College essays are an unusual genre: they are intensely personal, but have specific purpose and a specific audience. Your goal is to express who you are, but in a way that tells colleges that you are a good fit for them intellectually, emotionally, ethically, and otherwise. The essay must also convey your ability to write and think clearly.

The Common Application Personal Essay is the most important essay you will write. College is about academics, so make this essay about your scholarly focus and offer the reader a sense of what you’re going to bring to the classroom. If you write about how you like to help save sea turtles or read all of Jane Austen, that’s fine and it speaks well of you. But a conversation about merely liking turtles or being obsessed with Jane Austen can only go so far. No one cares if you’re in love with Mr. Darcy—Mr. Darcy isn’t reading your application. But if you bolster your essay with descriptions of the research you’ve done on ocean pollution or on the ways that Jane Austen’s work affected notions of romance and social graces in her time and in our own, then you’ve presented something that can spur curiosity and interest from an admissions officer.

Also, spend some time working on your opening line – it matters! You want a hook that grabs the reader’s attention.

BAD HOOKS:

• I had no idea how poor people in Africa were until saw them when I went on safari in Kenya last summer.
• College holds vast potentialities for the optimization of my intellect and ability to succeed in the personal financial arena.
• I was up late last night trying to figure out what to write for my college essay when the idea finally hit me!
• Like Proust and his madeline, I remember the day I found my passion for molecular biology.
• I didn’t think I’d ever make the squash team.

GOOD HOOKS:

• I am my own favorite fictional character.
• Every October, the dry winds arrive, the sky clears, and at night the hills above my house cut a black profile against the stars.
• I first got into politics the day the cafeteria outlawed creamed corn.
• Every afternoon my bike ride from school to work takes me past the remains of the steel mill, which shut down two years before I was born.
• Anyone who says you can’t iron shirts and read a book at the same time hasn’t tried hard enough at either.

• Need help with your essays? Lead Editor Josh Stephens is a master and will work with you via phone and internet.
• Unable to make it to Cambridge to join us this week or next? Schedule a Personal Application Boot Camp and Josh Stephens will come to you.
• Want to create your own 4 Day Boot Camp for a fraction of the cost? Check out our Self Guided Application Boot Camp.
• Need help brushing up on your October Subject Test scores so your application has the numbers you need? Genius tutor Mike Barrett gives you strategies to outsmart the tests.

Once again we are indicating samples of application options. Our newsletter last week included an outdated schedule, we apologize for our error.

Types of Applications*

* Double check application deadlines as they can vary year to year
** MIT’s Early Action Program is available only to citizens and permanent residents of the United States.

More Early Explanations:

Single Choice Early Action: Means you can ONLY apply to that school early, no ED schools or other EA schools. You can, in some cases, apply to your state, public university.

1. Yale: Single Choice Early Action: http://admissions.yale.edu/faq/single-choice-early-action

2. Stanford: Restrictive Early Action (but should really be called Single Choice): http://stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/decision_process/restrictive.html

3. Harvard: Single Choice Early Action: Not up on their site yet, we have: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/02/early-action-returns/

4. Princeton: Single Choice Early Action: Not up on their site yet, we have: http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S29/85/15K32/index.xml?section=topstories

Restrictive Early Action: You can apply Early Action to other schools but not Early Decision except for Stanford which calls themselves Restrictive Early Action but is really Single Choice Early Action

1.Georgetown: Restrictive Early Action http://uadmissions.georgetown.edu/applying_firstyear_earlyaction.cfm

2.Boston College: Restrictive Early Action: http://www.bc.edu/admission/undergrad/process/tips/s-applyingearly.html

Early Action:
UVA is regular EA now.



You’ll want to add a paragraph to your main essay (or just append a short WHY paragraph) about why you are applying, but don’t fall into the trap that many students make in which they offer only generic reasons for liking the school’s location or campus or, even worse, simply recount the school’s virtues from their brochure. Focus instead on specific programs or academic opportunities rather than simply saying you like the campus or the outdoors. Show them that you’ve done your homework and that you know what makes their school unique and different—and about how those differences relate to your interests, personality, and goals.

When you visit each campus, try to connect with a professor in your area of interest so you can then leverage that info in your WHY paragraph. Again, feel free to add a short paragraph in one of your essays that details why you are applying and why that school is one of your top choices. If you’ve had a chance to visit, mention what impressed you the most. Again, be specific. You’ll find yourself with many more options come decision time.

I have just finished junior year and am stressed about the whole application process and selecting schools. Do you have any services that might help me?

●2011 Application Boot Camp

●Personal Boot Camp

●Self Guided Boot Camp

●Essay Package

What should I do this summer that would help me get into a better college? I’m going to be a junior in the fall?

●The Ultimate Guide to Top High School Summer Programs

My son is a smart kid and did well his freshman year in high school, but he doesn’t have any of the high level awards other kids in his school who have gone to the Ivies received. Can you guide us?

●The Ultimate Guide to Top Contests and Awards

How can I push up my SAT scores? I have time this summer, but I’ve heard that the big company SAT prep courses in a class room aren’t customized enough and sort of waste time? Any ideas?

●The Ultimate SAT Manual

●SAT Tutoring with Rogue Tutor Mike Barrett

My son took the ACT with Writing and followed your newsletter advice and compared it to his SAT scores and we’ve determined the ACT is his stronger test. Now how can he take it again and do better? Can you give us more info on your tutors?

●ACT Tutoring with Steve and Amy Dulan

You may find that schools that you’d barely considered before end up being top in the country in particular areas. How can you check? First, it’s often helpful to consult the graduate rankings in a publication like US News and World Report; although, keep in mind that sometimes graduate programs and faculty are separate from the undergraduate, and are sometimes shared. Once you have that list, comb the web sites, course guides and published information from colleges to see if they are strong in your area(s) of interest. Finally, call the school or visit and speak to professors, visit the library, check out the holdings — in short, make an informed decision about where you are applying and why.

Also, bear in mind that if you state a reason for applying to a school, it should be an academic reason.  Unless a particular school has an extracurricular program that is truly unique (and, ideally, ties in to an academic interest), the school is going to care far more about what you want to study than about the backpacking trips you want to lead and the underprivileged children you want to tutor.  Those are all great things, but clubs, community service programs, and intramural sports are available at almost every college these days.

Even a student who is No. 1 in a top public school will not be accepted to top colleges if he or she has low scores on the SAT and SAT Subject Tests. Another thing to consider is the competition: at top private schools like Andover and Exeter, only the top students get into the very top colleges. It’s actually HARDER to be in the top 5-10% of the class at a place where almost everyone is qualified versus a big public school with some “dead weight.” In short, you should make this decision based on the options, comfort level, course offerings, sports and specialty offerings for your child rather than trying to outwit college admissions officers who will not be impressed just by a big name private school.

Most importantly, students will perform better – and be happier – at a school where they feel most comfortable. If a student truly loves Andover, and the family believes that the expense is warranted, then Andover is the right choice. If the local public school has great teachers, neighborhood friends, a full line up of AP courses, and a safe environment, then it may be worth more to a student than any of the famous prep schools.

If you are one of the applicants in this pool, the odds of catching their eye in March are not great, but if you want to have any chance at all, make sure that you are an ACTIVE defer. Write a letter reaffirming that the college is still your first choice, send an extra letter of recommendation, make sure your grades go up and send your next round of grades, send updates about what you are doing in school — in short, be a PRESENCE. The only deferred kids who end up being accepted are those who make themselves into polite pests. Of course it depends upon why you were deferred in the first place, but rest assured that if you do nothing and send nothing, you will not be accepted.

More specifically, by the middle of February, draw up a one-page letter reaffirming your interest in the college, and then submit a bullet-point list of all the earth-shattering news/awards that you have won. Also, it can help to have senior year teachers send extra (not many – 1-2, no more) letters of recommendation to the school as well. Finally, your school should call on your behalf and push your case. That is about the only way a deferred candidate gets in since the odds are only about 5% depending on the school. In short, ACTIVE deferrals have a chance — those who do nothing will definitely NOT get in.

Another word about early applications: There seems to be a trend that more schools are now rejecting kids outright so that those who have no chance are not misled in the regular round. That should correlate to a small increase in the number of deferred applicants who get in. Normally at most schools the deferral acceptance rate is only 5-7% or so, not high. What can you do? The first thing is to speak directly to the admissions officer who read your application (you can have your college counselor call FIRST, then follow up) to get a sense of your chances. Sometimes there is NO chance (as in, your application wasn’t good, you didn’t stand out) and sometimes there is a specific reason — they wanted to see your grades in AP classes, they wanted new scores — all of which should be annotated on your file.

For younger students, take note that the application matters! Kids who dash off an application, even with strong scores, may be deferred. The other reason students are deferred is false confidence — thinking you stand out more than you do. It’s humbling to think that the typical Ivy applicant has 730 and up on ALL tests, several AP scores of 4-5, top rank in class and extraordinary talents. Yes, it is hard to stand out. If you are a current freshman or sophomore get working now so that you do indeed stand out in a particular academic area. How? Well, read on as we’ll give tips each week. But, focus on what you love and then notch that up by going above and beyond.

As you probably know by now, the Common Application has added a new category called WORK EXPERIENCE with five or so lines of description. Getting a job is as important today to admissions officers as community service was ten years ago. Likewise, many students are more career-oriented than ever before.

Many well-heeled and well-intentioned parents are convinced that it would benefit their children to talk to someone who could arrange an unusual or prestigious internship for summer. Their goal is to pull in a favor or two to acquire fancy internships for their kids. Colleges are not stupid and can usually figure out that someone pulled a string — otherwise, how could a normal 16-year-old with virtually no qualifications end up working in a high-profile law firm or an investment bank?  In fact, having this kind of internship often backfires because colleges then hold it against the student because he/she obviously couldn’t find his/her own job or meaningful experience without adult help.

Colleges look for students who create opportunities for themselves, not simply those who have things handed to them on a silver platter. With that in mind, here are some ideas for summer:

1. Take classes at a local community college or school to deepen your interest in a particular scholarly area.
2. Pursue an activity or hobby on your own to take it to a higher level.
3. Get a real job — try bus-ing tables, pouring coffee, bagging groceries — show that you can handle responsibility.
4. Do some serious reading and keep track of what you read – some colleges ASK what you’ve read lately.
5. Investigate in detail specific departments and programs in colleges you are interested in so you can provide real evidence as to why you are interested in X school.
6. Do not sign up for a high priced program that sends you complimentary mailings about how you’ve been “selected.”
7. If you are a top level athlete, sign up for elite sports camps where college coaches will be recruiting attendees.

RESOURCE: Sample Blogs

Vanderbilt: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Admissions/vandybloggers/

UCLA: http://blog.admissions.ucla.edu/

MIT: http://www.mitadmissions.org/blogs.shtml

Holy Cross: http://admissions.me.holycross.edu/

University of Vermont: http://adms.blog.uvm.edu/

Juilliard: http://blog.juilliard.edu/

If you come across an admissions blog you like, let us know on our blog: www.ApplicationBootCamp.com.

Taking three tests in one day almost always results in getting lower scores on all three tests than if you took them on separate dates. Try to take at least one or two SAT Subject tests freshman or sophomore year so the burden does not fall on junior and senior year. If you’re a junior, take advantage of midyear test dates like the upcoming January test and the March test (the latter is for only the SAT I). If you plan to take the SAT I in January of your junior year and again in March, by the May test date you’ll be ready to spread your SAT Subject Tests into two distinct test dates: May and June. If you are an international student, however, there is no March test date for the SAT I. Don’t underestimate the importance of Subject Tests–colleges sometimes count them even more than SAT I’s since they provide an idea of what grading is like at your high school.

A quick tip about the essay on the SAT writing section: The longer your essay, the higher your score. All the high-scoring sample essays included in The Official SAT Study Guide For The New SAT are fairly long and well-developed, while the low-scoring sample essays are much shorter. But be careful–even though an essay scores often seems correlate with their length, that doesn’t mean that writing garbage just to fill up space is a good idea. Rather, it means is that if you’ve written a short essay, your chances of scoring high are slim. So if you think you’ve finished your essay and you still have a few minutes left, add another paragraph or two and you’ll probably earn an extra point or two!