p>Between that prompt and the common app essay, you should figure out how to tell stories about the two (or even one) special things in your life that would be the most compelling reason to accept you over the next applicant with the same stats.</p>
<p>Think like an adcom. What could someone learn about you that would make them think, "Wow. This student would really add something to our campus"?</p>
<p>Once you have identified the "things" you want to feature on your application, you can then go back and decide which essay prompts are best suited to which "thing". Consider the essay prompts more as blank pages for you to use in painting a picture of yourself than specific questions looking for specific answers like a multiple choice pop quiz.</p>
<p>I had to smile at your post. When I was in English comp, our first assignment was to answer the question: "How did you get into this class?" one wit answered: "I walked." There went the five-paragraph essay. :)</p>
<p>Whaat would you bring to the school community? Your interests, both academic and extra-curricular, be they sports, arts, community service, journalism, etc... Your personality: hopefully, you are not going to hole up in your room or the library all the time, but will be an active participant in the life of the college. </p>
<p>As for a cover letter, all my S wrote on it was a list of materials he was sending. But I know that some cover letters are used to express interest in the college, to mention visits to the college, meetings or corresponce with profs, etc... which cannot always be included in the application proper.</p>
<p>aren't all essay prompts supposed to help admission officers find out what you will bring to their campus.. i just wish the question wasn't so open-ended!</p>
<p>Confidential, I agree with Interested Dad on this one. The essay prompts sometimes are wide open. What you need to do before even dealing with the prompts is to identify "marketing points" about yourself that you want schools to know about you. Identify which of your attributes you want them to learn when done reading your application. Once you have those "points", plug various ones into the essay prompts available. Once you do that, think of anecdotes that will bring that point home. Use Point A and/or B for one essay and point C and/or D for the other essay or however many essays are required. Usually no matter what the prompt is, you can plug in one of your essay ideas and even use it for another school that has another open ended prompt that may differ but works with that same essay or needs a bit of tweaking to fit the prompt. The main idea here is to find what you want them to know about you and plug that into an essay. This prompt lets you plug in whatever essay you had plans to write on whichever attributes about yourself that you had hoped to bring out (through one or more vignettes).
Susan</p>
<p>We were "less is more" folks. DD just sent in apps - no cover letter, resume, etc. Her teachers used the common app recommendation form and sent the SAME letter photocopied for all the schools she applied to. She got into all of them: Bowdoin, Carleton, Rice, Macalester, Grinnell, Oberlin, etc. with good FA and/or merit aid. As many posters mentioned, some kids get in with extra resumes, cover letters, etc and some get in without them. It is IMPOSSIBLE to determine if the extra materials are helpful or not. I have a feeling that the most important application issue is that the application gives a focused sense of the individual applying, and the individual should have the passion/scholarly focus that colleges are looking for.</p>