Do you intend to enroll in a degree program your first year?

I have noticed that many people have come upon my blog by asking this question. However, I do not offer any explanation – just the answer my students should provide.

Well, let me explain for all who really wish to know:

You might enroll as a degree or a non-degree student.

If you plan to get a degree ( e.g. a Bachelor of Science in Physics), you need to take some mandatory classes, to collect a certain number of credit hours, etc. Then you enroll in a degree program.

However, your goal may not be to get a degree but just to take a number of classes because you are interested in them. Then you don’t enroll in a degree program. In this case you may not be a full-time student and take the required work-load, but just stray classes.

Of course, you might spend your first year as a non-degree student and then decide to start a degree program. In this case, you write “No” because they ask about the first year only.

This question does not ask you whether you are going to declare a major in the first year. You might enroll in a degree program your first year and not be in a hurry to declare your major during the first year

This is not just my own interpretation but what a friend of mine who works in a US college told me after discussing the question with other faculty and admissions officers.

The mosaic / the list

Some college ask you:

Is there any further information regarding your personal situation or achievements that you think we should know when considering your possible acceptance to X?

Some students wonder what they could write. Well, sometimes you don’t need to write anything, but sometimes it might be a good idea to write something. How do you figure that out?

A college gets a lot of information about you – from different sources, in different ways. You should think of this information as of a mosaic.

How do you make sure nothing important is omitted? Write a list of all the important things a college should know about you. For every application check if you all points covered – by your essays, portfolios, short answers and possibly teacher recommendations (you should think of the things teachers don’t know about you, so they won’t address).

(USA) Financial aid : CSS Financial aid profile and other instruments

Not all schools use the same financial aid documents, so you should check with every school - what type of forms they require from INTERNATIONAL students. Be careful as often financial aid documents and application documents for the same academic year might have different years in their title. For example, on your college application you might see 2010-2011, while on the financial aid document, you might see 2011-2012.

You might wish to create a table where you write down what every school requires.

You might find SOME  instructions from previous years helpful – see the ‘financial aid’ category in this blog. However, I have not published information about all instruments and documents.

 

(USA) The Common Application: 2010-2011 First-year application

Read older texts on the common application to learn about its parts, etc. You don’t need to read the specific instructions (like the one I’m posting below) for specific previous years.

APPLICANT

Legal name: Your name as it is written on your ID card. Exactly!

Preferred name: If your name is Dimitar, but you’d prefer to be called “Mitko”

Former last name(s), if any – you have such a name if you have changed your last name because of marriage or divorce, for example.

Birth date: “mm/dd/yyyy” means “month, day, year” . 3rd November, 2008 in this format is written as ” 11/03/2008″

US Social Security Number, if any – if you are one of my current students, you probably don’t have any

E-mail address: it should include your real name to sound more formal. Avoid any “pussy”-like usernames.

IM address: IM=instant messenger – Skype, ICQ, etc. Would you like to be approached by college representatives? Well, if you have the guts, go ahead

Permanent home address: you know what it is – where your parents live, etc.

Current mailing adress: where you can be sure to receive mail. It could be a mail box at the post office or your grandparents’ address … whatever.

FUTURE PLANS – this section might be different for different colleges

Entry Term: Fall (if you want to start college in the fall of 2011)

Decision Plan: the most common one is Regular Decision. I usually advise against applying Early …

Do you intend to apply for need-based financial aid? Yes.

Do you intend to apply for merit-based scholarships? Yes.

Do you intend to be a full-time student? Yes.

Do you intend to enroll in a degree program your first year? Yes

Do you intend to live in college housing? Yes or No – you might have different answers for different colleges. If you know that they offer financial aid only for the tuition, then you might wish to live off campus if it is much cheaper.

What is the highest degree you intend to earn? I have already explained the degrees: bachelor, master, doctor.

Career Interest: if you are undecided, just write “undecided”

Academic interests: well, you do have some, and there’s plenty of space to fit them in

DEMOGRAPHICS

Citizenship status

Non-US citizenship Bulgarian

Primary language spoken at home Bulgarian / Turkish …

White (including Middle Eastern)

FAMILY

You should include information about both parents, even if one or more is deceased (dead) or has no legally (or practically) responsible for you. If your parents are separated, divorced, etc. – if you are in any doubt, ask me!!!

Occupation: position at the moment

Employer: the name of the company, not the boss’ name

College / Graduate school: if your parents have a University diploma, and they have studied at university for more than 4 years, then you should choose “Graduate school” and write its name. The degree is usually “Master” – of what? That’s their major.

Legal guardian: only if other than a parent!

Siblings: these are your brothers or sisters

EDUCATION

Secondary schools: these are high schools (гимназии)

Entry date: the date you started high school

Graduation date: ask school officials

School type: all my students should enter “public”

CEEB/ACT Code: If you are one of my students, your school does not have such a code, so you’ll get 0000 after click on “not found”

Counselor’s name: one of the teachers writing your recommendations will be your counselor – the one who knows you best and is going to prepare the school report.

Counselor’s Title: if he is a subject teacher, you could write “Teacher of Physics”, for example

List all other secondary schools, including summer schools ….: if you have not changed high schools after 8th class or you have not taken part in any summer academic programs at high schools, you don’t write anything here.

Please list any community program/organization that has provided free assistance with your application process N/A

If your secondary school education was or will be interrupted: no student of mine this year should fill in these!

Colleges & Universities: no student of mine this year should fill in these!

ACADEMICS

Grades:

Class Rank N/A

Class Size the number of students graduating in 2011 (брой ученици във випуска)

Weighted? If it is impossible to skip, choose “No”

GPA = grade point average (среден успех) – include year grades for 9, 10 and 11 class

Scale: 2-6 ( 3 is the lowest passing mark)

Weighted? If you include ALL subjects, choose YES; if you don’t include all subjects, choose NO.

My students should include information only about TOEFL and SAT tests. Fill in information not only about the tests you have already taken but also about the ones you plan to take.

Current courses: the subjects you take in 12 class

Honors: This is only about academic honors – related to academic subjects, so don’t include achievements in sports J Arrange these carefully! It’s a bit tricky!

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES & WORK EXPERIENCE

Write the most importants ones in order of interest, even if you plan to send a resume! It does not matter if any of these are institutional, family or independent ones!

WRITING

Short answer: It’s about ONE of your extraxurricular or work experience. As it should be include no more than 150 words, make sure every word makes sense! You should explain why it was one of your most meaningful activities, what you gained from it.

Personal essay: No matter what topic you choose, the essay should tell something about you – how the person/book/experience, etc. has influenced you

I suggest you write down ideas on ALL topics instead of focusing only on the one that seem the easiest. I’ll help you choose which one is worth developing.

Additional information: if you have something really unusual in your circumstances … you’d better ask me before you write something pathetic!

Disciplinary history: No, No, I hope

SIGNATURE

Application fee payment: Will Mail Fee Waiver Request ( it’s a letter from your school, explaining that you don’t fave the money to pay. Most colleges accept it)

Tick all boxes!

TEACHERS

You might have had more than one teacher per subject, but there is not enough space to write down all names, so make sure you write all subjects, and then write the name of the teacher who taught you longer or more recently. The teachers who are going to write reference letters should be on the list. If in doubt, ask me.

Applying to US colleges

Some people still don’t know what documents should be sent to American colleges. Instead of asking me, please, go through the relevan information in this blog. Check the category “Comm app”, and you will find more than 20 posts. Some of them give specific instructions on filling out applications for specific years, but most of them do provide information that is still valid.

My next publication will appear in a minute, and it will be the latest instruction on the Common Application, which you are going to fill out online.

If you have carefully read the blog so far, you’ll know that it is not the only document you have to prepare.

“How will you enrich the [College Name] community, and how do you think it might enrich you?”

A question from the forum.

The second question calls for a motivational essay  I have already written about that here.

The first calls for self-reflection – you have to finally find out who you are at this stage of your life and what you have to offer. You should persuade admissions officers that you do have something to offer … to the community.

What is the community? A community consists of people – professors and students. Both of them need enrichment, but after all a college is meant to educate students first, so you might think: how would your presence help make other students’ college experience richer?

What is college experience? Classroom experience, extracurricular activities, dormitory experience, canteen experience, lab experience, sports field experience, art studio experience, etc. etc.

I have read in too many people’s essays the promise that they will teach their classmates Bulgarian folk dance and cook Bulgarian food for them, so give me a break, please! You are much more than a representative of your ethnic group. You have a unique background – your life experience, your passions and outlooks. You are not a flat but a multi-dimensional being.

What could you share about yourself? As early as April, I posted a long document you can download – the broad topics, some tips, etc. When you have tried writing on all of them, you would have searched yourself high and low, and you will be able to write a personal “inventory” – this summary of all you could boast is what you could give to the community.

And here is a warning.

Никола за Yale

Никола представя колежа си на кандидат-студент, който се интересува от информатика:

Ще започна с компютрите. Компютърният факултет в Йейл е малък – в моя випуск има около 20 студента по компютри от общо около 1200 души. Това може да бъде както предимство, така и недостатък. Според мен главните предимства са, че лекциите са малки, от 3-4 до най-много 30-40 човека. Така се сформира един като цяло сплoтен “копютърен колектив.” Също, професорите ти бързо те опознават и по всяко време можеш да си уредиш среща с тях. Недостатъкът е, че ще срещаш малко на брой хора, които учат компютри сериозно. Нещо, което усещам, че на мен много ми липсва е точно тази geeky атмосфера – да се съберете няколко човека и да работите по някакъв проект заедно, или просто да обсъждате кой какво готино API е намерил или каква идея му се върти в главата. Може би една от причините за това е натоварването, което пораждат някои от курсовете в ядрото на програмата [core curriulum? бел. lyd]

За самата програма на обучение, Компютърните науки в Йейл имат силно изявена теоретична част – тук преподава Dan Spielman – той е много млад професор (тук всички го считат за гений) и е носител на the Gödel Prize и the Nevanlinna Prize, които, до колкото знам, са едни от най-високите отличия в Информатиката. Мисля, че Smooth Analysis му е специалитета. Той преподава “Въведение в Алгоритмите” и “Теория на Графите” и казват, че е страхотен преподавател. Също имаме добри преподаватели по Machine Learning и Formal Semantics.

Мисля, че истинския скрит коз на Йейл е приложната част – има два много известни курса – “Data Structures and Programming Techniques” и “Computer Organization and Systems Programming”, които са едни от най-интензивните, които можеш да намериш в тази област като цяло. Също курса по Операционни Системи е на много вискоко ниво, както и курса по Network Programming. Майкрософт и компания знаят за това, и годишно около 25 – 40% от компютърните специалисти тук започват работа за Гугъл или МС. Ако искаш да научиш повече за курсовете или възможноте програми за развитие ми кажи и ще ти пиша още. Ето ти линк, където можеш да разгледаш както курсовете по компютри, така и всички останали: http://students.yale.edu/oci/

За останалото – като цяло в Йейл можеш да намериш всичко каквото се сетиш да потърсиш – има клубове по танци, актьорско майсторство, комикси, шах, StarCraft, ACM състезания, Роботика и какво ли още не. Сред студентите можеш да срещнеш всякакви хора – абсолютно всякакви – от разглезени сенаторски дъщери до гениални матемаматици, забавни комици, незабавни комици, певци, актьори, спортисти и тн. Всички са доста умни и като цяло не толкова надути, но както казах, можеш да срещнеш кой ли не.

Нещо друго, което ми прави впечатление е, че тук никой няма да те води за ръката – ако искаш да постигнеш нещо, да получиш помощ или каквото и да било, ще трябва сам да го потърсиш – това не значи, че няма кой да ти помогне, просто не трябва да чакаш – трябва да бъдеш колкото може по-активен, за всичко. Мисля, че това е характерна черта на големите университети (което е всичко >2500 човека, но Лидия най-добре може да ти каже).

Също, тук учебната програма е направена така, че въпреки че можеш сам да си избираш курсовете, които да взимаш, колкото и да се стараеш, няма да можеш да взимаш само компютърни курсове – ще трябва да вземеш поне 2 курса по писане, социални науки, науки, изкуства и т.н. Ще те принудят да си всестранно развита личност

Градът, в който се намира Йейл е доста зле – има прилично висока престъпност и като цяло няма нищо интересно за правене, така че освен ако не решиш да ходиш до Ню Йорк от време на време (на 2 часа път с влак е), ще си седиш в кампус-а. От друга страна, навсякъде има охрана, и от Четвъртък до Неделя навсякъде има партита.

Това са впечатленията ми, за които се сещам засега. Ако те интересува нещо по-специфично, пиши

Book list 1

One of my students was really inspired by his cognitive science class, so he shared the list of books his Yale professor recommended. I would like to emphasize the fact that the student’s academic focus is  programming.

Goedel, Escher, Bach: an Ethernal Golden Braid

William James: The Principles of Psychology
Antoine de Saint-Exupery: The Little Prince
Kees van Oers: On the genetics of avian personalities
Jerry A. Fodor: The modularity of Mind
*Modularity in Development and Evolution
Alan Turing: The Enigma
Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon, The Confusion, The System of the World, Quicksilver
Stephen Wolfram: A new kind of Science
Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species
Santiago Ramon y Cajal: Advice for a young investigator
*Gentle Bridges – Conversations with the Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind
Paul Bloom: Descartes’ Baby, How children learn the Meanings of Words

Steven Pinker: The Language Instinct, The Stuff of Thought, How the Mind Works

Stephen Anderson: Doctor Dolittle’s Delusion
Russ Rymer: Genie
J.L.Austin: How to do things with words
Virginia Valian: Why so Slow
Stanislav Debaene: The Number Sense (How the mind creates mathematics)
Noam Chomsky: Language and Problems of Knowledge
Mark Baker: The Atoms of Language
Stephen Anderson and David W. Lightfoot: The Language Organ
Ray Jackendoff: Foundations of Language
Randy Harris: The Linguistic Wars
Stephen Palmer: Vision Science – Photons to Phenomenology
David Marr: Vision
Donald Hoffman: Visual Intelligence
Escher, Dali & the Artists of Illusion – Masters of Deception
Elizabeth A. Styles: The Psychology of Attention
Arien Mack, Irvin Rock: Inattentional Blindness
Brian J. Scholl: Objects and Attention
Robert Axelrod: The Evolution of Cooperation
Robert Frank: Passions Within Reason
Thomas Schelling: The Strategy of Conflict
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky: Choices, Values and Frames
Dan Ariely: Predictably Irrational
Gerd Gigerenzer: Adaptive Thinking
Geoffrey Miller: The Mating Mind – How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature
Matt Ridley: The Red Queen – Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
Patricia Gowaty: Feminism and Evolutionary Biology
Robert Wright: The Moral Animal – Why we are the way we are: the new science of evolutionary psychology

Антон за Harvey Mudd College

В момента Антон прави PhD. В отговор на въпрос на кандидат-студент, който се интересува от информатика, той дава  информация за колежа си. Обърнете внимание на следните аспекти: размер, взаимоотношения професори-студенти и студенти-студенти, либерално образование, наличие на graduate students:

Колкото до  Harvey Mudd College (HMC) … ами мисля, че това беше перфектният избор за мен. В твоя случай това може да не е така. Помисли си какво най-много искаш от един университет и виж, кой институции отговарят на критериите ти. Някои от фактите, които ме накараха да избера HMC:

- Колежът е малък. Моят випуск бяхме около 170 човека (всички специалности). Това е сравнимо с випуските в гимназиите в БГ.

- Професорите са супер професионалисти, и в същото време земни, дружелюбни и приятни хора, винаги готови да ти помогнат ако имаш
проблеми. Често участват в oncampus activities. Например, единият от професорите по Математика свиреше на барабани на партита. Сега май няма време, защото му се родиха 2 деца. Друг пример – аз и още няколко студента бяхме запецнали на една домашна. Оказа се, че професорът си е в офиса в 3 през нощта, тропнахме на вратата му и той ни прие веднага.

- Поради това, че колежът е малък, професорите те знаят по име. Както казват \”В други университети ти си номер, тука си име.\”

- Академичната атмосфера насърчава collaboration. Често работиш заедно със други по проекти. Всички студенти са супер умни, но си и помагат много. В други университети, има случаи, в които ще ти откажат да ти помогнат, за да не би да изкараш по-висока оценка от тях.

- liberal arts education – ще трябва да вземеш класове, които не са в твоята специалност. На пръв поглед това не изглежда много полезно, но като завършиш, няма да си ограден само от computer scientists, и прави добро впечатление ако покажеш малко по-задълбочено знание в различни предмети.

- Предполагам, че те интересуват главно Computer Science и Math, затова ще наблегна на тях. Програмата по Computer  Science е доста добра. Що се отнася до състезания, има един клас, който подготвя студентите за олимпиади по програмиране. В други университети се предлагат повече класове и подготовката е по-солидна, но въпреки това, отборът от HMC се представя добре. Тази година спечелиха първо място в regionals (взеха първо място в Southern California regionals (биха Caltech и други в региона) и отидоха на световното в Китай). Но като цяло хората повече се ориентират към research и по-малко към състезания. Но винаги има желаещи за състезания и студентите са доста добри.

- в университети, където има graduate students, (почти винаги) няма research projects за undergraduates. А ако има, най-вероятно ще си advise-нат от graduate студент, а не от професор. В HMC няма graduate students и може да правиш research, което ще ти помогне много ако решиш да кандидатстваш в grad school след бакалавърската степен. Лятото има конкуренция за research projects. Но през учебната година, ако нямаш много класове, може да вземеш Indpendent Study с някой професор.

- Harvey Mudd е колежът основал Clinic Progam (виж [1] и [2] долу), която други университети също почнаха да копират. Може да прочетеш повече на уеб страниците, но накаратко, компании дават на колежа солидна сума и групи от по 4 студента работят през последната си година в колежа по проекти предложени от компаниите. Този клас фактически е твоя senior project/thesis, които се предлагат в други университети. Имаш телефонни разговори с представители на компаниите всяка седмица; времето, което се очаква да отделиш за класа е толкова, колкото отдляш за другите предмети …

- HMC е добре по отношение на college rankings [3], [4]

- представя се добре в състезания по Математика [5]. На последното състезание HMC е станал 12 от всички институции в САЩ и  Canada предлагащи бакалавърска степен (в това число MIT, Caltech, Harvard, Princeton, etc). Доколкото си спомням, почти всяка година  HMC е в топ 15 а най-доброто представяне е 5то. Повече инфо можеш да намериш тука [6]

Надявам се сам ти дал добра представа за колежа. Ако искаш, пиши ми малко по-конкретно какво те интересува (Programming Languages, Artificial Intelligence, …) и ще те запозная (виртуално) с подходящите професори.

[1] http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/clinicprogram.html
[2] http://www.cs.hmc.edu/clinic/projects/
[3] http://www.hmc.edu/newsandevents/mudd-named-a-best-college-by-princeton-review-2010.html
[4] http://www.hmc.edu/newsandevents/us-news-2011.html
[5] http://www.hmc.edu/newsandevents/putnam-competition-2009.html

http://www.hmc.edu/newsandevents/acmWin09.html

[6] http://www.math.hmc.edu/program/department/facts/
[7] http://www.hmc.edu/newsandevents/acmChina10.html

Applying to US colleges – 2

A student ask me whether I will tell you to start working on the common application when the time comes or you should decide on your own.

I believe that now it is more important to focus on application essays.

Meanwhile your parents will provide you with financial statements from their employers, and your schools will provide you with school documents, and your teachers will write your recommendations.

Before I publish instructions on how to fill out some common application and financial aid forms, you might register an account with the Common App. You could watch demo videos, go through all Power Point presentations – for students AND for teachers and counselors, so that you get an idea of what the process is like and if necessary help your teachers.

We could discuss all questions about your application in the forum. There I have started a special common app topic. You could find it in Appliation > Application forms > Common application 2010 – overviews

Writе to you soon … about financial aid applications