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Here are a few things I thought should be kept public:
Here's a list of things that I learned while I was applying for college. You obviously don't have to read this or take my advice if you don't want to, but I'm putting it out there so that it may possibly be of some aid to you in what is a tough process. A lot of this you've probably heard before. Some of it is cliched by now. Some of this the guidance department disagrees with me on. This is all my personal opinion. I mean this solely to be a list of things that I either found helpful when I was applying, or things that I wish someone had told me when I was doing the application process. So, without further ado, in no particular order...
1) Start early. Start early. Start early. Especially start writing the essays if you have not already done so. What I found to be the most helpful was to read the essay topics and then keep them in the back of my head for about a week until I got inspiration to write them. Sometimes that inspiration would come at the oddest times, but when it comes, then don't wait to start writing. If you figure out what you want to say, how to start, or even just what you want to write about but if you don't start writing it down, you will forget what you wanted to say or it will become stale in your mind and you will no longer be able to write as good an essay as you would have been able to do earlier. However, you must start thinking about your essays early... this process that I have described will not work if you only have a day or two or three to hammer out the entire essay. Also start filling out the general application early. Although you can do this in one night, it is so much less stressful if you do it ahead of time. There is always the possibility that they will ask you for a piece of information that you do not have at your fingertips, and you will have to spend more time than you anticipate searching for it. Start early.
2) Write what you know. Do not try to write what you think the college wants to hear. They want to hear you. Write about what is interesting to you, what makes you who you are. Even if it is quirky or unusual, that will just make your application stand out. While you want to make your application stand out, don't try to force it. If your essay or application sounds forced, then that eliminates what is gained from writing about something unusual. Write about what you are passionate about.
3) Ask your past and present English teachers to read your essays. You can also ask your parents, relatives, and friends to read them over and offer suggestions. However, remember that you are under no obligation to take their suggestions. (If your English teacher is grading your college essays as a class assignment, then maybe it's a good idea to take their suggestions, but the version you submit to class does not have to be the one you submit to college.) Beware of taking a reader's suggestions if by taking them you lose the writing style that is uniquely your own. I remember having my mom edit my essays and arguing with her, saying "No, I would never phrase that sentence like that." or "I don't use that word normally, so I'm not going to put it in my essay." Your essay should remain uniquely yours. The readers are there to tell you if the essay is clear and to offer suggestions for changes, not to rewrite your essay.
4) Make your essay interesting. Do not make your essay a list of your accomplishments. There are other places on the application where you have the opportunity to list awards, prizes, recognitions, and other accomplishments. If you can work them into the essay, that's great, but it has to be done very carefully so that it does not sounds forced or extremely egotistical. I found it to be helpful if I wrote my essay like a story... or at least if I started my essay like a story. That captures the reader's attention and will make you essay interesting.
5) If at all possible, apply early. This is the point that some members of the guidance department disagree with me on. In my opinion, it is great to apply early. You don't have to apply to your top choice school early, a safety school is fine. Just make sure that you are applying Early Action (so that it is non-binding) unless you are absolutely positively sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you want to go there. There are some places where early applications are either accepted or rejected, and it is difficult to be accepted early... applying early to those places is not a good idea. However, there are a lot of places where early applications are either accepted or deferred to regular decision. Do you research and make sure you know what the school's policy on early applications is, but if at all possible, apply early. Not only does this space out the work nicely, it is also much easier to apply to other places if you already have an acceptance under your belt. And if you get deferred early, there's no shame in that either. Your application still has a good chance of being accepted normally.
6) If you did a good job on your counselor packet then you can use pieces of your responses from that packet in your college essays. Many of those questions are good reminders of what you should try to work into your application. If you're not sure about what topics you should focus on, ask your counselor. Also, this is common sense, but don't be afraid to reuse pieces of your essays in multiple applications, this cuts down on the workload considerably. If you reuse pieces of essays, then make sure to make it flow with the rest of the essay. Don't be afraid to start from scratch and just reuse ideas, but if you are proud of a really well-written paragraph about a topic for one essay, then you can reuse it with little editing.
7) Apply for scholarships as early as possible. I assure you, by the time you have completed five college applications and a few scholarship ones, you get so sick of writing essays and filling out forms, that you will not want to fill out one more scholarship app. Don't be afraid to apply for smaller scholarships or more obscure scholarships... if you get them then the smaller awards do add up, and if there are fewer TJ people applying to some of the smaller scholarships then you have a better chance of winning.
8) Go visit colleges. Some places that you were thinking of applying to do not have an atmosphere that suits you. There is no way to see that on a college's website, you have to experience it for yourself. There is no point to filling out an application for a college if you find out later that you don't feel at home there. If you can, sit in on classes and observe the teachers and other students.
9) Talk to college students. Their opinions can have a big impact on where you decide you want to apply or attend. While it is a good idea to find out for yourself if you like a place or not, it is also incredibly useful to listen to what students have to say about their experiences.
10) Find teachers to write your recommendations as early as possible. Every once in a while, check in with them to make sure they have everything they need and that they remember the deadline of the recommendation they are writing for you. In addition, most colleges will take additional letters of recommendation from mentors, religious leaders, anyone who knows you well and can write on your behalf about something the college values. If you don't know how to ask a teacher for a rec, then just go up to them and ask, it's no more complicated than that. And don't forget to write thank-you notes for them afterwards.
Good Luck to Everyone!!
Note: The full text, as well as some other suggestions in the form of comments, is here http://quantumcalculus.livejournal.com/31444.html.
Credit for my teddy bear userpic goes to: http://www.handexpressions.com/
The sunset userpic is one of my own photographs.
The ILY handshape is a picture from the movie Universal Signs taken from the website http://www.imdb.com.
Comment here if you wish to be friended.
Here are a few things I thought should be kept public:
Here's a list of things that I learned while I was applying for college. You obviously don't have to read this or take my advice if you don't want to, but I'm putting it out there so that it may possibly be of some aid to you in what is a tough process. A lot of this you've probably heard before. Some of it is cliched by now. Some of this the guidance department disagrees with me on. This is all my personal opinion. I mean this solely to be a list of things that I either found helpful when I was applying, or things that I wish someone had told me when I was doing the application process. So, without further ado, in no particular order...
1) Start early. Start early. Start early. Especially start writing the essays if you have not already done so. What I found to be the most helpful was to read the essay topics and then keep them in the back of my head for about a week until I got inspiration to write them. Sometimes that inspiration would come at the oddest times, but when it comes, then don't wait to start writing. If you figure out what you want to say, how to start, or even just what you want to write about but if you don't start writing it down, you will forget what you wanted to say or it will become stale in your mind and you will no longer be able to write as good an essay as you would have been able to do earlier. However, you must start thinking about your essays early... this process that I have described will not work if you only have a day or two or three to hammer out the entire essay. Also start filling out the general application early. Although you can do this in one night, it is so much less stressful if you do it ahead of time. There is always the possibility that they will ask you for a piece of information that you do not have at your fingertips, and you will have to spend more time than you anticipate searching for it. Start early.
2) Write what you know. Do not try to write what you think the college wants to hear. They want to hear you. Write about what is interesting to you, what makes you who you are. Even if it is quirky or unusual, that will just make your application stand out. While you want to make your application stand out, don't try to force it. If your essay or application sounds forced, then that eliminates what is gained from writing about something unusual. Write about what you are passionate about.
3) Ask your past and present English teachers to read your essays. You can also ask your parents, relatives, and friends to read them over and offer suggestions. However, remember that you are under no obligation to take their suggestions. (If your English teacher is grading your college essays as a class assignment, then maybe it's a good idea to take their suggestions, but the version you submit to class does not have to be the one you submit to college.) Beware of taking a reader's suggestions if by taking them you lose the writing style that is uniquely your own. I remember having my mom edit my essays and arguing with her, saying "No, I would never phrase that sentence like that." or "I don't use that word normally, so I'm not going to put it in my essay." Your essay should remain uniquely yours. The readers are there to tell you if the essay is clear and to offer suggestions for changes, not to rewrite your essay.
4) Make your essay interesting. Do not make your essay a list of your accomplishments. There are other places on the application where you have the opportunity to list awards, prizes, recognitions, and other accomplishments. If you can work them into the essay, that's great, but it has to be done very carefully so that it does not sounds forced or extremely egotistical. I found it to be helpful if I wrote my essay like a story... or at least if I started my essay like a story. That captures the reader's attention and will make you essay interesting.
5) If at all possible, apply early. This is the point that some members of the guidance department disagree with me on. In my opinion, it is great to apply early. You don't have to apply to your top choice school early, a safety school is fine. Just make sure that you are applying Early Action (so that it is non-binding) unless you are absolutely positively sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you want to go there. There are some places where early applications are either accepted or rejected, and it is difficult to be accepted early... applying early to those places is not a good idea. However, there are a lot of places where early applications are either accepted or deferred to regular decision. Do you research and make sure you know what the school's policy on early applications is, but if at all possible, apply early. Not only does this space out the work nicely, it is also much easier to apply to other places if you already have an acceptance under your belt. And if you get deferred early, there's no shame in that either. Your application still has a good chance of being accepted normally.
6) If you did a good job on your counselor packet then you can use pieces of your responses from that packet in your college essays. Many of those questions are good reminders of what you should try to work into your application. If you're not sure about what topics you should focus on, ask your counselor. Also, this is common sense, but don't be afraid to reuse pieces of your essays in multiple applications, this cuts down on the workload considerably. If you reuse pieces of essays, then make sure to make it flow with the rest of the essay. Don't be afraid to start from scratch and just reuse ideas, but if you are proud of a really well-written paragraph about a topic for one essay, then you can reuse it with little editing.
7) Apply for scholarships as early as possible. I assure you, by the time you have completed five college applications and a few scholarship ones, you get so sick of writing essays and filling out forms, that you will not want to fill out one more scholarship app. Don't be afraid to apply for smaller scholarships or more obscure scholarships... if you get them then the smaller awards do add up, and if there are fewer TJ people applying to some of the smaller scholarships then you have a better chance of winning.
8) Go visit colleges. Some places that you were thinking of applying to do not have an atmosphere that suits you. There is no way to see that on a college's website, you have to experience it for yourself. There is no point to filling out an application for a college if you find out later that you don't feel at home there. If you can, sit in on classes and observe the teachers and other students.
9) Talk to college students. Their opinions can have a big impact on where you decide you want to apply or attend. While it is a good idea to find out for yourself if you like a place or not, it is also incredibly useful to listen to what students have to say about their experiences.
10) Find teachers to write your recommendations as early as possible. Every once in a while, check in with them to make sure they have everything they need and that they remember the deadline of the recommendation they are writing for you. In addition, most colleges will take additional letters of recommendation from mentors, religious leaders, anyone who knows you well and can write on your behalf about something the college values. If you don't know how to ask a teacher for a rec, then just go up to them and ask, it's no more complicated than that. And don't forget to write thank-you notes for them afterwards.
Good Luck to Everyone!!
Note: The full text, as well as some other suggestions in the form of comments, is here http://quantumcalculus.livejournal.com/31444.html.
Credit for my teddy bear userpic goes to: http://www.handexpressions.com/
The sunset userpic is one of my own photographs.
The ILY handshape is a picture from the movie Universal Signs taken from the website http://www.imdb.com.