Small School Talent Search

A record number of students are calling and emailing, asking about the Small School Talent Search fee waiver. The weird thing is, though, that these students have been granted the fee waiver and are complaining that they cannot pay their fees online. Just take the fee waiver! Don't worry about it! If it is being offered for you, you cannot pay your fee, and that is final. Just submit your application.

Rounding the bend

You may have noticed that the regular notification deadline falls after a long stretch of no school and no work. A lot of the admissions staff is off and does not have access to email. However, we want to make sure you get your questions answered. You can post questions to the blog for everyone's edification, or email questions@phoenix.uchicago.edu, which is the general email address that I answer.

Here are some notes:

- If you want your teacher recommendations or other documents to get here as quickly as possible, you can email them to questions@phoenix.uchicago.edu and I can forward them directly in your application. Things can be attachments or in the body of the message. Just make sure you label it correctly, i. e. "Essay Question 1" or "Supplemental Recommendation."

You can fax the documents to 773-702-8599 (domestic fax) or 773-702-4704 (international fax).

The only thing you cannot email or fax is your transcript or your fee.

Also, please do not send multiple copies of things multiple ways. Do not both mail and email something. Do not both email and fax something. Once is enough.

- Remember to press the submit button at the end. Paying your fee is not the last step -- at the very end, you check a box that says you are presenting yourself honestly, and then you click "Submit application." If you log back into your application and it does not say "Application submitted on..." then you did not submit it!

Here are some questions that are getting more frequent:

What if I have to send some things after the deadline?

Don't fret too much. If your documents get here by January 8 (and with the email or fax, they can get here instantly), you should be in good shape.

Many students are asking if testing done in January or February is valid for the regular notification cycle. All testing must be done before the deadline, but if for some reason you could not take the SAT until January, that should be fine. Tests taken in February or March really are too late. Do not rush your scores.

When is the deadline exactly?

Funny you should ask.

How can I see what you've received from me?

The credentials checking feature will not be available again until late January. Until then, you should not worry, and you definitely should not resend anything. It will take us most of the month of January to open all of our mail, sort it, scan it, and link it to your application. No, I am not kidding. Until then, neither y'all nor we know if we have received what you have sent, so you should just stop worrying.

Any other questions? Post them to the comments.

Advice for the deferred

Deferred applicants who did not request alumni interviews before can request them until midnight on tonight (unfortunately not midnight Baker Island time.) So, log in, click "Request an alumni interview," and click "Save." If you requested one before and did not get one, we will do everything in our power to make sure you get one for regular notification.

Right now, as you can imagine, emails and calls are pouring in about how to do as well as you can in regular notification, and how exactly you should update your file. I find myself giving the same answer to everyone, because it is applicable for everyone -- do as well as you can in what is left of this semester, and continue to express interest. You can express interest by writing us a nice note in your midyear report, which will be available online in January and due on February 1. The midyear report -- either online or in the form of a new transcript from your counselor -- is required. It is your signal to us that we should re-read your application.

If you have new test scores, send us an official report. If you have improved essays, email them to your admissions counselor. Make sure your full real name and what essay it is (Question 1, Question 2, or Extended Essay, and what topic you are addressing) is on every page. If you have another recommendation, have the recommender fax or mail it in. If you have new glassblowing techniques, email your counselor a picture. There is no particular due date for new materials, but if you could get them sent before mid-January, that would be best.

Another note: we are not able to give reasons for decisions over the phone or via email, no matter how much we might want to. Our admissions decisions are made over the course of weeks (or months, for regular notification), by several people, sometimes during a conversation, taking into account the entire applicant pool. It really is impossible to recreate the reasons behind our decisions in a way that would be adequate or helpful to the applicant. We also do not have an appeals process.

The regular notification deadline to request an alumni interview is December 15

Regular notification candidates should log into the online application soon to request their alumni interview, because the requestin' place goes down on December 15. Remember, you do not have to submit your application before the request is processed, and you do not have to be interviewed before the deadline.

Yes, early action people, even more people are applying regular notification, and they have not yet been through all that you have.

Also, as you fill out the application, make sure Javascript and cookies are enabled, so that your information displays correctly after you save it.

Credentials are closing tonight

As we work to get the final applications complete, we will to be closing the credentials checking system tonight at midnight. If for some reason the credentials checking frenzy hasn't hit you, you have time to check your credentials tonight before the feature closes. If you have any further questions about your credentials, you should call the office at 773-702-8650.

Credentials checking for early action candidates who were deferred will reopen right after we send decisions.

Credentials checking for regular notification candidates will open in late January. We are expecting to need a lot of time to process all of the regular notification credentials. Usually twice the number of early action candidates apply regular notification. Again, we will notify students if their applications remain incomplete long after the deadline, and give them time to complete their applications before we make final decisions. Early action candidates, we are counting on you to calm the regular notification candidates while they wait for credentials to open.

A note about TOEFL scores

Not very interesting, but I thought I'd address some of the panic.

TOEFL scores can only be sent to one office in a university, and that office isn't this one. So, when you send your TOEFL scores, they go to the Office of International Affairs, and the OIA sends them to us in a big spreadsheet at certain times throughout the year. Your scores may be sitting at the OIA -- you'll have to be patient while we wait to receive them from over there. After we receive them, we also have to enter them.

And remember, all international students see the TOEFL credential on their credentials site, regardless if the TOEFL is required for them.

No international students see SATs, regardless if they've sent them. If you want to make sure we've received your SATs, you should email me at questions@phoenix.uchicago.edu

Credentials - what will be listed

Students will see listed all of the required parts of the application. If the item has been received, it will be followed by the date when we processed it. If it has not been received, there will be a red "Not received" note. Very ominous. If you see any "Not received" notes, it means your application is not yet complete. If you see none, your application is complete.

Here is what we consider to be required for domestic students (the international list does not include test scores and some other things, though most international applicants are able to send standardized test scores):

1. Form 1: Application for Admission
2. Writing: Question 1
3. Writing: Question 2
4. Writing: Extended Essay
5. $60 Application Fee Paid or Waived
6. HS Transcript
7. Form 3A: Teacher Recommendation English/Social Studies
8. Form 3B: Teacher Recommendation Science/Mathematics
9. Official SAT or ACT Test Scores (if we received more than one set, this may be listed more than once)
10. Form 2: Secondary School Report

You may also see this:

• Other/Additional Application Supplement
• Additional Recommendation 3C

So, we WILL be listing additional recommendations and supplements on the credentials checker. Of course, these are the last things we process, since our priority right now is to make applications complete and ready to be read.

We will not list on campus or alumni interviews, but if you had one, it will be written up. Rest assured.

Credentials checking is updated nightly to reflect what's in our Database of All Teenagers. We will be taking it down as we get ready to send decisions, so it will be down from mid-December to mid-January.

Lastly, don't resend anything! Unless, of course, you are sure it was not sent in the first place.

Update on the TOEFL

All international applicants, because of their citizenship status, will see the TOEFL listed on their credentials. We accept the TOEFL or IELTS for proof of English proficiency, and if you want to know about our required scores, you can go to the admissions website.

For students who have lived in the US or been educated in English for two or more years, your TOEFL or IELTS requirement is waived. However, this fact will not show up on the credentials site. We will not mark your TOEFL as having been received because we will never receive it, but you should rest assured that this is not a required document for you.

After you fill out your application, don't forget to actually submit it!

We've been having an issue this year with students filling out the application, paying their application fee, and then closing their browser window before actually submitting the application. Don't let this happen to you! After you pay the fee, you need to keep clicking forward to digitally "sign" your application and submit it. Until you click "Submit Application" and that confirmation email is in your sweaty, anxious digital hands, your application has not been submitted. You will also know if you have submitted your application because the next time you log in, the application homepage should look completely different.

About 170 students did this early action, and luckily we caught them in time to let them submit their application. However, 60 students have already done this for regular notification. Be aware!

Credentials Checking

Also, credentials checking will open tonight at midnight. That might sound like a good thing, but we in admissions know that it will probably cause a run on the bank, and everyone will call and re-send their documents, neither of which you should do. Do not call us, and do not resend your documents at this time. Just continue to bite your fingernails until you receive an email telling you to resend things. In the meantime, allow us to search through the office couch cushions in search of your English teacher's recommendation...

Decisions - what?

If you have applied early action, you will either be admitted, deferred, or denied.

I think you can guess what admitted means. It means that you can come join us next year. However, you do not have to. That is because our early action program is non-binding. You can apply to other schools if you want. You can enroll the next day if you want. The choice is yours. Financial aid information should follow within days, if you applied on time and your application was complete.

If you are deferred, you will be read again in the regular notification pool. We will ask for your midyear grades in January (we ask for them from everyone), and they will give us the information we need to make a decision in the regular notification pool. We also would like you to show interest by attaching a comment to your midyear report or just telling us what you're up to. Or just sending an email that says "It's too bad that you deferred me, but I still want to attend your school."

Students who are denied will not be read again that year. That is the final decision.

How many students will be admitted, deferred, and denied this year? I we don't aren't know telling.

What will the envelopes look like? They'll all be rectangles, and probably white or white-ish.

When do you do the midyear report? January. Our midyear report is special, and you can only fill it out online. You self-report your grades. That way you can also tell us what you're up to.

Decisions - how, when, where?

The comments have recently turned toward the topic of how you will get your decision, now that you have figured out how to send in your application. For you, the process goes like this:

1. Send in application
2. Get decision

But to us, the process looks like this:

1. Receive lots of mail
2. Get lots of paper cuts
3. Remove lots of staples
4. Scan lots of documents
5. Link the documents to your account in our Massive Database of All Teenagers (MDAT)
6. Read your applications
7. Read them again
8. Have a committee
9. Have staring contests during committee (ahem, Kate)
   
10. Read more applications
11. Read them again
12. Have another committee
13. Go home for Thanksgiving and watch What Not to Wear with mom
14. Read more applications
15. Have another committee
16. Stuff lots of envelopes
17. Mail them (not only on the same day, but in the same second)
    
18. Catch up on all the New Yorkers we haven't gotten to read because we were reading applications
    

So, we are not thinking about decisions, and we are actually baffled as to why our applicants are, when there is obviously so much to do! But that's behind the scenes.

In the world, there are usually three answers to any questions: Yes, No, and I don't know. But here in admissions, there are four: Yes, No, I don't know, and We are not telling.

So, when are decisions coming out? I we don't are not know telling. That is a mixture between "I don't know" and "We are not telling." We have a goal date. Do we ever meet the goal date? No. So we're not even going to tell you the goal date, because we probably won't meet it. If we do, we'll be happy, and you'll get your decision in mid-December. If we don't, we'll be less happy, but you'll still get your decision in mid-December.

I can tell you that you will get a letter in the mail. We still do that. I can also tell you that we will email you and tell you to check your decision online when it is available. That is different from last year. Last year we emailed the decisions themselves, but this year we are going to make your official decision available when you log into the online application. So, it is to your benefit to be familiar with your user name and password on the online application! I can also tell you that we will not send this email during school hours, so don't expect it in the morning.

If you are admitted, you will also be able to go immediately to a website called ThickEnvelope (haha!) and accept your offer of admission right away! You'll also be able to log into bulletin boards to chat with fellow future classmates, sign up for April overnight programs, etc.

But all this is in the far future. Don't worry about it now. Worry about water. Here is the next installment of Look Around You, entitled Water.

How Should I Address My Recommendation/Essays/Application Fee/Whatever?

Hi everyone. We are all slowly starting to gather together in the office for meetings in preparation for the Early Action cycle. In my absence I received a number of pieces of mail that contained pieces of your application(s). This is not the most efficient way to send in pieces of your application. You should mail things to:

The University of Chicago
Office of College Admissions
1101 E. 58th St., Suite 105
Chicago, IL 60637

That way it'll get entered into the mail-opener-o-matic (i.e., us) a lot more quickly, instead of waiting for me to sort through the pile of letters on my desk and then realizing you sent me $60. Oh, that's not for me...

Also, don't panic or worry if you think we might not receive all your application documents from the various sources - you, your school, your teachers. The USPS does a good job and almost 99.99% of stuff ends up where it needs to be. If it doesn't we WILL notify you later in the cycle with enough time to resubmit appropriate materials. You do not need to call or write at this time asking if we've received materials or if they should be resubmitted.

I was in DC this weekend and visited the National Archives and saw the actual, original Constitution of the United States of America. It was pretty neat, and I recommend a visit.

Finally, please enjoy this article about the Manhattan Project: http://nytimes.com/2007/10/30/science/30manh.html?8dpc

Good luck all, and keep your heads on. You're almost through it!

While you freak out about your early action application...

Hovercat is always here to help and understand.

Here is what Hovercat wants you to do.

1. Follow directions.

2. Unless we explicitly tell you not to do something, it must be okay to do it! There is no need to ask your admissions counselor about every little thing. It is highly unlikely that you will make a mistake so monstrous that we will change our admissions decision.

3. Remember that there is no word limit on the essays. There is a suggested length. But if you ask us what the word limit is, we will not be able to tell you, because we don't know. Or we may make something up. Actually, I've just decided that the word limit is u73i words. I obviously just closed my eyes and typed something in, or u is an imaginary number I didn't hear about in the Core.

4. I've just found out about rushed electronic scores. We tell you not to rush your scores because rushed scores are typically sent on paper, but if you are being told that they will be sent electronically, that's wonderful and you can go ahead and rush them.

However, there is no need to rush your scores! Testing must be completed by the deadline. If your scores are not in our office by the deadline, that's fine! They will get there eventually!

You may be thinking that we start reading applications right on November 1 at midnight. This is not so. We are too busy putting envelopes on our hands and heads and becoming envelope monsters.

5. Can you write your essay on a past essay topic? Well, the past essay topic is neither topics one through four, nor is it a topic you made up yourself, so technically this is something we discourage. But we also welcome being challenged.

6. We will look at EVERYTHING. We don't throw anything out! So, send it! If you want us to see it, send it! No need to ask first!

7. Except if you "accidentally" wrote an 11 page essay when we just asked for your name. Just because you misread the instructions doesn't mean they weren't there in the first place.

8. The credentials checking feature on the application will be available later in the fall. We will open the feature when we are sure we have catalogued every credential we have received... which will take a while.

9. If there are many students applying from your school, your application is neither at an advantage or at a disadvantage. We read applications one at a time.

10. All materials should be sent to the admissions office, and postmarked by the deadline you have chosen. There are no separate deadlines for separate application materials, and no separate addresses other than our own address:

Office of College Admissions
1101 E 58th St
Rosenwald 105A
Chicago, IL 60637
USA

11. Yes, your early action application for financial aid is due on November 1. The College Aid website is here.

That is all Hovercat has to say right now. Hovercat can't remember ever getting this many panicked emails about minute details before. Maybe because Hovercat is just a cat lying on a glass table, and not actually an admissions counselor...

Who can write my recommendations?

We have been getting a lot of questions this year about who can write the 3A and 3B recommendations. Well, I will tell you.

3A (English/social studies)

Okay: English, social studies, history, government, economics, art history, music theory, foreign literature, anthropology, psychology
Not okay: music performance, studio art, foreign language, speech and debate, journalism, business, marketing

3B (Math/science)

Okay: math, science with a lab, statistics, science without a lab, computer science
Not okay: psychology

In every case, these letters should be written by a teacher who taught you in that subject during high school, not in a college or university (unless you are home schooled and that is the only context in which you took that class).

And yes, both recommendations are a requirement!

If I'm missing any kinds of classes, let me know!

Alumni interviews are being matched!

The Alumni Interview Match-o-Matic is finally working, so students who have requested alumni interviews should be receiving a confirmation email, and your alumni chair will be receiving your information to distribute to the volunteers.

This is also a good chance to remind everyone applying early action that the deadline to request your alumni interview online is TODAY. Just log into the application and click "Request an alumni interview" and "Save." That is all you need to do -- now you should get an email the next day.

We apologize to everyone who was freaking out because they didn't get an email right away, but it all worked out in the end, and this shouldn't keep anyone from being interviewed on time.

If you have any questions about the interview process or haven't gotten an email yet (check your junk mail folder!), you can email asc-questions@phoenix.uchicago.edu.

In other news, I'm in LA for two weeks, and I think I just actually died of traffic.

I can has test scores?

The official policy of this office is that all testing must be completed by the deadline for which you are applying. This year, there is an ACT in late October and an SAT in early November. The ACT on October 27 is in time for the early action deadline,but the SAT is not. And even the ACT is cutting it a little close.

We have to turn around early action decisions very quickly -- in several weeks, as opposed to several months for regular notification. For this reason, we cannot guarantee that we will see November test scores in time for your application to be complete and read. October test scores will probably get to us in time.

Please do not rush your test scores. It actually takes longer for rushed test scores to get to us since they are on paper, not electronic.

Test scores do need to be sent to us from the testing service. The scores on your transcript will not suffice.

Word limits, when to send things, and requesting alumni interviews

Word limits

There are no word limits on the essays, and we are not thinking single-spaced or double-spaced when we suggest to you how many pages your essay should take up. The guidelines are for you, to make sure you don't feel like you have to write too much, and you don't make the mistake of writing too little. The online application will not cut off your essay. You will probably compose your essay in a word processor and then paste it into the online application, in which case the number of pages will change because the online application has its own font that it likes to use. Either way, don't worry about it.


SATs in November

Students who are applying early action cannot use the November SAT to apply. We will not get it in time. If you are deferred, we will have your scores for the regular notification cycle.

When do I send different documents?

Whenever you want, as long as they are postmarked before the deadline. If you have an account on the online application, that means we know your name and can put your documents together. If you have not yet made an account or submitted the paper Basic Information Form that you can find on the back of your application, you should do so as soon as possible, even if you don't end up applying.

Alumni interviews

Alumni interviews can only be requested online. Students who never made an account on the online application will get an email with a username and password -- you should use that username and password to log into the online application and do what needs to be done online, such as reqeusting an alumni interview starting September 13, checking credentials later on in the fall, and filling out the midyear report.

Application Calendar

If you are using Google Calendar (or would like to start but didn't have anything to subscribe to), I created an Application Calendar that has important dates and deadlines during the College's application cycle this year. As you can see, nothing is really happening for a while, but I will update the calendar with important dates as we go on through the year.

The age-old problem of getting your point across

Most of the questions in the past few days have been about how we would like to view your information, or how "best" to fill out different sections or send in different things. Or even whether to send in some things, such as video clips.

You should fill out any section or any information in the way that it makes the most sense to you. Colleges cannot tell you what makes the most sense because it is your life you are talking about. There is always a wide gulf between the writer and the reader. The gulf is kind of scary, especially when it is so apparent in something as important as a college application. However, it's always supposed to be there.

So, here is what I'm trying to say:

1) It kind of doesn't matter how you fill out the Activities section. Fill it out and ask "is it clear? is it accurate? is it me?" If not, change it. This is how your entire application should be filled out.

2) There is no way we will read your application exactly the way you intended to write it, because that never happens. It never has and it never will.

3) The application reader can't decide whether you should include something because we don't know what it is. Only you know what it is. You can't control how we read something, but you can control what you choose to include. However, when it comes to sending in supplemental materials, these materials almost never change a decision into something it wouldn't already have been.

How do I know what you have received?

Later in the fall, we will turn on a feature called Credentials Checking on the online application. There you will see what we have received in support of your application, including test scores.

I want to apply early action, but you won't have my senior grades or certain test scores.

The test scores really don't matter. I wouldn't change deadlines just so we can have more test scores, especially not SAT II tests, which we do not see anyway.

It is true we won't have your senior grades. If you haven't always been the best student, you will probably be deferred from early action so that we can see better senior grades. If better senior grades would make a huge difference in your file, it may be to your benefit to apply regular notification.

No commuters in 2008

Students starting in 2008 will no longer be permitted to commute from home -- everyone must live on campus. Older students can still petition to live off campus, but that will be discouraged.