Admissions Blog

Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored

Case Western Still Accepting Apps for its Diversity Overnight

Posted on by Leave a Comment

Aerial view of Cleveland, Ohio, home to Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is still accepting student applications for its Diversity Overnight program, which lasts from November 10-11, 2019. Applications for November’s immersive visit dates are due by October 1, 2019.

According to Robert R. McCullough, Case Western’s Dean of Undergraduate Admission, the university’s Diversity Overnight is designed for “smart and curious high school seniors from diverse backgrounds, to give them an in-depth look at the opportunities available to our students.”

Diversity Overnight students stay in a residence hall with a student host, engage with faculty, and learn about the many opportunities available to students at on Case Western Reserve University’s campus and throughout the surrounding University Circle neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio.

Best of all, Case Western Reserve covers the cost of meals and lodging for students accepted to this program and is also able to assist with travel expenses and arrangements.

When to Start Working with Your College Counselor

Posted on by

Many high schools don’t provide proactive college counseling to students until the end of eleventh grade. Don’t wait until your school gets around to it. Find out when to assertively approach your counselor.

What GPA Should I Report on the Common Application?

Posted on by

Find out if you should self-report your weighted or unweighted GPA on your college application, including the Common Application. The importance of the answer may surprise you.

What’s a CEEB High School Code and Why is it Important?

Posted on by

When registering for standardized tests and filling out college and university applications be ready to provide your high school’s CEEB code, which helps your counselor and admissions officers.

The new Common Application is here. Are you ready to complete it?

Posted on by Leave a Comment

Hey Class of 2020!

In a scene from Steve Martin’s 1979 movie, The Jerk, his nebbish-y character Navin R. Johnson runs pell mell down the street upon seeing his name in print for the first time (in the phonebook), declaring to anyone within earshot:

“The New Phonebook is Here! THE NEW PHONEBOOK IS HERE!!!!”

How times have changed. Who uses phone books any more? Do they even print them?
No matter…at this time every summer I find myself filled with excitement and a desire to pronounce to all near and far, whether they give a plugged nickel about it or not:
“The new Common Application is here. THE NEW COMMON APPLICATION IS HERE!!”

Yeah, I’m a bit of a nebbish myself when it comes to this sort of stuff…every August 1 a brand spanking new Common Application comes out, and that means that you can – and should – access, register for free, and – wonder of wonders – begin filling out what will become (for many if not most of your colleges) your bona fide, actual college application!!!

So join in my excitement and go to www.commonapp.org and click on the “Apply Now” link, register, follow directions and get your college applications started!!

(Those of you who have already started the 2018/19 common application can do an “application rollover” by logging in to your existing common application and follow a few simple steps and affirmations. It’s so easy even a college advisor like myself can do it, so jump right in and get in to the new 2019/20 common application and do your thing! All information will roll over EXCEPT any potential college supplemental writing you did – those you must start anew).

Note that you need to include at least one number, letters (one capital, one lower case) and a symbol (!@#$%^&*) in your ten to sixteen character password. Make sure you write down your password (and don’t be too cute – you don’t want to lose it!).

After you’re registered go to the “College Search” link and type in the name – or partial name – of a college from your top 10 list and hit “search”. You don’t need to fill in every blank – takes too long – just a partial name and you’ll be able to locate your school).

Click the box next to your college and then click “Add.”

Do this for every school on your list (don’t be exclusive at this stage – you can add and remove schools freely over the next five months) and then go to your ‘Dashboard’ and voila, there’s your college list!

If you can’t find a particular school (after making sure you’re spelling it correctly) it most likely means that that school doesn’t take the common application. Not to worry! Just make note that you’ll have to register and fill out their own on-line application. No big deal!

Now begin filling out the common application. The sections are: “Profile”  “Family”  “Education” “Testing”  “Activities”  “Writing”

The last section, “Courses and Grades,” is somewhat nonsensical and you’ll most likely not have to complete it. If it says you do curse a bit and follow directions. Just busywork, and you’ll need to work off your transcript so get a hold of that if you don’t already have a copy.
Note that with the exception of the “Writing” and “Activities” sections, all the other portions of the Common App are easily completed. 
 
You’ll also be able to see which, if any, of your schools require additional writing – either in the form of an additional essay or short answer questions. Look in the dashboard under each college for “Questions” and “Writing Supplement.” Most of the “Questions” will be quick and easy, go ahead and fill out all those short answer responses. It’s the writing supplements that usually entail some extra work.
Keep track, and in a future rant I’ll talk about how to organize all of your extra writing on a central ’to-do’ list I call “The Grid.”

So there you have your next assignment campers: register and then fill out the “Profile,” “Family,” “Education,” “Testing,” and “Activities” sections of the Common Application! This is exciting!!! You’re really doing it!!!!!!

***

This is also a great time to be writing your first and your second (extra…additional…icing on the cake…one for the Gipper) essays. You also should have (or be constructing) an academic/activity resume, which you’ll find multiple uses for, which I’ll be sure to tell you about if you ask me.

If any of the above has you confused, if you’re still struggling to get going on your essays, resume, list of colleges, or if you just want to qvell with me about my Yankee’s amazing season (forget the killer B’s, we’ve got Mike Tauchman and DL LaMahieu!!!!), give me a call or email and we’ll chat. This time of year I’m about helping students organize their ‘to do’ list for the remainder of the summer and the fall.

And remember to relax, it’s still summer vacation (for some of you) fer cryin’ out loud! Enjoy yourself!

From your erudite escort, your humorous homeboy, your perceptive preceptor, your confident confidante…

Gary, the College Guy

P.S. As always, feel free to forward this rant to other rising seniors and their parents, or send me names/email addresses of folks whom you think would benefit from reading my rants. Or you can send them to my web page, which has all my rants for anyone to see. IMHO there’s not enough good, coherent information out there, and you’ve just waded through about the best there is!

“If things are broken at elite universities, things are broken, period.”

Posted on by 6 Comments

Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

If you can read only one thing this year that encapsulates the current state of life at far too many American colleges and universities, and thus, life in America, read this intense and amazing essay by writer and Yale graduate Natalia Dashan. This essay is a window into the life those chasing admission into selective colleges and universities can expect – whether they realize it or not.

More: “The Real Problem At Yale Is Not Free Speech” via Palladium Magazine

Boston University to meet 100% of student need

Posted on by Leave a Comment

Boston University’s Associate Vice President for Enrollment & Dean of Admissions, Kelly A. Walter, has announced that BU has a new, expanded financial assistance program, affordableBU, that will meet 100% demonstrated need of any admitted first-year student who is also a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident.

“We understand that now, more than ever, students and families expect a return on their investment when choosing where to apply to college. BU pledges to deliver that…” continued Walter. BU applicants’ financial need is determined based on both the FAFSA and CSS Profile™. Once BU has determined what a family’s expected contribution is, the university subtract that from the full cost of attendance. The difference, what BU refers to as “calculated need,” will be made up by financial aid.

Many selective colleges and universities meet 100% of demonstrated student need for domestic students (BU is now in this group); however, others don’t. Only a rarified few do for international students as well.

If you are interested in BU, be sure to check out its deadlines for when financial assistance applications are due, for the coming year.

Penn reveals new supplemental essay questions, other admissions changes

Posted on by

Penn’s campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania announced today that its supplemental essay question in search of a 650-word response by applicants is no more. Students applying during the 2019-2020 admissions cycle for Fall 2020 admission will be asked two new questions instead:

  1. How did you discover your intellectual and academic interests, and how will you explore them at the University of Pennsylvania? Please respond considering the specific undergraduate school you have selected. (300-450 words)
  2. At Penn, learning and growth happen outside of the classroom, too. How will you explore the community at Penn? Consider how this community will help shape your perspective and identity, and how your identity and perspective will help shape this community. (150-200 words)

Students are still able to write up to a grand total of 650 words in their responses to these questions; yet, with the changes, applicants will now have the challenge and opportunity to deliver two distinct messages in response to two distinct essay prompts.

Also announced today is a new policy that would have kept both U.S. President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump (who both transferred to Penn’s Wharton School of Business as juniors) from ever attending or graduating from Wharton.

“From cycle year 2019-2020 forward, Wharton and Engineering will no longer accept external junior transfers. The College and Nursing will continue to accept junior transfers…We have made this change in consultation with our academic partners across campus. The curricular pre-requisites for transferring into Wharton or Engineering as a junior are both specific and extensive. As we reviewed Wharton and Engineering transfer applicants, we consistently saw that most applicants were unable to take the coursework necessary for a seamless transition into these schools. We hope this change will help applicants focus on the schools and programs that best align with their interests and preparation, and that allow them to successfully transition to our campus.” wrote Eric Furda, who currently holds the title of Dean of Admissions at Penn.

Ironically, earlier this month this site pondered how Ivanka Trump got into Penn back in 2002 and whether or not she would get in again today. It’s clearly a sore point with the powers that be at Penn these days that the current president of the U.S. and one of his top assistants both graduated from Penn. Whether or not this Penn admissions policy change has anything to do with the university’s current “resistance” to the leader of the free world is purely a matter of speculation.

Additional interesting tidbits shared by Furda this summer include:

-Penn will allow applicants to self-report test scores – as long as they are not athletes or international students. This means that certain students will simply be trusted to honestly report their highest scores on their applications and only send in official corroboration of their scores if they ultimately get into and deposit at Penn later in the admissions cycle.

– Penn is passive-agressively encouraging its IB applicants to take Math Analysis HL instead of other new math offerings rolled out recently by the IBDP.

– Penn will offer both regional and virtual information sessions during the year ahead and all of these will be listed here.