Workshop: Application Tips and Pointers

Hello and welcome. We're just going to allow for a minute for everybody to get in and get settled.

Alright, where do you go?

Yeah, sounds good to me.

Alright, well everybody welcome to whatever workshop Wednesdays application tips and pointers.

Are you able to join us today virtually?

My name is Macaya Reznor. I use she, her pronouns, and I'm one of the diversity and inclusion fellows here in McAllister admissions, and I'm also a graduate from college, are from the class of 2019.

Hi, my name is NIA Williams. I use the pronouns she her, hers. I met admissions officer here at McAllister and a 2018 graduate.

Before we begin our discussion today at McAllister, we like to begin group events even if they are virtual with the land acknowledgement.

So as we begin, I want to acknowledge that McAllister is located in St Paul, MN on the occupied homelands of the Dakota people as a way of honoring the land and its peoples, both ancestors and descendants, many of whom still make their home here today.

Just a little overview of what to expect from today's presentation. We will discuss different application options. What makes up an application, deadlines and timelines to be aware of in a few other considerations. As you approach the college admissions process.

So for starters, is talking bout application options.

Well, if you have, you may have begun this process already. It's important to start off by recognizing the different application options available to you.

Not meaning to be funny or punny, but the common app is probably the most common application that students will submit. It consists of just one single application that can be sent over 900 different schools, so you just actually had to fill out all your personal information one time, which definitely saves you a lot of time and effort later on instead of typing those out every single application. So specific schools may have a supplemental essay or questions that you will submit. The common app makes it really easy to organize those schools you're interested in, and two.

Complete your checklist for each application.

Students then just pay for each application that they want to submit later on.

Secondly, you can apply directly to the school if they have their own application, or you can find original application. It's best to reach out to the school's admissions office directly to find access to the links to those.

Next is the coalition application which connects you to 90 different schools through an on line lock blocker.

First one is then the common black application that connects you to any of the 46th historically black colleges and universities for a one time fee of $35.

And Lastly, is questbridge, so questbridge is a national program that aims to help low income students attend elite schools on a full ride financial aid package. Students complete the Questbridge app and then submit additional family financial information. And if you're chosen as a finalist through Questbridge, they can be matched with a partner school. So like for example, McAllister is one of these partner schools. If you're interested in any of these, encourage you to click on some of these links and you already just dropped the link for questbridge.

So now that you know how to apply, the next step is to do some research on what schools you're interested in. We recommend this two by two 2. Two approach is applying to at least two target schools to safety schools and two reach schools for a total of 6 applications.

To explain what I mean, target schools are when a student matches the typical admitted student profile. Other words, your academic and social profile aligns with those who are typically admitted at that school.

Safety schools are when students actually exceed what a typical admitted student profile may look like and reach. Schools are going to do might not match exactly what a typical administered and looks like, but you are within reasonable range. Many times schools like these are. It could be more competitive. Maybe they're smaller, you know, but they have a lot of resources.

But they have really good financial aid, so it's definitely worth applying to a couple of reach schools.

I recommend that when you are researching these schools, you stay organized by using a college search notebook or a word, or Google Doc, or just keeping notes on your phone. Not all school admission procedures are going to be the same, so it's just good to keep note of everything.

So once you're ready to apply, some of you may be looking for application fee waivers, since the cost can add up the average application fee is $40.00, so you want to kind of keep an iron. All these application fees so few waivers are available for qualified students. They usually to those who would.

Qualify through different family assistance plans. For example, free and reduced lunch programs. Family participates in a program for low income students like upward bound or the family. Receives any kind of public assistance. If you're unsure if you are eligible, best advice is to start by asking your family and then also talking to a college admissions counselor about if they are able to do that for you.

On a school by school basis, there are sometimes early bird incentives meeting. If you apply by a certain date, usually early on your application fee is automatically waived. So again, check with these admissions counselors or on their website.

And Lastly, your high school counselor or high school, college and career counselor could be a really good resource. They may know of a bunch of different fee waiver options for you and just be aware of different school incentives. One of these really good resources through Nack Ack, the National Association for college admission counseling and their website.

So now I'm going to send it over to new ro. She's going to talk a little bit more about the college application.

Thank you McCall. Yeah yeah, I'm going to be talking a little bit about the college application as a whole.

So there are six major parts to a college application transcripts, testing letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, essays, and additional information will go over each of these parts over the next few slides.

Now your high school transcripts. Overall, people won't be talking about this as your academic record, and that doesn't just include your GPA, not necessarily your GPA from year to year or your current GPA. Admissions offices are looking at individual grades. How those grades have fluctuated throughout high school, and a variety of other factors. One of those factors happens to be school context.

Different schools have different curriculums and grading systems. An admissions offices understand that, so don't think that you're being compared. She was someone at a school that has much more resources or completely different resources than you.

Another thing that we look at in terms of your academic record is great trend. Whether your grades are generally going up, whether they are generally going down. If you've had mixed performance, if there is a noticeable dip somewhere, and if you do have a major great fluctuation that you feel needs to be explained within the context of your application, there is a section for that in the common app in which you can discuss ain't grade fluctuation, whether that has to do with.

Personal issues, illness for yourself or within your family and the mental health concerns or physical health concerns that you might have experienced. Any fact that go into a grade fluctuation question response.

Another thing that's looked at within your academic record is senior year performance. We want to see how you're doing with what we're assuming are your most difficult classes as of yet. If you're finishing strong or taking your foot off the gas, we want to see you put in your best effort all four years and not just enter a senior club once you hit twelve grade.

Another thing that will be looking at is course selection.

That's something that's also pretty important to assessing your grade, trend and your senior performance.

You have a balanced curriculum like for example. Are you taking English math, social studies, science and foreign language each year? Or are you dropping some for certain years? Or are you doubling up on certain years? Did you take the bare minimum of classes that you needed to graduate your senior year, or are you challenging yourself with more rigorous courses? Are you struggling with your courses as they get more difficult that you take any AP or honors courses? Are you in?

In an Ivy curriculum, these are all things that we look at in terms of your academic record, and of course this will also be influenced by school context, which we take into consideration.

You absolutely won't be judged harshly for not taking classes that just aren't offered by the school.

The next part of the application that will talk about is testing.

The essay Tees and or the att. We would recommend taking both tests if you have the opportunity and then trying to improve your score on the one that you like better. All this being said, some spoons aren't test optional and don't require either of those tests at all. For some schools this is due to Kovid and so they may be test optional permanently or they may be test optional for three year cycle just due to the challenges that we've had with testing so far.

Just as a side note, the Pallister is test optional. It's something that we put in place stress this year, but it's been something we've been considering for awhile and it's not just because of Covid. We are now going forward going to be a test optional institution.

And with that there are some universities that do require standardized tests, like being a seating or S80, or they accept both. Or they could be test option or for the University as a whole or an particular colleges and programs within that University may require test scores. So just be sure to check at any of the institutions that you are applying to went the actual test requirements are for the program people actively involved in.

When it comes to test taking tips and tricks, be sure to study and take practice exams when possible. If you don't have access to more standardized and organized resources, Khan Academy is a great resource for studying specific subjects that you might be having trouble with and also check in with your counselor to see if you qualify for fee waivers. For some students, taking standardized exams can be an expense that is very **** ** themselves and or their family.

And if you look at any of the particular standards that micaiah mentioned earlier, forgetting application fee waivers, many of them applied to test fee waivers as well.

Now, when it comes to your scores on these exams, most scores might be a factor in terms of getting certain scholarships. Check to see if the schools you applied to have testing requirements for certain level of Merit aid.

And Lastly, when it comes to your academic record, it's way more important than testing and enough itself. Having a strong academic record shows more about your ability to succeed in an academic academic environment then just testing.

Alright, and when it comes to letters of recommendation, you want to have developed a good relationship with your counselor and teachers that you're going to be asking for. These letters line people that you've had good academic relationships with people who seen you at your best in the classroom and in your community.

Um and give him as much time as possible to write your recommendation. They likely have many students asking them for letters, and it's courteous to them. An advantageous to you to ask your recommenders as soon as you've identified them.

When it comes to the summer, if your accomplishments and interest, it's important that you're able to subtract to provide something of this nature to the people writing the letters for you. That way they can speak more specifically to your accomplishments inside and outside of the classroom, and have more to talk about or to explain further. A project that you were involved in that necessary didn't necessarily have the space to talk about in other parts of your application now, generally with common app you are required to have.

3 letters of recommendation. 2 from teachers, preferably in a course subject and then one counselor recommendation. That being said, some schools don't require letters of recommendation at all, so be sure to check at admissions requirements and the schools specific application material requirements for whether or not you do need to submit letters of recommendation. Lastly, say Frank.

It is always great to be appreciated and the people writing these letters for you are contributing time to engage you in the process of applying to college.

And with this being said, I'd also like to acknowledge that not every counselor is in a position to write a letter of recommendation. Sometimes you just go to very large schools with a very large senior class and their King's loaded incredibly overwhelming, to the point that they just don't have the bandwidth to write a letter for every single student. We won't hold it against you, and we absolutely understand.

Now, when it comes to your extracurricular activities, quality is way more important over quantity. For example, how long have you been involved? How if you made an impact, don't join something just for a college application. You won't have fun doing it. You probably won't stick through it, and you may not have much of a meaningful impact while you're involved in it and never use the quantity of things you're involved in as an excuse. It's always great to be involved in your school.

And community, but when it starts to negatively impact your academics, your grades, your life with in school, that's when it becomes negative and you can't necessarily use that as an excuse for grade skipping at any given point.

And when it comes to choosing these activities, what is meaningful to you? Find things that you're actually passionate about an interested in, because this also gives gives us an idea of what kind of community member you would be on our campus activities. You can consider this staying our family care. For example, if you babysit fairly often elder care. If you are a family members, PCA. If you have a part time job or a full time job, any hobbies that you might have that.

Aren't necessarily organized through your school, whether it's personal projects like sewing or crocheting. If you do something really interesting and active, are you interested in boats when collecting? Aren't you just really into libraries? These are things that we want to know.

Involvement in any college access programs or CEOs is also something that we would like to look at really. Anything that takes up significant time and is important to you on a day to day basis.

I am I'd also like to say that impact is more important than being in a position of leadership in an activity, being the leader or president is always great, but there are ways to show dedication and leadership that don't necessarily involve having the title we really want to know how you supported that group or organization. Regardless of what exact of where exactly you were in the hierarchy of that organization.

And when it comes to COVID-19, the pandemic has definitely changed all of your plans in all of our plans, and that's OK. It's really changed. All of our access to various activities, and maybe you had to take on more babysitting responsibilities or your civic engagement projects have been cancelled. You can use the additional information section to write about important activities or programs that were cancelled. Also, doing a college interview can add more context to those activities.

Also, more context to your application and to your qualities as an applicant.

When it comes to essays, it's really important to demonstrate that college isn't just a stepping stone to a high Payton shot and it's totally OK if you want to go to college and get a good job and help out with your family and support yourself, that's great, but you also want to show how you're going to contribute because most colleges are looking for students who will also be involved in the campus community outside of the classroom. You want to demonstrate maturity.

No matter what your topic is brought, particularly if you choose to write about obstacles in your life. You say Maturan composed tone. Try to avoid using overly negative or critical language.

Right about something that is personally painful. Move through state. Make your statements in a positive way and move it in a positive direction to show that you've learned from your challenges and show that your inner strength and growth outweigh any frustration or anger.

You don't feel right. A happy as saying necessarily or being glad about any extreme hardships, but try to end your statement on a hopeful note. You don't want the admissions officer to finish reading your essay, feeling concerned about you. Instead, you want to show them that you're a positive thinker and are prepared to handle the challenge of college. So all these, always try to end on a positive note.

Person a few last minute pro tips for essays. Don't wait until the last minute you know. Allow for time to edit and ask for feedback from the people around you. Your teachers, parents, peers, siblings, anyone you trust to give constructive criticism is a great proof reader and editor for your essays. Make sure that you're really writing about yourself and your own personal experience an try to get to a core characteristic of who you are.

Or core aspect of how you view the world around you and how you grow and understand how you contribute to your community.

I'm, you know, be mindful of.

Be mindful of subject matter and tone and when it comes to talking about subjects such as coping, there's actually a cohort specific supplemental question on the common app this year. So if you do feel like Kovid has significantly impacted your life to the point that your application would be incomplete without explaining that situation, there is a code that specific question.

So this remember that your main common app essay is a sample of your writing ability as an as well as an opportunity to share important information about yourself. And there are other opportunities to be able to write about the ways in which the pandemic has affected you personally. Thank you, and now micaiah will be able to tell you about the application timeline.

Thanks, Neera.

So looking at the application timeline, I just want to start by saying that these are all. This is a pathway.

For every student, rights will be based on the decisions you make and which did like you're going to apply by. So just kind of keep all that in perspective.

So it's important to note that there are different application deadlines. I mentioned the first one earlier, which is question questbridge, but if you're considering applying with questbridge, those applications are due the earliest. Those actually come on September 29th of this year.

It's not uncommon for the next 2 deadlines to be confused. Early decision in early action have the same deadline of November 1st, but it also meant for students who are interested in applying early. However, there are some key differences. Early decision is a binding decision decision, meaning you are signing a contract stating that if you are admitted to your early decision school, you are going to deposit and you were going to enroll in that school. This is can be a really powerful thing because.

They're usually a smaller application pool, but you're also showing that you are full hearted into. That's cool. You have decided that this school you want to go too, so definitely shows that commitment. Early action is also for strong applicants, but it is non binding. So if you are admitted, you still have time to make that decision by the May 1st decision day. If you are not admitted, you still have plenty of time to complete any regular decision applications for other schools. It's important to note that schools are going to be either restrictive.

Or non restricted with their early action. Restrictive just meaning that they only want you to apply to that one school and not apply to other early action schools.

Then there is regular decision, so these will usually land sometime in January between January 1st, January 15th, most students are going to apply this windows. This is the largest applicant pool, just 'cause it's the largest does not mean it's.

A bad time to apply. Just something to keep in mind. Just recognize that you will also have to wait longer to apply an wait longer to hear back from these schools. And then Lastly, many schools are using rolling admissions just means that they will start to admit students as soon as they get their first application. So those applications coming in September you find out very very early on if you're if you're admitted or not.

So for the next few slides will have a calendar timeline of what to plan for, starting as early as your freshman and sophomore year.

We encourage underclassmen to look for test prep opportunities just in case the schools they plan to apply for are not test optional, so it's always good to prepare yourself just in case. And as near mention earlier, there is Khan Academy that is a very positive one.

While this is usually administered by your high school, we encourage you to take the psat or the pre AC T if you are a finalist for either of these. Damn sometimes you'll be eligible for different scholarships later on.

Then start thinking about which subjects are interesting to you and at which ones you are strong in. It's good to have a well balanced curriculum as Nero mentioned throughout your highschool way through senior year, but you should start to kind of recognize which classes are you know actually means something to you. Which ones that you feel you're strong in, and then you want to continue on a lot of schools don't require that you actually know what you want to study, but definitely helps you go into college with a clear mind set.

And Lastly, commit two or at least try out a few extra curricular activities.

As we went again with covid, things are changing.

But it is good just to try, if available, to just try things work on the extracurriculars are already a part of, but if those are just one possibility, we also just want to know what you're doing during this pandemic. You know, like she said, if you're babysitting, that's one thing. If you are reading a lot, that's another thing. So just share with us what you are interested in, what you feel, your free time with.

So while there are things to think about early on, it really isn't until the summer prior to your senior year that the college admissions process really begins. Just remember, as I go through this deadline these deadlines, it's really going to be based on which application deadline you choose. So obviously if you're looking at early early round, you need to kind of get this going faster, so the one I'm about to show you today is really focused on regular decision.

So starting in June, start thinking about what types of schools you're interested in. It's important to know if you want a small school or a large school liberal arts or research institution, private or public. There's so many different options to start thinking about.

In July, start reaching out to your past. Teachers about writing a letter recommendation right? You want to give them a lot of time to eventually see your your email, for example. And even though they don't get back to you, sometimes in the summer, that's OK. You can always bring it up to them. Also school year starts.

For August, take advantage of visit opportunities whether those are going to be in person or virtual, depending on the next year.

And Lastly, try to start your applications, specially those essays. Early on it's good. Just have a couple drafts done while you don't have any other school work on your plate just to kind of get ahead of the game.

And now for senior year in September. It's good to meet with those teachers that you asked for those letters of recommendation, but also to meet with your counselor to discuss your timeline in the decisions that you have made at this point. And maybe they have a couple of schools in mind for you and so they can be really good resources.

Also try to go to any college fairs or college Rep visits. Again, if those are going to be virtual.

Ask your counselor about those and try to go to them if they are available to you.

Trying to finalize your college list earlier on if possible, just takes a lot of pressure off. Just know what schools you're already going to apply to.

In October, look for more visit opportunities based upon what the schools are going to offer, whether those are in person or virtual. Take another round of S80 or ECT if it's necessary. If you think you want to improve your scores.

And if your school is not test optional, and if they are available, so there's also this understanding that not all testing is going to be available.

And then start to work and complete your fasa so fast that stands for the free application for federal student aid. It allows you to request additional like financial aid from the federal government and this is something you should start thinking about and maybe talking to your parents about 'cause.

Every family is different, some require a lot and some require not so much like parental support in this process, but also keep in mind that some schools may have additional financial aid documents to complete. For example, McAllister requires the CSS profile. It helps us get a little bit closer. Look into your family's financial situation.

And then in November tried to have completed your college applications. At least those essays for sure. By this point you probably have had peers in other teachers. Look over your essay, so hopefully this point you can just check those off your list.

And also remember if you are going for it earlier around, this is definitely true. Those are due by November 1st.

So if you're still aiming for regular decision being done by your applicant being done with your application by Thanksgiving break will give you plenty of time to make any edits. Receive those last minute letters of recommendation and it just give you space to actually focus on your finals are going to be coming up right after break.

Kind of stressful if you have both of these things happening at the same time, but we also understand with everything going on that hitting this deadline just might not be feasible, especially if you're doing virtual learning and you're still waiting for those first semester or quarter or trimester grades. If your teachers or overwhelmed in your counter overwhelmed with those letters, recommendation, or if you're waiting on any financial aid documents. So of course this is just a nice goal to keep in mind.

And if you are having any worries about submitting things on time, always keep your admissions counselor in the loop is just better than receiving a ton of emails and phone calls last minute to submit those applications.

And then looking into senior year little bit warm in January, February. It's right when you start to submit those regular decision applications. But it's also important to stay on top of your emails in your applicant portals. 'cause that's really good to see the checklist and anything you may be missing or they didn't see in your application.

Usually in April schools offer some type of admitted student programs. If you are admitted, they might invite you to campus if that's possible, or some kind of virtual program, and then it will start to extend admin to students who are on the wait list.

And then of course on May 1st, we call decision day is when you just make the choice of which school you are going to tend and you're going to make that deposit. At this point, the admissions office helps.

Move you from the missions process to student support services like housing and registering for classes.

So thank you for listening. In my timeline, Passover to niara to wrap this up.

Thank you Macaya. So some things to keep in mind.

Interest, qualification or demonstrated interest demonstrated interest is variable from school to school and sometimes all it really means is they've kept track of how many times you've displayed interest in attending school and sometimes it will influence their admissions decision. So be sure to send an email to an admissions office or make a call to see if that's something that factors in and see what kind of ways you can demonstrate interest.

Determine your support networks trying to adapt, identifying who can and will help you with your application. Facts, scholarships, etc. Parents or guardians are a great resource. Siblings, teachers, peers, mentors, community based organizations you might be involved in.

All these people can be resources to you.

Competition can be fierce, but some schools are more selective than others and some schools are less selective than others. That's why it's important to have your safety target and reach schools so that you know that you're applying to places that are definitely pretty likely to take you, while also being interested in competing for school. That may be more of your number one that ends up being the reach school.

When it comes to loans, don't take out loans for things that don't directly affect your ability to receive your education. Money for books, tuition, food, housing, a decent computer in transportation is totally absolutely important. But on take out loans to decorate your dorm room or to eat out a lot, or to keep up with peers by purchasing nonessential.

Extras.

I promise you, you don't need that fits succulent. You don't need that extra cactus. Lot of furniture that you have in your dorm. You won't be using a couple years from now, so just take all of that on a case by case basis and seeing what you really need and try to only take out the money that you really need.

Beware of sticker shock. Tuition fees can look shocking at first, but submitting the FAFSA and CSS profile is highly beneficial an what you will actually be expected to pay will look much different than the sticker price due to scholarships need based aid merit being stayed works. Studying an any grants you might have access to.

Students and their families rarely paying the sticker price out of pocket and only when they are financially able and willing to do so.

Put your application in motion early how everything done in a timely manner so you aren't feeling rushed, feeling anxious, feeling like your application isn't exactly the way you want it when you submit it or actually submitting your materials late an emailing requests to admissions offices to allow you to submit your materials because you weren't able to get started or finished in a timely manner.

Last but not least, admission does not determine your value. Colleges mission does not determine your value as a student, regardless of where you are accepted. College admission. When the process is all over, no matter what your admissions decision looks like, no matter how many times you've been rejected or accepted from any institution, you are still absolutely worthy of love of care and of respect.

And just as a side note to that, there are lots of great schools that aren't Ivy League and probably on the Langas note do not choose a school based on a sports team. You can be a fan of whatever sports team you want from any college where you reside. Trust me, there are tons of students at McAllister who aren't the biggest Scotts fans but still had as much fun as they want. It gains an supporting the teams that are most important to them.

Now to quote a French poet named Anatole France.

To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream not only plan but also believe.

And applying to college is a great thing to accomplish. Now do we have any questions, comments or clarifications? Please feel free to submit them into the chat box on your screen and won't immediately appear in the full chat tab. It's just know that we've seen them. We've received them and we will be addressing your questions.

Alright, so Natalia I'll send one to you first. Just want to assess which schools are target safety Anri polls accurately?

Yeah, I mean I think for a lot of this you just have to kind of know.

You know, just be aware of like what kind of academic caliber you been putting yourself at like.

Keep in my life where you're testing is, you know, kind of like where you're great trends have been and then honestly most times admission pages will just have charts or information about medium testing. Average GPA. Not all schools will be this way, but if they are there then you could definitely kind of.

Um, just make that comparison, but in a lot of ways.

You know, for schools that aren't always.

As clear about what those numbers look like.

It's never really bad to just apply, you know, just apply, especially if you really are attracted to that school.

Yeah, I think that kind of sums it up. I also found helpful when I was looking for colleges to just ask students like you know I made a couple of students on my visit and I just kind of worried about these things also and just ask.

Well, you know I testing wasn't as good or something like that, and they're like well, don't worry, my testing wasn't either, so that really wasn't that big of a deal, so it's always better just to kind of be honest about your feeling and ask those questions.

Alright, awesome, thank you also you mine. I submitted your question into the chat. Can international students take benefit of questbridge or advantage of Questbridge? And I put a link to quest fridges list of college match schools that are able to match with undocumented or documented international students.

I'm let's see Danielle, will it be taken into consideration that grades might have dropped because we were on line due to Kovit? Yes, it absolutely absolutely will. I think for everyone, admissions professionals included the transition that we've all had to make within the past few months has been incredibly difficult, so we will be understanding of variances in grades and grade fluctuations and transitions to pass fail grading. Just given how difficult the last semester was for everyone.

Academically and in terms of testing.

I'm McKay, this is a good one for you. As our timeline, you know, professional.

When should you start asking for letters of recommendation?

Not for sure if you want to be really on top of it. I would start asking them the end of your junior year. At this point you've had you know. Possibly you just really have identified a teacher that you connected with. Maybe they really have seen you as a as a student, so it doesn't hurt to ask them then. Plus then it's on their mind, you know. So then when they come back the next school year, they're like, Oh yeah, I'm gonna do that.

But again, it's not really in the world if you ask them by your senior year, but just remember that they are probably being asked by lots of other kids and you know elder letters of recommendation or an interesting thing because.

In a way, teachers almost expected to do them, but then a lot sometimes are not expected to do them. So you can't just go up to a teacher and say I need this done by Friday and expect that they're going to be very pleased with you. So it's not for it. Never hurts to ask them early.

Thank you.

I'm someone who's asked High Niara High Macanga if the school requires both the SAT&ACT, but we have a better scoring. One test in the other. Can we just submit the test? We do better on or do we have to submit both? You can't submit just the scores that you feel most confident about.

Moon.

I'm.

I don't not go ahead.

And also keep in mind that if a school is test optional, that means you can still submit test if you think those test scores are going to add the contribute in positive light to your application. So just because a school is test optional designer, we does not always mean that they're test blind. So if you submit a test score that maybe isn't the most favorable, we still see it, and so it's good to know.

Also, the policy is for testing from different schools. Every school, the different policy.

So I wanted to ask you this question macaya can involvement in a CBO be used in the gap year essay or is it not enough or it's not enough to show what you spent the year doing?

I mean, I don't see why not just just adding it, you know, like just letting us know about it is always good.

It's usually best to have some kind of explanation for any kind of gap years 'cause we just want.

You know we we notice it. It's like grades are missing from a year and then he started up later.

But yeah.

Add it if you feel like it. It was a definite.

Use of your time during that gap year.

Thank you.

Someone asked, looking back to the essay slide, could you expand on the B2 opinionated?

I'm for sure when it comes to writing essays that end up having to do with any kind of political topic. It's totally fine to be firm in your own morals and values and ethics and assertions, but you don't want to be so opinionated to the point that you end up talking more about the ethics of a particular issue. Then you end up talking about yourself an your own worldview. You can definitely show strong opinions through the lens of.

How it is a facet of you as an individual and bring back the whole bring back to home your own point of view and your own personal character, but don't make an essay only about explaining the side of a particular issue. Hopefully that's helpful.

Yeah, and also add to that a lot of what colleges is also learning how to think critically and so if you can show a bit of that in your essay, that's always a good insight into a students academic ability.

Macaya we have a couple of questions about early rounds of admission. If you apply early decision, can you still apply early action?

No right.

No, I'm

I believe not. Now I can you back me up on that or not because they are the same deadline, so I believe it's just one application.

Yeah.

no, I agree.

When it comes to restrictive early action, why do some schools use that instead of using early decision?

Reminder today is just 'cause they want to know. The student is really committed to that school or not.

Because if you get a bunch of early action options, then you know.

We're kind of unsure where that students going to land.

But you know, I think making that decision to apply early decision or early action is like incredibly personal and shouldn't just be taken lightly. So definitely a conversation that you have specially that really decision because she financially like with your family because there is that commitment.

Yeah.

I'm we've seen someone has asked if it's OK to apply to an early action public University Anna restrictive early action private University Reguardless from University to University. Whether it is public or private. If you apply early decision or restrictive early action somewhere, those are the only places in which you can apply to an early round.

Uh so micaiah do admissions officers of any preference between applicants you know what major they like to pursue in those who are undecided?

I think it just depends on the school you're applying to write, so sometimes that, like larger schools, you aren't just applying to be a student there, you're applying to be a student within a smaller school. They get within a college or program. In that case, you'll need to know what you want. 'cause it's very specific, but in the case of McAllister, for example, like we don't require, the students know what they want to do when they apply. You actually have until the end of your sophomore year to declare.

And it doesn't have any input on.

It doesn't have any negative input if you don't know what you want to want to study. If you do want to know and you let us know, we just get to see that we get to see what you're interested in, maybe where you'll where it'll land. McAllister, for example, but there's definitely not a negative notion here about if you are undecided.

Thank you, someone wants to know what the differences between the SAT&ACT. I'm well, they're both standardized exams used to assess readiness for college education. One of the biggest differences is that the AC T has a science section in the essay, T is not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like there are a lot of East Coast institutions and primarily just use the essay T and across the board you can.

Find schools that specifically want one or the other, or they are interested in being able to take both.

That sounds right.

OK, awesome.

Afford letters of recommendation Macaya? Are they required to ask for them only from teachers and counselors, or can they be from community members and bosses as well?

Are we being hurt? Any kind of letters recommendation? We just recommend that some tools will actually be very clear and say We want some academic ones, like from a teacher that you've had, because they can. They can talk more about your academic path, but it doesn't hurt to have more than those we see. Letters recommendation from bosses from supervisors internships from neighbors who babysat their children too.

Orchestra director's

I've seen a lot of different kinds, so it's always great to see those ones, specially if people have known you for a long time 'cause they really have an idea of like your character.

Thank you Macaya.

Let's see.

Trying to find more pertinent question.

So with many students requesting deferrals for admission to covid, do you have a sense of how that will affect admission? Number of acceptances for next fall?

Also, talk about like the student, does the list of students who have deferred.

For sure with all the students who have deferred to next year, how do you foresee that potentially affecting admissions decisions for them at the upcoming cycle?

It's an interesting question.

I mean, I can see about my opinion then you can't you want, but I just think that obviously we're expecting them for next fall and as like a small school for example like we even before this pandemic only have so many beds. For example, can only accommodate for so many students. So those spots will definitely already be taken.

Do you have any thoughts on this?

I'm no, I feel like you've heard him rap pretty much wrapped up my own opinions on it.

Well, when it comes to.

Let's see can we submit? I got two questions about letters of recommendation coming up. Can we submit a letter of recommendation from a teacher who no longer works at our school?

Jim.

And is it OK to get recommendations from sophomore year teachers or do you recommend getting them from junior and senior year teachers?

If I had to recommend, I would recommend classes.

That

Um.

It doesn't hurt to get to have higher level classes.

You know, specially if it's it in a career path that you're most interested in, but it's not really a problem to have, like a soft warrior teacher, especially if they just really know your your style as a student.

Thank you.

I'm someone asks if early action is non binding. Early decision is binding. What are the benefits of choosing to do early decision instead? I would say that the benefit of doing early decision instead is also being able to show that additional level of commitment and if you know absolutely for sure with finances and everything else involved, that this is your number one choice school and no matter what, if you're accepted, you aren't going.

And then that binding option can absolutely be great for you. Do you have any? No timeout macaya?

Yeah, I mean, that's definitely it. Just shows a lot of commitment, but with early action there are just students who may be that that financial commitment is still a little scary, but they wanted to. They could do early action because they want to be done with the process. Earlier I kind of was in that boat. I found McAllister really early on. I applied really early on, but I was kind of like nervous about the financial part. If there was an early action round like.

For sure probably would have done that, 'cause I was already done with the application and then it still gives you plenty of time to, you know, apply to other schools if you aren't emitted. I just would like the plugin that we do have an early financial aid assessment for students who are interested in early decision. It allows us to work with you on your financial aid package before you apply early decision. So then you'll get an idea of what you would pay before you apply. So if the financial.

Good.

Part is a stressful or keeping you from applying early decision then definitely like contact our financial aid on McAllister and they can direct you on that path to get that assessment.

I mean thank you. I have a couple of it. All answer quickly. Can you apply early action to a couple universities or can you only apply to one? Well, that depends on whether or not you decide to apply early action to a school that has restrictive early action. If you do, you can only apply early action to that one school. But if you're applying early action through all non restrictive early action schools you can apply to as many of as many of those as you would like.

Um, if you apply early action at all, you are also still able to apply regular decision.

But when it comes to applying early decision or early action at one school, if you are rejected for an early round at that school, you are not able to appeal or apply for regular decision admission. For that's cool.

I'm and one question yes, McAllister is now early action, non restrictive early action.

OK.

Um, what would you say the timeline is for students applying in an early round or an early decision round?

I mean, I think it's early decision rounds or even on your mind. You probably have already, you know, kind of fallen in love with a couple of schools, so this is already in your mind earlier, so I kind of just would say move things up.

A couple months, right like?

You know, of course, it might be hard to get any kind of letters recommendation until the school year starts, and that's understandable.

But if you're aiming for the November 1st deadline, then you should at least definitely have those essays completed by the beginning of the school year, right? 'cause you had? Like summertime, an homework on top of everything. You could just focus on them and then be able to talk to teachers of years about helping you edit those.

Probably the.

The biggest time commitment of the whole application and other essays.

Alright, awesome, thank you. Someone asked where we can get more resources on what it's like to attend McAllister, so I'm just going to drop a couple of links in the chat. One is to mcallister's YouTube channel where you can find guns, tons of videos on student life, some brief tours around campus. We have a day in the life series where the caster students just show you what it's like to go through a day in there.

Barry and they are incredibly varied lives, and I also sent in a link to our visit page where you can schedule time to go to an information session or to have an interview with one of our admission staff here at Mac.

He

I'm would someone be able to pull out of early decision if they get accepted but aren't able to afford to attend that particular college.

I mean.

It is highly discouraged because that is part of the commitment right?

Does it happen once in awhile? Yes obviously, especially if like Kobe like families, finances change.

Can you elaborate more about what happens there? I believe like you.

Especially if you already made it deposit like that's a non refundable deposit.

Alright awesome, someone wants to know what we should reach out to an admissions officer for. You could reach out for any number of things. Honestly, if you have any questions or concerns at all, please just feel free to email us or our office is because we are here to being a resource to you. When in doubt, reach out absolutely.

Macaya, what's the best way to put family responsibilities and your extracurricular activities section so it doesn't necessarily look like chores?

Yeah, I mean so when you do the common app, for example, there's kind of drop downs for the different headers and one of them, I believe is family responsibilities. That makes that pretty clear, and then you can type in however you would like to call it. The fact is if chores because of family responsibilities are a significant time in your day. That is what it is. You know there's a lot to say about, like doing chores, right? Like that's time commitment. That's hard work that's.

Responsibility, so there's nothing to be like a champ for that for adding that at all.

But sometimes it allows you to list. You know what you would call it like. You can call it chores and babysitting or whatever it is. And then there is a couple lines you could write in like what this is or what this means to you.

You know?

So you can always elaborate on that as well.

Alright, thank you.

I'm let's see I don't know this off the top of my head, but if you apply through Questbridge you can apply early decision, right?

My quick answer is yes, really kind of. Try remember the timeline because it's due at the end of September.

And they get back pretty soon. If you're going to finalist, so you're not if you're a non finalist and you just kind of don't proceed down the Questbridge Line. And I believe there is still time to do early decision 'cause we didn't read your application yet.

Right?

Also, I McAllister we accept questbridge applications just like any other application, so there's really no point of view like filling out Quest Board, which is a very long application because very detailed and doing the common app. But it's the same information.

But I'm positive that if you were non finalist that we can read your application for an early decision.

That being said, I believe that if you become a finalist though, then your your application is still active and then you'll be sent to the different schools that they're going to match you with an those schools read your application and start to make their decisions.

Which I mean, I just don't have it hard time remembering how the timeline goes. I don't think that happens until end of November, so maybe in that case it wouldn't.

Be able to go early decision.

Regardless, what happens, you can submit your question application for like regular decision.

Alright, thank you Macaya.

Lancer a couple quick ones. If a student applies early decision, are they still eligible to take a gap here? Yes, yes they absolutely are. Is it OK to start looking at colleges as an incoming junior? Yes absolutely. The earlier the better. It doesn't matter when you start whether you're 5 or 15 or your right up against the finish line, we just want you to get started as early as you possibly can.

I'm for the CSS profile. If I was born in the US but don't live there, how do I apply to the CSS profile international or normal? If you were born in the USURUS citizen, apply, fill out and submit the CSS profile as you would as a US citizen.

Pardon me.

I'm now Macaya. How can students generally go about finding merit opportunities or scholarship opportunities?

Yeah for sure so.

Well, talk about first non school given out scholarships just once. It come from different institutions out there.

Honestly, when I started out I just Google Google playing scholarships for in my area. There's always like some local scholarships. Maybe where you lived. I got one from.

I think I got one from the Elks Lodge back home my senior year. There's always like local ones to help local students.

And then there are more national ones, specially if their identity driven so.

You know, I'm just taking my experience. I applied for one for like Asian Pacific Islander students. Those could be a lot more competitive 'cause it says a larger pool so.

You know we live in the world technology. So first round looking Google see which ones are out there. Second, maybe talk to your your high school counselor 'cause they are probably getting constant emails about scholarship opportunities and they can be able to direct you to them based on what they know about like your identities and your academic performance in your interest.

And then I would look at each school so each school is going to do financial aid and merit scholarships differently. Some schools require that you submit an additional application or additional essay to be eligible for merit based scholarships. So just keep doing that. But I McAllister but we don't do that. We take your application as is and then make decisions for merit based scholarships later on and then usually around the time you apply to school or after you apply in your admitted.

Some schools will have additional Department scholarships that you can apply for.

So I'm going to be aware like check out their websites and stuff.

Awesome, thank you. I'm someone asked. I've seen a few questions in here that go more in depth about what you need to write a college essay. So I just wanted to paste in the chat a link to our other workshop Wednesday presentations, one of which is, you know, a pretty lengthy presentation, all on writing a college essay. Going through the process of story mapping, zooming in pro tips, and everything with that nature. So if you have any questions.

About writing a college essay. Going to that Workshop Wednesdays link and finding that particular recording of that presentation will be incredibly helpful to you.

Um now micaiah. I have a question about generally moving throughout highschool. Someone has moved between two states during high school, in there. Wondering if that would affect them negatively, and there's also a student who wants to know how someone who's been between multiple schools because of family and economic situations. How should they look at submitting an application without a letter of recommendation?

Got it first try saying that just because you move between different schools does not mean that we like, think less of that at all. We will go look up the school context for each school, so we will only really look you know your first two years and say at one school we will put that in perspective. That's cool. And then if you transfer, that will look at your grades in your curriculum based on, that's cool. So just keep that in mind. But letters of recommendation? Yeah, I can become.

Difficult to stay in touch with teachers if you move.

I think if you have any concerns about not completing any parts of an application because of difficult circumstances, it's always good just to get in contact with your admissions counselor and let them know.

Write notes can be added to files you know. There's just some things are out of your control.

And it will keep that in mind. So just just always kind of just keep on communicating with your counselor.

Thank you got through that. I'll just do really quickly when it comes to letters of recommendation. You can definitely ask for letters of recommendation from community members, employers, etc, but make sure that if you are required to have teacher recommendations that you try to get them from teachers. And of course subject.

And when it comes to your counselor recommending thing you know, see if they are able to given their case mode. Also, if you are involved in a community based organization such as college point or college, possible, it is always totally possible for them to write a counselors letter recommendation for you as well.

And when it comes to tips for asking for letters of recommending things reflect, we said earlier, have a summary of your various accomplishments and activities so that it's easier for them to pinpoint attributes or skills that you want them to talk about.

Now Macaya.

What is? We've got some a caster specific question. What is 1 character or value that is common in all McAllister students? Or what? Or what profile is McAllister looking for in perspective students?

Um?

Yeah, I mean it causes a very generalized question, but like.

I think it is one thing that's pretty consistent with college students is kind of like go get it. Get 'em mentality of just showing a lot of passion for different things.

And those can be anything. It doesn't have to be like all just one one kind of topic, so I as long as student really just shows like passion for something that maybe they didn't high school and they want to continue it or they want to do in life.

We really appreciate reading things like that. That could be everything from my political engagement, activism, volunteering, sports, travel, anything. So we just we just like to see all those things. What was the second part of the question?

Um second part of that question.

What are we generally looking for in perspective students?

An academic side of things, this is a very rigorous environment.

Yeah, I want to classes on a homework and it is just important to obviously be able to handle that like organization.

Responsibility prioritizing. You know what's most important and we see those things you know in the application as well so.

Thank you Macaya.

OK so I saw a question about how the common app or how applying is different for an international student. So I'm just going to put a link in the chat to some comprehensive information from common app and also some information about what it's like to apply to McAllister as an international student.

Um?

Also.

Give him bat Macaya. This one doesn't necessarily have to do with admissions, but what has McAllister done to support the black lives matter movement?

Oh yeah, a lot of things happening well. Of course you know this happening this summer, so not, there's no really made people on campus, specially with Cohen, so there's almost nobody here. But Despite that that I think the campus is really still come together in a virtual manner to have these discussions and two.

In some cases, like actually do things in person so one there is a black lives black lives matter chapter right at McAllister, or like a student Org and they were really influential, Ann.

Like community, activism, volunteering and also really pushing the administration to to give and during this time so do you remember any of the numbers or.

Not at the top of my head, no.

No, but there is. If people were living here, they were doing stuff out, streets, shopping, donating groceries.

Um, protesting. They just like there's a lot happening out in the Twin Cities, but also in our neighborhood.

Stephanie is open up a lot of discussions not just with students but also with faculty and staff. Something I really appreciated.

Thank you, I see my question here. If I want to go to college for computer science, should I ask my computer science teacher for a letter of recommendation even though she is not one of my core subject teachers? Yes, that is absolutely fine. Go ahead. You know if you also have letters of recommendation from core teachers, I just from teachers in core subjects. I just want to stress that you should definitely include them. But absolutely, if you are doing really well in.

Particular like course of study or academic area and you have a good relationship with that instructor. It is totally fine and encouraged to ask them for a letter of recommendation as well.

I'm someone was asking if McAllister takes demonstrated interest into account and we personally as an institution do not take demonstrated interest into account. But for institutions that do reaching out For more information as an inquiry, attending an information session or virtual tour, having an interview with an admissions professional or asking to speak with the current student, and these are all different things that can demonstrate interest.

This is a question that I don't know. AC top of my Ted are questbridge applications binding, especially if you are finally Satis matched with the school.

I like it, I remember.

Yeah, I'm not.

Maybe we should find a link for them 'cause my first intuition is that if you are part of this cohort that you are coming.

Um?

I think it is, but again, we should find a link for re say things.

Absolutely.

See.

You can apply early action to multiple universities. If all of those universe teens are non restrictive early action. But if you apply to a school that has restrictive early action then you are only able to apply in an early round to that particular school.

With the option to withhold showing SAT or AC T scores to selective colleges, James, their chances of viewing your admission if the school requires some form of standardized test score, then you will have to submit that score in order for your application to be reviewed. If it's a test optional school, then you choose not to submit those test scores. Your application will be reviewed as though testing doesn't even exist, will assess your academic ability totally just on your academic record.

When the school be able to know my background, if I'm an international student, yes. If that is a school that has a capacity to accept international students, there will usually be at least one person in the office who is well versed in understanding what grading systems and what school contexts look like globally.

How did find something? It's right, it's such a long URL.

Now is the time.

It says here. So how was bridge works? Is that when you are applying fill your application and they will ask you to rank map rank schools that are partners if you choose to rank them, You know number one being the one that you'd really like to go to. If you do the ranking process and you become matched and they they said the reader application that it becomes like early decision is binding. If you decide not to drink.

And then.

There's you're not eligible for the whole scholar. The match scholarship aspect of it, but just kind of the incentive of the program, is to receive the full financial aid scholarship.

So yes, it is writing.

Awesome, thank you Macaya.

I'm someone wants to know when they should start scheduling interviews. Anne what matters are preferable to be addressed in the interviews.

We take interviews will virtual is definitely change things.

I think the best time to honestly to do an interview is sometime during your junior year or the summer going into your senior year.

Just 'cause at this point you probably have started the process just a little bit. You have an idea of what kind of schools you're interested in.

You know I can just be, you know, if you come kind of too early and you don't really know where you're at in this whole process, then you're probably not. Get the most out of the interview.

And we probably won't learn as much as we could about you out of the interview, so.

Awesome.

Ohio wait junior year.

Thank you.

Someone asked for our contact information, so I put it in the chat. Guys definitely feel free and I encourage you to look in the chat and click on a few of the links there. Just because there's a lot of valuable information in there.

Um, let's see do too.

Um?

What are some good sources to know about the social environment of the school?

I mean, the first would be the students you know, and we do have a way now.

It would be more with the school year starts to try to match students with a current student to have a little chat online.

That available availability too.

Perspective students is completely based on if current students are available or leave their interest, but that's always a good way.

Some other ideas?

We also do have some like student interviews on their website, rounded on the admission site.

Yeah, go near there it is.

Reaching out to current students is always a great idea. I put a link in the chat to Macalester College is Mewtwo page. So looking at the various social media platforms psychologists have is definitely a good way to get a sense of what things look like and feel like on campus.

Definitely.

Uh, let's see.

I have question here.

I'm so someone isn't super vocal or outgoing in class and they feel like their teachers don't know them very well. How would you go about asking for a letter of recommendation?

I mean.

Kind of at the end of the day you will have to actually ask them for it if you are more comfortable doing that over technology like email.

And that is what you're capable of doing. That that's fine, but I would definitely come prepared with like that list we were talking about of your interests and your accomplishments so so they have something to work with, right? So Shiva teacher maybe doesn't know you that. Well, at least they have something to tell us about you.

The good place to start.

Yeah, and if you feel like it's a class that you've done, especially welding that you've been a good student in, or a good community member in, regardless of whether or not the team player known as she wear has a personal relationship with you, those are always good people to ask. Someone wants to know that if if their scores are right below the 50th percentile, do you still suggest submitting them if you feel as though it will hurt your application and you were applying to a test optional school?

I'm saying Don't, but if you are applying to a school that you know requires test forms, you will have to.

Ann

Yeah, I mean, I guess it sounds pretty simple in that way, but that's why we talk about having target and safety and reach schools to have a target school to know where you fit in in terms of your academic and social profile is very important, especially if it comes to applying to schools that require a test sports.

You can also say anything about that test if there is something some circumstances would around that test, you can add that into your additional information.

And maybe that's.

More important for students who may be there testing does not align with their academic performance. They do something just seems seems to been off about that. It is good just to throw it in there some some context.

I see that there's still a little bit more still a little bit of confusion about some of the decision rounds you get rejected from School A through early action. You cannot or early decision you are not able to apply to school as regular decision round and there's no way to appeal that particular decision. But if you want to rejected from an early decision round or early action round at school a.

You can still apply regular decision at school. Be school sees pulled E through Z.

What's the difference between a college and a University? What are the advantages for both of these?

Yeah so.

So universities are typically like larger research based institutions where in a lot of ways they are so large that they hire. There's like the University, you know the big name, but in their full of smaller colleges. Which are, you know, special skills, you know that the College of Humanities of engineering of.

You know XY, Z.

So the typically lot larger, but some of them you can also be relatively small colleges.

There's there's so many different kinds of colleges to they can be very like specialized and like. For example, McAllister is a liberal arts college. Liberal arts, meaning that there is a broad array of classes and discipline to you kid. You can learn in your time. I think that sometimes that can be one of the major differences is size and what kind of learning style is at each school, maybe at a larger University you're going to be very specialized in this one discipline versus sometimes of colleges. You have the more flexibility too.

Learn Inter interdisciplinary topics.

Thank you Macaya.

Um, someone wants to know how do you recommend going about taking a gap year or even two years after high school, but still applying? Senior year is taking a year or two before going to college greatly affect admissions? No, I mean, if you do all of your applying senior year, turn in all of your materials, your academic record recommendations, etc etc etc. You can apply to the colleges that you want to. And if you are accepted you are able to apply to.

For a deferral or a gap year, an essentially that means is after you are accepted to a college you asked to be able to take a gap year between then and when you would start and your admission and financial aid or still guarantee.

I would just recommend that if you are a senior or going to Senior and you know that you're going to take a gap year before you go into a University or college.

Um?

Maybe not, you don't have to submit any applications, obviously, but maybe start to put those things together just so you have them like while you still know the teachers while they still know you, it could be kind of hard to come back a year or two later and ask your science teacher for recommendation.

You know, just kind of have maybe all that stuff to collect it and then kind of regardless if you go on a gap year and then you apply afterwards.

It could it be important to give us context of what you did that year, whether you did a very organized program and we get a letter recommendation from the supervisor or.

Somebody who kind of monitor your progress or just some kind of explanation of what you did. If you traveled. If you were volunteering, if you're working, whatnot.

But a lot of schools, if you do decide to defer or take that gap year that are going to ask you to actually kind of complete a project like or, they just want to know what you're going to do at the kind of explanation about what you're going to do in the gap year to be approved in normal circumstances years. This year is very different.

OK.

AM.

Let's see.

Adam.

Onsite and offsite interviews have been temporarily suspended, but if you email our office at the main email admissions@mcallister.edu, we will be able to schedule you for a virtual interview on a platform just like this. So those are on going and you can schedule one even right now.

Um, let's see Micaiah. Is a schools. Teachers take pride in being tough graders. Is that something that in admissions office would be able to take into account regarding their own personal situation or school context?

Just one teacher and you're telling us that there are tough grader? We don't.

So that we don't believe you like Levi had tough teachers to everybody else, but it just isn't really enough.

Yeah.

Of like a contact, does that make sense? I've tried the words, it just really isn't kind of enough to fully explain away that great flux.

But thank you for telling us 'cause then, now we know, but it's not really OK.

For sure.

But just how will excuse at the end of the day?

If you're at a school, they continuously had a lot of really tough students or teachers and classes are pretty rigorous. Then we are probably aware of that from past applicant.

Alright, thank you Yeah, but someone wants to know how many people we admit each year. I would say that our acceptance rate is probably for any given year in between 30 and 40%. Is that sound right?

I always like, you know, you admit.

A bunch, but students have other options, so they go sometimes go to other schools and then.

You know, some take gap years and stuff, so by the end of it, by the time school starts, we have like a pretty solid class that's going to be there.

Alright awesome, I have two questions that I'm going to answer. Someone does yoga as a hobby. It's not necessarily social and they don't have a leadership position in it, but it's something that they do spend significant time doing. I'd say that you know, if you have a set practice that you do consistently and it's a big part of your life and identity. Definitely put down yoga as an extracurricular.

And when it comes to mcalisters core curriculum being mentioned is why perspective student wishes to be admitted to McAllister.

How often is that mentioned and?

Yeah, let me rephrase this question. How often is our core curriculum mentioned as a reason why a student wants to come to McAllister and what they find interesting about it?

You know, if we have a supplemental question that specifically talks about that, then we'll hear about that. Or if a student has an interview with us, we may ask them why McAllister, why they chose McAllister. And you know, most often, when a student is applying to a liberal arts college, it is because they really like the liberal arts model of having one academic focus. But being able to dabble in variety of subjects used to have a more well rounded education.

I'm to do, is it really bad if you haven't done interviews yet or don't at all?

No, I mean, especially when interviews were in person we would never doc soon so not being able to do that. That's why they're just recommended they are not required. All the interviews are is just a way to give us a little bit of face to face time with you so then you know. We meet you once and then you know, we don't read your application for months later and then the couple of months after that, we go into committee and somebody could be like oh, but I interviewed them and then I remember we talked about this.

It's kind of like the best chain of events for that, but of course like not everybody is able to do this, and that's fine. That's not. It's not expected at all.

Thank you.

With the new code, that essay can you talk about both negative and positive impact in the essay? Yeah, absolutely. It would be really interesting and perhaps refreshing to hear bout the positive impacts of Covid from anybody. If you have two students who have similar grades, extracurriculars, good essays, but one has a good score in the essay T and the other went test optional. Is that what it will come down to when you accept one of them?

Not necessarily because I bet even with those similar grades, extracurriculars an good essays that there are still some pretty big defining personal characteristics that will separate those people even down to their general academic values and preferences and interests. Unless it's a crazy good test score, or it's a very unfortunate test score, than there are myriad other factors, including social fit, that will influence whether or not two academically similar students will be accepted to a college or.

University.

Do do do.

Scrolling

what is the graph here? And when do you take it?

So gap years are typic, so gap years are what we typically call like the year after high school and you haven't applied yet, right? That's how we differentiate that, deferring.

I'm deferring would be like you will have applied and even admitted and you're going to take that year off. So gap year is like.

Your senior year and you just know that you're not ready to go off to college like mentally physically, whatever it is, and that's fine. A lot of students take gap years.

Got it.

A gap year can be whatever you make it, or whatever you're able to actually do in that time. Like I mentioned earlier, we see everything from.

Traveling to volunteering to working full time there there's no.

You know, not everybody has same opportunities to do things so.

Um Macaya Hour pass fail grades look bad in comparison to letter grades. This student has pass fail grades from the last spring semester due to Kovid, But all the other grades are letter once.

So I think it was very different, but what happened last spring is going to be very different than in past years like we.

We're going to. We are expecting to see a lot more pass fail grades, so you're not.

Just like the one student has passed Belgrade. So I think again we just will have to look at what classes were you taking.

Like hopefully you pass them that were challenging yourself in the classes and then look at the great trend from before that and then hopefully you know. Fingers crossed the way this all semester goes for students. There are ways like safe and healthy during that time, but then we can see what classes you take during your mid year report and how you perform in those as well.

Thank you.

Um, if playing piano is one of my extracurriculars, but I'm already including those exams in the other section of the common app, do I also include playing piano on the extracurricular section because playing the piano is not just about the exam for me? Yeah, absolutely anything that you've been doing consistently as a hobby or extracurricular or personal responsibility. Feel free to put it in the extracurricular section, even if it's mentioned somewhere else in your application.

Even if you submit a resume along with your common application.

Tons.

Macaya, what kind of research internship and employment opportunities can we find at McAllister and in the Twin Cities?

Nice about macaws to being one of the few selective residential aboard schools is that we're located like in a Metro area, so.

If you're unfamiliar, the Twin Cities like we're located right in the middle of the Twin Cities, where you can access both old Minneapolis handle of Saint Paul with pretty reliable public transportation so.

Bout said like 2/3 of students will do some kind of off campus.

Engagement project internship of some sort.

So I mean there's over 200 different. What do they say over 200 different internship?

Locations in the Twin Cities. Those just one sisters have. We have a history of students going to. You can always find ones that are new and apply for them.

You can work with the internship office to help you find a good fit. They can help you with your application to your resumes for those.

So you're doing internship. It's actually really common. Specially for credit. You can. We really encourage students to start those. You start those after your first year kind of get settled in first and then with research. I mean we have all kinds of research. I keep it on campus, but also if you're doing research at another institution around here or at a different organization.

Um?

Because we are liberal, arts doesn't mean that we just have arts. I can have stem programs too, so if you are like pre Med track or just biology or computer science whatever you can do research on campus with faculty or individual projects.

There's fellowships that are that are the work with the with our campus.

I mean, there's so many of them. I think the best to get the best idea of what is available. It's go to the website for whatever major you're interested in and just kind of scroll through what students have done in the past. Sometimes will show senior capstone paper projects, they'll show where students have interned or researched at what kind of jobs are doing now, so I said like get a snapshot of what to do with those majors.

Thank you macaya. So this will be the last question we answered before we skip Datil, but someone wants to know what if your score is OK, but at the lower end of what the school normally expects. For instance, I have an NCT composite score of 30, but that is the lower end for colleges like McAllister. Should I send those if it is optional?

No.

It's hard to get just 'cause we know. The number doesn't mean that we know if you'd be admitted because there's so many other factors, and also just the fact of admissions. We're looking at you within the broad applicant pool.

You know, so each year 30 could be.

Different right in comparison to other applications so.

ODIs represented 30, is not a bad score at all, and definitely not score that would hurt you in anyway.

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm alright, well those were our that was our last question for today. Thank you so much for being here in making time for this workshop. We have our contact information there in the chat box and myriad helpful links. And also if you need to get ahold of us, you can find us on the meet the staff page for Macalester College is website but kinda do you have anything to say to these wonderful people before we head out?

Absolutely thank you so much. Have a good evening.