After SCOTUS eliminated the use of affirmative action(as defined by Investopedia “a policy aimed at increasing workplace and educational opportunities for people who are underrepresented in various areas of our society”) in college admissions, I immediately thought about how it was even possible for this country to get worse. Leave it to the people in the federal government to surprise you.
Today I’m not here to give you the facts about the case. If you need the facts, check Oyez. I’m here to help those affected by this case. This is the first part in a series of articles on how to maximize your chances for getting into college. Anyone can rely on this series, but I wanted to provide tips for those that can’t afford SAT prep classes and college consulting. Last year I went through the college admissions process, and I want to be a helping hand to those that I have no idea where to start.
Every couple of months, I’ll post a new article with what you should be doing to stay on track during the college admissions process. Part 1(this article) outlines the things you should be doing between August and September. Enough with the introduction. Let’s get this started.
August
Starting Your Essay
The most commonly used college admission application for undergraduates is called the Common Application. This is the application I recommend that you submit all your applications through except in a few cases. All of the UCs have their own portal, so if you’re applying to UC Berkeley or UC San Diego, you have to use the UC portal. If you’re only applying to Texas schools, then you may want to use Apply Texas to submit your applications. In rare cases, one school may have their own application portal. When I applied to Georgetown, I had to submit my application using their own portal.
For every school you apply to through the Common Application you have to submit the Common App Essay. The Common App essay is like a personal statement. College admissions offices use it to get an overall feel for the applicant. If you didn’t have the best grades in school, or you weren’t in that many extracurriculars, this essay shows that side of you that isn’t represented by your gpa and resume.
Planning Your Essay
When you’re picking a topic for your Common App essay/personal statement, it can be a little nerve-racking because you want to pick something that showcases who you are and stands out to the admission officer. Below I’ve included an exercise you can use to help with this along with an explanation for the exercise.
This is pretty simple, but you’re going to draw a mind map like the one above. In each of the little circles, put things that you want the admissions officers to know about you. Not just things like you got good grades, but things like how you’re funny, or you’re a creative thinker, or how you love baking. If you want, you can also create branches from the larger bubbles to be more specific. Then, put a star next to about 3-5 of the most important things you want to convey to the admissions officer.
After, think of a story that connects those 3-5 things. Don’t feel obligated to pick your most traumatic, life shattering story unless it’s something you really want to write about. In recent years, I feel like a lot of high school seniors have felt like they need to trauma dump to get into competitive schools, but don’t feel obligated to do this.
Now that you have your story and 3-5 characteristics, you can outline your essay. For my outline, I made headings for the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion, and then I added bullet points underneath the points I wanted to include. Once you finish your outline, you can finally write your 1st rough draft of your essay. Take the month of August to do this.
Narrowing Your College List
Along with writing your personal statement, narrow down your college list. I’m not going to tell you how many schools should be on your list, but when you’re picking your schools check the acceptance rate and stats for the newly accepted students for each school. Even if you have sky-high stats, apply to at least one safety school. Don’t be too sure of yourself.
Lastly, only apply to schools that you really want to go to. Don’t apply to a school because it’s really competitive or because your friends are going there. Apply to a school that makes you excited.
August is a very jam packed month, but I promise that if you think about it now, you will be a lot less stressed in the coming months.
September
Keep working on your Common App Essay, and also keep in mind the supplemental questions some schools require. These are shorter essay questions along with your personal statement. For these essays, write about things that you didn’t write about in your personal statement, so that the admissions officer can see every side of you. I recommend you ask someone to read over your essays or at least your personal statement. I asked my English teacher, and this helped a lot. She was able to show me the inconsistencies in my essay, and help me make it sound more fluid.
Scholarships
This may seem premature, but September is also a great time to start looking for scholarships. Something that I’ve learned about scholarships is that you have to keep applying to increase your chances. Personally, I’ve applied to over 50 scholarships since January and I’ve only won 2, so do with that information what you will. This can be a little discouraging, but still keep applying. 2 scholarships that may interest some of you all are the QuestBridge Scholarship and the Cameron Impact Scholarship. These scholarships provide a full 4 year scholarship. The also have September deadlines, so be aware of that.
While you’re on this college admissions journey here are some resources and people that helped me and may help you as well.
Other Resources
I know that was a lot, but I hope it helps you with these next 2 months with the college admissions process. If there is one thing you should take away from part 1 of this series is to write to start writing your Common App Essay/personal statement now. This is the most important part of any college application. The next installment of the series will be posted on September 29th. Thank you for reading, and make sure to subscribe to be notified of new posts. Stay sharp 😉
I appreciate your insights & I’m sharing with my son & nephew. Wishing you all the best for you at Grorgetown