Three Steps to a Great College Essay

You, in 500 Words or Less

The college application essay is a chance to explain yourself, to open your personality, charm, talents, vision, and spirit to the admission committee. It’s a chance to show you can think about things and that you can write clearly about your thoughts. Don’t let the chance disappear. Stand up straight and believe in yourself!

The Essay Writing Process

OK, boot up your computer and let’s get to it. To write a college essay, use the exact same three-step process you’d use to write an essay for class: first prewrite, then draft, and finally, edit. This process will help you identify a focus for your essay, and gather the details you’ll need to support it.

Prewriting

To begin, you must first collect and organize potential ideas for your essay’s focus. Since all essay questions are attempts to learn about you, begin with YOU.

• Brainstorm
  Set a timer for 15 minutes and make a list of your strengths and outstanding characteristics. Focus on strengths of personality, not things you’ve done. For example, you are responsible (not an “Eagle Scout”) or committed (not “played basketball”). If you keep drifting toward events rather than characteristics, make a second list of the things you’ve done, places you’ve been, accomplishments you’re proud of; use them for the activities section of your application.
• Discover Your Strengths
  Do a little research about yourself: ask parents, friends, and teachers what your strengths are.
• Create a “Self-Outline”
  Now, next to each trait, list five or six pieces of evidence from your life — things you’ve been or done — that prove your point.
• Find Patterns and Connections
  Look for patterns in the material you’ve brainstormed. Group similar ideas and events together. For example, does your passion for numbers show up in your performance in the state math competition and your summer job at the computer store? Was basketball about sports or about friendships? When else have you stuck with the hard work to be with people who matter to you?

Drafting

Now it’s time to get down to the actual writing. Write your essay in three basic parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.

• The introduction gives your reader an idea of your essay’s content. It can shrink when you need to be concise. One vivid sentence might do: “The favorite science project was a complete failure.”
• The body presents the evidence that supports your main idea. Use narration and incident to show rather than tell.
• The conclusion can be brief as well, a few sentences to nail down the meaning of the events and incidents you’ve described.

An application essay doesn’t need to read like an essay about The Bluest Eye or the Congress of Vienna, but thinking in terms of these three traditional parts is a good way to organize your main points.

There are three basic essay styles you should consider:

• Standard Essay
  Take two or three points from your self-outline, give a paragraph to each, and make sure you provide plenty of evidence. Choose things not apparent from the rest of your application or “light up” some of the activities and experiences listed there.
• Less-Is-More Essay
  In this format, you focus on a single interesting point about yourself. It works well for brief essays of a paragraph or half a page.
• Narrative Essay
  A narrative essay tells a short and vivid story. Omit the introduction, write one or two narrative paragraphs that grab and engage the reader’s attention, then explain what this little tale reveals about you.

Editing

When you have a good final draft, it’s time to make final improvements to your draft, find and correct any errors, and get someone else to give you feedback. Remember, you are your best editor. No one can speak for you; your own words and ideas are your best bet.

• Let It Cool
  Take a break from your work and come back to it in a few days. Does your main idea come across clearly? Do you prove your points with specific details? Is your essay easy to read aloud?
• Feedback Time
  Have someone you like and trust (but someone likely to tell you the truth) read your essay. Ask them to tell you what they think you’re trying to convey. Did they get it right?
• Edit Down
  Your language should be simple, direct, and clear. This is a personal essay, not a term paper. Make every word count (e.g., if you wrote “in society today,” consider changing that to “now”).
• Proofread Two More Times
  Careless spelling or grammatical errors, awkward language, or fuzzy logic will make your essay memorable — in a bad way.

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Campus Visit Checklist

I get a lot of questions on what the best way to research schools to attend.  But, all the research in the world can’t give you the real “feel” of what the campus is like.  You can save THOUSANDS if you actually go to the schools under consideration and take a tour.  Just because the school looks good on the internet and in books, your student might not like the “makeup” of the school.  If you live in California and are used to warm weather and you are looking at school in New York, your student might not like snow.  Visiting 6-8 schools may seem like it would be expensive, but it is A LOT cheaper to tour the school and find out you don’t like it, versus actually moving to the school, getting an apartment and deciding its not for you.  Then having to transfer to another school.

Here are things your child should not miss while visiting a college. Take a look at this list before planning campus trips to make sure that your family allows enough time on each campus for your child to really get a sense of what the school — and the life of the students there — is really like.

§ Take a campus tour.

§ Have an interview with admission officer.

§ Get business cards and names of people you meet, for future contacts.

§ Pick up financial aid forms.

§ Participate in a group information session at the admission office.

§ Sit in on a class of a subject that interests you.

§ Talk to a professor in your chosen major or in a subject that interests you.

§ Talk to a coach in your chosen sport.

§ Talk to a student or counselor in the career center.

§ Spend the night in the dorm.

§ Read the student newspaper.

§ Try to find other student publications — department newsletters, “alternative” newspapers, literary reviews.

§ Scan bulletin boards to see what day-to-day student life is like.

§ Eat in the cafeteria.

§ Ask a student why he/she chose this college.

§ Wander around the campus by yourself.

§ Read for a little while in the library and see what it’s like.

§ Search for your favorite book in the library.

§ Read the bulletin boards around the campus.

§ Ask a student what he/she hates about the college.

§ Browse in the college bookstore.

§ Ask a student what he/she loves about the college.

§ Walk or drive around the community surrounding the campus.

§ Ask a student what he/she does on weekends.

§ Listen to the college’s radio station.

§ Try to see a dorm that you didn’t see on the tour.

§ Imagine yourself attending this college for four years.

§ Write down notes of your visit on what you saw (both, good and bad).

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INTERNSHIPS CAN HELP YOU WITH YOUR CAREER PATH

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Hey, with all businesses closing down, how do you make a decision? You want to make sure that you have a job when you graduate!

And once you know what career path you want to follow, how do you get there?

I tell my clients that one way to answer questions about your future career is to develop a career plan. A career plan outlines the steps you need to take to reach your career goal.

Fool Proof way to Developing a Career Path

To develop a career plan you must determine your interests and skills. Thinking about your skills and interests is a good way to help you find a satisfying career. Why go to college if you wont like your career?

When you’re trying to determine what your interests are, think about what you like and dont like to do. Think about experiences you have enjoyed. Evaluate what you liked, what you found challenging, and what you may have learned from those experiences. Make a list of activities you have enjoyed during the past few years.

List your skills that will help you in your career. Your skills may include training you have gained through part-time or full-time jobs. Even if you haven’t been employed before, you do have some skills which will help you find a job. For example, you may have skills you learned through typing class or photography.

Evaluate those skills and interests you have listed. Are there similar activities on the two lists? Are there any experiences that could turn into a career? For instance, if you volunteered at a hospital and enjoyed the experience, you may want to consider a medical career.

Research the types of careers available to you. If you don’t research careers, you may not know about the best occupations to fit your interests and skills. There are MANY more jobs that you can even think about

It’s also important to decide if the career you are considering is really what you expect and whether it offers the salary and benefits you want. The Best way to learn about a career is to get an internship in the position. (Internships are also a great way to gain experience in your selected career field). Another good way to find out about a job is to network—talk to someone who is in the career now.

When you have decided what career path you want to follow, figure out what you need to do to prepare for your new career. Do you need technical school training, or training at a college? If so, research the schools that offer the kind of training you need. What kinds of experience will you need to be successful in the career? Think of an internship as a way to get work experience in the career field.

When you develop your career plan, you can focus on what you want to do and how to get there.

And when you are ready to write your resume for your job search, you will have a better understanding of your skills and experiences to discuss with potential employers.

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Ten Steps to Guide You to Planning Your Career

1. Create a Career Plan. Think about what you want and like to do. Than research more about the education, skills and training you will need to achieve your career goal.

2. Review your Skills and Interests. Think hard about what you enjoy, what you are good at, what kind of personality you are, and the values you hold. Also think about the things you dislike. If you faint at the sight of blood, you shouldn’t want to be a doctor.

3. Research occupations. Find out more about the nature of the jobs that interest you, such as educational requirements, salary, working conditions, future outlook, and anything else that can help you narrow your focus. A good career planning website should open your eyes to all the career possibilites.

4. Compare your skills and interests with the occupations you’ve found. The career that matches your skills, interests, and personality the closest may be the career for you, even if its not what you had originally thought.

5. Choose your career goal. Once you’ve decided what occupation matches up best with your likes and abilites, then you can begin developing a plan of attack to reach your career goal.

6. Select a school that offers a college degree or training program that best meets your career goal and financial needs. Picking a school based on popularity or because your boyfriend/girlfriend is the wrong way to decide.

7. Figure out how much it will cost you to get your education. Find out your options with financial aid and student loans. Start saving for college, even if you think its too late

8. Get an internship in your chosen career field as soon as possible. An internship can be cheap insurance that you like your career. If you like it, continue on your path, if you don’t than get out asap and re-think your major selection.

9. As you prepare to graduate, start thinking about employers you may have a chance at getting a job at. If you have followed step 8, you will have great references and maybe even a job!

10. Prepare your resume, a good resume is esential to the job application process. Practice job interviewing techniques. You can guarantee you will have at least 1 job interview.

Technorati Tags: Career Planning, College Financial Aid, FAFSA, Fafsa help, fafsa hints, fafsa tips

Technorati Tags: College Financial Aid, FAFSA, Fafsa help, fafsa hints, fafsa tips