Admissions is a moving target. It is unpredictable and harder than ever to forecast exact outcomes. But there are things your child can do to produce compelling essays that will strengthen their applications and inform the college admissions process.
The truth is, beyond grades and scores, the essay is the single most important piece of material in an application, illuminating a student’s true talents, shedding light on special strengths, or sharing an incredible personal story.
This year, we helped dozens of students – including Bryan and Amara – write essays that stood out. With careful strategic coaching we helped both students find their writing voices that caught the attention of admissions officers.
Bryan wanted to write about his Chinese heritage and political aspirations. Through our discussions and writing exercises, we learned he felt challenged by invisible racial tensions as an Asian-American immigrant. We helped him shape these experiences into a more concrete vision for his essays – a future that accepts all races and cultural backgrounds – and an explanation of how his major in college would shape this vision. His writing took off. Bryan was accepted to Northwestern University’s class of 2023!
Amara, like Bryan, had an interest in community involvement and celebrating her cultural background. Through our brainstorming sessions, we learned that Amara founded a non-profit organization called PLUM (or Please Learn and Understand Menstruation) in her home country, Nepal. We also learned that she stood up against gender discrimination in her neighboring community near school to help young women gain equal access to an education. Amara was an excellent example of a budding leader and we helped her shape her writing to refocus on her risk-taking, in spite of social pressures to fit in. Amara’s essays were compelling, and she was accepted to Brown University’s class of 2023!
At Colledge, we help students create individualized calendars to help them manage their time and develop the best essay content for their applications. We create internal deadlines for each essay and application and include time for strategic brainstorming, rough drafts, rewrites, editing and polishing all essays.
To learn more about how we would work with your child on college essays and applications that will help them stand out, click HERE.
