Writing Your College Essay - Part 3

The last few nights I wrote about coming up with unique topics and then figuring out how to focus on what will give you the best topics to write for all of the various questions.  Once you have reached that point, it is time to WRITE!

COMPOSING THE ESSAY
You want to focus on being creative and coming up with a plan for your writing so that you do not just ramble.  Whenever possible, start your essay with a catch – something that will engage the readers and compel them to continue reading.  As you are writing, try to keep in mind that this is a formal essay so you need to make sure that you are using proper grammar, punctuation and varying your sentence structure.

Be sure to use your voice and stick to the word count.  (Hint: I know it doesn't seem like it, but I promise, it is always easier to cut words than to try to figure out how to squeeze more detail in later, so answer the question fully first before worrying too much about word count, but plan ahead enough so that you are at least in the ball park of your word limits... you want to cut 50-100 words out not try to cut 2,000 words.) One tip is to use your word count to provide details and depth.  

As I mentioned at senior night, there are a few key points to keep in mind as you are writing:

Answer the question!

When they give you a prompt or question – be sure that your essay is answering what they are asking!  These are smart people – they know when you are just taking a different essay and trying to make it fit for their question.  Put in the time to write an essay that answers the question they are asking.  Also, be sure that you respond to all parts of the prompt and fulfilling exactly what the college is asking you to do (list, define, explain, compare/ contrast, evaluate, etc.)  Yes, you will be telling your story, but that is only part of the process - you have to also reflect back on how that story relates to you and your life in whatever way they are asking.

Show me - Don't just tell me.

Great, so you told me that you are organized and honest… good qualities for their future college students, but are you demonstrating that to them with your essay?  Show them what you mean with vivid examples – that will usually be specific, concrete stories to illustrate your point.  It can be helpful to describe the scene or the person with sharp nouns and active verbs or by using details that will invoke the senses. How did it look? feel? smell? sound?  Don’t just say that "Uncle John was odd." Show us his dog who smashed through closed windows and his unique decorating style of mixing plaid and polka dots.

Did I learn something about you?

The whole point of these essays is so that the college admissions officers will learn something new about you.  (And trust me, they are learning something about you – even if that lesson is you didn’t appear to care enough about getting into school to pay attention to details like spelling.)  So, step back and look at your essay again – did they learn something about you that they wouldn’t have known prior to reading your essay?

One of the biggest challenges as you write your essay is controlling the tone.  You want to come across as confident but not boastful, self-assured but not aggressive, accomplished but not perfect. Try to avoid claiming that everything you've ever done has been unbelievably great.  Don't be afraid to admit that you are human. Colleges want real, interesting people.  Because it's so hard to control the tone of an essay about yourself, you will want to ask several people – teachers, friends, your parents, and even me – to read and respond to your essay. Get a variety of reactions, and then decide how you want to revise the essay.  Remember, when getting help with essay revisions it is important to go into it with the thought that you want to get revisions so it can be the best possible essay (instead of going in hoping the editors will just say – good enough.)  And yes, that also means you can’t procrastinate and put it off writing your essay until the last possible second.  And I hope this goes without saying, but don’t lie.  Do not make up stories that are not true or genuine.  You are the best you there is and this essay is about you so show yourself off and just be careful on tone.

Every year I have at least 1 student ask me if the colleges read the essays and I can assure you that the answer is YES – they really do read the essays!  Please don’t think you can just throw something down on paper and have it be “good enough.”  These are formal essays for an application to a college that will be the launching ground for the rest of your life.  I know that it sounds intimidating, but relax and start writing – and editing – and then do some more writing and editing… 

Writing Your College Essay - Part 2

In yesterday's post I talked about coming up with a range of essay topics that you could use.  Chances are you're going to have more than one essay to write between your college and scholarship applications.  Once you have identified your brainstormed sheet of ideas - you will be able use this information to think about what you want the college to learn about you that will not be apparent in the rest of your application.  At this point, it is now time to start looking at the college essay prompts.  Sometimes the colleges will ask you for a personal statement which means that you just get to write anything at all about yourself to be your introduction to the admissions committee.  At other times the college application will give you one or more essay questions that you can choose from.  If you are given multiple questions, it is often helpful to work backwards and focus first on what you want to convey and consider the stories and examples that can illustrate your point and then consider which of your anecdotal stories fits best with the questions.

When colleges review your application they can read things like your grade point average and test scores, but they still want to know more about YOU – the person behind those grades, scores, and activities.  You should be the star of your college essay! This is your chance to communicate to the colleges who you are and how your mind works.  It is important to remember that your essay will be one of hundreds or more-likely thousands that the admissions committee members will read.  (Can you imagine reading all of those?!?)  Try to interest them in what you have to say and be sure that it is written well so that it will stand out.  Think of this as your opportunity to personally introduce yourself to the admissions and scholarship officers reading your application. Be open, honest and real. 

I mentioned this at senior college night and I genuinely believe it is true – think of your essay as a blind date.  You are trying to make a positive impression on someone you don’t really know by showcasing who you are and all of the great things about you.  You want them to walk away knowing that you are special and thinking, "Wow, I really want to meet this kid."  The best news of all though is that you don’t have to suffer from the nerves of making a silly mistake on this “blind date” – you can perfect your essay so that you can make sure you are putting forth a positive message with a good tone that also shows your ability to think and write clearly and logically.

As you start coming up with topics and begin drafting your essays, I look forward to hearing the fun, unique, "so you" stories that you decide to share with the admissions committees.  If you are struggling to figure out how your brainstorm handout can translate into the essay responses, please don't hesitate to come see me and we can look at it together.  And, yes, the essays are such a big deal and a big topic that I still have more to say about them... but that will wait for tomorrow.

Writing Your College Essay - Part 1

Writing your college essay is often one of the most stressful aspects of the college application for students, but it is actually one of my favorite parts because it is your opportunity to shine.  The college essay allows you the opportunity to showcase who you are and all of the wonderful traits that you will bring to your future college community.

All too often students think that they don't have anything unique or that makes them stand out from all of the other applicants, but I promise you that is WRONG!  Each of you is different from all of your other classmates.  You have your own activities that you enjoy, ways to relieve stress, things that make you smile or laugh and ways of thinking that are completely your own.  Those differences may seem small or insignificant to you, but it is what makes you YOU and therefore it is precisely what the colleges want to learn about you in your essay.

I know that it can be hard to come up with topics that would make a good college essay, but if you spend some quality time brainstorming different possible ideas you will begin to recognize that the possibilities are endless and all around you.  We created an essay brainstorming handout that you can use to help come up with topics.

On the brainstorming handout you will see that there are 4 different sections to try to come up with answers about yourself.

The first section invites you to write out the 5 characteristics that make you who you are.  Be sure to select different characteristics (so not caring, kind and nice - those would all be 1 characteristic not 3).  Then, after you have listed those characteristics, bullet point examples of stories/ times when you have demonstrated them.  It is possible that some of your stories of when you show a characteristic may cross over into several of the characteristics.  (So, for example, if I had listed caring and adventurous as 2 of my characteristics, I could say that the time I carried a friend on my back while I climbed a mountain would be under both characteristics.)  *No, I didn't really do this, it is just an example.

The second section is a chance for you to highlight some of your classic "so you" stories.  What are things you have done that are quintessentially you?  If you are stumbling on this section, don't hesitate to ask your parents, siblings, or friends to help you think of the things that you have done that they thought to themselves, "yep, that is so ___ (you)."

After you have done that, your next list would be times when you have changed.  These don't have to be BIG changes.  Think about specific moments in time when you went into something and then were different after it.  This might be a new perspective, mood, value, outlook, or priority.

Check out this article which highlights the value of change.  At the end of the article it says, "Ultimately, it's not what you have been through that defines who you are; it's how you got through it that has made you the person you are today, and the person you are capable of being tomorrow."  Doesn't that sound exactly like what the colleges are trying to figure out?! :-)

And then the final section of the handout provides you a place to write down other random thoughts - thoughts about who you are, what you believe, things that are important to you - anything at all as long as it is connected to you.

Remember, it is worth putting time, energy and effort into picking a good and meaningful topic that is powerful for you because the passion you have for your topic will naturally convey itself in your writing.  Additionally, many topics that come to mind immediately for you will also come to mind right away for hundreds of other students applying to college.  You want to explore a new angle and show how you are different from everyone else.  Try to think about what excites and interests you when picking your essay topic.  Be careful though, this is not “true confessions” time.

Coming up with unique essay topic ideas is only the beginning... I'll post more about the essays as the week progresses.

Recommendation Letters

Thank you to all of the students who participated in the #IFeelLoved activities today!  I loved seeing and hearing about the ways you feel most loved and the people who help to make you feel valued and important!

Speaking of feeling loved... knowing that there are teachers (and counselors) out there who see you for the unique, wonderful person that you are and are willing to write a recommendation letter on your behalf is a great example of ways that your teachers (or counselor) are able to put their love for you into action.

I admit, there is always a lot of confusion about recommendation letters.  Many colleges have moved away from requiring letters of recommendation - in part because all students will pick teachers that like them to write letters on their behalf and so the letters often sound similar.  So, your very first step connected to recommendation letters is to figure out if the colleges you are considering will actually need any letters of recommendation.

Some colleges will require teacher recommendation letters, some counselor letters, others may be open to coaches, bosses, religious leaders or other adults who know you well, and yes, some may even want multiple letters.  Each college gets to make up their own mind and determine what information they want to have as a part of your application package.   OSU, for example, does NOT require any recommendation letters. (Can you blame them? Imagine trying to read 65,000 recommendation letters on top of the applications and essays that they receive.) Case Western Reserve University, on the other hand, will require 2 teacher recommendations and a counselor recommendation. After reviewing the college websites and/or Common App, if you are still having problems determining if the colleges you are considering require recommendation letters – just stop down to see me and I can try to help you figure it out.

If you find that you do need recommendation letters, you have some work to do.  First, give some thought about who you would like to ask for the recommendations. Look at the requirements specified by the school – are they open to coaches or community representatives writing letters or do they want them to come from academic teachers? If it requires that the letters come from teachers can it be from any subject area or are they only open to the core subjects of English, math, science, and social studies? Are you looking at a career in a specific area that a teacher at WKHS can write about your strengths in that field? For example, if you are considering majoring in Spanish perhaps a recommendation letter from one of your Spanish teachers would be appropriate. What teachers know you best? Who can speak to your work ethic and classroom contributions? If possible, it is often ideal to show your strengths across multiple subjects, so if you have a few teachers to pick from and 2 are math and 1 is history perhaps it would be beneficial to ask 1 math and 1 history teacher rather than the 2 math teachers simply to show that diversity. Remember, in recommendation letters from teachers the colleges are asking for information about you as a student and your potential for handling the academic rigors of college.

Once you have figured out the teacher or teachers that you want to ask for a recommendation (if needed) it is then time to ASK them if they are willing to write a letter for you. It is really important to be reasonable in the amount of time that you are allowing them to have to write your letter. (Think at least 30 days preferably more!) They are very busy with their classroom work and grading homework and papers and of course life in general and many teachers are often bombarded by students requesting recommendations. If a teacher is unable to write a recommendation letter for you – either because they don’t feel that they know you well enough to write a strong letter or because they have too much on their plate, don’t take it personally, simply ask another teacher. You will be thankful that you didn’t force them to write the letter because it wouldn’t be as solid of a recommendation letter if they were rushed or only had vague highlights to discuss.

After you have asked a teacher to write a letter on your behalf (and they agreed), then you will want to provide them with the teacher recommendation letter forms that can be found on the www.wkhscounselors.com website or in the Counseling and Career Center.  You will also need to be sure to invite your teachers electronically if you are applying through Common App.  It is rare that you will need any of your recommendation letters as a hard copy, but if that is the case you are responsible for providing your teacher with an envelope addressed to the appropriate college.  Please be sure that you have indicated to your teachers your application deadline.  You can submit your application through Common App even if your teachers have not uploaded their recommendation letter, but your application packet will not be complete until all parts (including the rec letters) have arrived at the college.

If you are applying to schools that do not need teacher recommendation letters, please do not waste your teacher's time by asking them to write a letter. Also, only ask the number of teachers that you need recommendations from - so if you are applying to two schools and both need 1 teacher recommendation letter, just ask one teacher to write a letter that will be used for both schools. You do not need to ask for more letters in case one is "better" than another - if you are not sure the teacher will write a positive letter for you, then you need to pick someone else. If you trust the teacher enough to ask them to write the letter, then you should trust them enough to be able to send their letter (without seeing it) to the college.  In fact, you should not be reading your recommendation letters - they are supposed to be confidential.

For those students that will need a counselor recommendation, please be aware that I write the letters on a first come, first serve basis. It is the only way I know how to be fair. Recommendation letters are incredibly time consuming - especially when I have so many to write because unlike with teachers, if your college requires a counselor recommendation letter you don't have a choice about who you are asking to write your letter.  So please, watch your deadlines and try to help me write the best letter possible by allowing me to have the time with it. As with the teachers, please plan to give me at least 30 days to write your rec letter.  Also, there is a Counselor Recommendation Letter supplement form that we ask each student to fill out and a Parent Brag sheet that we ask you to have your parents complete and turn back in to me to use when writing your letter.  Please, be detailed and thoughtful when completing these forms because I want to be able to showcase you in the best way possible.  Each of you are unique and have wonderful qualities that you will bring to a campus, but when writing recommendation letters generalized praise is wasted space so I need stories and examples to help give people a true image of you and to make it more than just what they can read about you in your application. Once you have turned in your 2 forms, I will add your name to my recommendation letter list and I strongly prefer that EVERY student who I will be writing a recommendation letter for actually come in and TALK to me!  This conversation will allow me to ask a few additional questions and hopefully help me to get your voice in my head as I work on writing your letter.  Also, if you have developed a resume or list of activities and awards I would love to have that because this information can also be helpful when writing your recommendation letter.

Before I close I want to point out that the need for counselor recommendation letters is a great reminder of why it is important for students of every grade level (Sophomore, Junior, and Senior) to drop by my office throughout the year to allow me to get to know you better.  I sincerely want to know students of all ages so that I am more comfortable with talking about some of the incredible things that you all are involved in and are accomplishing during your high school careers.

#I Feel Loved

Each year in the early part of the fall, the WKHS counselors like to host an activity in the commons where we encourage students to take over social media and spread positive messages.  There are a lot of reasons for this annual effort...

1. We are grateful to work in a school with such an incredible student body and a community of support.  We want to honor and celebrate that because it isn't something we take for granted.

2. Focusing on the positive aspects of life is a good reminder that even on the darkest days, there is hope, help, support, love, and encouragement around us all.

3. September is suicide prevention month and so it is a great month to focus on the connections we have and share with others at WKHS.

As you have hopefully heard on the announcements, tomorrow is the day we will invite you to share your messages of times that you feel loved and to honor and celebrate the family, friends, pets (etc) who make you feel loved.

I am excited to participate tomorrow... but I can promise that a few of my answers are #IFeelLoved:

- When my mom bakes me goofs (chocolate chip cookie bars)

- When my dad cuts the grass for more

- When my dogs both snuggle with me when I'm reading

- When former students reach out just because

- When I go out to lunch with my best friend

- My coworkers encourage me with project ideas

- When my sister does all of the holiday shopping for me

- When I treat myself to a day completely to myself

- When I get positive feedback from parents/ guardians/ students/ coworkers

Honestly, I should have stopped after 1 or 2 examples, but I could actually go on indefinitely because there are so many times when I feel loved and I am so thankful for that and I don't ever want to take it for granted!  

I can't wait to see and hear all of the ways and times that YOU feel loved in your life!  I hope you will post them on social media and, of course, stop and take a picture for us in the commons during your lunch tomorrow.

College Application Terms

As you start through the college application process you will be exposed to a variety of new terms. One area that can be confusing is what all of the different application deadlines such as Early Decision, Early Action, Regular Decision and Rolling Admissions mean.

Early Decision

The key to remember with Early Decision is that it is a final decision and a COMMITMENT! Applying to a school in this program is considered a contract between the student and the college. You can apply to only one school as an Early Decision school. If you are accepted, you are promising to withdraw all other applications. Few students will ultimately apply to a school Early Decision because you are promising to attend the school - without seeing their financial aid package - and most students are not 100% certain that they want to attend one particular school. If you are considering applying to a school under the Early Decision program, please stop in and talk to me as there will also be a form I need to complete for you.

Early Action

This is a non-binding option and significantly more students will apply to schools using this option. Early Action has an earlier application deadline and students will typically learn if they have been accepted to the school much earlier than regular decision dates. (Some schools will defer an admissions decision to the Regular Decision deadline if the student is on the bubble and they want to wait to see how the rest of the applications will look.) Early Action is not a contract and, as a student, you are not obligated to attend school at that institution.

Regular Decision

This is the deadline that you will generally see publicized from colleges as it is the most common. This means you are applying and will hear your decision on their regular time schedule. There are no commitments or early notifications. It is important to note that the Regular Admissions deadlines are often AFTER the deadline for scholarship consideration – which adds in a whole additional set of deadlines to watch, but that is a different story for another day.

Rolling Admissions

This means that the colleges look at each application as they arrive and they make a decision as they go. So, if you apply quickly to a school with rolling admissions you are generally going to receive your admissions decision quickly. Schools that function with a rolling admissions policy of evaluating applications will still generally have a regular decision deadline which is the final date that the college is willing to accept any applications for the fall class.  (And yes, I have already had my first student be accepted to his college of choice!)

It is really important to be watching your deadlines carefully – I can’t stress that enough!  You need to know what the timeline is for being able to complete all of your applications so you can start with the end target date in mind if you are going to be able to plan and organize your time effectively.

OSU Admissions Update

Ohio State has been on lots of people's minds over the long weekend with the football game against Notre Dame on Saturday night.  But it has also likely been on the minds of lots of seniors who are hoping to apply to OSU for admissions.

Last week I attended a meeting at OSU to learn from their admissions staff about the latest requirements and updates.  To give you the short version - OSU continues to grow more and more competitive to be accepted directly to main campus, but there are still opportunities for every student graduating from WKHS who wants to be a Buckeye to start at a branch campus.  I normally will not highlight updates from every college, but because so many students plan on applying to OSU each year I wanted to pass along some of the information I learned.

- November 1st is the Early Action deadline for admissions.  It is also their deadline to be considered for their automatic scholarships.  Students who plan on applying for the Honors and Scholars program, major in the college of Engineering, major in Nursing, or who want to apply for the Morrill Scholarship program are strongly encouraged to submit their applications by this date as well.  The November 1st deadline includes having all of your supplemental materials received by the admissions office in addition to your application (such as test scores and transcript).  If you apply by the November 1st deadline, you can expect to hear back on your admissions decision on either December 9th or on January 20th.

-  OSU does NOT require a letter of recommendation.  They will accept one if you send it and it can be from anyone who knows you well - a teacher, coach, counselor, boss, etc.  Can you imagine reading 60,000 recommendation letters?!?  Yikes.  Please, be sure that if you're sending them a letter that it is highlighting something about you that the rest of your application isn't covering.

-  OSU had over 65,000 applications last year (a record by 13%!) and will have about 8,000 new freshmen on the Columbus campus.  For those admitted to the Columbus campus, the average ACT composite score was a 29.6 and 98% of the students were in the Top 25% of their class (72% were in the top 10%).  Needless to say it is very competitive to gain admission onto main campus, but they pointed out the opportunities available for admission to OSU at the branch campuses with open enrollment.

-  Students who begin their college career at a branch campus have the opportunity to stay and complete their degree in some majors if they want, but they can also change campuses and move from the branch to main campus after completing 30 credit hours (1 year of full time classes) and earning a 2.0 GPA.  This is not a transfer application, it is an automatic change of location form to be completed with your academic adviser at OSU.  Please note that if you are anticipating starting at a branch campus, you may want to apply directly to the branch instead of applying to main campus because that will qualify you for the branch campus scholarships.

-  There are no set numbers for being admitted or for being deferred to a branch campus.  Representatives from the regional branch campuses also talked and shared about some of the opportunities and experiences on their campus and they are still academically strong.  Additionally, by indicating your back-up branch campus on your OSU application, it does not make you more likely to be admitted to a branch campus rather than main campus.  OSU will automatically assume you want the Marion branch if you don't indicate a back-up option.

- They are test optional again this year.  Students who indicate they want to be considered with test scores MUST submit their test scores before the deadline date or else you need to change your application to that you want to be considered without test scores.  OSU won't automatically switch you to test optional.  You have through the October test dates to submit your scores - just be sure that you have requested OSU as one of your score recipients so that they are sent your scores directly from ACT/ SAT immediately when your scores are released.

- For those students who are sumitting test scores their middle 50% of the ACT was a 27-32.  and a 1290-1420 SAT. Last year, 56.5% of applicants didn't use test scores in their applications.  Those who didn't submit test scores were often non-Ohio residents, international students, underrepresented minorities, and First Generation applicants.  45.6% of those students admitted had not used test scores as a part of their applications.

-  They are major blind in acceptance to the university and then you would be considered for acceptance into your particular major or preferred program.  (So for those students who hope to "game the system" by picking some obscure major that you really are not interested in, that won't actually matter for admissions to the university.)

-  Their FAFSA Priority Deadline is February 1st.  The Financial Aid Officer reminded us to encourage all students to complete the FAFSA even if you know that your family will not qualify for need-based financial aid.  This is because there are some merit based scholarships that are not dependent upon financial need, but that have a pre-requisite that students have completed the FAFSA to make sure that they had already received any need based aid the student would qualify for before the scholarship could be awarded.  

Over the next few weeks I will be attending more informational meetings to get additional information about other colleges in Ohio and beyond so that I have the latest information to be able to share with you as you are working on your applications.