question #2: what to do the summer before senior year?

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I know colleges really care about what you did SPECIFICALLY in the summer before senior year. I'm a bit lacking in the volunteer section yet I dont want to just randomly choose a place and do it for 2 months.  Do you have any suggestions? 


RESPONSE


If you want the summer before your senior year to look important, you might want to consider some activities that you are already doing. Are you on math team? Do you love piano? Dancing? Science? You can pick an interest that you've already developed through extracurricular activities and then choose a volunteer activity accordingly. For example, if you're on math team or if you're really passionate about math, you could volunteer at math camps for kids! If you love science, you could volunteer at a hospital. Search around your area for camps already set up for kids - these places usually are more than welcome to receive help from motivated high school students! You could even write about this experience in your common application essay, extracurricular short essay, or any relevant supplements.

question #1: what are colleges looking for in their essays?

Hi! I've been receiving some questions about the college process, which I will be posting up (completely anonymously). I bolded the questions so you can clearly see what I'm going to be answering.

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What is the kind of person that an Ivy League school wants to read about, and how do you get that impression across?

For example, if you're writing about mathematics, would it be terrible to include a significant amount of mathematical details in your essay? I guess the question is, is esoteric knowledge good in an essay? While I don't want to look like a kid who is just throwing in factoids from Wikipedia to seem smart, it's my opinion that in order to build yourself up as the kind of person they want to see, you have to show them that you can make connections and use critical thinking.

Going back to the mathematics example: that doesn't mean that the focus of my essay would be my love of mathematics -  that's a little boring and cliché. It means that I would include occasional details that would be way over the average reader's head. Is that bad?

RESPONSE

For the CommonApp - I think you should remember that the readers of your essay may not be experts in the mathematical field. Therefore, esoteric terms and concepts may confuse them unless the definition or reasoning is implicit within the essay. You should also keep in mind that even if it is an expert who is reading your essay, what you may think is conceptually challenging as a high school student may still seem very elementary to the expert. I'm not saying don't include these ideas because you should if you know it or if it actually influences the way you act and think - but balance it carefully throughout your essay. Remember that the reader wants to understand you and your personality; they don't need a lesson in mathematical concepts. The most important thing, I believe, is to explain the why in your love for math. What gets you excited about math? Why can you talk about it for hours? How does it influence your life or change the way that you think about things?

Now, I'd like to go back to your original question of what Ivy Leagues want to see in students' essays. I'm not sure there's a simple answer for that. Most of all, like you already said ("I know that they want to read about people who are legitimately interested in the subjects that they pursue, and who distinguish themselves in those areas."), they want to see a passion in something. I don't think it necessarily has to be for a single field, because they know college is a time for students to branch out, grow, and change their minds about their passions. They want to see good writing as well, of course. And they want to visualize that the student will fit in well at their campus - which makes college admissions very, very random sometimes.

early...what? types of admission submissions for college

Early Decision - Early Decision means that if you are accepted to this school, you must go unless you cannot pay for it financially. DO realize that if you apply early decision, you ARE still allowed to apply to other schools with Early Action, but NOT Single Choice Early Action. (This is not suggested, but it is allowable.) ALSO realize that if you are a financial aid candidate, you are allowed to apply to other schools regular decision because of financial concerns. Make sure if you apply early decision, you really, truly want to go to that school. It might seem like a good idea to "play the college admissions game" and be admitted to a top-tier school/ivy simply because the early decision rates are higher than the regular acceptance rates, but you are bound to go there and there are no "take-backs". Schools with Early Decision include Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Amherst, Swarthmore, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Early Action - Early Action means that you are simply submitting your application early (sometime around November 1st), and that you will receive your decision earlier as well (sometime in mid-December). I'd say this is the one that I see absolutely no harm in doing unless you'd like to significantly boost your application through new SAT scores, etc. Some schools that offer this include University of Chicago, University of Michigan, MIT, and Harvard (which has JUST reinstated it for Class of 2012 high school seniors!).

Single Choice Early Action or Restricted Early Action - SCEA means you can only apply to one school early, although you can still apply using priority applications (especially for state schools.). On the bright side, if you are accepted, you are not binded to go and and take it easy, apply for more reaches if you wish.  In my opinion, SCEA is unhelpful unless there is no other school you see yourself in (and this choice is the only thing offered by the college) or if you are legacy. The restriction of applying to one school early action means that you miss the early application of lots of other schools including those listed above. Furthermore, especially with the top-tiered schools, you'll see the admission rate staying pretty constant with the regular decision acceptance rate. From my experience, legacies have had an advantage in this process. Some schools that offer SCEA include Stanford, Yale, and Princeton (just reinstated for Class of 2012 seniors).
*Suggestion: If you take the SCEA route, I recommend writing your other supplemental essays for reach schools you may apply for if you are accepted during the wait time. Many students, after being accepted into a top-tier college, lose the motivation to write more essays and then just don't end up submitting an application. I personally think having a choice is better than having no choice at all.

Priority Application - I have found no disadvantage in applying priority. Usually, you reap benefits such as scholarship consideration, obtaining an earlier admission decision, etc. Do be careful and make sure the priority application is non-binding though! Also, you are allowed to apply priority even if you have applied Early Decision OR Single-Choice Early Action! Schools include St. John's, Tulane, University of Florida, University of Maryland, etc.

Rolling Admissions - Admissions come out in waves, usually with a deadline given as the last day. This is nice because you receive a decision earlier than you anticipate and being accepted into a college is always a huge relief because at least you'll know "Alright. I can relax. I'm going to college."

who am i to give college advice?

This is an explanation of who I am, so you guys know where your source is coming from.

I'm going to be a freshman at an ivy league university (One of HYP, I don't wish to specify which one in order to keep my identity concealed). I attended a competitive public high school (and actually have never gone to private school.)

I was accepted into 8 of the Top 25 schools (as ranked on US News), of which I applied to 13. This number includes 3 of the Top 10 schools, and 2 of the Top 5 schools.

I'm fairly knowledgeable about most of the Top 25 schools though, mainly because my major is undecided and I spent a lot of time researching where it was I wanted to go/what specific majors/programs that each college excelled in.

If you wish to know details about which schools I was accepted into/applied to, or if you have any specific questions, I will answer in any emails directed to goingivyleague@gmail.com.

what to do over the summer as a rising senior

I revisited a site that I had spent hours and hours pouring over: http://www.collegeconfidential.com/

The site truly did help me in some ways - answering random questions about the CommonApp, scholarships, college mailings, and differences between "EA" or "ED". However, it often gave me much more anxiety than I needed to have, especially during the "pre-college year", as I like to fondly refer to June 2010 to April 2011.

Now, I'd like to give some advice for rising seniors who are about to start the college application process.

Pick your schools wisely, but promptly.
This is for the rest of your life. You don't get any re-dos (let's be honest, not too many people want to go through transfer applications all over again.). If you know what you want, go look for it! For example, if you want to be a business major in college, high prestige doesn't always mean they offer what you're searching for. Out of all the ivies, University of Pennsylvania is the only undergrad business school. Cornell has their Hotel school, but make sure that's something you want to do if you apply! Sometimes, schools that aren't as widely recognized - like Emory, Washington University in St. Louis, or UVA - also have highly ranked business schools. Look for your specific major or interest and see the undergraduate rankings for that, not just the general rankings from US News.


Find your disadvantages, and minimize them as much as possible.
If you aren't a stellar student, then make sure you have other activities/highlights to balance that out! If you don't have a 4.0, try to at least have high SAT or SAT II scores. If you don't have a plethora of activities that you've been heavily involved in, choose one and expand on it! Show colleges what you're passionate about and what you will add to their school. Convey what makes you different from the thousands and thousands of other applicants applying to their school! 

Find your advantages, and use them.
Are you a brilliant writer? Maybe you love science - and can prove it. Perhaps you have over a thousand community service hours because volunteering is a passion. Or have you had years and years of experience babysitting? Literally anything can be an advantage. The fact is, you don't know what that college is looking for. The best thing you can do is present yourself as brilliantly as possible on paper. You might ask: How can I show colleges what I'm made of? ESSAYS!!

Write a brilliant essay. And more brilliant essays for your supplements.
You want to have at least 20 drafts of your CommonApp essay. That means...START NOW. Yes, I know the CommonApp isn't even available yet, but you already know the topics (ie. anything!), they stay the same yearly. You want to know that you put your best effort in. I would highly suggest you have parents, teachers, coworkers, friends, your parent's coworkers, anyone you can find edit this. People can really contribute a new perspective that is sometimes hard to see yourself. I know I had some of my parent's coworkers edit my paper and it was really helpful because they didn't know me at all. They were able to say, "This doesn't make sense. Who is this person? Why is this even important?" while people who I already knew couldn't point those things out because they knew what I was talking about in my essays. Furthermore, you don't want to be bogged down by 14 more supplemental essays come the last week before applications are due. Seriously. Been there, done that....wasn't a good idea. 

Be organized.
While this might seem like a given, a lot of people mess this step up. Make a calendar, show all the due dates and deadlines. Start a task list. Put dates that you want to finish your essays by or dates you want to complete the extracurricular section by. College applications IS a step-by-step process! Don't try to do everything at once or else you won't even want to start at all.

Choose your teacher recommendations wisely.
You don't have to choose the teacher who was "really cool" or "really funny". Choose a teacher/class that you really think your character (positive ones, please) was revealed through. Choose a teacher who knows you; those who are sponsors of extracurricular activities are always a great choice (given that you've done a good job!). Once you've chosen, talk to them now rather than later. When they agree, compile a resume for them, maybe even discuss with them a few things you'd really like for them to highlight on. Put everything in a folder or a binder with a list of the colleges you wish for them to write to and due dates for those colleges as well. They're doing you a favor, you could at least make it easier for them.

There's definitely a lot more that I could talk about...so I'll update soon again. I just went through this. I'm here to help. So, if you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at goingivyleague@gmail.com. I'd be happy to answer anything!

If you want to learn more about the college process, the following links may help answer questions!
Types of "Early" Admission
Question 1: What colleges look for in essays
Question 2: What to do the summer before

the cost of caring

So basically, the supposedly "best week" of my life has just ended. Senior week at the beach with people I've loved for years and years.

And it's true, the week was amazing. It wasn't without drama. It wasn't without tears. It wasn't without feelings of depression, shit, and etc. But it was still the best week of my life. But I'm sitting back at home now. And I'm incredibly depressed.

Things learned:

1. Things don't go your way when drunk. Really.
2. If you want to do something right, do it sober.
3. Showing you care first means you lose all control. And it goes downhill from there.
4. Give up your money, give up your body, just as long as you don't give out your heart.
5. Physical attachment causes emotional attachment.
6. No matter how long you've prepared for another all-consuming love to come about, you're never really prepared.
7. It gets better with time. Hopefully.
8. Graduating means you don't have any more time or opportunity to fix your mistakes.
9. Having only memories left hurts.
10. High school is over for good.
11. You never notice how little time you have until it's almost gone.
12. Get wasted during beach week if you want to during high school at all - it's the best time because you don't have to face everyone again if you don't want to.
13. Saying too much is better than regretting not saying anything at all...at least you won't be plagued by the "what ifs".
14. Real friends get you out (or will at least try really hard) of anything: emotionally, legally, always.
15. People are nicer drunk. And high.
16. Don't get sloppy, it's not attractive.
17. Be safe, if anything. Your life isn't worth 20 minutes of fun or a few seconds of complete irresponsibility.
18. Your childhood is over.

attached before college

One thing my friends now expect is that I'm going to meet some gorgeous, wealthy, ambitious, multi-talented Mr. Perfect in college because "all ivy guys should be that amazing".

But, that's not what I'm looking for. In fact, I'm afraid I've gotten attached to someone who's slightly selfish (read: a guy), highly intelligent, eloquent, not that motivated, still gorgeous, caring individual who is flawed in so many ways (like...everyone else in the world)...but I love his flaws. Even when it ends up hurting me.

We had a good thing going on. Sort of. But I managed to mess everything up by admitting that he means a lot more to me than I should've. Basically, I screwed myself over for the rest of my summer. Summer, not my life, because that's all I'll ever have with him.

It's pathetic. It's sad. I'm  going to a fucking ivy league college and I'm  pining over some guy when I know I can do better. At least, that's what I'm  telling myself. I'm  not the prettiest girl and certainly not the most intelligent, but I care about him. I'm  pretty enough. I'm  smart enough. I have a sense of humor. We have chemistry. And I hate that he's the only one who really makes me feel comfortable with myself and not self-conscious when we're together. But once he leaves,  I'm  left a quivering 13-year-old girl who finds it hard to admire herself in the mirror.

This isn't the first time that things have gone down the drain; it's only the second. And as much as I hate being on this side of the weeping river, maybe I'm addicted because I sure as hell pull away all the time when a guy ever starts liking me. What do I do now? Hope that time heals everything? Be thankful that I'm getting a fresh start in college?