RICHARD'S ASK ME ANYTHING Notes provided by the Eduvisa Community QUESTIONS ABOUT UNIVERSITY APPLICATIONS? ESSAYS? Harvard student, Richard, answers questions regarding university applications, how to write college admission essays, and gives test advice. CONTENT: University Application Questions - 1 Essay Questions - 3 Exam Advice - 5 2022 | EDUVISA UNIVERSITY APPLICATION QUESTIONS What do selective schools look for in your application? Having a good personality Participates in events Is an engaging member of community Good grades Use the resources provided by the community Has an ambition after university There is no one single factor Should I show imperfections in my application? For example, times that I’ve failed, been unproductive, etc.? Imperfections are good for humanizing yourself, showing that you’re not just a collection of accomplishments If you mention an imperfection you want to show growth from that It makes your application more genuine, but make sure to frame it positively or don’t use it Can a bad GPA ruin chances of getting into prestigious colleges? Can definitely get in with a lower GPA, however, most people do have a high GPA You still have a chance but it is worse than having a strong GPA How many Bs do you have to get to hurt your chances at Harvard? 1-3 Bs do not hurt your odds in any sense (grade wise) Realistic cutoff is 3-8 Bs in your grades More Bs early is better than more Bs later There is no strict number Any thoughts about reapplications during a gap year? Anything I should include differently or emphasize more? 2 gap years: you can emphasize more on what you learned 1 gap year: you can’t emphasize as much since its a very short period of time Don’t construct the app too differently unless it includes material supportive to your application If you start by going to a community college and then try to transfer to a 4 year institution, are there good chances of going to a good Ivy League? Most schools do not transfer that many transfers (e.g Harvard only selects 12 on average) Most transfers are community college students It’s important to be mindful of the fact that Ivies barely take transfers at all You could definitely go to a good school, be mindful that some schools take more transfers than others 1 What are the aspects should one keep in mind besides test scores? What strengthens your applications besides SAT, IELTS, etc? Grades are most important Take into account extracurriculars, if you have a job, if you take care of a sibling Essays – if you are early in the process, don’t think about essays, if you are not early in the process, definitely consider essays If you’re early you can be more active in the class – get the teachers to like you, get to know them! Teacher recommendations matter! Colleges really care about having people who are kind, people who are generous with their time, and work well with their peers Do I still have a chance reapplying to a college if I got rejected earlier? Yes! You still have a chance. Just be mindful of your application and see what you could change. You could be overwhelmingly unlucky. Even if you have a strong application you can still get rejected everywhere. When reapplying, show growth in your application. What have you learned since you last applied? What compels you to reapply? Why are you doing all this extra work to reapply? What should a junior do right now to strengthen their application? GET THOSE HIGH GRADES! Try your best to get those As and maintain that 4.0! Explore your interests, you must be involved in things outside of school! What makes a lot of people's application compelling is what they do outside of the classroom and using that to explore things that they like :) It can be hard to pick activities that you enjoy, find ones that are good fits for you It really comes down to what you’re interested in and what you want to do Look at your future interests to get started with extracurriculars What could I do if I don’t get accepted for any scholarships? Strongly suggest a community college IF YOU ARE IN THE US If you are not in the US and cannot afford money, do not take any offers, debt is not worth it Better to reapply and put yourself in a better position Would you suggest for these students to aim for Ivy Leagues? Survivorship bias, Richard got deferred and still got into an Ivy Decisions are very random If you think you are a competitive applicant and want to go to these schools, keep shooting your shot, keep putting in your applications BIGGEST THING IS TO NOT LET THE EARLY DECISIONS TO COLOUR YOUR CONFIDENCE TOO MUCH 2 Any suggestions for students who got deferred or waitlisted ED/EA? You should send a letter of continued interest even after being waitlisted/ED/EA Can send this letter for regular decision You write a 300 word letter and you give updates on your application (e.g if you got another award, promotion) and say that you’re still interested in the school Send this in January or early February Do this after all your other applications are done THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT – however, some schools DO NOT WANT THIS Sometimes schools WILL NOT consider your application if you don’t do this ESSAY QUESTIONS Should I include a title to my essay? Title is not necessary unless it provides a visual element to the essay How can I improve my storytelling for essays? Start practicing storytelling NOW - IF YOU ARE A JUNIOR (not a last minute senior) Just write about your day, practice writing down what's in your head If you are a senior and struggling with storytelling, best thing you can do is step back and go back to the big picture idea of what it is the essay should say about you Don’t focus on the small details! Storytelling is like the cherry on top, its this nice additional element which you can have, but it is definitely not necessary DON’T STRESS ABOUT IT IF YOU ARE A SENIOR, FOCUS ON THE BIG PICTURE What should one care about the most when revising or selecting an essay? What does the essay tell about you as a person, as an applicant? What does it say about your personality? What does it say about how you’ll use the resources at the school? What does it say about who you want to be? Would it put a person at a disadvantage if they don’t talk about extracurriculars in their essays? Nope! Extracurriculars are just another part of essays, they won’t put you in a disadvantage. People who have only talked about random, meaningful moments of their life have gotten in Most essays that are good are not strictly extracurricular RESOURCES A document that has 100 questions to help you with writing your college essay Document can be found here: https://discord.com/channels/707278018405466253/7 45319401204744312/852014395155284019 3 How can I make my essays more vulnerable? Questions are trying to figure out what you value, what kind of person you are, etc. It is a checklist, is a good place to start It is hard to add these questions into your essay Admissions officers are mainly looking for vulnerable things about you Information from the College Essay Guide is also very helpful Any suggestions for writer’s block? How to stay sane for the next few weeks? Juggling back and forth between essays is very helpful Get stuck on one, work on another essay Most Dangerous Writing Game app It's like an online notepad game, if you stop typing for more than 5 minutes it deletes everything you’ve wrote To stay sane, find other people in the same situation with you Use them as grounding for your own essays Get peer review, get feedback Will make sure that you aren’t going crazy In terms of stress management: Having a list of what needs to be done and what has been done Organizing everything and keeping things visual Don’t put yourself in a hole of “I’m only doing this for the next two weeks” Schedule breaks! Have time to destress and reset between sessions :) How to write a why us essay? If you change the name of the university and copied and pasted it for another university it shouldn’t make sense Make sure to put yourself in the essay too, because the college knows about themselves, they also need to know where you fit within this unique area Make sure to find things very unique to that one university How should I conclude an essay for an Ivy school? Don’t try to state things already being said in the essay Try to state some things being more directive in the last paragraph Try to wrap it up like a story (IF YOU CAN) People with the most compelling applications are the ones who tend to care the least about admissions. This is because they spend the most time on things outside of applications, on things that they really enjoy. Where you go to school does not define your life, if you have the ambition and drive to put yourself in this place in the first place, you will be fine wherever you go. Staying sane in that respect is the best thing you can do for your applications and staying healthy and putting yourself in a good mindset after college. Make sure to stay healthy! College is not your life! 4 5 EXAM ADVICE ACT and SAT exams Best thing is real practice exams, space out your practice exam practices These are the most valuable resources! Don’t use them all out at once, use them efficiently Take one practice test as a diagnostic, figure out where you are weak, and review those weak concepts for 1-2 weeks, and then take another exam and see if you’re improving or not If you’re not improving, you need to figure out how you’re studying and change that In between each 1-2 weeks, you must correct what you’re missing AP Exams The main thing with AP exams is understanding the exam itself It is different for math, science, history APs Understand the rubric and why you get points Structure the way you approach the question CONNECT WITH EDUVISA VISIT OUR WEBSITE MYEDUVISA.ORG TEAM@MYEDUVISA.ORG @MYEDUVISA @MYEDUVISA EDUVISA @TEAMEDUVISA EDUVISA LEARNING 2022 | EDUVISA