Major changes have recently been announced about the Common Application essays. You can read about them here in detail. Short version:
1. The essay topics have changed, the "topic of your choice" has been eliminated, and the essay must be from 250 to 650 words - word length strictly enforced.
2. The shorter second essay has been deep-sixed (1000 characters on a job or extracurricular activity).
I'll post more when I've had a chance to look at the topics more closely.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Yale University on What Matters in Your College Application
Yes, this website puts forward Yale's unique perspective on the different elements of your college application, but I believe it applies to the college admissions process in general, and particularly the application essays.
This comment is from one of the admissions officers. It confirms that there is no special formula for writing good application essays, except that students write from their own perspectives, in their own voices:
We have read wonderful essays on common topics and weak essays on highly unusual ones. Your perspective – the lens through which you view your topic – is far more important than the specific topic itself. In the past, students have written about family situations, ethnicity or culture, school or community events to which they have had strong reactions, people who have influenced them, significant experiences, intellectual interests, personal aspirations, or – more generally – topics that spring from the life of the imagination.
This comment is from one of the admissions officers. It confirms that there is no special formula for writing good application essays, except that students write from their own perspectives, in their own voices:
We have read wonderful essays on common topics and weak essays on highly unusual ones. Your perspective – the lens through which you view your topic – is far more important than the specific topic itself. In the past, students have written about family situations, ethnicity or culture, school or community events to which they have had strong reactions, people who have influenced them, significant experiences, intellectual interests, personal aspirations, or – more generally – topics that spring from the life of the imagination.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Waiting nervously...Did the Application Essays Work?
I'm close to the edge of my seat, waiting to hear from clients about where they were admitted - those applying to college and to graduate schools. News will come any week now. In the meantime, my nervous energy led me to a famous college application essay, by NYU grad Hugh Gallagher. What an essay! What a story!
Even the Wall St. Journal wrote about it. AND the WSJ did a video about him too.
It may be the only case when a college application essay converged with the world of on-line dating.
For the story, click here. Watch the You Tube video here, and see what you think.
~~Liz
Even the Wall St. Journal wrote about it. AND the WSJ did a video about him too.
It may be the only case when a college application essay converged with the world of on-line dating.
For the story, click here. Watch the You Tube video here, and see what you think.
~~Liz
NYT Essay on High-Achievers & Top Colleges
Today's New York Times has recast last week's SLATE piece about low-income, high-achieving students who do not find their way to the country's best colleges, and provided an important link to QuestBridge, an organization that is in the business of helping such students find schools and resources.
Please forward these links to anyone you think might be appropriate!
It seems that low-income students in the major cities - NY, Boston, LA - do find their way to top schools, where the financial aid can be significant, but high-achieving students in more rural areas do not know to apply to these schools. As the Supreme Court gets ready to rule again on affirmative action, the colleges and universities might be required to seek out students who are low-income but not necessarily minorities, in order to satisfy new standards.
Clearly more needs to be done to help high-achieving poorer students find top schools with plenty of scholarship money.
In my business helping high school students with their college applications essays, I have scholarships for low-income students. Please contact me at ebenedict@earthlink.net to discuss your situation.
Thanks for reading. ~~Liz
Please forward these links to anyone you think might be appropriate!
It seems that low-income students in the major cities - NY, Boston, LA - do find their way to top schools, where the financial aid can be significant, but high-achieving students in more rural areas do not know to apply to these schools. As the Supreme Court gets ready to rule again on affirmative action, the colleges and universities might be required to seek out students who are low-income but not necessarily minorities, in order to satisfy new standards.
Clearly more needs to be done to help high-achieving poorer students find top schools with plenty of scholarship money.
In my business helping high school students with their college applications essays, I have scholarships for low-income students. Please contact me at ebenedict@earthlink.net to discuss your situation.
Thanks for reading. ~~Liz
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
An Important Essay on College Applications & High-Achieving, Low-income Students
Because of my work helping high school students with their college application essays, I'm sensitive to who is applying where to college. In this fascinating exposé in SLATE, Matthew Yglesias reveals that very bright, low income students are not being steered to the best schools, and the best schools are not recruiting them.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Could the college tide be shifting? Yes.
It was bound to happen: After years of hyper-enrollment and students pulling out all the stops in making their applications to college, years of depressed income have begun to take their toll. Schools are experiencing and predicting lower enrollments, according to this piece in the New York Times. Does this jive with what you're seeing?
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Should You Ask For Help: College & Grad School Essays:
I'm the first to admit that the college application essay culture has gotten out of hand.
The purpose of the Common Application was to streamline the procedure, make less work for students and schools, not more. The idea of having two required essays - the 500-worder that stresses everyone out and a shorter one on a job or after-school activity - was that it would give the school a more personal look at the student; a gander beyond grades and SATs. A great idea, until many schools started adding additional essays to their applications.
The result? Instead of writing two essays, depending on where students apply, they could end up having to write five, eight or ten of them. It seems like every bit of a student's free time is eaten up writing application essays.
But often students ask me what the purpose of all the essays is, and I know there may be a method to the madness. The schools use the additional essays to help them distinguish further between candidates - and to cut down on applications. Only those who are serious about a school will go to the trouble of crafting essay after essay, especially when the essays ask you create courses or to hold forth on obscure quotations. Putting up another roadblock for admission may be the best way for the school to measure a student's interest in the institution.
If you're applying to college or graduate school, and you need some help with these essays, please give me a call or email me. I have a sliding fee scale, and am eager to help.
ebenedict@earthlink.net
1-855-99-ESSAY
I look forward to hearing from you~~
~~ Liz
The purpose of the Common Application was to streamline the procedure, make less work for students and schools, not more. The idea of having two required essays - the 500-worder that stresses everyone out and a shorter one on a job or after-school activity - was that it would give the school a more personal look at the student; a gander beyond grades and SATs. A great idea, until many schools started adding additional essays to their applications.
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