Every year, the University of Chicago breaks away from the traditional college essay mold and asks our applicants to consider topics that are a little… uncommon. In past years, we’ve asked to hear your favorite joke, your thoughts on Wednesdays, or your best attempt to pinpoint Waldo’s whereabouts. These unconventional prompts are a chance to show your creative intellect and explore an unusual topic in a surprising and profound way - wherever your imagination leads you. And now, here is a sneak peak at this year's exciting, interesting, and inspiring essay questions - weeks before our supplement is released. So: drumroll, please! The 2014-2015 University of Chicago essay questions are:
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The following will soon be on Harvard's website: New Advice and Requirements to Applicants about Standardized Testing We require all applicants to complete the SAT Reasoning Test OR the ACT Test with Writing. We normally require, in addition: Two SAT Subject Tests. If you choose to submit Subject Tests, it is more useful to choose only one mathematics test rather than two. Similarly, if your first language is not English, a Subject Test in your first language may be less helpful. While we normally require two SAT Subject Tests, you may apply without them if the cost of taking the tests represents a financial hardship or if you prefer to have your application considered without them. Standardized testing is only one component of our holistic admissions process and your application will be evaluated on the basis of all of the other information you submit. Subject Tests can be helpful both for admissions and course placement purposes. Students whose first language is not English and those less familiar with standardized tests such as the SAT or ACT can often demonstrate their academic progress more effectively by submitting Subject Tests. International students generally benefit from submitting Subject Tests and should take them if possible as they are unlikely to be admitted with the SAT or ACT alone. The decision whether to take Subject Tests is entirely up to you. You should ask yourself whether other academic credentials including, but not limited to, AP results, IB marks, A Levels grades, etc., adequately represent your suitability for studying at Harvard. If there is any doubt, you should take two Subject Tests. Official scores of such tests as APs should be sent if possible but can be forwarded after matriculation if expense is a consideration. The short answer is YES -- so don't give them any reason to! While it is very rare for a college to revoke a student's acceptance, it CAN and does happen. According to an article in the New York Times, Northwestern University rescinds 1 to 2 offers every year, and Connecticut College sends around 10 warning letters each summer. According to a survey conducted by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC): The 2009 State of College Admission Report states that during the Fall 2008 admission cycle, 21 percent of colleges reported that they had revoked an admission offer, compared to 35 percent in 2007. The average number of offers that were revoked was 10. The most common reason that colleges indicated for rescinding admission offers was final grades (65 percent), followed by disciplinary issues (35 percent) and falsification of application information (29 percent). Public colleges were more likely than private colleges to have rescinded an offer of admission due to final grades (84 percent versus 49 percent). More selective colleges were more likely to have revoked an offer of admission for disciplinary reasons. Many high school seniors tend to loosen up a little after receiving college acceptance letters, which is to be expected. Even high achieving students give serious consideration to skipping their Advanced Placement exams and heading to the beach. But senior slump is serious business to colleges. Most of those highly coveted acceptance letters that seniors receive include a friendly warning that their admission is contingent upon the successful completion of 12th grade. And colleges DO check to make sure that incoming freshman have successfully completed twelfth grade by reviewing their final high school transcripts over the summer.
Getting a B or two second semester senior year isn't likely to raise any eyebrows. But going from all A's to mostly C's? That is one way to get a letter from the Dean of Students asking you to explain the situation and containing phrases like "academic probation." Toward the end of July last year, we received a phone call from a mother who was quite upset. Her daughter, who was about to begin the process of packing for college, had just received a thin envelope from the university where she planned to spend the next four years. Inside this envelope was a letter from the dean of students who had reviewed Louise’s final high school grades and was not convinced that she was ready for college. The dean was extremely concerned about the drop in Louise’s grades during the second half of senior year from A’s and B’s to mostly C’s. He asked her to produce a detailed plan of action for the first semester of college but made clear that submitting a plan would not automatically allow her to keep her spot in the freshman class. Over the next week, we worked with Louise to devise a strategy to help her make a successful transition to college. It included regular meetings with her teachers and her advisor, limits on extracurricular activities and a reduced course load. Louise submitted the plan and, after a few anxious days, received a stamp of approval from the dean. She was luckier than the student we met with two summers ago, who had his offer rescinded after being caught drinking alcohol on prom night. This should go without saying, but in addition to keeping your grades up, don't do anything illegal that could jeopardize your future. A little Senioritis is okay, but know where to draw the line! For further reading, check out 5 Ways to Get Your College Admission Rescinded from HerCampus and A Warning: Colleges Can Change Their Minds from the New York Times. Anyone lucky enough to have choices for college has a list of things that are important to them: price, size, location, quality. But here’s an unconventional factor that students may want to start considering at a time when graduating from college with good grades may no longer be enough to get a job. It was written by Laura R. Hosid, who was the associate director of Georgetown University’s Office of Career Services and now works for Vinik Educational Placement Services, Inc. in Bethesda, which provides college and career counseling to young people.
Click here to read Laura's article featured on the Washington Post's Education blog! Despite those claiming that waitlists are "rejection letters in disguise," your chances of getting off a college's waitlist may be better than you think. While colleges often offer what may seem like an enormous number of spots on their waitlists, many students who are offered these spots decline to accept them.
For example, according to the 2013-2014 Common Data Set (CDS), last year Tulane University offered 2,774 students a spot on the waitlist. Only 705 initially accepted a spot on the waitlist, and 327 were ultimately accepted. A college's active waiting list can be much shorter than it seems, and with every week that goes by even those who initially accepted a waitlist spot decide to enroll in other schools. By the time you get to mid-May, a school that initially offered waitlist spots to 1,000 students may be down to closer to 100 students actively vying for spots. If you are one of them -- tell the college it is your dream school, tell them why, and tell them you'll enroll if you are admitted (if this is true). You may be surprised at the result! "One and done: Many applications to selective colleges get just a single read" - The Washington Post3/24/2014 "Students aiming for selective colleges will agonize for days or weeks over every little detail of their applications. But often that file will get just one read, perhaps 5 to 15 minutes, before a gatekeeper decides yes or no. That is apparent not only from The Washington Post’s observation of George Washington University’s admissions shop, detailed in a story Sunday, but also from interviews with veterans of admissions elsewhere."
Click here to continue reading this piece from The Washington Post's Education section. |
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