Waitlist Essays and Letters: 12 Tips to Game Them
For the first time in the eight years I’ve been helping students with their college application essays, I’ve had a flurry of requests from students asking for help with waitlist essays and letters.
What torture for them!
Most have been waiting for months and months and now they get a “maybe?”
Which really means “probably not,” but keep trying anyway. (Sorry if you didn’t know that.)
That’s what I call admissions purgatory. read more…
3 New Prompts for University of Texas and ApplyTexas essays for Fall 2017
UPDATE as of July 13, 2017:
ApplyTexas CHANGED prompt requirements for incoming freshmen for Fall 2018!!
Click to see new requirements: Learn about changes.
To sum them up: Students must write one core, personal-statement type essay about their background (Same Prompt A as before), and three short answers about their Career Plans, Academics and Leadership (under 300 words each.)
*Below is the original post I wrote about UT essay requirements in 2016. All advice on how to strategize for Prompt A still applies perfectly. Incoming freshmen no longer need to write essays for Prompts B and C; instead they need to write the new 3 short answer essays (refer to ApplyTexas web site for details).
ORIGINAL POST BELOW:
*(Only the advice for Prompt A is still relevant!)
ApplyTexas, which handles the applications for the public universities in Texas, as well as many private colleges, has announced on its web site that they have all-new essay prompts for Fall 2017.
These new ApplyTexas essays apply to students who would be starting as freshman in Fall 2017, and applying to schools such as the University of Texas at Austin, or its other locations, as well as other Texas colleges.
They replaced the three main prompts, called Topic A, Topic B and Topic C, with new questions. read more…
Lessons from a Winning Ivy League Essay on Costco
Viral Costco Essay Writer Thanks Essay Hell!
Read Brittany Stinson’s College Application Essay
That Landed Her in Four Ivies—plus Stanford!
I can’t resist the news stories that break this time of year announcing students who get into multiple ivy league colleges.
What I find interesting is that these articles tout the student’s college application essay as the reason they got them into these insanely competitive schools.
It’s never that simple. read more…
How to Write Short Essays: A Slideshare Tutorial
Learn the Secret to Nailing a Short Essay
for Your College Applications
Students applying to college often spend most of their energy on their core essay for The Common Application or larger universities.
They will soon learn, however, that they need to master the art of writing shorter essays.
Lots of short essays. read more…
UC Essay Prompt 2: Your Creative Side
University of California Essay Prompts for Fall 2017
(Ideas for Answering Personal Insight Question No. 2)
2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.
If this prompt jumped out when you first read through the eight essay prompts for the University of California application, good chance you have a creative side.
And you should seriously consider writing about it.
Even if this prompt didn’t initially appeal to you, consider it anyway.
It’s not just intended for aspiring artists! read more…
UC Essay Prompt 1: Leadership Experience
University of California Essay Prompts for Fall 2017
(Ideas for Answering Personal Insight Question No. 1)
Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
UC Essay Prompt 1 is the first of eight essay prompts for the University of California application that you can choose to answer if you are an incoming freshman.
Of the eight Personal Insight Questions, you only need to answer four.
If you consider leadership one of your defining qualities, or have had an interesting experience as a leader in some capacity, you might want to consider this essay. read more…
21 Tips for UC Personal Insight Questions and Essays
Pick the 4 Best UC Personal Insight Questions for YOU!
If you’re applying to any of the University of California schools, you need to write four short essays.
To start, read through all eight of the Personal Insight Questions you have to choose from.
(Find specific ideas and strategies for each of the 8 new Personal Insight Questions at the bottom of this post!)
The goal is to write four short essays that as a whole will provide the UC admissions deciders with a picture of what makes you unique and special—and help set you apart from the competition. read more…
UC Essay Prompt 8: How Do You Stand Out?
University of California Essay Prompts for Fall 2017
(Ideas for Answering Personal Insight Question No. 8)
UC Essay Prompt 8: Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?
Out of the eight new University of California essay prompts for Fall 2017, I think that most students should consider writing about Prompt 8 as one of their four required mini-essays.
More than any of the other questions, this prompt targets most directly what makes you YOU, and asks to understand something about your most fundamental qualities, characteristics or values.
It is also the most open-ended of the bunch. read more…
NEW University of California Essay Prompts for Fall 2017!
First New University of California Essay Prompts
for their College Application in 10 Years!
The University of California just listed brand new college application essay prompts—for the first time in a decade!
In the past, incoming freshman wrote two core essays answering two prompts.
The two essays had to be a total of no more than 1,000 words.
The UC is now calling its new essay prompts, “Personal insight questions,” and students must choose four out of eight to answer.
And they are each supposed to be under 350 words. (So, total under 1,400 words.)
That’s a huge shift. (more…)
Watch How Personal College Application Essays Affect the Admissions Game
When I give writing workshops to students on college application essays and what makes them effective, I love to show this short video on YouTube.
It’s just over two minutes long, but in that brief time, I believe many students quickly get a sense of what they need to do to craft essays that will be engaging and memorable.
Take a couple minutes to watch this video, which brings you around a table of college admissions officers at Amherst College, a liberal arts college in Massachusetts, as they sort through applications. read more…
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