2 10, 2014

Common App College Essay Prompts and How to Master Them for Your Ivy League Application!

By |2022-10-04T09:29:09-04:00October 2nd, 2014|Brown, College Admissions, Columbia, Common App, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, Ivy League|1 Comment

So, it’s official.  You’ve decided it’s time to start working on your Common App. Good for you!  Great even.  You’re not procrastinating!  That is, until you looked at the prompts and thought, “I have absolutely NO IDEA what to say, let alone guess what the colleges are even looking for.”  This thought perhaps made you panicked, sick, ill, malaised (i.e. good SAT word, write it down), and forced you to have visions of working at a donut shop for the rest of your life, (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Get more information on How to Master the Common App Essay!

Perhaps you had plans though of potentially setting off for Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or some other picturesque U.S. school to watch football games, meet great life-long friends, STUDY and get an excellent education, and just do something incredibly solid and interesting with your life…but then messed it all up with the Common App and destroyed the dream.  Done.  OVER.  Donut?

Well, stop worrying.  We’re going to go through the prompts one by one, and if you take away my key points from each of the questions, you’re going to do more than fine.

Prompt #1Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

This essay is a great chance to show your uniqueness, your individuality, what makes you different, and college admissions officers LOVE different.  Did you hear that? They read so many applications, that they truly gravitate towards those students who are unique and stand out.  So, do you have something unique in your background?  Have you done something unusual?  Is there something different about your family that makes you interesting?  Here is where you write about what makes you different from others in your school. What does make you different from your friends.   Remember, different = interesting.

PROMPT #2: Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?

Make sure you answer each of the questions stated in this prompt and you’ll do fine.  Mostly though, you want to pick a negative experience (a “failure”) that then has a positive spin — that shows your self-reflection and ability to pick yourself up and move forward stronger than before!  This essay is a good choice if STRENGTH and FORTITUDE are two of your major traits.

PROMPT #3: Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

This essay is here to show your character.  What are you passionate about?  What are you willing to stand up for, even in the face of adversity? As with prompt #2, make sure you address all of the questions within the question – that is part of what you are being tested on.  This essay is a good choice if you have very strong morals and values and are willing to make a public stand.  Always be aware of your audience though, and take into consideration how things will be perceived by the admissions committee.  In other words, choose your battles wisely.

PROMPT #4: Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?

I like this essay, as it is the most creative.  Again, make sure you address all three points, and focus equally on description as well as self-reflection: why this is meaningful to YOU.  I’ve read very lyrical essays that describe a place, only to not understand its significance for the student.  Similarly, I’ve read very factual essays for this prompt that have no description or emotional feeling or language. Balance both, and do it in a creative way, and you’ll win by giving your reader insight into your world.

PROMPT #5: Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

What the admissions committee is looking for here, is growth. Your growth.  That moment when your world changed.  Pick an event that clearly shows how you were before, and then how you were different after.  Again, as with the other essays, they are looking for self-reflection.  This essay also allows for a lot of creativity and I have found sometimes the smaller, less formal and more personal events or moments in life make for the best, most moving essays – and that advice goes for all of the prompts, above. I hope, these amazing tips on How to Master the Common App Essay will help you the most.

[I’m a former Harvard interviewer and a Harvard graduate, and currently run the college admissions firm IVY COLLEGE ESSAY.com.  Like more help on your Common App or college applications? Contact me for a free consultation today!  www.IvyCollegeEssay.com ]

21 09, 2014

The Common App: How to Write a Great College Application

By |2022-10-04T09:35:21-04:00September 21st, 2014|Berekeley, Brown, college, College Admissions, Columbia, Common App, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, Ivy League, Ivy League Advice, Ivy League College, MIT, NYU, Princeton, Standford, Stanford, UCLA, UPenn, Yale|3 Comments

The Common App Essay

How to Write a Great College Application!

The season is upon us: college applications, and right now is a good time to start working on your Common App.  You’re a month into the new school year, you’ve settled in, and now the Common App essay is staring you in the face. Here is what should you know about How to Write an Ivy League College Application Essays:

Where do you begin?  You know you have to start writing it…but HOW?

You try to forget about it, but you can’t.  How can you write the absolutely best college admission essays possible when you have no idea what to write about or where to begin??

Similarly, neither do you know what the college admission committee is even looking for, nor what will make a really strong college essay and application.  This holds true for all colleges and universities, but ESPECIALLY if you’re applying to the Ivy League.

Oh yeah, and did I mention your entire future appears to depend on this?

Don’t worry though, because I am going to walk you through the process.

I’m a former Harvard admissions interviewer + Harvard grad, and I know how to do this well.  I’m going to tell you how you can master the Common App essay and application and make the most of your college applications.

To be more to the point, I’m going to help you get into the best schools possible.

This includes the Ivy League: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, UPenn, and Cornell. The top. I mean, what if you want to go there?  How can you tackle the Common App and catapult your way to the apex of education?

Let’s start with the questions.  These are the choices for your Common App Essay:

  • Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
  • Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
  • Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
  • Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
  • Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Which one to choose, you say? Which one will be the best one to write about?  Here’s what I say:  go with the one that is going to contain the most EMOTION.  Emotion is powerful, good or bad, and the examples you choose, if they have a certain emotional weight to them when you think about it, that will add weight (and admissions committee engagement) to your essay.  In other words, emotion or powerful experiences (which is really what I mean) serves to ENGAGE your reader, and an engaged reader is going to not only remember your essay, but feel that you truly conveyed a mood, and environment, and an experience.

In other words, they will feel they got to know YOU just a little bit more than if you had written about something “less powerful” that didn’t engage. This is all you should know about How to Write an Ivy League College Application Essays.

Go with the powerful emotions.  The experiences and examples for any of the above, that convey some kind of emotion, and make you feel. Because that is going to translate to your essay.

More tips and advice to come…

[I’m a former Harvard University admissions interviewer and a Harvard graduate.  I currently run the College Admission Essay firm: IVY LEAGUE ESSAY, out of New York, and specialize in helping students get in to the top schools and the Ivy League.  Please contact me for a free phone consultation today: www.IvyCollegeEssay.com ]

19 06, 2013

How Important Are Extracurriculars for Your College Application?

By |2023-05-10T12:03:59-04:00June 19th, 2013|College Admissions, Common App|0 Comments

 
How Important Are Extracurriculars for College Application?
Do schools really care what clubs you joined, what sports you played, what charity you may have volunteered for, or what musical instrument you possibly tried to master? How Important Are Extracurriculars For College Application? What exactly are colleges looking for when they ask you about your participation during your high school?
I would like to answer this question today, based on my own experience as a former Harvard University interviewer (and as a Harvard graduate, myself).
In terms of extracurricular activities, admissions officers are looking for a point-of-entry into your personality. They want to find something they can focus on, that will differentiate them from the many other applicants.
Admissions committees use your extracurricular activities to paint a picture of who you are. As a student and as a person — to develop a fuller understanding of how you spend your time when you are not studying or at school, and to access your level of intellectual and cultural interest, background, and depth.
In other words, your extracurricular activities are like the paint a painter paints with while creating a portrait of YOU. Your goal is to make those colors, that paint – your portrait – as original and interesting as possible. Especially if you are applying to the Ivy League.
The following is probably the most important thing I can say, and something you may not ever read elsewhere, as it is certainly an insider tip: Ivy League schools are looking for ORIGINAL THINKERS.Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton, and University of Pennsylvania.
These are the 8 schools that make up the Ivy League, and to get into any of them, not only do you have to have the grades, the test scores, and the proper level of classes, but you need to demonstrate ORIGINAL THOUGHT. All information is useful about How Important Are Extracurriculars For College applications.
These schools pride themselves on developing the next leaders of the world — economically, politically, and in the arts and sciences. Going back to the question – you will be ahead of the game if your extracurricular activities are unique. They will demonstrate your individuality. Your ability to stand out from the pack. It is this, your own personal voice and interests that make you a unique and powerful future leader.
So, strive to list those experiences and activities that are perhaps unusual, perhaps a little different from your friends. Demonstrate, if there is skill involved, that you do it and excel at a very high level. Let your uniqueness shine through, and that will shine through to the admissions committee, as well.
[Need help on your college applications or Common App essays? Thinking of the Ivy League? Contact me for a free consultation today! www.IvyCollegeEssay.com ]
10 06, 2013

3 Expert Tips to Get Into an Ivy League College!

By |2023-06-11T07:50:10-04:00June 10th, 2013|College Admissions|1 Comment

It’s that time of year again, when high school seniors hoping to get into an Ivy League college stare desperately at the Common App and supplemental college admission essay questions and ask themselves:

1. What are the Ivy League colleges really looking for?

2. How can I make my Ivy League application stand out?

3. Do I even have a chance of getting in to the Ivy League?

Let’s address these questions one-by-one, but first of all, for those of you who don’t know (or maybe aren’t sure) the Ivy League is made up of 8 colleges and universities including Harvard, Yale and Princeton (which are considered the “Top 3”) and then Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania.

One shouldn’t forget though, that there are also a handful of other extremely competitive schools that are considered to be on par with the Ivy League, such as Stanford, MIT and Duke University, just to name a few.  So…

  1. What is it that the schools are really looking for (especially when talking about Ivy League colleges)?

I believe that the answer can be found in two words: confidence and individuality.

In other words, yes, your grades are important, yes, your test scores need to be as high as possible, yes, you need to have a strong assortment of as many AP courses as you can fit in your arsenal,  but once you have all of that (because why would you be applying to an Ivy League college if you didn’t think you could compete at that academic level with your peers) the next important thing is: YOUR UNIQUE EXPERIENCE.

By this I mean things in your background that make you different, that are going to make you stand out to an Ivy League college admissions committee. Things that are going to make you different than simply being “another suburban high school student from New Jersey,” or “just” another kid from a private school in Massachusetts or New York.

Not to say that the top schools don’t accept A LOT of students who fall into these two categories (believe me, they do)… but your competition if you’re coming from these categories is going to be stronger because of that highly competitive applicant pool and because college admissions officers like to diversify.

  • The answer to question #2 then is that, no matter what your background, you should always, always, always ask yourself, HOW ARE YOU DIFFERENT and then try to highlight that

In other words, what is it in your background that makes you unique? That’s what Ivy League college admissions officers want to see as they paint a picture of you in their mind. You will increase your chances astronomically, if you give them something to paint with.

So, were you raised in a poor village in India before immigrating to the U.S.? Did your family move here from Russia? Is your family in politics?  Are you training for the Olympics in ice skating, or skiing? Or do you compete at a very high level in equestrian sports? Have you built your own guitar?  Have you studied ballet in NYC since the age of 8? Did you grow up in a fishing community in Alaska? Or was yours the only Jewish family in a Southern Baptist community in the deep South? Have you served in the U.S. Army?

Is anyone in your family famous, or extremely well-known in their field?  Is anyone a legacy at the Ivy League college you’re applying to? Do you own any patents? Or, are you a budding biotech or real estate entrepreneur even though you’re still in high school who started their own company from the ground up (regardless if it failed).

All the above are true stories from admission essays in the past. All are very interesting and obviously make the student STAND OUT.

And, that is what an Ivy League college admissions committee is looking for. And this is the big secret that will give you an edge:  tell them something interesting. Everyone in my opinion, has done something of interest in their life, even if they are too close to it perhaps to really see it for themselves.  Think about what makes you different from your peers.

So, should you even apply to an Ivy League college if you don’t have these things, or is it just a waste of time? Will you even have a chance? Yes, you have a chance, a good chance — if you have the grades, and the test scores. And the academic background and some interesting academic or life experience. You are then, as they put it, a “contender.”

  • So now question #3, –  will you get in? That’s the wrong question. Change the question instead to, “can I paint an interesting picture of who I am and where I want to go in life?”

Then craft that into a properly formed college admissions essay. And make sure you speak with clarity, insight into your own experience, truth, emotion, and confidence.

All these together become the first step to getting you into the Ivy League college of your dreams!

[Need help on your own college applications or Ivy League admission essays? I’m a former Harvard admissions interviewer and Harvard graduate, and currently run the firm: www.IvyCollegeEssay.com Request more information or schedule a free consultation today!]

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