COMMON APPLICATION ESSAY = THE PERSONAL STATEMENT
College essays in the U.S. come in many shapes and sizes, but the one with the greatest impact is the Common Application’s personal statement. This is the first essay colleges see if your student applies to university using the College Application platform. And, over 900 U.S. colleges use that for admissions.
Most high school English departments spend years teaching your children how to write essays that develop multiple arguments, illustrate literary analysis or present informative tracts. Rarely do they touch on personal statements. It’s daunting for a senior.
MY SKILLSET WILL FIND A STORY
That’s where I come in. Having worked as an English department writing specialist in MCPS for the last three years, I have been privileged to gain an insight into teenage life. Whether helping a student to answer one of the common application prompts or helping to parse out a student’s philosophy on life, I can help present their voice. I can find their story, even if they do not think they have one. I will ask lots of questions.
START EARLY
Timing is key. A head start on the process means its best to write the personal statement in the summer before senior year. The common application prompts have remained the same over the years so they can be done in June or July. The Common Application and the supplemental prompts open up August 1, so then will be the time to start crafting other responses. Early Admissions start in October so the more essays you have written in September, the better.
SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS CANNOT BE GENERIC
It is not just with the personal statement where I can be of use. The short supplemental essays prompts can be just as taxing. Pithy anecdotal stories can be tough. Another rigorous essay is “The Why our College?” query. That requires a different approach, a degree of research that can move an essay from generic to specific. It requires a detailed look at school curricula, professors and their work and a deep dive into the philosophy of the school. It’s a lot of fun.
UK COLLEGE BACKGROUND TOO
For those students who want to study overseas, I can also help with the application essays to the U.K. Having studied at three different universities in England, Newcastle, Durham, and City Universities, I have a thorough understanding of the different education systems of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Added to that, my oldest child has just graduated with a Dual BA from Columbia University and Trinity College, Dublin, while my middle child – a rising senior at Cornell University – is currently at Oxford University, on her semester abroad.
TO CONCLUDE
Eschewing the use of AI to craft an essay, I make sure the essay sounds as though it was written by a 17 or 18-year-old. College admission officers can tell within a nanosecond if the essay was written by a college advisor or worded by parent and they know the algorithms of computer generated text. They want an authentic voice.
Finally, please note that I only work with college essays, I do not give advice on college selections. That business belongs to college counselors.
COLLEGE SUCCESS
I’m very proud to mention that students I’ve worked with are now enrolled at:
Columbia University, Cornell University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, University of Michigan, Emory University, NYU, Johns Hopkins, Virginia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Penn State, Temple University, University of Delaware, Purdue University, University of Washington, Florida State, University of Florida, University of South Carolina, University of Alabama, University of Southern California, Savannah School of Art & Design, McGill, UMD (Honors & Scholars program), UMBC, George Washington University, Trinity College, Dublin, École Hôtelière de Lousanne.
If I listed the all the schools these amazing kids were accepted at, that would take a whole page!
Essay-Success.com 