lewelma Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 I'm starting to create all my documentation with the help from some Boardie's examples (you know who you are, and thank you!!), and I'm confused as to where the extra curricular work shows up. DS has 3 major ECs: music, PE (badminton and Martial arts), and olympiad math. These things together take up almost as much time than his standard course work. Music is 9 hours a week, PE is 8 hours, and Olympiad math is 10-15 depending on the week. I know that the student will discuss their ECs in the essays, but is that the only place that they get listed? I suppose there must be some awards sheet where I list his Olympiad Math medals and Music honors, but it just seems so small compared to this very long course description document I am making. How does this work? And where do I put his community service (tutoring high school and olympiad math) for about 4 hours a week? University entrance here is exam based, so none of this stuff counts anyway. The US system is just so different! Thanks, Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 He can go ahead and set up a Common App acct (don't fill all of the info in yet, thought, bc it will get deleted during the roll over to the new class. Only some of the info is saved.). Regardless, he can go through the application and familiarize himself with where he can add different parts to his application. He can also create a zeemee page where he can include photos of awards, recordings of him playing, etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 Cool. We can do that. Is it a good idea to take photos of all the awards rather than just listing them somewhere? Do admissions officers actually have time to watch performances? I assumed that you only included recordings when you were applying to music schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 No, you can definitely include supplements like musical performances and art even if they have nothing to do with the intended major. Zeemee is the platform Dd used. She uploaded images of awards, a recording of a Russian recitation, a copy of the Russian fairytale she translated, copies of French essays, pictures of our family (just sillynpictures with the kids in a tree or all of the family hanging off or standing in a keep) pictures of her fencing, etc. Some schools use slide room. I don't know anything about it, though. I have no idea how many schools looked at her zeemee. She included the link on her resume. Based on the number of large $$ scholarships she received, I assume at least a few did. Some schools actually request links and submissions, so I take that at face value and think they do once they hit a certain level of filtering. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Ok. Will start thinking about what to include in there. What is this about a resume? Do the schools want one? DS doesn't have a lot of work experience, so it would be pretty short! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Ok. Will start thinking about what to include in there. What is this about a resume? Do the schools want one? DS doesn't have a lot of work experience, so it would be pretty short! Think of it as a high school (therefore short) version of a CV. https://www.thebalance.com/cv-vs-resume-2058495 Dd's work history was just a tint section at the bottom. Awards were her first and strongest section. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Do you send it to the schools with your application? I'm looking at the printed version of the common app and they have a section for honors and extracurricular activities/work experience. So isn't a resume a replication of this? It says "please complete this section even if you plan to attach a resume" So if you include a resume, what would you put on it that would be beyond what you are listing on the app? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) We did not submit a resume with College Application. There was a section on the CA where the student can list extracurriculars. Edited March 26, 2017 by regentrude 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Yes, I see the section. Given how important ds's ECs are to him and who he is as a person, would it be good to highlight them in a resume? Or is this the purpose of the essays? His music and math competitions are a major part of his life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) Dd did include a CV bc multiple scholarships required one, so she uploaded one onto the CA. Edited March 26, 2017 by 8FillTheHeart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Neither of my boys submitted a resume with their college applications. Their activities were listed in the EC section of the applications. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in Richmond Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Will he have letters of recommendation for his music and math olympiad activities? I would in his case for sure! A strong letter from an unbiased source will go farther at the schools he's applying to than other options. Of course, he'll also fill out the sections asking for his ECs on the Common App, and he definitely should address his meaningful activities through his essays. You can send in additional material like an activity & awards resume or link to an online portfolio if permitted (some schools like Stanford won't look at anything extra), but I wouldn't count on the admissions officers having time to do more than glance quickly at them. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 The range of experience is very helpful, guys. I'll give it some thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Will he have letters of recommendation for his music and math olympiad activities? I would in his case for sure! A strong letter from an unbiased source will go farther at the schools he's applying to than other options. Of course, he'll also fill out the sections asking for his ECs on the Common App, and he definitely should address his meaningful activities through his essays. You can send in additional material like an activity & awards resume or link to an online portfolio if permitted (some schools like Stanford won't look at anything extra), but I wouldn't count on the admissions officers having time to do more than glance quickly at them. So you are saying that recommendations in his EC's would be better than a resume at the places he's applying. That's very helpful! Also, I assume that they look *closely* at the awards section? Otherwise, the IMO will get buried in the application. As for the recommendations, I'm still a bit stumped. Humanities : english teacher STEM : Chem teacher Councilor: his student advisor at Te Kura Councilor 2: mine (not sure if I should do one too) Extras Violin: music teacher (who is assoc concert master of NZSO so basically 2nd most important classical musician in the country) IMO: still a bit stumped on this one, but we are considering the team leader Is that too many?!??! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 When my son applied to MIT, they required a letter of recommendation from a humanities teacher, a letter from a math/science teacher, and a letter from the guidance counselor. I can't remember for sure, but I don't think you could submit more than those 3 letters. I would definitely have the Math Olympiad instructor write one of your son's recommendation letters . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in Richmond Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 My kids just did two teacher recommendations in addition to my guidance counselor materials & letter. DS used (1) his music teacher (piano teacher of ten years). This counted for a humanities letter at MIT. (2) math camp mentor (who could also address math olympiad stuff). DD used (1) online AP English teacher (2) math camp mentor We only sent those! My thoughts were to send the best two letters possible, and not to overwhelm the poor ad coms with too much material. For your son, I'd definitely do the math olympiad coach letter or an AoPS letter for the STEM side, and English teacher for humanities, with piano as supplemental if allowed. If MIT still only allows two letters, I'd be tempted to use music in place of English. You can always get in touch with them and see if it's still allowed. For counselor letters, it sounds like you need to do a combination of your homeschool letter and Te Kura's. That sounds like a good idea in light of your son's unique NZ background. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Well, I know his English teacher would write the most amazing letter as would his Chemistry teacher. I'm not sure about the IMO letter. What is it going to say? DS is about average for the kids that we have on the team. Kind of damnation through faint praise! The chemistry teacher would sing his praises -- she nominated him as the only student that the school of 5000 high schoolers sent to the free national science camp (which of course overlapped with the IMO this year!!!) I know what her letter would say. As for the violin teacher, ds is not his best student. People travel for 2.5 hours for lessons (as in a 5 hour round trip!) because their kids are prodigies. So that letter might say, well, ds is average for my students. Kind of hard to predict how these things might go. arrrgh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 He can go ahead and set up a Common App acct (don't fill all of the info in yet, thought, bc it will get deleted during the roll over to the new class. Only some of the info is saved.). Regardless, he can go through the application and familiarize himself with where he can add different parts to his application. He can also create a zeemee page where he can include photos of awards, recordings of him playing, etc. I was just looking through some info about the CA, including the common app 101 ppt, and down on the 20th slide, under new features, it says: ACCOUNT ROLLOVER Any account created in 2015-2016 can carry over to 2016-2017 • User name and password remain the same • What rolls over? Any answers to questions within the Common App tab: o Profile o Family o Education o Testing o Activities o Writing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 The applications have an activity section. The activity list you make yourself is mostly just a reference for filling out that section of the apps. A few schools ask for a free form activity statement or a resume, and some people find it helpful to bring their resume to interviews as a list of things to talk about. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 So you are saying that recommendations in his EC's would be better than a resume at the places he's applying. That's very helpful! Also, I assume that they look *closely* at the awards section? Otherwise, the IMO will get buried in the application. As for the recommendations, I'm still a bit stumped. Humanities : english teacher STEM : Chem teacher Councilor: his student advisor at Te Kura Councilor 2: mine (not sure if I should do one too) Extras Violin: music teacher (who is assoc concert master of NZSO so basically 2nd most important classical musician in the country) IMO: still a bit stumped on this one, but we are considering the team leader Is that too many?!??! If you have your practice account set up, go ahead and add the possible colleges to that mock student. This will allow you to go in and see how many recommendations each school wants/accepts and whom they will take as recommenders. DS1 had one school that would only take teachers, not mentors or coaches from other categories. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Councilor: his student advisor at Te Kura Councilor 2: mine (not sure if I should do one too) Yes it is too many recommendations. Schools typically ask for zero to two as required and accept zero to one extra letter. Check your requirements. As far as the counselor recommender, is Te Kura doing the school portion of the Common App or are you? Because the Common App counselor is not just a letter writer, the counselor account does the entire school report section, uploads all the transcripts and course descriptions, etc. They are the point of contact for the school. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 I think the math and music recommendations would do a better job at describing him as a person rather than a classroom teacher. I know the "teacher" recommendations have some supplemental (classroom) questions that may not be applicable for a Math Olympiad coach. Be careful which recommendors you pick if the schools limit the number. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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