Some say that the college application essay is formulaic. If that were to be true, the stereotypical formula would go like this: Typical high school experience + dramatic interpretation attempting to raise the stakes + a grand takeaway that is often along the lines of “and then I realized that life has meaning beyond becoming homecoming queen!”
The Best Transfer Essay of 2018: Hurricanes
The transfer process is a lot like applying to college the first time. You need transcripts and teacher recommendations; there are far more supplements than you’d like, and the all-important college essay is still mandatory. So, in many ways, it’s the same. However, transfer essays are pulling double duty. In addition to showing schools that you are a great student, a community member worth coveting, and an overall stellar human being, you need to answer one more question: Why? Why are you looking to transfer? Why is where you are now not good enough?
One of the Best Essays of 2018: Oma’s Sayings
We talk a lot about topics to avoid. Avoid writing about death, avoid writing about grandparents, avoid writing about volunteer experiences, and avoid things that could be read as you trying to ‘impress’ the reader — we want to engage the reader, not to show off. And then, sometimes, there is a way of bringing together a handful of those “don’ts” to create a piece that is engaging, beautiful, and that does one of our favorite things: it proves that even our rules aren’t really rules at all, they’re guidelines.
What Makes the Best College Essays Amazing?
This year was a year of outstanding essays from our students. We’re a little biased, but we truly were deeply impressed. While the college application process can be far less than inspiring, our kids were willing to push themselves, dedicate the time needed to develop not just this one piece, but as writers overall, and produce essays that showed their hard work.
The 5 Worst Things to do in Your Common App Essay
Common App essays are the wild card of the college application process. You can write about anything, but it needs to appeal to every school you’re applying to. Good luck. The number of options can be overwhelming, and the stakes can be anxiety-inducing, which together can result in some pretty terrible essays.
What's the Best College Essay You've Ever Read?
Here’s a question we get a lot: “So, what’s the absolute best essay you’ve ever read?”
The real answer is very long and it's never just one essay. We’ve read and helped write a ton of “best essays,” and that’s what we always say when people ask us that. Also, every person’s “best essay” looks different. The reason they ask us that question is because they want the secret to success. Unfortunately, we can’t give them that because the secret to success is a lot more than just the essay, but we will say that the essay is far and away the part of your application to pay the most attention to (you know, after you’ve aced your classes and tests) because it’s your chance to show your personality. The worst that any top student can make is relying on their grades and scores to set them apart. They won’t. But, your essay will.
How To Write a Standout College Admissions Essay
What Are the Most Important Criteria in the Admission Process?
Can I Submit More Than One Version of My Common App Essay to Different Schools?
Students sometimes ask us whether or not they can submit different versions of the Common Application essay to different schools. As we’ve said before, the Common App is changeable. So yes, you can absolutely change the essay, submit it to a school, change it, and submit it again.
But why on earth would you do that?
What If I Get Writer’s Block While Trying to Write My College Essay?
When writing the college essay, a lot of kids tell us they have Writer’s Block; they sit down to get started and after hours of trying, produce nothing. Don’t worry. You’re not a professional novelist (yet) and you probably don’t have Writer’s Block. You’re just a little stressed and don’t have an idea. So here are some steps you can take to come up with an essay idea:
Topics to Avoid in College Essays
We’ve said it before, : you can write about almost anything for your college essay, in almost any format, as long as it fits the 250-650 word length requirements, but there are a few topics that we feel very strongly about avoiding. And by very strongly, we mean very strongly. This isn’t because we’re kill-joys or trying to dull your sparkle. It’s really in your best interest.
How To Write the Best Conclusion for a College Application Essay and Supplement
Conclusions. Whether it’s the end of a movie, the end of a music video, or the end of your genius and spectacular college essay, they’re pretty important. Imagine cutting the last five minutes out of your favorite movie. Not the credits, but the last five minutes of the actual movie. You’d lose action, resolution, and so much more. We’ve said a lot about in your essays and supplements, but here we’re going to talk about one of the most important pieces of the written components of your applications. You guessed it, the conclusions.
How to Write a College Admissions Essay About Failure
Deciding what to write about for your college essay isn’t always easy. You want to stand out, but you don’t want to come off as totally off-the-wall crazy. You want to do something unique, but you know that writing your essay backward, in a spiral, in colored pencil is a terrible idea (if you were thinking of doing this, don’t, it’s a terrible idea). Within the mountain of grades and scores, your essay is the place where you get to be yourself and to reveal something about yourself that a college wouldn’t otherwise see, but it can be hard to know what to reveal, and how much.
How to Write a Good College Admissions Essay About Yourself
For most students, the college essay is the first time in high school when they are instructed to write about themselves. High school is full of writing. There are history papers, book reports, science lab summaries, and news items for the school newspaper, but, unless your school offers a creative writing program, there often isn’t a time when you’re handed a blank slate and asked to lay a part of yourself bare. Vulnerability isn’t something you can just switch on, good personal writing doesn’t come automatically, and writing about yourself can be very uncomfortable.
How to get into Pomona: Straight from an Admission Officer's Mouth
A lot of the time, the college admissions process can feel like trying to navigate a maze without a map. Or, when you do have a map, it’s in another language and torn into 100 pieces. There is so much information out there and there are so many who people say they are admissions experts that it can be hard to comb the good information out of the tangles of the internet.
How to Get into an Ivy League School with Average Grades
A student gets 2100 on the old SAT and gets into Harvard. No, this is not the start to a bad joke. Despite falling into the 25th percentile for Harvard’s class of 2020, a place that you really don’t want to be if you’re looking to get in, she got in. Not only did she get into Harvard, though. She got into all six of the Ivies she applied to. If you’re scratching your head, that’s understandable, but we’re here to tell you the not-so-secret secret to getting into an Ivy League school with average grades: a killer essay.
The Smartest Admission Strategy For Getting Into Your Reach School
Everyone wants to get into their reach school, but it’s called a reach school for a reason. It’s not a guarantee. And sometimes you might feel like you’re getting onto your tippy toes to get to a book even thinking about applying. That is why we’re here. We’ve helped so many students apply to their dream schools, and more than that, we’ve helped them come up with reaches they hadn’t previously considered. We want to give a rundown of what we’ve learned about how to get into your reach school(s). We advise all of our students to abide by the following 4 guiding principles when putting together their application and writing their essays:
How do you Write a College Essay Introduction?
How to Start a College Admissions Essay
How to Write an Interesting, Funny, and Unique College Essay
We’re not going to lie to you. College essays are scary. For most of our clients, writing their college essay is the most intimidating part of the application process. We get it, and we’ve been there, but we’re here to tell you that, while they might be scary, they’re also an amazing opportunity. So much of the college process is about covering everything in gold leaf and making yourself look as perfect as possible. Contrary to what so many (incorrectly) say, the college essay isn’t about pitching yourself as a perfect person; it’s about being yourself.