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
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