Applying to college

xenu

Banned deucer.
it's that time of the year again, and both the CommonApp and the UCAS (for those of you applying to the UK) are live. so, high school seniors of smogon - how's the application process going? where are you applying? for those of you already at college - what advice can you give us hopefuls?

[User requested omission]

writing the essays for each and every college is a hassle, as is applying for financial aid. but hey - i'm sure it'll be worth it.
 
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Tangentially related: applying for graduate school this year and completely clueless about where to go. Probably going to apply to a lot of schools to see who lets me in, but I really don't know how funding works, what schools look for in applications, or what to look for in a grad school. Probably looking at Materials Science / Electrical Engineering if it helps any.
 

Cresselia~~

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it's that time of the year again, and both the CommonApp and the UCAS (for those of you applying to the UK) are live. so, high school seniors of smogon - how's the application process going? where are you applying? for those of you already at college - what advice can you give us hopefuls?

[paragraph omitted at OP’s request]

writing the essays for each and every college is a hassle, as is applying for financial aid. but hey - i'm sure it'll be worth it.
For those who are applying universities from the UK, bear in mind that they value interests a lot.
So, for the personal statement, try proving how much you like the subject and what you have already done in the fields related to the subject.\
e.g. "I visited this particular lab tour when I was ___ years old." "I once did this experiment, successfully." or "Although my experiment didn't work out, I realized ____ from this experiment." "I was the first in my class who came out with ____ idea"

Since you could only have one personal statement for UCAS, make sure you don't apply for stuff that's too different.

They HATE: "I applied this because my friend.../ my girl friend.../ my boy friend..../ my parents....:



And for those who are applying for universities in USA, I think it's important to prove who all-rounded your talents are.
(If I remember correctly. Correct me if I'm wrong)


People usually need a separate personal statement for the US, because the strategy is very different.
 
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I feel bad about flaunting ecock but I have a 4.0 and 36 ACT (I've never taken the SAT but I have to take it to qualify for National Merit so that will happen eventually). Extracurricular-wise, I've got 4 years of Track, 3 years of Cross Country, and 4 years of academic teams. I'm the service coordinator of my NHS chapter and a 2 year member of my school's Y Club and I still don't have as much service as I probably should.

Looking for some kind of STEM major; my top school is MIT, but I'm also looking at Duke, Chicago, Princeton, Purdue, Rice, Virginia, and Vandy. I already have a ~800 word essay for National Merit that I could use for the Common App if I shorten it to the word limit, so that's out of the way. However, MIT doesn't take the common app, and their application requires 5 essays and an interview (fuck interviews. like seriously). Between my 6 CA schools (ignoring other safeties) I have 15 more supplementals. The good news is I'm only applying early to MIT, Chicago, and Virginia so the rest can wait (or maybe never happen? please?).

As for advice, my first one would be to do the "member questions" for every common app school immediately because some schools have "stealth essays" that you only get if you give a certain answer to some question. I honestly have nothing to say about the essays that hasn't already been said, just focus on some sort of detail and get people who know you really well to read it and say if it represents "you" (I feel disgusted just typing that). Remember that this whole process is bullshit and realize that where you go to undergrad really isn't that important.
 

Ash Borer

I've heard they're short of room in hell
yeah, it's just fugging undergrad. My geophyiscs professor last semester went to some school I'd never heard of in quebec for undergrad, and harvard for his PhD. I mean these ivy league schools are ludicrously expensive, I hope you got the scholarships and such if you get in, guys.
 

chaos

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Tangentially related: applying for graduate school this year and completely clueless about where to go. Probably going to apply to a lot of schools to see who lets me in, but I really don't know how funding works, what schools look for in applications, or what to look for in a grad school. Probably looking at Materials Science / Electrical Engineering if it helps any.
PhD or masters? I can give you advice for your PhD applications, but I don't know too much about masters programs.

edit: and good luck for all of those applying to Princeton this year! I'm taking 1-2 years off from the CS PhD program there, but if you if you get in and I'm back, drop by the CS building and say hi :)
 
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Solace

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i'm applying to elon university in north carolina early decision because i just fell in love with the school upon visiting it, and i'm probably headed back down there again just to make sure it's ~the one~. as far as stats go, i have a 2180 sat, 32 act (though i'm probably not sending it in), a 3.87 gpa, i'm treasurer of a fundraising for a school club that raises money for kids with cancer and vice president of italian honor society, i'm on the varsity lacrosse team and i was a commended national merit scholar /brag. i'm super stressed out though because i'm going through my 3rd rewrite of my essay prompt (elon isn't on the common app so it's a different essay selection). my school is ridiculously competitive but applying to a college that's a bit off the beaten path as far as popular schools here is going to help, especially since my scores are a bit above their accepted average from what i can tell. i'm excited but nervous, and along with my ap courses this year i'm ready to tear my hair out tbh. i'm interested in majoring in some kind of communications because i want to be in pr for a tv network, and i liked elon's programs and required internships that they'll help you get. can't wait for this whole tedious application process to be over. i'll be celebrating november 1st and hopefully some time in december!

good luck to my fellow smogon class of 2014ers!!
 
Common App Essay is brutal. Supplemental ones are slightly better.

I'm applying to...

Northeastern
Tulane
Wisconsin
Georgia Tech
University of Miami
Vanderbilt
UGA
USC (South Carolina)
UTexas (Austin)
WPI (Worcester Poly)
Wake Forest
Clemson

EDing to Vanderbilt. I'd have no chance to get in if I didn't. I plan on majoring in Computer Science, don't think Vandy has a CS major though (so anywhere else). Any schools off the Common App I should just apply to that don't have supplements? I'm pretty nervous but Im 100% sure I'll get into at least some of them. I kind of want to go warm, I get really sick from the weather here when it's cold. I live in Massachusetts, reason why I'm applying to Northeastern and WPI. Madison is a sick city and Wisconsin is rolling so thats it for me. Haha.
 
I am a current senior going through the application process and my application looks pretty good—I have a 2360 SAT (1600 on the 1600 point scale), a decent amount of extracurricular activities, good SAT II scores, and varsity sports credits—but my one worry is my GPA. My school uses an x/100 scale rather than the typical 4.0 scale and we show colleges unweighted GPAs (extra points from AP and honors courses are not included). I go to a feeder school for a lot of prestigious universities (think Yale, Rice, Stanford, etc), and while you'd think all classes would be challenging, honors and AP classes are far more difficult than regular classes, so much so that the 86 I fought for in AP chemistry could have been an easy 100 in the "regular" chemistry course that my friends who don't care about school took. In fact, many of them even got averages over 100, though those aren't reported. My GPA is an 89.5 (rounded up that's an A! But I believe the exact decimal is reported to colleges) and I'm wondering how much my taking honors classes rather than regular courses will affect me...obviously GPAs aren't the only things colleges look at, but my dream school (Stanford) accepts people within the A range (the lowest they've accepted from my school is a 90.5). Obviously I know that Stanford will be a tough school to get into, but a lot of other less prestigious colleges have very high average accepted GPAs, so I hope my class choice won't end up biting me in the ass...I've calculated my weighted GPA and it would be a 97.9, so I'm sure I could have laid off on some of the courses I took.

I plan on either applying to Rice University or Stanford early. I know Rice has a 33% acceptance rate for early admissions, but if I were to hypothetically get into both schools, I'd regret being forced to go to Rice because I applied early. If I apply early to Stanford and don't get in, I've wasted my early application! As you can see, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Any help on either of these fronts would be awesome.
 

Lemonade

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I definitely recommend looking at all the supplementary essay and short answer prompts before you start writing essays, because a lot of them you can recycle the same thing even though the prompt is not entirely the same. It saves a ton of time and doesn't really gimp your apps unless you mention another school lol. You want to spend most of your time on your main personal statement and make sure you don't write generic bs like "premed because I want to help people".

Also always request and take interviews, even though no schools technically require them.

Also start apps ASAP. You may think you have time in a month, but things rarely turn out that way. I started late August even though I did Caltech and MIT early (didn't get in :() and just sat around the deadline week. Much less stressful IMO.

harsha2014 IMO if Stanford is your dream school, go for it. That said, why are you worried about wasting your early application? I mean, not having to do apps for 100000000 other schools is nice and all, but it's not death and if you start them early.
 
Current senior. I am a 35 ACT Eagle Scout who runs the local BSA leadership camp (and captain the school's quiz bowl team), but I have an unfortunately low 3.76 unweighted GPA and don't reach the top 5% of my class. This puts my GPA and non-athleticism in conflict with my extracurriculars and test scores, making identifying a clear "category" I fall in difficult. I've already been accepted to IU (I live in Indy), and am applying to American, St Johns, and possibly a few others time permitting. And also sending an app to Chicago and maybe Hamilton because I honestly fell in love with Chicago upon visiting. I'm only really worried about Chicago out of the group, but I know that it's a long shot app at best.
 
V0x, I was worrying about wasting my early application mostly because all schools have higher early application acceptance rates, though this could also be because most schools get more academically competent applicants applying early—I want to maximize my chances of getting into a school I like, and I've heard that Rice's acceptance rate differs by a good 13-14% from early acceptance rates and regular decision. I'd be most happy at Stanford, but I'd also enjoy going to college at Rice. Perhaps I am making a bigger deal out of early applications than I should be, though.
 

Myzozoa

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i'm really happy for all the people in the thread who have worked hard in high school and have ambitious expectations about which university they will go to. I just like to remind people that you will have to live near your school for 4 years at least. If you don't like the area, it will make you unhappy, so if I was y'all I would temper my ambition with a strategy where you find some areas you think you'd like to live at and then apply to the best universities in those areas.
 

Ampharos

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I'm a paradox. 2340 SAT, top 5% of class, could probably go wherever I want... and yet I'm looking to major in journalism and as such am applying to such paragons of academic achievement as... the University of Missouri.

As well as SMU and UT Austin, which are pretty good I guess, but all my friends are pestering me to apply to ivy league and I'm sad.
 

GatoDelFuego

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i'm really happy for all the people in the thread who have worked hard in high school and have ambitious expectations about which university they will go to. I just like to remind people that you will have to live near your school for 4 years at least. If you don't like the area, it will make you unhappy, so if I was y'all I would temper my ambition with a strategy where you find some areas you think you'd like to live at and then apply to the best universities in those areas.
This, it doesn't fucking matter if your school is the best, you will not learn anything if you do not enjoy it
 

MK Ultra

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Just finishing up my personal statement on UCAS - the character/line limit is incredibly frustrating, I'm 131 characters over right now but can't find anything to delete. Considering what I'm applying for (Maths at Oxford) my personal statement should receive less attention than normal, but I still want it to be good so I can get offers from elsewhere.
Having said that however, I am pretty glad I'm in the UK and not the US, writing that many essays (and a big emphasis on extracurriculars?) sounds awful. Here all you have to do is 4000 characters on why universities should accept you and that goes to every school you apply to (ie you only have to do it once). It's also much more academic-based - all the top universities care about is how good you are at your chosen subject, maybe because changing subject mid-degree is so much rarer here.
 
I'm English so I can't really give advice about the things specific to the American system (I think, at least for maths/science, you have a "quals" year roughly equivalent to the British masters built into grad school before you get an advisor and start research?), but I went through the British PhD app process last year so I'll give some general tips. I'm in maths so not all of what I say will be applicable to every subject.

  • Talk to research staff at your current school if possible, hopefully you'll have access to someone familiar enough with the area you're interested in to be able to recommend a few schools to start with.
  • Google a lot. If you've got a rough subfield in mind, try to find expositions of the area written by experts to try and narrow things down. If you've got a specific area of research in mind, try to work out who a few of the leading experts are, and then look at their web of collaborators. This is tedious and takes a long time, especially as you'll have next to no idea what they're talking about in most of what you see at first, but eventually you'll have done enough reading around and looking at various sites to spot the recurring names and hopefully have come across a few topics that seem interesting.
  • Think about advisors. Even if you're in an American system where you don't apply to work with a specific advisor, you should be applying to somewhere that has at least one advisor that you'd like to work with. At this point, I went through the research staff list at every single math department in the UK as well as a load in France/Germany/Holland/Canada/the US and started a txt file keeping track of who looked like a possibility. There's a load more in America so you won't want to be quite comprehensive, but you should have a good idea of the kind of level you're looking at. You also need to think about the kind of advisor you want. It might seem like a great idea to apply to the biggest names in the field, and I'm sure having a famous advisor would be great, but you should be aware that these will generally have more responsibilities and less time for you. On the other hand, a younger advisor will have more time (and maybe even be more enthusiastic) for you. There's also the advantage that younger advisors will have been brought up in a newer generation of research. One good idea is to look at the former students of big names - that's how I ended up finding my advisor.
  • Read a lot more. You should be working on getting a fairly solid high-level knowledge of what you'd like to go into - you're obviously not going to know all of the intricacies, but you should understand the "big picture" and try to be able to appreciate the major problems in the area, their importance, and how they interact. At least in the UK, you're going to have to be able to write a very rough research proposal that indicated enthusiasm and understanding - in maths you're not expected to be able to do a real research proposal because of all of the technicalities, but you still need to be able to talk about the big picture.
  • References. Think hard about who your referees are going to be - make sure they know you as well as possible both personally and academically. If you don't think you can find referees like that, work hard on fixing that early - you can ask staff with related research interests to find time to chat, and you can speak to staff during / after class. If you can get a big name on your side then that's obviously great, and I was lucky enough to have a fairly well known mathematician as an examiner in my final year, but you're better off getting a glowing reference from a typical professor than a vague, generic one from a famous one.
If you're looking at an area far away from math then some of that may be inaccurate, so be careful, but I'm sure at least some of it will carry over.
 
i'm really happy for all the people in the thread who have worked hard in high school and have ambitious expectations about which university they will go to. I just like to remind people that you will have to live near your school for 4 years at least. If you don't like the area, it will make you unhappy, so if I was y'all I would temper my ambition with a strategy where you find some areas you think you'd like to live at and then apply to the best universities in those areas.
Ehhhhh idk how true this really is. I go to JHU, and Baltimore is a shit hole. However, I am still very happy with my decision! The people I've met here, the unique courses I'm allowed to take, the fact that it's relatively easy to get an undergrad research position here, the gorgeous campus, the amazing profs, etc., have made my experience overwhelmingly positive! Sure I could have gone somewhere like Tufts or Brown or Columbia or NYU instead and partied it up in Boston/Providence/NYC, but there are still nice places to go in Bmore if you really look, and it's not like I have that much time on my hands anyway since I'm always so busy with college stuff!!


Also peeps, don't stress too much about lack of sports. The only way sports will help you is if you're amazing enough at them that the college wants to recruit you to their varsity team. And that really doesn't make up a large part of the overall student body. At all. So just play up your other accomplishments on your app (I went with the fact that I had already done research in a lab as a HS student and won a few awards in HS-level competitions like science fairs and stuff; you might have a strong background in programming or something). Colleges like applicants that know what they want and can also bring stuff to the table. Just think about what you want and what makes you stand out, and you're golden.

--
On another note, grad school and med school apps are not fun -_____- Any tips on the grad school/med school admissions process (USA) would be much appreciated!!!
 

Ace Emerald

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I'm a paradox. 2340 SAT, top 5% of class, could probably go wherever I want... and yet I'm looking to major in journalism and as such am applying to such paragons of academic achievement as... the University of Missouri.

As well as SMU and UT Austin, which are pretty good I guess, but all my friends are pestering me to apply to ivy league and I'm sad.
Honestly, there are enough good professors in the country that getting into an ivy league isn't that important, especially for an undergrad. When you look at money and the real difference in academics, I probably would have chosen my current school (state public university) even if I got into Princeton. You have to apply to the best school for you, and for a lot of really smart kids that may not be an ivy league.

As an aside, Princeton sends the nicest rejection letters. They basically said "It's not you, it's us. We think you could handle the academics we just don't have the room for you." Probably a canned response but it made me feel better about myself lol
 

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