*NEW* Common Application Essay Prompts

Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day Weekend.  While on the long weekend, I was talking with some of my friends' children who were getting ready to start the application process this fall so naturally the topic of the college essay came up.  I reminded them that the Common App changed the essay prompts in their new application launching this summer (August 1, 2013 to be exact!).  What that means for those students applying to college this fall is that the essay prompts are different from the previous years.  (Just a reminder, Mrs. Tice and I handed them out at the Junior Student/Parent Night back at the end of February, but figured a reminder never hurt.)  Below you will find the new essay prompts that you can choose from this fall.  Gone is the ever popular (and sure to be sadly missed) prompt of "Topic of Your Choice". 

Here are the new essay prompts:  

• Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
  
  
• Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
  
  
• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
  
  
• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
  
  
• Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family. 

NOTE: One question is not better than another to a college.  Pick the question that interests you the most.  

As you start to think about which prompt to answer, refer back to the two previous blogs "What makes you Interesting" and "Writing your College Essay" for tips to help you get started.  However, remember that you cannot start the application itself until August 1, 2013 when your version launches (until August 1 the application you see will be for students starting college this fall).  

Juniors, as you know, we have been meeting with you individually (and that will continue to happen until we have met with each of you so if you have not handed in your Senior Interview, Resume and Parent Interview please do so soon!).  In addition, Mrs. Tice and I will be coming into your English class in two weeks to discuss this and other things that need to happen over the summer in terms of your college research and requesting teacher recommendations.  As always, see us with any questions.

Writing Your College Essay

I was not going to write about essay writing until the fall, but was prompted to introduce it now after I read this article.  The article is a good overview and gives some helpful hints.  It also highlights 4 essays written by students around the country.  When you get ready to start writing your college essay, keep the following in mind:

• College essays should not be all encompassing or about your whole life.  The essay should be a narrow focus into a part of your life.  It should give the reader a better understanding of who you are, how you think, what you love and your passions...but not all of them.  

• The topic of your essay should be about something the reader cannot necessarily see or gather from your application.  It should be a slice of your life that is not the focus of your resume.  Keep in mind that your application is not 3-dimensional.  If your resume says you are captain of your sports team, your honors/awards list sports team leader, your short answer is written about you being on the team, your essay should NOT be about your sports team....the reader got it the first time.  

• Most of all, the essay should be written by YOU!  College admission counselors absolutely know when you wrote your essay and when it has been polished beyond recognition, or worse, written by someone else.  As a student, it should have a little roughness to it (no typos and no major grammatical mistakes), but it should be your thoughts, your feelings and in your language.  If you walk around using big thesaurus words everyday as part of your speech, then use them in your essay.  If not, leave them out.  Don't forget, if the college requires standardized test scores, they are getting your writing portion and score so it is easy for them to compare your application essay with your SAT/ACT writing section.  The college essay should be cleaner, but the voice and language should be the same.  

• Make sure that YOU are the focus of your essay.  It is okay to talk about what your grandfather taught you, but the focus needs to be about what you learned and how you apply it; not an entire essay about grandpa.  (We love grandpa too, but he is not the one applying!)

Enjoy this article and the 4 examples. More to come on essay's later.
Click here to read the article.

What makes you interesting?

AP season is among us and I see the same students taking multiple AP exams (and often self-studying for them), so I have taken pause to question why students take so many exams especially when many of the colleges they will be applying to do not accept the scores for credit.  So I asked.  And student after student said they took them because it would help their chances of getting into “insert name of VERY selective college here".  Which then made me wonder when colleges started looking at AP scores as admission criteria.  So I called one of the VERY selective colleges and spoke with someone I knew would be honest with me.  (I will leave his name out to protect him from other calls!).  He basically said “No, we do not use AP scores as admission criteria but a lot of students self-report them on the application thinking it could not hurt".  I was about to end the call there, but decided to ask “Well, what if a student self-studied for, let's say, 10 exams throughout high school and scored a perfect 5 on all of them.  Does that weigh in on your decision or impress the committee?"  “Not really" he said.  He went on to say that is the rare case that a student self-studying for any amount of exams will change the committee's mind because they see that all the time.  “We really look at what opportunities the student had available to them and what the student took advantage of at their school".  So if your school offers 5 AP classes and you only take 2, but self-study for 10 others then the committee is left questioning why.  He also said that they look for students who enjoy doing something that makes them interesting.  Interesting?  Do you mean like swimming with alligators or sky-diving?  “No", he laughed, “unless the student really loves to do those things".  He explained that students should be interesting in a way that shows their passion for something.  Be interesting by not doing what everyone else is doing simply because everyone else is doing it.  They should beat to their own drum, showcase their talents, share their quirkiness, help the committee fall in love with what they love.  In short...be, well... interesting!  Hmmmm.   Everyone thinks the way into an ivy or very selective school is great grades and great board scores.  But now they want interesting?!  (Note, they still want great grades and board scores too!)  Happens to be that they have too many students with a 4.0, perfect 2400 and self-reported 5’s on multiple AP’s applying who do nothing other than study.  So I thought a lot about what made a student interesting and it was hard because “interesting" is different for every student.  There is no clear-cut advice counselors can give a student because “interesting" needs to come from their heart.  Students should be doing things that they WANT to do and not simply to check it off a list and then say “phew, that is over".  According to Jessica Hagy's 2013 book, appropriately titled “How to Be Interesting", she asks the reader “Who's more interesting:  A famous scientist, or a famous scientist who plays the cello and whittles marionettes in a lighthouse at the edge of the world where he sometimes writes poetry by the light of passing ships?  Exactly.  Follow your weird impulses and do all sorts of things.  Getting sidetracked can lead you to EXACTLY where you belong".

So my challenge to you...find what makes YOU interesting.

Waitlisted? You will want to read this...

There is a wonderful and comical article in today's NY Times about students who try to bribe their way off the waiting list (doesn't work by the way!).  An entertaining read to be sure, but reassuring that at the end of the day, the best way to get off the wait-list is simply to send an email updating the college on what you have done since you applied and your interest in still attending.  However, if you tell them that they are your number one school and a week later they call you because a spot opened up,  you should take it.  If you would not take it, do not tell them you would.  I have worked with many students who treat acceptances as trophies even if they would not attend the college.  This should not be your strategy.  Acceptances are not something to be accumulated and then thrown around.  We are not trading baseball cards here.  Plenty of admission officers spend a lot of time pouring over your information.  If you have no intention of attending the school in which you applied to, save yourself the application fee and the admission officer the time.  Plus, by applying to a school you would not go to you, you potentially take the seat from someone who really wants to go there.  And if that is not enough to make you think about not applying, reverse the process and realize that everyone who applies to a school that they would not attend could potentially end up hurting YOU!

Click here to read the article.

What is worth more...prestige or money?

Worth the read...

Measuring College Prestige vs. Price

By Paul Sullivan @sullivanpaul

Many students face a choice between a college that offers little financial aid but has a superior reputation or a less prestigious college that offers a merit scholarship.

Secrets of College Admissions

As college-bound students weigh their options, they often look to the various statistics that universities trumpet -- things like the high number of applications, high test scores, and low acceptance rate.

But students may want to consider yet another piece of info: the ways in which schools can pump up their stats.

"There's no question about it," said David Kalsbeek, senior vice president for enrollment management and marketing at DePaul University, of tactics to boost selectivity. "There are ways of inflating a metric to improve perceived measures of quality."

Some of these tweaks -- such as a more streamlined application -- can actually benefit students. Others serve to make the admissions process more confusing. Here's a rundown....

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/ProPublica_Secrets_of_college_admissions.html