Application Boot Camp | College Admissions Experts

Application Boot Camp’s Top 8 College Admissions Myths

Kim — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:37:50 +0000

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UVA Supplemental Essay Questions

Kim — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:05:11 +0000

The University of Virginia has released their supplemental essay questions for the Common Application for 2013-2014! One of their questions is certainly short and sweet: 250 words on “To tweet or not to tweet?” Read the entire list of UVA supplement questions (JUST RELEASED) here: http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com

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Newly Released Supplemental Essay Questions

Kim — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:34:40 +0000

You heard it from Application Boot Camp first!… Boston College and the University of Chicago just released their supplemental essay questions for the 2013-2014 admissions season! As we suspected, not all colleges are waiting for the August 1, 2013 Common Application (the CA4) release date to release their supplements. We will say that the new supplements are getting more and more interesting! Check out supplement # 5 from UChicago for 2013-2014: “How are apples and oranges supposed to be compared? Possible answers involve, but are not limited to, statistics, chemistry, physics, linguistics, and philosophy.” Read more on these BRAND NEW supplement essay questions for the upcoming 2013-2014 college admissions season:

UChicago 2013-2014 Supplements: https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/essays/

Boston College 2013-2014 Supplements: http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/admission/undergrad/process/essays.html

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Summer Reads

Kim — Wed, 29 May 2013 19:31:48 +0000

Many of our students have finished school and are launching into summer! We create personalized reading lists for them when we begin working together and this list includes plenty of classics. Create your OWN power list of summer reads…and you can do it for free! Check out:

Open Culture: http://www.openculture.com/free_ebooks
The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/free
U Penn’s Online Book Page: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
Poject Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Create your own reading list for the summer, dive in and enjoy with fewer distractions than during the school year. Added bonus is a rise in your SAT Critical Reading score!

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Seniors, behave yourselves!!

Kim — Mon, 27 May 2013 23:20:08 +0000

One of Michele’s jobs at Dartmouth was to check all the transcripts of every accepted student in the early decision round to see if they were maintaining a high standard. Dartmouth’s early decision acceptance letters clearly stated that acceptance was “contingent upon successful completion of senior year.” Any student whose GPA dropped to 2.0 or below or who had 2 D’s or lower (a D and an F) would receive a sternly worded letter asking for an explanation. Each decision was made on a case by case basis, but every year there were a handful of students who were UN accepted. Don’t let this happen to you! You CAN be removed from the class!! Colleges do it every year. And it can be for disciplinary issues as well which goes for ALL admitted students, even the summer before they arrive on campus. Colleges retain the right to remove any person from their incoming class who does not follow their moral and academic code.

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Apply Free at Reed College

Kim — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:30:19 +0000

Reed College just announced that they are doing away with their $50 application fee!

Reed has always done things that vary from the norm … and in so doing attract interesting students. Now, with no application fee, hopefully low income students will take another look.

We love that Reed College asks applicants WHY they are applying. Every college should do so as that is at the core of finding an applicant who is the right fit for a school and the process of writing a WHY essay helps a student dig deep into what a particular institution has to offer.

Bravo Reed!

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Harvard College Admissions & Applying: Statistics

Kim — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:52:41 +0000

We always encourage our kids to have an academic niche area when they apply to college to set themselves apart from other applicants. Looking at any top college (check out this year’s freshman class at Harvard: http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/statistics.html) you’ll notice that the most common areas of intended concentrations tend to be Biology (23%) and Social Sciences (28%) compared to less popular areas like math (6.5%), computer science (2.6%) and physical sciences (9%). Naturally at an engineering school like RPI, these numbers would be different, but for most liberal arts focused schools, these numbers hold true – colleges need to attract STEM kids for math and computer science and physical sciences whereas biology majors are a dime a dozen. The humanities (17%) is also a less represented major and can set kids apart as either a primary or a secondary academic area of concentration.

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Contests

Kim — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:18:00 +0000

Top colleges look for applicants who have gone above and beyond and are high impact. As busy as you are getting top grades, nailing standardized tests and participating in clubs and sports, don’t forget academic contests.

Hundreds of well-regarded academic contests are held each year in many areas, including science, math, writing, foreign languages, the arts, and more. Contests range anywhere from one-day examinations, to essay contests completed on your own time, to yearlong projects. Many are geared towards individual competitors, while others require students to compete in teams or require school-wide participation.

A strong performance in academic contests is a great way to substantiate the interests that you choose to highlight in your application. If you want to demonstrate your love of math, for example, regular participation in math contests and strong scores on competitions like the AMC and AIME are a way to show colleges that you enjoy pursuing math outside of the classroom, and confirm your strong math abilities. Especially if you are strongest in an area where talent is difficult to quantify [can’t be conveyed through test scores], such as creative writing, drawing, or photography, recognition from a state or national contest in these areas will help in admissions.

Contests at the state and national levels tend to carry more weight in the admissions process than small or local competitions. The Intel Science Talent Search, the International Mathematical Olympiad, and the USA Biology Olympiad, for instance, have a lot of clout.

It’s never too soon to start researching which contests are available in your areas of interest! Contest dates and deadlines are scattered throughout the year, so be sure to note the timing of opportunities that interest you. You can by casting a wide net with a Google search, and you may also find helpful websites that list the contest opportunities available in specific fields. Also be sure to check out our 2013 edition of The Ultimate Guide to Top High School Contests and Awards Guide, which contains over 100 pages of information about the top contest opportunities available for various academic areas. We’ve done the work for you – all in ONE place. (Use coupon code SPRING50 to get a FREE 50% off coupon!)

If you see an opportunity that interests you, but it requires team or school participation, don’t disregard it! If you need a team, urge your classmates to join you, and if the contest requires school participation, lobby your teachers to get involved. By doing so, you will set yourself apart as a self-starter and as a team player, which are both qualities that will stand out on your college application.

Last but not least, many academic contests offer cash prizes, scholarships, and other awards to top participants! Not only do you get to compete in a subject that you are passionate about and boost your college application, but you may very well receive a bonus reward for your efforts. How’s that for a win-win?

When it comes to contests, try not to let the vast number of options overwhelm you. Instead, take some time, twenty minutes here or there, to look at different contests and see which ones interest you. And, when an exciting opportunity grabs your attention, pursue it, and get ready to wow admissions offices with your success.

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Some ACT Thoughts From Our ACT experts Steve & Amy Dulan

Kim — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:39:31 +0000

Acquiring new skills takes practice! Please don’t wait until the last minute to begin your ACT prep. There is still time to get ready for the June 8th ACT if you begin NOW with practice tests, and test prep.

Remember to order and pay for Test Information Release (TIR) when you register for the ACT. You will receive a list of your answers, a copy of the multiple-choice test questions used to determine your score, the answer key, and scoring instructions. It might just be the best $18 you will ever spend! You can use this information to prep in a more focused way if you retake the test in September!!

Need your score quickly? Priority Score Reports are processed within two business days after ACT receives your request and usually delivered three to four business days later. Sign in to your account for more details.

And, remember these ACT tips:

1. Do the easy stuff first! Practice skipping the more difficult questions and coming back to them later. This gives you the opportunity to see and answer more questions!

2. Paraphrase the questions! Try to put the longer Reading and Science questions into your own words – simplify the questions as much as possible!

3. Predict an answer! After you’ve paraphrased the question, skim the passage for clue words and phrases within the question. Once you’ve located the clue words, answer the question based on the details in the passage, and then look for that answer among the choices.

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Tweeting about Waitlist Status

Kim — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:43:18 +0000

Tweeting is NOT a good strategy for getting off the wait list! Much better to show schools your improved grades, scores, and new awards! A Brookline student’s story: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/05/07/brookline-student-says-twitter-campaign-helped-him-get-into-ucla/K1GCoDO5K8Gfzd3VeRm8YL/story.html

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