College Essay & Application Consulting

College Essay & Application Consulting I don’t feel I’ve had a sufficient climbing session until my forearms are pulsing and the skin on my fingertips are raw. At first, I was an impatient climber who would try and solve the wall before me, making split-second decisions. Through this life-changing sport I have strengthened not only my body but also my mind, learning the beauty of problem solving. The best things about climbing is that there is no clear-cut way to climb a wall, and that there is always a new challenge. My climbing partners say that I take the most unorthodox routes when climbing, but ironically they’re the most natural and comfortable paths for me. I get lost in the walls and climb for hours, as time becomes irrelevant. My posture straightened and I stopped fidgeting around strangers. I began to voice my opinions as opposed to keeping my ideas to myself. As my debate rank increased from the triple to single-digits, so too did my standing at school. I began interacting with my teachers more and leading my peers in clubs. Day by day, I began to stand a little taller and talk a little louder both inside and outside of debate. In a few months, my blood no longer froze when I was called on in class. I found I could finally look other people in the eyes when I talked to them without feeling embarrassed. Nothing could get in between the love we had for each other, even our vehemently opposing opinions. Patience, collaboration, and determination are all needed when climbing a wall, like in any field of research. I no longer say I can’t do something, instead approaching challenges with the utmost confidence. If one plan falls short, I reassess and approach the wall from another angle. I am comfortable making decisions, even when I don’t know what the outcome may be. Every time I interact with climbers better than myself, I learn a new technique and create new bonds. Being part of the rock climbing community has helped me develop my social skills. I don’t have an answer to what exactly it is I want to do for the rest of my life. I love English and political science, but I have yet to find such an all-encompassing response as potatoes. What I’ve realized though, is that I don’t have to sacrifice all for one. I think of nothing else but reaching the last hold and forget all of my worries. Even when my friends beg to go home from fatigue, I insist on attempting another route. For twelve years that was our beautiful home, and we enjoyed every moment together. Last summer, Emily visited my new home of five years, San Francisco, for the first time. We still laughed until our faces turned tomato red. We still screamed our favorite Taylor Swift songs as if there was no tomorrow. However, this strategy rapidly tired me out after beginning to climb. Clearly, this method wasn’t going to get the job done; I had to change my mindset. Now, when I approach a wall, I first draw the problem out in my mind, using my hands to examine the holds. Like a game of chess, I lay out an intricate plan of attack. If I am completely perplexed by a wall, I converse with other pro climbers to guide me towards the best route. I don’t necessarily have to find validity in everyone’s viewpoints to at least listen to their reasoning. “These people are just confused,” Emily whispered to me as she stared out the car window at the gay couples walking down the rainbow streets of the Castro. I was utterly offended by her statement, but I replied calmly, “Let people be who they are.” Emily and I grew up in Texas together as inseparable friends. From each of my interests I learn things that contribute to who I am and shape how I see the world. And when I do have an answer, I will go forth with the knowledge I’ve gathered from each of my varied interests; and I will never stop learning. And when asked what to eat exclusively for the rest of my life, I will enthusiastically respond “potatoes!

College Essays

College Essays Being a storyteller is also a physical commitmentâ€"it is a pact made between self and audience that asserts that the work of narration is not accomplished until everyone is listening. Most people would never dream of pulling this in a social setting, and yet this is exactly what far too many admissions essays end up sounding like. It is essential to recognize that an admissions essay shouldn’t be a series of explicit arguments, even if it is providing evidence and establishing a claim. No judgment here, just help from people who’ve done the exact same thing as you. Students approaching the admissions process often panic at the essay stage because, they decide, they have nothing dramatic or exciting or relevant to talk about. Without a cancer cure or an Olympic gold or a pebble from the top of Mount Everest on their mantel, college applicants throw up their hands and lament, “I’m doomed! Conversely, students of lower socioeconomic backgrounds are forced to rely on themselves. For help with your college essay or college guidance, visit or call . Include information not elsewhere in your application. Admissions officers want to learn something about you from your essay that they can’t learn from reading the other sections of your application. If you keep it simple, and use conversational, yet intelligent language, you will present yourself as an authentic, honest, intelligent young person. You put her folder into a box marked “Admit,” and you look forward to discussing her with the Admission Committee tomorrow. Suddenly, a gust of wind blows through an open window, upsetting the pile of applications. Make sure at least half or more of your essay explores Step Two and Step Three. In addition, the use of the personal essay discriminates against people from other cultures. I work with English-language learners and have done so for almost 20 years. While many of them make tremendous strides in language acquisition and score well on standardized tests, they often fall short in expressing themselves in the traditional essay. It may be due in part to discomfort with the American form of boasting. It’s better to pull the mother of all all-nighters than to skip your college application essay. Score At The Top comprises several family-owned, full-service learning centers and schools throughout Palm Beach and Broward Counties. As 400 essays flutter around the room, you notice a page with a recipe for cranberry bread. But you must, because the deadline for notifying applicants is just a few days away. You’re facing yet another long night of reading vague, boring, pompous essays. You slowly bow your head and rest it in your hands, wishing for a different job. Some students do a great job sharing a personal story, but spend too much of their essay on those details. For over 30 years, we have provided an integrated array of academic support and guidance services to students of all ages. As you finish the “recipe” and read through the rest of her application, you start to feel much better. Decent grades, good test scores, solid recommendations â€" you’ve seen better, but it’s certainly respectable. And then there’s this fantastic essay, evidence of an inventive and independent mind. This clashes with their upbringing in many cases. Such students are raised to see themselves as part of a collective society, as opposed to the American way of trying to stand out based on personal accomplishments. Their values cause many to hold back on their accomplishments and thus they cannot compete as effectively. ” Here’s where the dictum “tell a story” breaks down, and the directive “be a storyteller” kicks in. Being a storyteller is a state of mindâ€"it is an intellectual position that assumes that anything can be interesting if presented in the right way.

Can You Really Write All Of Your College Application Essays Over The Summer?

Can You Really Write All Of Your College Application Essays Over The Summer? The kids always had something warm to eat, and were always on their best behavior at home and in school. My room was on the first floor, right in front of Shellie’s hair salon, a small business that she ran out of her home. We made pizza together, watched Shrek on their cozy couch together, and went fishing on Sunday together. On rainy days, Michael, Jen and I would sit on the porch and listen to the rain, talking about our dreams and thoughts. This essay could work for prompt’s 1, 2, 5 and 7 for the Common App. Our society has taught us that delicious food has to make us feel guilty, when that is simply not the case. The best feeling in the world is falling in love with a dish and then learning all the health benefits that it provides the body. Within two months I was calling them mom and dad. When he reveals each lesson at the end, one after the other, we sense how all these seemingly random events are connected. I don’t remember a single time that they argued about the games.Afterward, we would gather in the living room and Danielle would play the piano while the rest of us sang hymns. It would be fair to say that this was all due to Shellie’s upbringing. My room was on the first floor,right in front of Shellie’s hair salon, a small business that she ran out of her home. I’ve spent most of my life as an anti-vegetable carboholic. For years, processed snack foods ruled the kitchen kingdom of my household and animal products outnumbered plant-based offerings. The Dirksen family had three kids.They were all different. Danielle liked bitter black coffee, Christian liked energy drinks, and Becca liked sweet lemon tea. Dawn, the host mom didn’t like winter, and Mark, the host dad, didn’t like summer. After dinner, we would all play Wii Sports together. I was the king of bowling, and Dawn was the queen of tennis. In the living room were six or seven huge amplifiers and a gigantic chandelier hung from the high ceiling. At first, the non-stop visits from strangers made me nervous, but soon I got used to them. I remember one night, a couple barged into my room while I was sleeping. My second family was the Martinez family, who were friends of the Watkins’s. The host dad Michael was a high school English teacher and the host mom Jennifer (who had me call her “Jen”) taught elementary school. We realize this writer has been carefully constructing this piece all along; we see the underlying structure. Of course, those 28 months were too short to fully understand all five families, but I learned from and was shaped by each of them. I don’t remember a single time that they argued about the games. Afterward, we would gather in the living room and Danielle would play the piano while the rest of us sang hymns. The host mom Shellie was a single mom who had two of her own sons and two Russian daughters that she had adopted. My transformation began with my mom’s cancer diagnosis. My mom went on a 100% whole food plant-based diet. She had recently delivered a baby, so she was still in the hospital when I moved into their house. The Martinez family did almost everything together. I fully embraced this new eating philosophy to show my support. Eager to figure out the whole “vegan” thing, the two of us started binge-watching health documentaries such as “What the Health” and “Forks Over Knives”. We read all the books by the featured doctors like “The China Study” and “How Not To Die”. I became entranced by the world of nutritional science and how certain foods could help prevent cancer or boost metabolism.

How Many Paragraphs In An Essay?

How Many Paragraphs In An Essay? icons new Remote Work, learn, and succeed from the comforts of your own home. icons new View All PostsBookCourses icons new Productivity Masterclass Learn how to create a system that works and reorganize your life. Ivy Eyes Editing () is an admissions and writing consultation company based in Los Angeles, and was founded on the principles of client collaboration, authenticity and skill-building. As a testament to the superior quality of their work, they provide each prospective client with a free assessment of their first submission. Students don’t need to stick to the 5-paragraph model that they’ve used so often in school. Rachel could write the story of adopting each dog and how important volunteering was to her, while throwing in colorful details that illustrate her familiarity with each country. Perhaps most important, this is an essay Rachel can’t wait to write. She decides against the “getting lost” story, as it happened when she was 8; although if she could find a metaphoric connection with feeling lost and found when moving to different countries, it could work. She will need to find specific classes to cite, professors she’s familiar with, and extracurriculars she will take part in. She will try to fit this research in while traveling. Could she tweak some of her Catch-22 essay to write about humor under pressure? She’d have to use examples that show this trait, rather than simply insist she’s funny, which isn’t effective. In about 10 days, Rachel is done with her main essay. She will start the essay with a snapshot of a children’s Halloween party that she and other embassy teens organized, then discuss being a volunteer monitor for an online local TCK community. She’ll end with her plan to forge new bonds with other international kids, mentioning specific clubs or houses at each university. Barnard wants 250 words, and she’ll expand the essay for Michigan. The goal of your essay should not be something like “to show I’m co-captain of the soccer team.” They already know that; you need to tell them something new. This may be your only chance to address an admissions officer directly. They’re going to turn down lots of highly qualified applicants, so your essay could be critical if the choice comes down to you and another, similarly qualified applicant. That said, your essay probably won’t actually hurt you as long as it’s reasonably literate . Rachel’s sense of humor is her signature; like her favorite character Yossarian, she sees absurdity in everything. Because Rachel is still undecided about her major, she will also mention a few classes she’s excited about in subjects other than history. But first, she needs to brainstorm topics for the supplemental essays to make sure no topics overlap. Rachel, a devoted dog-lover, has volunteered at rescue organizations in three different countries, andâ€"surprise, surpriseâ€"the family has ended up adopting three dogs. In general, it’s much easier to stand out on the basis of how you approach your topic than what you say. Today I’ll share some of that knowledge and teach you how you can craft an essay that really bolsters your overall application. icons new Productivity Get organized, become more efficient, and reclaim your time. icons new Career Skills Learn how to network, crush interviews, and land your dream job. icons new Life Skills Build confidence, make friends, budget your money, and more. Because she was enthusiastic about the topic and created a structure before starting to write, it wasn’t as difficult as she’d anticipated. Rachel now realizes she should do more research on her colleges. Likewise, she was 10 years old when Maroon Five came to the Dominican Republic, where her dad was the cultural attaché. The story’s tone feels too “privileged,” with no real lesson learned; and colleges prefer more recent experiences anyway. Although they're phrased differently from college to college, certain essay question types appear routinely. Since 2016, I have worked as a high school English tutor, theatre educator, and freelance journalist. I graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University's theatre and creative writing programs. You can have a good essay that has 2 or 10 paragraphs, or includes a good amount of dialogue. DON’T rehash information that is already in your application.

Writing College Essays

Writing College Essays I had the epiphany that oh wait, maybe it was my fault that I had never prioritized communication skills, or open-mindedness . That must be why I always had to be the one to approach people during my volunteer hours at the public library to offer help--no one ever asked me for it. I resolved to alter my mindset, taking a new approach to the way I lived. From now on I would emphasize qualitative experiences over quantitative skills. Despite knowing how to execute these very particular tasks, I currently fail to understand how to change a tire, how to do my taxes efficiently, or how to obtain a good insurance policy. A factory-model school system that has been left essentially unchanged for nearly a century has been the driving force in my educational development. Making my teammate smile even though he’s in pain. These are the moments I hold onto, the ones that define who I am, and who I want to be. For me, time isn’t just seconds ticking by on a clock, it’s how I measure what matters. ” The thought screams through my mind as I carry a sobbing girl on my back across campus in search of an ice pack and ankle wrap. I also learned how to take feedback and become more resilient. Here, I could nerd-out about warp drives and the possibility of anti-matter without being ignored. I would give a weekly report on new technology and we would have hour-long conversations about the various uses a blacker material could have. The rollout plan for the iTaylor is to introduce it to the theater market. My goal is to use performance and storytelling to expose audiences to different cultures, religions, and points of view. Perhaps if we all learned more about each other's lifestyles, the world would be more empathetic and integrated. On the outside, I look like any smart phone, but when you open my settings and explore my abilities, you will find I have many unique features. After experiencing many twists and turns in my life, I’m finally at a good spot. Violence has always surrounded me and haunted me. In high school, I slowly began to forge a community of creators with my peers. Sophomore year, I started an engineering club and found that I had a talent for managing people and encouraging them to create an idea even if it failed. I loved cutting new parts and assembling them perfectly. But at times I still had to emotionally support my mom to avoid sudden India trips, or put my siblings to bed if my parents weren’t home at night. Over time, I found it difficult being my family’s glue. She had just fallen while performing, and I could relate to the pain and fear in her eyes. The chaos of the show becomes distant, and I devote my time to bringing her relief, no matter how long it may take. I find what I need to treat her injury in the sports medicine training room. I didn’t realize she would be the first of many patients I would tend to in this training room. Since then, I’ve launched a sports medicine program to provide care to the 500-person choir program. As I further accept and advance new life skills, the more I realize how much remains uncertain in the world. After all, it is quite possible my future job doesn’t exist yet, and that’s okay. I can’t conceivably plan out my entire life at the age of 17, but what I can do is prepare myself to take on the unknown, doing my best to accompany others. Hopefully, my wings continue enabling me to fly, but it is going to take more than just me and my wings; I have to continue putting my faith in the air around me. As I was rejected from StuGo for the second year in a row, I discovered I had been wrongfully measuring my life through numbers--my football statistics, my test scores, my age, my height (I’m short). I wanted back the family I had before the restaurant--the one that ate Luchi Mongsho together every Sunday night. Over the next two years, things were at times still hard, but gradually improved. My parents decided to start anew, took some time apart, then got back together. My mom started to pick me up from activities on time and my dad and I bonded more, watching Warriors and 49ers games. Not long ago, I would have fallen apart at the presence of any uncertainty. I began spending more time in our garage, carefully constructing planes from sheets of foam. I found purpose balancing the fuselage or leveling the ailerons to precisely 90 degrees. Laughter fills the show choir room as my teammates and I pass the time by telling bad jokes and breaking out in random bursts of movement. Overtired, we don’t even realize we’re entering the fourth hour of rehearsal. This same sense of camaraderie follows us onstage, where we become so invested in the story we are portraying we lose track of time. I realize I choreograph not for recognition, but to help sixty of my best friends find their footing.

College Admissions Essay Topics To Avoid

College Admissions Essay Topics To Avoid You shouldn’t sit down and try to write the essay straight away. This essay is going to convey who you are as a person, so you should start by jotting down ideas, examples and fragments that might form an essay. My friend Alex has a second-degree black belt in judo. She was thinking about doing an essay on her beloved Calvin and Hobbes. It’s acceptable to look at someone else’s essay as a sample and a creative tool. You want your essay to appeal to a broad range of readers, so picking one side or another of a controversial issue is not a good idea. Have a couple other people read the essay for typos and coherence. Try to imagine the impression the reader will have of you. And pay close attention to your transitions from one section to the next. Transitions should give information, not just be links. Beware of words like “but” or “meanwhile” as transitions. That’s what will make your story different from the next essay in the pile. Ask someone to help you proofread for spelling and grammar. Be your wonderful, amazing self â€" idiosyncrasies, quirks, and all. The more real you are, the more intriguing you will be…and the more the admissions officers will love you. Applerouth is open, and our tutors are eager to help you.Click here for more about how we have adapted to meet our students' current needs. This is the one caveat to the last sentence above. Some of you are passionate about politics or social issues, but this is NOT the place to explore those beliefs. With distance learning there's a lot that can fall through the cracks. Applerouth tutors have helped thousands of students build academic skills and improve their grades. We'll make a customized tutor match for your student or homeschool pod to help your family get ahead this year. Do you notice how each of these opening lines raises more questions than it answers? It is not OK to copy it or to excerpt anything without proper credit. And don’t even think about having someone else - parent, friend, tutor or writing service â€" create your essay for you. Big Future, run by the College Board, has sample essays and tips. It is important to think deeply about the meaning of things in your life. Determine what about your experience is unique to you. These are the parts that make your essay come alive. The first paragraph is mostly summary â€" it tells the reader facts about who you are, things you’ve done, tendencies you have, etc. (e.g. I never saw myself as a cat person). Summaries can be useful for bridging the gap between in-scene moments, or reflecting back on an experience and what it meant to you. However, an essay consisting entirely of summary is going to be dry and boring to read. When you’re writing, open up and let your voice come through loud and clear. And let’s keep the personal in the essay by not allowing third parties to ghostwrite our children’s future. Students are essentially paying a third party to ghost-write their story in an essay which is supposed to be a culmination of their skill set, not a professional’s. This may be acceptable for athletes and movie stars who pay for assistance with their memoirs, but should not be commonplace when competing for collegiate acceptance. They give you enough information to get a sense of what the essay will be about, but not enough to really understand what is going on. This is a great strategy because it grabs your reader’s attention and compels them to continue in order to find out what is going on and fill in the gaps in their understanding. They are often enigmatic, surprising, or even confusing. For example, check out these 10 opening lines from Stanford admission essays. And be you follow the essay guidelines as far as word count and topic are concerned. The college wants to know if you can follow directions and how creative you can be within set limitations.

College Essay Writing Tips

College Essay Writing Tips If you really feel that you will do poorly or that the anxiety might negatively impact the rest of your test, you should be OK without it. My son took the ACT without writing as a junior and received a 34 composite . That said, I don’t like to stand in the way of students motivated to retest. If he has the time and the desire, he could take the ACT again on Feb 8. Have you had a practice essay scored to know where you stand? Also, don’t expect an essay score to stand out in the same way that your ERW and M scores might. He shouldn’t count on his Writing score making a difference. I don’t know of any superscoring school that will not superscore across ACT and ACT with Writing. The did say that a single test with an essay is fine. That’s a difficult question to answer because of all of the potential factors. He retook it as a senior with writing and also received a 34 composite , but only received an 8 on the writing portion. The only other difference between the 2 scores is that he got a 36 Reading/35 Science on the first ACT, and 35 Reading/36 Science on the second. For competitive schools that don’t require the writing portion, would you recommend that he submit his first score without the writing, or the second? This is only slightly behind the 30% for extracurriculars. Essays are actually ahead of the 20% for grades and coursework, 15% for test scores, and 10% for recommendations and interviews. Your essays are necessarily a reflection of your mind, and the admissions officers want to know that you have the “soft skills” to excel in their program. You can’t make it in college if you can’t write. Some colleges feel that removing “recommended” would mean that they are diminishing the importance of writing as a skill. That’s not the same thing as saying that it is important to them in the admission process. At any point in time during your college education, you’ll probably have one or more papers to write for your classes. Colleges would be irresponsible to offer you a place in their program if you do not have the basic skills needed to succeed. We contacted Miami, and they are still maintaining that it is required for placement. Given their testing page, I find it hard to believe that they are rejecting students for not having an essay score. We will be leaving it up, however, until we get clearer guidance from the school. I’m thinking the first is probably a better choice for him (especially for liberal arts colleges/universities), but wanted to get your thoughts. 8 falls within the 25th-75th range of enrolled students at even Berkeley and UCLA. More important, the UCs are likely to drop the essay requirement this year.