This is a continuation of an article originally posted in Alamo City Mom’s Blog on how to prepare your child for college. For the first three tips, check out the beginning of the article here.
After 10 years of working with students and parents to navigate the college application system, I have discovered the college admissions applications is one of the biggest stressors that trips up, terrifies, and stumps students and parents.
“Johnny/Jenny is stuck. He/she has no idea where to start with the essay. What is he/she suppose to write about?”
This is one of my most common conversations I have with parents whose high school seniors are trying to knock out their apps. It feels like one essay is the gatekeeper between the student and the school of their dreams. So I am sharing with you some of the strategies I use with every one of my college applicants to get the ideas flowing and making the college admissions essay a great opportunity to express the student’s interest in an authentic, well-versed way.
The Essay…where to begin?
When it finally comes to apply, there is one big hurdle that kills most students. The essay. The majority of students I have worked with have really struggled coming up with topics to write about, because the prompts seem so vague. This is intentional. This gives your kid a wide space to get creative, however, for most this is very overwhelming. I have my students spend a week or so journaling in preparation. I ask them to think about a variety of life experiences, funny family vacations, silly moments that always come up at the dinner table, particular people they always remember.
For the non-journalers, I have them spend 10 to 20 minutes each day writing “stream of consciousness” (an ol’ trick I learned from my AP English teacher 10+ years ago). You set a timer for 10-20 minutes and the student has to write about that memory non-stop, never picking up the pen from the paper to break. Whatever comes out, comes out. This technique helps to start ideas flowing with little effort. It also helps to build the student’s confidence because they have proof that they can put some words on a page.
Every college application essay is aimed at getting to know you. Since most schools have done away with interviews and have limited time and resources to meet every applicant, the essay is the primary way they decide if he or she is great fit for their student body.
The essay is an opportunity to tell something unique about yourself while also revealing a valuable character trait.
My college admission essay was about my 4th grade showdown between me and my arch nemesis on the division timed test (the one where you have 1 minute to answer 100 division problems). It was very personal, a little comical, and in the end it was all about my perseverance through an uphill battle. This should be the aim of your college essay – equal parts personality and character, played out in life experience.
Tell me about your family’s RV trip across the Badlands and how it taught you patience, or learning to knit from your neighbor down the street and appreciating the value of mentorship. Most colleges are not expecting dissertations on the the string theory or how your kid cured cancer…unless they did, and then I would definitely advise them to write about that journey.
Thesaurus… Friend or Foe?
I lost count of the number of college essays I have read that sounded nothing like the student and more so how they thought an intelligent, college bound person should sound. Instead, it felt awkward and out of place because the student misused words the thesaurus spit out. As one college counselor said, a student should ask, “If I dropped my essay on the ground and my best friend or family member picked it up, would they know it was written by me?” You want your voice to come through, not the voice of what you think a Harvard philosophy professor sounds like.So avoid using the thesaurus on the first draft. Focus on the content and how true it is to you. Then, hand your essay over to a teacher, friend, or Beyond Education mentor who you trust as an English reviewer and let them tear up the grammatical mistakes. Then let someone close to you read it and see what he or she says.
Start Early
Don’t wait till the summer before your child’s senior year to start touring colleges, studying for the SAT or ACT, coming up with an essay topic, and applying by the deadline. You’ll be so overwhelmed you’ll find your kid (and maybe even you) in a puddle of tears when the college application deadlines roll around.