The Personal Approach to the Personal Statement
The latest news, tips, & tricks for surviving the college admissions game
Before writing about your non-profit for your personal statement, read these red flags that can pop up to admissions officers. Your personal statement is supposed to tell a story of genuine growth. Be honest with yourself: how invested are you in your non-profit? If it doesn’t capture everything you’re about, consider saving it for a supplement.
Read MoreIn fact, just because it’s a shorter supplement doesn’t mean you should leave it for last. The “Why this college?” supplement is actually one of the hardest essays to answer. Ideally, you would’ve visited the campus, researched the school, and spoken to former alums to really know the answer. But not everyone has the privilege (or money) to travel to see schools — especially in the middle of a global pandemic. Luckily, I have some shortcuts for you.
Read MoreSo, you’ve been revising until your eyes gloss over? Words are all starting to look the same and you’re reciting your admissions essay in your sleep? Professional authors spend a long time figuring out just what proofreading process works for them. Here’s the trick for the last step of this writing process: start off with plenty of material (don’t worry about word count until that whole story is there on the page) and then get ready to polish it using the following tips.
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For anyone starting the essay process, reading the 7 prompts of the Common App essay brings about dread, indecision, and maybe even nausea.
Before you freak out, remember that admissions officers don’t care which prompt you pick. That’s right - there’s no secret “hardest” prompt that gets you the most points if you answer it.
During this daunting essay writing process, students fixate on the wrong things. They start by obsessing over the question prompts instead of thinking more strategically about what they want admissions officers to know about them.
I always advise my students to start the essay writing process by ignoring the prompts altogether for that reason. Otherwise, they end up stuck with a forced essay that may not reveal the most important parts of their story. I recommend you first try journaling about yourself to get at the heart of what you want people to know about you. (Here are some journaling questions to get started.)
I also always recommend choosing the last open-ended prompt if you’re stuck.
Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.
This blank canvas of a question allows you to think first about what story you want to tell — what makes you who you are? — rather than some random narrative that answers a random question. I also find many of the “lessons learned” prompts to end up being too generic.
Maddie reached out to let me know that she got a full ride to UChicago after applying early action. I’m so proud to share her process and testimonial!
Read MoreLucky for you, there’s data on this sort of stuff. And even luckier— I’ve sorted through it all so you don’t have to! Colleges are recognizing the extraordinary stress you’re under, and are doing nearly everything they can to make the 2020-2021 admissions cycle as rewarding and memorable as it could be. From higher admissions rates to making the SAT/ACT optional, you gotta give them credit.
Read MoreA college feels very different in person than it does on paper. Ask anyone, they all have stories about how they just knew when they stepped foot on their campus. But what are things you can do to get to know a college if you’re stuck at home? Here are five things I did to get to know a school from the comfort of my iPhone.
Read MoreThree years ago in December I got rejected by the school I applied to Early Decision and I cried in the back of my friend’s car. But here I am, a junior at her third-choice University, who is SO grateful I took that big fat L. Here’s what I needed to hear after getting rejected from my dream school: it’s not the college that’s going to have an impact on your future, that’s all you.
Read MoreThe additional information section of the common app is an extra opportunity to help stand out to the college admissions officers. This section is great for explaining any discrepancies between your grades & disciplinary behavior that don’t align with your character but still might be on your record, and that hasn’t been mentioned elsewhere in your application. Even if you feel like you have nothing else to say, do not submit your application without utilizing this extra space.
Read MoreWhile rejection is inevitable during the college application process, it never feels good. Here are 3 of the most common mistakes that could cost you that acceptance letter to the college of your dreams and ways around them.
Read MoreMy general answer to this is no for multiple reasons. First, the essay should reflect who you are separate from this short period of time in your life (unless it greatly impacted your life in an indelible way). We should get a snapshot of your personality and character separate from the past 6 months. Second, there is a risk of trend saturation as many students will feel tempted to write about this.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. To find out if you should write about Coronavirus in your personal essay, see how you’d answer the questions below.
Read MoreFor the first time ever, most Ivies are waiving their standardized testing admissions requirement. Ivy leagues set an example for other colleges in America, and right now Princeton is the only one still asking for standardized test scores according to CNN. In fact, according to The New York Times, all schools in the University of California system are planning on being entirely test-free in the next four years. Even super-selective schools like Amherst and Tufts are foregoing standardized testing.
Read MoreYour Admissions Chances Just Went Up
Students considering offers or awaiting decisions later this week from colleges across the selectivity spectrum can expect higher acceptance rates, as colleges take measures to ensure they will still have enough students enrolled come fall.
Reed College, a liberal arts school in Oregon, moved about 60 more students from the wait list to the acceptance pile last week, boosting its admit rate by 3 percentage points, to 40%. That should help insulate the school from a slide in yield, or the share of admitted students who accept their offers, said admissions dean Milyon Truelove.
[WSJ]
Read More“I wanted to share my gratitude for the guidance and support you gave me those months ago. Your feedback was immeasurably valuable, and I truly appreciated your accommodation of my various constraints. Most of all, I was moved by your words of encouragement during an application process riddled with worry. Thank you again!”
-Nick, accepted to Pomona, Columbia, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara
Read More1) If you need help proofreading your admissions essay
I just discovered Grammarly recently, and love it! It’s a new (free) tool that can catch typos, which is so important when proofreading your Common App before submission. I already discussed the secrets to proofreading your admissions essay, but this is a great secondary tool to use in addition to reading the draft out loud and showing it to someone who’s never seen it. Of course, no online tool can compare to an experienced editor, but this a wonderful supplement if your eyes are losing focus. Just download the Chrome extension and boom! Good to go.
Read MoreAha, you’ve written your first draft. Congratulations! This is the hard part. Now, give it a breather and put it away for a few days at least so your words will seem fresh for the revision process.
First, look for repetitions.
Are you using the same word over and over? (Everyone has their own personal crutch). If you're a vocab savant, check for other repetitions like, are your sentences all periodic and using the same construction? Like life, good writing needs variety.
Read MoreThe “Why this college?” supplement is actually one of the hardest essays to answer.
If you’ve already tried my 5 “why this college” essay tips and are still feeling stuck, here are a few journaling and research questions I give my students to discover the deeper reasons for wanting to attend each school without descending into generic cliches.
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