Showing posts with label Application Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Application Review. Show all posts

Friday, August 31, 2012

A note on essays

By Kelly M. Rawlings, Associate Director, Undergraduate Admissions, Virginia Tech

Kelly M. Rawlings, Associate Director,
Undergraduate Admissions, Virginia Tech
A note on essays:

…or, as we here in the Admissions office at Virginia Tech call them, "personal statements." Folks often wonder if a personal statement is the same thing as an essay. Not really. Or at least I hope not. 
I've read a lot of essays in my life. I used to teach AP English Literature in what feels like a former life. (Truth be told it was only 12 years ago.) As many of you are currently experiencing, AP English Literature tends to be writing intensive. And if you think it's difficult to write all of those essays, just think of your teacher who is lucky enough to actually grade and critique not just yours but those of all your classmates. Yeah, while you're hanging out with friends on a Friday night, he/she is probably at home with a red/green/insert-color-of-choice Sharpie in hand slaving away at trying to provide you with constructive criticism that will help you become a better writer. And this is important.  
Regardless of your future profession, I guarantee that you will need to possess a decent command of the English language and the ability to communicate effectively to advance in your career. So don't ever underestimate the importance of doing well in English. However, these are NOT the types of essays I hope to read on your college application. Been there, done that. 
What we want from you are not essays. We want personal statements. We don't have the luxury of personally interviewing our applicants. After all, we will receive about 21,000 freshman applications and there are only 12 of us who review them all. So these personal statements are your only chance to share your personality with us.  
My biggest and best tip: use your voice; your own, genuine, unique voice. Address the writing prompts as if you were sitting down and chatting with me over a cup of tea, or coffee, or Red Bull (except I don't drink that).  I'm a real person, really. I go grocery shopping at Wal-Mart (but only because we don’t have a Trader Joe's in Blacksburg), am addicted to Starbucks, admittedly can't wait for the season premiers of "Modern Family" and "Parenthood," tuck my boys into bed each night after reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See" more times than I'd like to admit, and will be one of the 66,000 fans jumping up and down to "Enter Sandman" as the Hokies enter  Lane Stadium for the opening game on Monday night. So please "talk" to me like I'm a real person. And in addition to using your own voice, make an attempt to employ these tips:
  • Don't introduce yourself in your essay. I'm holding your application that has, believe it or not, your name, high school, list of extra-curricular activities, etc. No need to review what I already know. 

  • Note the word limit.  There's a reason we prefer personal statements of 250 words or less. Reference above the size of the applicant pool. And each should answer at least one essay.  Many will choose to respond to the maximum of three. So let's say on average we get two from each applicant. That's 42,000 personal statements. That's a lot of reading; almost as much as your AP English teacher. So we appreciate brevity, clarity, individuality, and poignancy. And entertainment, but that brings me to my next point…

  • This is not the time or place to try to be funny if you're not naturally a funny person.  Enough said.

  • Similarly, this is not the place in which to demonstrate your extraordinarily colossal lexicon undeniably facilitated by the overemployment of the thesaurus option on your computer. Translation: don't use a thesaurus. Remember: we want your voice.

  • Lastly, proofread. This should go without saying. But every year I am reminded how apparently trivial this step is for many applicants. I'm often regaled with stories of how you "can't wait to walk the Lawn following in Jefferson's footsteps" or how you were "born to wear purple and gold."  Copying and pasting from another application is frowned upon. Really, that's just in poor taste. And it doesn't stop there. Please remember that THIS IS YOUR APPLICATION TO COLLEGE! Capital letters, spellcheck, the avoidance of acronyms, and punctuation are all, in fact, still greatly appreciated. 

  • In all seriousness, we do look forward to your personal statements. It is the highlight of my day when I come across a personal statement that makes me laugh out loud, shed a tear, or run down the office hall sharing that, "I just read the best personal statement. Listen to this!"  (And yes, we do that.) Personal statements are what make application review bearable; even enjoyable I daresay. So please, help me help you. Give some thoughtful reflection to your personal statements and make them just that, reflections of who you are as a person.

 
Application Dates & Deadlines
  • Early Decision Deadline: November 1
  • Early Decision Notification: December 15
  • Regular Decision Deadline: January 15
  • Regular Decision Notification: April 1
  • Deadline: February 15
  • Notification: June 1
Posted by No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Time to review your application

By Amanda Sparks
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admissions

The weather might be cooling down, but things in the undergraduate admissions office are heating up! We're sure that things are pretty busy for you as well, but make sure you are keeping up with your application to Virginia Tech.

Even though you should have submitted you application by now if you were planning to apply to Virginia Tech, there are still a few things you could be doing.

To track your application, visit the application status page. If you submitted your application within the last few days, please keep in mind that you had lots of company. As a result, it might take up to two weeks for you to be able to see your application status online. Please try to be patient and know that we are processing your application as fast as possible. Keep checking the application status page.

Don't hesitate to contact our office with any questions you may have. This can be a stressful time of year for you, but it doesn't have to be complicated!


Posted by 4 comments:
Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

S1N1 Defined

By Jonathan Schramm
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admissions

Everyone has heard of H1N1, right? But have you ever heard of S1N1?

S1N1, also known as Senioritis, is a curious, seasonal virus that creeps into high schools all across America around this time of year. It is curious in that it seems to affect only one population of students: Seniors who have finally figured out where they’re going to college, and are just too excited to worry about piddly old high school anymore. Keep on the look out for the symptoms future Virginia Tech students. And get your vaccinations now! S1N1 is highly contagious.

The symptoms are as follows:

- Shortness of Breath – resulting from skipping through the halls with your Virginia Tech t-shirt on, thinking of nothing but coming to campus.

- Hallucinations – people everywhere start looking like orange and maroon turkeys.

- Sudden Verbal Outbursts – as you shout “Let’s Go!” and, when your friends look at you strangely and do not return your call, you say “Hokies!” in reply.

- Fainting Spells – resulting from thoughts of cheering on the Hokies at Lane Stadium in a sea of orange and maroon.

- Blurred Vision – as you get so psyched for college you can barely see straight!

The only cure for S1N1 is the knowledge that your admission to Virginia Tech is based on satisfactory completion of your current coursework, and that Virginia Tech reserves the right to revoke your admission even after we receive your final high school transcripts.

You never know when S1N1 will strike. So be warned seniors, wash your hands and remain ever diligent. We look forward to seeing you in the fall!

Posted by No comments:
Labels: ,

Friday, April 2, 2010

Admissions, it's personal

By Jonathan Schramm
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admissions

Here at Virginia Tech we're proud to say we review applications in a holistic manner, which means we consider the entire student: both their academic and personal qualities. I've discussed academics in my last three posts, so now I'd like to highlight the more personal side of admissions.

On the Freshman Application, there are a number of opportunities for applicants to get themselves across on paper. We consider:
  • Diversity, in its many forms: ethnic, racial, diversity of thought, diversity of religion, geographic diversity, socioeconomic diversity if you happen to be the first in your family to go to college, etc.
  • Interest in the Corps of Cadets: we see this as an indicator of leadership.
  • Legacy: if you happen to be the son or daughter of a Virginia Tech graduate.
  • Activities: we like to see quality vs. quantity.
  • Community Service: as long as it's not court ordered. (just joking!)
  • Optional Personal Statement/Essay: 7 different options to choose from.
  • Letters of Recommendation are not solicited, but you can send them in (just make sure they are sent by your high school with your transcript).
So you can see, even though we receive over 20,000 applications we take everything into consideration.

As always, let us know if you have any questions. It's always nice to know we have readers.

Anyway, tune in next time when we talk about a rare disease high school seniors seem to catch this time of year, called S1N1.

Posted by 4 comments:
Labels: , , ,

Friday, February 12, 2010

Application Review Process: Yep, you guessed it! We care about test scores too!

By Jonathan Schramm
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admissions

So far, in my blog series on the application review process, I've discussed two important factors that can affect the outcome of admissions decisions at Virginia Tech: curriculum and grades. There is a third, and that is standardized test scores.

If you think of academic qualities like a tripod, all three legs have to be there for the application to stand up to scrutiny. In the case of selective admissions, the three legs are curriculum, grades and test scores.

The last is pretty straightforward. You either have competitive test scores or you don't. It may seem unfair. It's three hours of your life for goodness sake, usually on a Saturday morning, when you haven't had a wink of sleep and are stressed out of your mind. You go in, reading glasses askew, hair unkempt, and you come out with a number attached to your name.

But there is a reason they're so important, and there's a reason they're called s-t-a-n-d-a-r-d-i-z-e-d test scores. High schools are so different from district to district that it's not always advisable for colleges and universities to make decisions based solely on an applicant's grades and curriculum. So the standardized tests are one way we can tell applicants apart.

At Virginia Tech, we do all we can to insure your best score comes through in the review process. For instance, we'll accept both the ACT and the SAT. We also "super score," meaning we'll take the best score from all your exams and put them together so you have the best possible chance for admission. Right now we're just looking at the Critical Reading (SAT)/English (ACT) and the Math portions of the tests, but will use the Writing for placement
purposes. The average SAT last year was a 1250 and the average ACT was a 26.

I hope that helps clear some things up. Tune in next time when we talk about personal qualities, the softer side of the review process.

Posted by No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Application Review Process: We Care About Grades Too!

By Jonathan Schramm
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admissions

In my last post, Application Review Process: We Care About Curriculum, I discussed how an applicant's strength of curriculum is viewed in the application review process, and also left you with a bit of a teaser regarding the next most important factor ~ Grades, not to be confused with GPA.

Now, what I mean by that is, we're not so much looking at the overall grade point average, as we are the course-by-course performance (just so you know, to be a competitive applicant at Virginia Tech, we like to see a strong A/B average).

When we're perusing your transcript, we're mentally (and sometimes physically) marking out:
  • AP Weightlifting,
  • Advanced Show Choir, and
  • Honors Underwater Basket Weaving.
And we turn our attention to specific marks in core courses, like:
  • Math,
  • Science,
  • English,
  • Social Sciences, etc.

When it comes to your GPA, we all but discount the grades you received in your electives, and instead look at how well you did in your tougher, more academically focused courses.

Now, we do take some other factors into consideration when determining your in-class performance, not just the letter grade. Grading scales are one. We know at some schools a 90 to 100 is an A, when at others it's 94 to 100. That's where our policy of reviewing applicants within the context of their schools comes in. When we do this, it doesn't matter what your grading scale is, because you're not competing against applicants from other schools, but against your peers. Therefore, it's not about an average GPA, but more about how an applicant performed within their academic environment.

Trends in grades is another factor we consider. If an applicant started off a little slow in their freshman and sophomore years, then started improving their grades during their junior and senior years that can help. Likewise, if a student did well throughout their academic career, but then their first marking period grades during their senior year drop dramatically, that may raise a few eyebrows.

Again, your school profile tells us a lot about grade distribution, and the rigor of the course work, etc., so be sure to check that out if you haven't already.

Hopefully you're beginning to see that there's a lot that goes into reviewing applications at Virginia Tech. Check back next time, when I discuss the role SATs and ACTs have to play in the process.

Posted by No comments:
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)