William Paterson UniversityAim High Academy 2013

The Road to CollegeDay 3

UNDERSTANDING THE COMMON APPLICATION

GETTING IT RIGHT

Today’s Topic:

The Road to CollegeCollege

WHAT ISTHE COMMON APPLICATION?

• The Common Application membership association was established in 1975 by 15 private colleges that wished to provide a common, standardized first-year application form for use at any member institution.

• The Common Application currently provides both online and print versions of its First-year and Transfer Applications.

IT IS ACCEPTED BY 488 COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

• All the IVYS– Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Yale,

University of Pennsylvania• Many NJ Colleges and Universities

– The College of NJ, Ramapo College, Seton Hall University, Caldwell College, Stevens Institute of Technology, Rowan University

• International Universities– In France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom

• But NOT – Rutgers, Montclair State, NJIT, William Paterson

• A complete listing is available here:– https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Members.aspx

160 COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIESUSE THE COMMON APP EXCLUSIVELY!!

• "Exclusive Users" of the Common Application use the Common App as their only application for admission – online or in print – as well as allow students to submit everything required (supplements, payments, etc.) within the Common App Online system.

• https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/ExclusiveUsers.aspx

THE COMMON APPLICATION

• The Common Application Online Demo for Students– https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/FAQ.

aspx

• The Common Application School Forms Demo– https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Com

monAppDemo.aspx?src=S

LETS TAKE A LOOK INSIDE!

Page 1: Applicant Info

Page 1: Future Plans

Page 1: Demographic Info

Page 2: Parental Info

Page 2: Siblings

Page 3: Education

Page 3: Academics

Page 4: Honors and Extracurricular

Page 5: Writing Sample

Page 5: Disciplinary History

Page 5: Signature and Fees

THE COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY10 SUGGESTIONS FOR MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION!

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

• Purpose of the Essay With so many applications to review, why do colleges add to the burden by requiring a personal statement? After all, they have plenty of other factors to consider, including grades, recommendations, and test scores.

You might be surprised, however, to know just how important the essay can be.

THE VIEW FROM AN ADMISSIONS OFFICER

• Matthew Swanson, Assistant Director of Admission at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts sees it as an "anchor" for the whole application and considers it to be especially useful for highly selective colleges like Williams. "We do a lot of looking at numbers … but among the many, many students who are academically qualified, of which there are far more than we have spaces for, the essay can be a real touchstone for someone in my position."

• In other words, if you're on the line between acceptance and rejection, the essay can be the deciding factor.

• A strong essay, one in which it's clear that the student has a sincere desire to attend, is a big help when the student's application is borderline.

REMEMBER THAT FIRST DATE?

• High school counselors and admissions officers are always reaching for analogies to convey to students (and parents) the purpose of a college admissions essay.

• “It’s kind of like a first date. You’re telling us the stuff that makes you special.”– Chad Hemmelgarn, an English teacher at Bexley High School in

Columbus, Ohio.

SHOWCASE YOUR WRITING SKILLS!• In addition to the basics – accurate spelling, consistent

use of tense, subject-verb agreement, and other mechanics issues – your readers will be looking for higher-level composition skills.

• Whether you're applying to an art school, a small liberal-arts school, or a major research university, the ease and clarity with which you express yourself in writing counts.

• Joan Jaffe, Associate Dean of Admission at Mills College in Oakland, California, reads essays for good sentence structure, coherent paragraphs, and logical arguments. "We really want to get a sense of the student's writing ability," she says.

CREATE A PORTRAIT OF YOU!

• Think of the personal statement as a self-portrait or a clip from the movie of your life.

• The essay is probably your best chance to come alive to the admission committee.

• "The essay's the one thing that's different; everyone's taken the same AP tests, the same classes … Recommendations always say, 'Hey, good kid, nice to have in class.‘ "

CREATE A PORTRAIT OF YOU!

• But don’t feel pressured to mention all of your activities and accomplishments in an essay. Other parts of the application, such as the activity chart where you list your extracurricular activities, serve that purpose.

• Remember that one of your goals is to introduce yourself to the reader and hopefully form a connection. Essays that try to cover too many topics leave little room for you to develop your main idea, sacrificing depth for breadth, and leave the admission committee feeling like they don't really know you.

EXAMPLES OF TWO TYPES OF ESSAYS

• The Humorous Essay– "if the piece is … funny or entertaining … or in some way

makes me even more interested in the student, that's always a nice plus."

• The Personal Hardship Essay– If you're considering a topic that falls into this category, make

sure that you're writing about the topic because it's fundamental to who you are and what you want to do with your life and not because you're vying for the sympathy vote.

– Also, make sure that you have something more to say about the topic than how hard it's made your life.

THE 2013 – 2014COMMON APPLICATION ESSAY

• Instructions – The essay demonstrates your ability to write

clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice.

What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores?

Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response.

TOPICS: THE 2013-14 COMMON APP• Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

• Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?

• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?

• Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

TIP ONE

• Be concise – Every admissions officer has a big stack of essays

to read every day; he or she expects to spend only a couple of minutes on the essay.

– From the Common App Announcement for 2013-2014 “Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don't feel obligated to do so. (The application won't accept a response shorter than 250 words.)”

TIP TWO

• Be honest – Don't embellish your achievements, titles, and

offices. It's just fine to be the copy editor of the newspaper or the treasurer of the Green Club, instead of the president. Not everyone has to be the star at everything. You will feel better if you don't strain to inflate yourself.

TIP THREE

• Be an individual – In writing the essay, ask yourself, "How can I

distinguish myself from those thousands of others applying to College X whom I don't know—and even the ones I do know?"

– It's not in your activities or interests. If you're going straight from high school to college, you're just a teenager, doing teenage things.

– It is your mind and how it works that are distinctive. How do you think? Sure, that's hard to explain, but that's the point.

TIP FOUR

• Be coherent – Write about just one subject at a time. Don't try to

cover everything in an essay. – Doing so can make you sound busy, but at the

same time, scattered and superficial. – The whole application is a series of snapshots of

who you are and what you do. It is inevitably incomplete. The colleges expect this. Go along with them.

TIP FIVE

• Be accurate– It’s more than just using spell check (that goes

without saying). – Attend to the other mechanics of good writing,

including conventional punctuation in the use of commas, semi-colons, etc.

– If you are writing about Dickens, don't say he wrote Wuthering Heights. If you write about Nietzsche, spell his name right.

TIP SIX

• Be vivid – A good essay is often compared to a story: In many

cases it's an anecdote of an important moment. – Provide some details to help the reader see the

setting. Use the names (or invent them) for the other people in the story, including your brother, teacher, or coach. This makes it all more human and humane.

– It also shows the reader that you are thinking about his or her appreciation of your writing, which is something you'll surely want to do.

TIP SEVEN

• Be likable – Colleges see themselves as communities, where

people have to get along with others, in dorms, classes, etc.

– Are you someone they would like to have dinner with, hang out with, have in a discussion section? Think, "How can I communicate this without just announcing it, which is corny." Subtlety is good.

TIP EIGHT

• Be cautious in your use of humor – You never know how someone you don't know is

going to respond to you, especially if you offer something humorous.

– Humor is always in the eye of the beholder. Be funny only if you think you have to.

– Then think again.

TIP NINE• Be a little controversial– So many kids write bland essays that don't take a

stand on anything. It is fine to write about politics, religion, something serious, as long as you are balanced and thoughtful.

– Don't pretend you have the final truth. And don't just get up on your soapbox and spout off on a sensitive subject; instead, give reasons and arguments for your view and consider other perspectives (if appropriate).

– Colleges are places for the discussion of ideas, and admissions officers look for diversity of mind.

TIP TEN

• Be smart– Colleges are intellectual places, a fact they almost

always keep a secret when they talk about their dorms, climbing walls, and how many sports you can play.

– It is helpful to show your intellectual vitality. – What turns your mind on? This is not the same

thing as declaring an intended major; what matters is why that subject interests you.

SCHOLARSHIP ESSAYS

• Though similar to the College Application Essay in many ways, scholarship essays differ in one very significant way:

– You are trying to convince a scholarship committee that you are more worthy of their financial support than all the other qualified applicants.

– This requires a slightly different approach.

SOME TIPS FOR A SCHOLARSHIP ESSAY

• Make sure your essay fits the theme.– The theme of your essay is almost always determined by the

purpose of the award or why the organization is giving away the money.

• Answer the underlying question.– In most cases, the essay question is just a springboard for you

to answer the real question the scholarship judges want addressed.

– An organization giving an award for students who plan to study business might ask, "Why do you want to study business?" But the underlying question they are asking is, "Why do you want to study business, and why are you the best future business person we should gift with our hard-earned money?"

• Share a slice of life.– In 500 to 1,000 words, you can't cover everything about

you. But you can share a "slice of your life." Don’t try to explain everything about you. Just focus on one aspect of your life.

• Show passion in your writing.– when you are genuinely enthusiastic about something,

it does not take much effort for that energy to naturally show in your writing. Therefore, when you are choosing a topic, be sure it is something you truly care about and are interested in.

• Be specific.– If you are writing about your desire to become an

astronaut, you might explain how your interest was sparked by the model rocket Dad got you for Christmas when you were five. Focusing on a specific example of your life will help readers relate to your experiences and ensure that your essay is memorable.

• Have a thesis statement.– Make sure that your essay has a clear point and that it

aligns with the goals of the scholarship committee!

• Build on your accomplishments.– Your accomplishments, activities, talents and awards all help to

prove that you are the best fit. Since you will list your activities on the application form, use the essay to expand on one or two of the most important ones.

• Avoid the sob story.– If your main point is: "I deserve money because of the suffering

I've been through," you have a problem. Scholarship committees are not as interested in problems as they are in solutions.

– What have you accomplished despite these hardships? – How have you succeeded despite the challenges you've faced? – This is more significant and memorable than merely cataloging

your misfortunes.

• Show positive energy.– Try to stay away from essays that are overly

pessimistic, antagonistic or critical. This doesn't mean that you can't write about a serious problem. But it does mean that you should not concentrate only on the negative. If you are writing about a problem, try to present some solutions.

• Find people to read your essays.– There is an old writer's saying: "Behind every good

writer is an even better editor."