Long Beach Cal SOAP College Prep Summer Camp WEDNESDAY
Who should I ask? What should be in the letter? Who should I ask? LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
Most colleges will specify Teacher Community Member School Counselor WHO SHOULD I ASK?
See MIT Handout WHAT SHOULD BE IN THE LETTER
If you have a choice choose the person who will be able to provide the BEST LETTER This may not be your favorite teacher! Items to give to person when asking Due Date Submission Instructions (online or by mail) Resume or Brag Sheet WHO SHOULD I ASK? HOW DO I ASK THEM?
Include Academic Profile Include all of the things listed on your “Activities” section of college application Extra-Curriculars Volunteer work Leadership positions Employment Honors or Awards RESUME OR BRAG SHEET
Personal Statements Short Answer Essays ESSAYS
UC Application Must Answer BOTH Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations. Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are? Common Application Choose ONE Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again. Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma- anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family. SAMPLE PROMPTS
Opportunity to provide information that supports and augments other parts of the application Places the academic record in the context of the student’s opportunities and obstacles Adds clarity, depth and meaning to information collected in other parts of the application Provide evidence of achievement that can’t be adequately explored in other parts of the application. PURPOSE OF ESSAYS
You’ve just written a 300-page autobiography. Send us page 217. (University of Pennsylvania) Write you own essay question and answer it. (Kalamazoo College) Attach a small photograph of something important to you and explain its significance. (Stanford) If you could go back and change one day in your life, what would you change and why? (Santa Clara University) If you were to develop a Mt. Rushmore representing the 20th century, whose faces would you select and why? (William and Mary) What is your favorite quotation and why? (Princeton) Write a haiku, limerick, or short poem that best represents you. (NYU) OTHERS / SUPPLEMENTS
How do you feel about Wednesday? Have you ever walked through the aisles of a warehouse store like Costco or Sam’s Club and wondered who would buy a jar of mustard a foot and a half tall? We’ve bought it, but it didn’t stop us from wondering about other things, like absurd eating contests, impulse buys, excess, unimagined uses for mustard, storage, preservatives, notions of bigness…and dozens of other ideas both silly and serious. Write an essay somehow inspired by super-huge mustard. So where is Waldo, really? UChicago professor W. J. T. Mitchell entitled his 2005 book What Do Pictures Want? Describe a picture, and explore what it wants. How are apples and oranges supposed to be compared? Possible answers involve, but are not limited to, statistics, chemistry, physics, linguistics, and philosophy. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO