My aunt has requested that I offer my amass of wisdom to my cousin, who will be applying for college in the fall. So, i thought, instead of writing my notes in a word document or on paper, why not make it a tumblr post? Alright, so a little disclaimer before I start: this is just my personal experience with the whole college system, and everyone’s experience and thus approach should be different. I hope I can help, and maybe clarify a few things, and I will be focusing on mainly on the application portion. It goes without saying that having the right SAT/ACT/AP scores and the appropriate class selection/GPA is very important.
Also, if you don’t know anything about me, a little info. I graduated this past May from a ~600 person senior class at a public school, and I will be entering Columbia University this fall, studying Operations Research/Industrial Engineering. Also, I may come across a little high-strung and preachy, but I (hope) it’s mainly provoked by the thought of having to associate with this (grueling) process again. If you would like to read my essay/ask further questions, message me on here. Let’s begin.
Firstly, I’m going to highlight each portion of the Common App.
- The main essay. ”Personal Essay.” A chance to “help us become acquainted with you as a person and student, apart from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data” and also “demonstrate your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself.” You have 6 choices:
- Experience, Acheivement, Risk, Ethical Dilemma
- Issue
- Person
- Character
- Diversity
- Topic of your choice
When approaching this essay, you should make a list of the things in your life that you think are worth noting and have changed you. It is particularly good if they show good qualities (perseverance, integrity, creativity, etc) that reinforce your appeal to the school or fill in holes in your application. Each essay should make you a more complete individual. They should make the Admissions officer say, WHOA, I want to meet this person and talk to them about their life. The essay should be upbeat, humorous and witty if that is your strong point, and (if you are applying to a upper level, highly academic school or if you have shown that you are an academic, serious student) light-hearted and conversational. Especially if you believe you may be stereotyped as the “typical nerd or the average asian”, or whatever stereotype you may have, use this essay to prove that you are different. Show them voice, of course, but originality. If you don’t think you are original, go to your local bookstore and find “Essays that worked: 50 essays from successful applications to the nation’s top colleges” and similar books of that type. Read the entire book, and realize what is good about each essay that in the book. (Try not to bow your head in despair, as some of the essays are really that good.) Now after you have figured out what you need to do in your essay, write a few sentences for each topic that you think you might want to use. Don’t go through the prompt choices and try to think of what they college may want to hear. I wrote a “topic of your choice essay” because I felt that I could highlight my creativity and multiple aspects of myself better. Start writing the essay that feels good to you, and doing topic of your choice is not a death sentence.
Things that are good:
- Carrying a metaphor throughout your paper and relating it to your life.
- Varying sentence structure.
- Corny-ness (to an extent)
- Making it around 600 words (long enough to cover your topic, short enough to be memorable)
- References (if you can use them well and you know your stuff)
- Humor (of course)
MOST importantly, make your essay have a purpose, do not just write a beautiful essay for the sake of impressing them. They will not be impressed.
- Extracurricular Activity/Work Experience
This is hard, as it is only a few (150) words long. Write about something that will complete your application. I wrote this essay last. If you wrote your personal essay or your college supplement essay about a science/math activity, write about volunteering, or maybe your job as a waitress in a nursing home. Diversify your application. ”Round” it. Also, if you are applying to a more straightforward “sciences/engineering” program, and your personal essay/other essays were more creative, make this essay more focused so that they can see that you are serious. Add detail maybe to something that you listed before in your application.
- Supplement Essays
More likely than not, the college will ask you one or more of these essays:
- Why are you applying to this college
- What do you see yourself doing at this college
- Why are you interested in your major of choice
- What can you bring to this college.
When you are writing a college-centered essay, focus on the school. Do your research, at least, that is how I approached it. I read all the brochures, probed the Wikipedia pages, chatted with student from the school, if given the opportunity. Try to put in your essay unique things that other applicants may not know about. Research is sooooooooo important in this. Relate yourself to the school to prove that you are the right candidate.
For major-related prompts, don’t worry about being cliche’d. If that is the answer that they are looking for, give it. Try to relate it to your life to make it more original, and also with every generalized thesis (“it is not about the how, but the why”), give detailed support. For example, “I like to figure out the way things work, hence look at my science fair work.”
- “Fun Facts”
These are the quirky questions like “list all the movies you saw in the past year; in 50 words, describe your favorite piece of artwork, what is your favorite word.” Be creative, but don;t be outrageous. Also, be truthful, to a point. That is, if it will be embarrassing, don’t say it. College put these in their application to test how you will react, and also to show how cool their school is. Try to make yourself seem as unique as possible, and as “you” as possible.
Side-note:
- Go to all the college visits at your school or in the area where you live. Try to visit the school, but if costs prevent you from doing so, don’t worry about it too much.
- Email the school, with good questions. Trust me, it (most of the time) helps.
- Don’t be afraid to sound unlike your typical academic self, you are not “faking” it, just putting your best self out there.
- Get friends, teachers, etc to read your essays AGAIN and AGAIN. They are your best critics, and you yourself are getting more and more desperate and biased (no offense) during the process.
- Tailor your essay to the school. There are ways to submit different personal essays to different school.
- START early. like now.
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