How soft are these softs? 8 questions! Forum

[admisionquestion]

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[Kilpatrick]

Hey, I know questions like this are always a crapshoot bur it would be nice to hear your opinions and any citations to interviews or personal experience would be great.

1. What is the value of a tour? Does it bump at all as a show of interest?
2. What is the value of mediation experience?
3. What is the value of publishing in ug journals/ in "real" journals?
4. Can someone explain if straight out of ug is a big downer, if its not interpret that lots of schools have such low straight out of ug numbers?
5. Any proof at all that early apps bump?
6. Are hs softs strictly banned from apps (like resumes)? What if its a national 1st place at a hs activity?
7. Do hs grades get shown to schools?
8. Does being from out of state help or hurt?

1. Probably nothing
2. Nothing
3. Minimal
4. No except Northwestern
5. Tons, don't apply late
6. It would have to be spectacular. If you won the nobel prize in 9th grade I would mention it
7. No
8. Doesn't matter that much except for certain schools where they have to have a certain number of in state students (I think Texas is like this) but even then there are so many qualified applicants it's not like you are going to get in with shitty numbers just because you are in state

[glitter178]

Hey, I know questions like this are always a crapshoot bur it would be nice to hear your opinions and any citations to interviews or personal experience would be great.

1. What is the value of a tour? Does it bump at all as a show of interest?
2. What is the value of mediation experience?
3. What is the value of publishing in ug journals/ in "real" journals?
4. Can someone explain if straight out of ug is a big downer, if its not interpret that lots of schools have such low straight out of ug numbers?
5. Any proof at all that early apps bump?
6. Are hs softs strictly banned from apps (like resumes)? What if its a national 1st place at a hs activity?
7. Do hs grades get shown to schools?
8. Does being from out of state help or hurt?

1.) depends on the school, but usually no
2.) next to nothing
3.) very little
4.) depends on the school-- have to have WE for NU
5.) yes, esp. if your numbers are less competitive, of course this only applies to schools with rolling admissions (most schools)
6.) yes, no one gives a shit about HS unless you really screwed up and did something that got put on your crim. record
7.) no

8.) depends on the school-- i know UNC favors in state, as well as texas ( i think)

[glitter178]

oops, simultaneous post lol

[kalvano]

8. Doesn't matter that much except for certain schools where they have to have a certain number of in state students (I think Texas is like this) but even then there are so many qualified applicants it's not like you are going to get in with shitty numbers just because you are in state

Actually, for a lot of state schools, people who are in-state might be able to get in with slightly lower numbers than someone from out of state.

[Kilpatrick]

8. Doesn't matter that much except for certain schools where they have to have a certain number of in state students (I think Texas is like this) but even then there are so many qualified applicants it's not like you are going to get in with shitty numbers just because you are in state

Actually, for a lot of state schools, people who are in-state might be able to get in with slightly lower numbers than someone from out of state.

Stop giving out hope

[admisionquestion]

I'm a bit surprised by the responses to 2 and 3 so far. I know that softs never have a HUGE impact but it seems like as far as softs go 2 and 3 are the sort of things that might matter...any evidence to support this bleak opinion...
I'm not saying anyones wrong i'm just wondering how your opinion was formulated...

[applepiecrust]

I'm a bit surprised by the responses to 2 and 3 so far. I know that softs never have a HUGE impact but it seems like as far as softs go 2 and 3 are the sort of things that might matter...any evidence to support this bleak opinion...
I'm not saying anyones wrong i'm just wondering how your opinion was formulated...

What sort of mediation experience is it?
And publishing would probably matter much more for grad school (MA/PhD) programs. So far as I can tell, law schools care more about softs that translate into real world experience (I might be wrong on this).

[NZA]

Hey, I know questions like this are always a crapshoot bur it would be nice to hear your opinions and any citations to interviews or personal experience would be great.

1. What is the value of a tour? Does it bump at all as a show of interest?
2. What is the value of mediation experience?
3. What is the value of publishing in ug journals/ in "real" journals?
4. Can someone explain if straight out of ug is a big downer, if its not interpret that lots of schools have such low straight out of ug numbers?
5. Any proof at all that early apps bump?
6. Are hs softs strictly banned from apps (like resumes)? What if its a national 1st place at a hs activity?
7. Do hs grades get shown to schools?
8. Does being from out of state help or hurt?

1) Tour of duty...?
2) Law schools could care less about achieving sitting in zazen for hours at a time (that didn't stop me from putting this on my resume, of course).
3) Meh.
4) Not a "big" downer, but most people like to take some time to recover.
5) ...
6) No one would probably care that much at all. :\ Sad to say.
7) No.
Neither? I think UVA has a high percentage of in-state folks, though...

[sundance95]

I'm a bit surprised by the responses to 2 and 3 so far. I know that softs never have a HUGE impact but it seems like as far as softs go 2 and 3 are the sort of things that might matter...any evidence to support this bleak opinion...
I'm not saying anyones wrong i'm just wondering how your opinion was formulated...

My favorite: asking for an answer and then arguing with the response. A little use of the search function will go a long way towards leading you to the many, many threads re the impact of softs.

As far as your particular softs, mediation experience isn't a great soft per se but can give you a nice topic for a personal statement. As far as the HS soft, unless it's really well known (e.g., you won the NatGeo spelling bee) I wouldn't include it. Even if I did, it would only be as a one liner on a CV.

[admisionquestion]

I'm a bit surprised by the responses to 2 and 3 so far. I know that softs never have a HUGE impact but it seems like as far as softs go 2 and 3 are the sort of things that might matter...any evidence to support this bleak opinion...
I'm not saying anyones wrong i'm just wondering how your opinion was formulated...

My favorite: asking for an answer and then arguing with the response. A little use of the search function will go a long way towards leading you to the many, many threads re the impact of softs.

That is not what is going on. I am not arguing, I am appreciative of any information people have and would like to supplement opinion with evidence of any sort...

[admisionquestion]

I did not think this would be necessary but i guess it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation

[NZA]

I did not think this would be necessary but i guess it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation

LOLLLLLLL, I suck at reading.

[admisionquestion]

no worries!

[NZA]

no worries!

At first, I was kind of excited since I was like, "Oh, sweet, someone else out there is down with the Dharma." Oh, well.

[admisionquestion]

lol

[FuManChusco]

they call them softs for a reason.

[kkklick]

they call them softs for a reason.

Yes, they are just supplemental, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

[admisionquestion]

well thats definitely missing the point...