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Hi parents, I’m a student and new to this board! I’m basically on my own to fill out all my applications because my parents don’t know anything about the whole college process and my school is having a transition in the counseling department. Anyways, with that said, I need a lot of help compiling my applications.

I am finishing all my common applications this week and I have everything ready: I just need to know what to include.

What is the maximum amount of supplementary essays can I add without making my app overloaded? I read somewhere that when you include too much info the admissions people get irritated. *I have a two page supp. essay and a one page supp. essay that I want to enclose*

Is it ok to attach a 3 page graded essay (an analytical essay from an AP English class) even if the colleges don’t ask for one?

If my ACT is significantly higher than my SAT, does it look bad if I only submit my ACT score (since the emphasis seems to always be on SATs)?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. College applications can be so confusing!

By Morgantruce (Morgantruce) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 08:11 am: Edit

Submit both ACT and SAT scores. The colleges will only consider the higher of the two.

While I'm a fan of sending in several essays, I feel that sending in a graded essay is a bit over the top. Sending in an extra essay or two (if short) is probably OK---but NOT if the college specifically says they want just one.

Several people on CC tend to think that you can get away with sending multiple essays to smaller liberal arts colleges rather than much larger institutions that get flooded with applicants. My older daughter sent in four or five essays to LAC's and did just fine. Since she accepted an ED offer, she never got to find out how some larger universities would have viewed the multiple essays. I suspect that the bottom line is: if the essays are excellent, it will help. If the essays are so-so, you will hurt your chances.

A short cover letter which, among other things, explains your high level of enthusiasm ("I so wanted the adcom to see both of these....") might help ease the way into their hearts. Don't use THAT quote---it's pretty sappy!

By Drusba (Drusba) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 09:50 am: Edit

Are you applying for Fall 2004 entry? Though there are still many schools taking applications, be aware that for a large number of schools the application deadline has already passed and for many others mid-January is the deadline. In other words, if you are just now getting around to applying you better make sure the places you are applying to are still taking apps and then you better make sure that you get in everything to that school -- app, transcripts, test scores, recommendations, and anything else required -- by the app deadline and then any financial aid forms, including FAFSA, in which your parents will have to be involved, by the financial aid deadline.

As to essays, I would likely provide what is asked for and not extras unless the school says it will take them. Many schools require one main essay (and then some additional shorter essays). The purpose of the essay is to find out if (a) you are an interesting person, and (b) you can write in a clear, well-organized manner that is grammatically correct. And for many schools (b) is far more important than (a). Thus, you should devote your efforts to accomplishing those two things in the essay or essays allowed and if you fail to accomplish those in the essays allowed, sending more is not going to help.

If your ACT is actually significantly higher then, as long as the schools take either (most colleges), send the offical copy of the ACT. They are going to get your SAT score anyway because it is going to show up on your high school transcript; thus don't spend the extra money to send an offical copy of your worse score. It will not look bad if you don't send that offical copy of the SAT.

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 10:08 am: Edit

There is a saying among adcoms, "The thicker the file, the thicker the applicant." Thus, be judicious about submitting supplementary materials. In most cases, they are not needed and will not help your application.

Submit one extra letter if, for instance, you have done significant things outside of school but the recommendation that the college requires must come from teachers. For example, my older son had done major professional work in journalism. With his applications, he submitted an extra letter of recommendation from a publisher who had worked closely with him for six years and who wrote a letter attesting to my son's high level of skills and professionalism in that field.

When colleges allowed nonteacher recommendations as part of the required recommendations, my son submitted that letter as part of the required recommendations, and he didn't submit any extra recss. When the required recommendations had to be from teachers, my son submitted that letter as an extra.

I don't suggest submitting school papers unless they stand out for reasons such as: including extensive research far beyond what students normally do in high school, having been published in a professional journal or magazine, having won a major award at at least the state or regional level.

Even if your paper has reached that level, I don't suggest that you send the whole thing. The adcoms will not read the whole thing. An abstract should be sufficient. If what you want to submit is something like a professionally published newspaper article, that probably would be short enough for you to send the whole thing.

My son had had at least 100 articles professionally published in newspapers, but submitted only one of them just so the adcoms could see the kind of work he had done.

As for ACT vs. SAT, unless you tell the college you've taken the tests or unless your h.s. puts your scores on the transcripts (and you can ask the h.s. to remove such info from your transcripts. high schools will do this even when they are in the habit of routinely including such info), the college won't know what test you've taken. Take advantage of this, and if you have a choice, let the college see only the scores that show you in the best light.

I also suggest that you read one of the many excellent guides to selecting colleges. The ones by Time and US News are available on many magazine racks and provide excellent advice.

I also hope you'll keep using CC because there are many nice people who post here and are happy to help you.

Good luck!

By City_Girl (City_Girl) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 03:48 am: Edit

Thanks SO much for all your help! You have all helped me so much with your insight. And Northstarmom, I will definitely use CC again in the future.

Drusba: Yes, I am applying for Fall 2004, but I have finished the applications due before then (almost all the LACs I applied to had personalized apps). All that is left are my common apps for some schools that have later deadlines, so I just wanted to check if what I was sending was ok.

Again, thanks for all your advice!