College Admissions Toolbox

College Admissions Toolbox And before you send it off, check, check again, and then triple check to make sure your essay is free of spelling or grammar errors. You don't need to have started your own business or have spent the summer hiking the Appalachian Trail. Colleges are simply looking for thoughtful, motivated students who will add something to the first-year class. You have a unique background, interests and personality. And when you’ve woken, give yourself some quiet time to reflect on your intention. Fear can influence our decision-making even while we’re book shopping. If you can help your reader face and overcome a fear â€" especially one that affects their quality of life â€" you have a book idea worth developing. Living away from home for the first time can be intimidating. Try joining clubs and organizations to develop a new community and to make new friends with similar interests. If you love traveling and want to encourage your readers to go to a country you’ve explored, why not write a book about it? You can even find and interview others who’ve traveled to the same places. If something about this person’s life has made a lasting impact on you, chances are, it will do the same for your readers. And you’re still wondering what topics to write about. 140,000 students rate everything from their professors to their campus social scene. How well do you understand the college admissions process? A teacher or college counselor is your best resource. Parents should always help their child in a positive way as long as they are not writing the ideas for the student. Editing is vastly different from original writing so this needs to be clarified first, as it has to be the voice and personal memories of the applicant not the parent. The sooner the family treats this as a team effort it will be much easier for the 12th grader to feel as though they are not alone in this process. Activities can also help you build confidence while developing important leadership and teamwork skills. If you’re interested in politics, try joining student government. If you just want a break from studying, find out when the Ultimate Frisbee Club meets. Clubs and activities provide endless ways to broaden your horizons. Consider taking a community college course while you’re still in high school. The best way to tell your story is to write a personal, thoughtful essay about something that has meaning for you. Be honest and genuine, and your unique qualities will shine through. My preference (and admissions officers’) would be that parents are minimally involved in the essay. Believe me, those admissions officers are experienced and they can definitely spot the difference between a 50 year-old businessperson’s phraseology and a 17-year-old senior’s own voice and manner of expression. Writing topics that will help your reader improve the quality of their lives are good things to write about. If this is a family member or close friend, a Google search may not yield much, but that’s okay. Editing for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes is fine, but don’t change the voice of the essay. If an essay is too “polished” it may seem inauthentic, creating confusion in the reader. Make sure that you are confident in your essay and accept feedback, but don’t allow others to change your essay in any way that will cause it to lose its original message.