Anna Ivey gives you ruthlessly practical admissions advice
Now that your senior year is underway, it's time to line up your recommenders – they are key allies and advocates in this process. Recommendations make a difference, and it is up to you to make sure that the recommendations you get will make a positive difference for you and influence the admissions officer in your favor.
A substantial percentage – upwards of 60% of selective colleges that use holistic admissions – have either a “Why College X” or “Why Major X” question on their applications. Some have both. Most of these types of questions require a short answer (50-250 words), while others require an essay (250-500 words). These questions offer you a great opportunity to persuade an admissions officer that this college and its programs are exactly the right match for you.
Hello end of summer! Everything is accelerating and intensifying as you go back to school, and if you’ve been following our week-by-week plan, you are well underway with your college applications. You are ready to finalize your first essays, revise your second set, and get started on your third! That puts you in good shape and will keep you from being too stressed out as you start your senior year.
Now that you have your strategy, have done all your pre-work, and prepared your Writing Map, it’s time to choose topics for your writing. The best way to ensure that you produce compelling essays is to choose the right topics for those essays, and that’s what you’re going to do this week using our tips and tricks.
Now that the Common App is open for the coming application cycle, it’s time to work on your Writing Map! Yes, one more thing before you start writing.
“Work smarter, not harder,” is one of the strategies that we encourage students to use, but there is a risk that you might get so focused on minimizing your work that you sabotage yourself.
