Tips for Writing the College Application Essay and UC Personal Statement

Author: Miriam Schaffer

When admissions officers read your essay or personal statement, they hope to learn more about you. From your application, they obtain information about your grade point average (GPA), extracurricular activities and any awards you’ve received. However, the application alone will not provide these admission decision makers with a total picture of your personality, passions, and what is most important to you.

Whether you are writing a college essay for a private or public college, a UC personal statement, or an essay for the Common Application, it is an opportunity to give admission officers a window into your overall personality and experiences that have had a significant impact on your life, and how you think.  It can set you apart from other applicants and can provide insight into how you might fit into the college community.  

What to Avoid When Writing College Application Essays
The essay is a time to write and talk about you. This is a time to freely use the pronoun, “I.”

Do NOT do the following:

• List everything you did on a trip.

• Write a lecture on political topics or social issues

• Try to be funny or different and tell jokes or submit your essay in a format that has not been requested.

Tips for Writing the College Application Essay

DO the following:

• Try to think of your essay as a snapshot of one instance in your life and write about it. It might be relating the impact of a conversation you had with a friend, relative or stranger.

• Tell rather, than show. Don’t simply make a statement, but paint a picture with words of what you are saying. Rather than saying, “I like physics,” write about how you used physics to build a piece of furniture that won an award at a competition.

• Stay away from general statements. Instead of saying that you work hard, explain how you spent your time as a camp counselor coming up with projects that were unique and imaginative, that parents and children raved about. Describe one or two of those projects in detail and write about how you developed them.

Whatever you decide to write about, college essays and UC personal statements can take a lot of time. Start writing your essay now. Do not wait until the night before applications are due. And, make sure that you have someone proofread your work.

Help Writing the College Application Essay and UC Personal Statement
Colleges for You helps with essay and UC personal statement topic development, review, revisions and critique. Contact us for more information. 

• Written By: Miriam Schaffer
• October 13, 2013

CSU Now Accepting Applications

Author: Miriam Schaffer

As of October 1, 2013, California State University (CSU) campuses are accepting applications for Fall 2014. Students who want to apply to a CSU campus, need to go to: www.csumentor.edu to complete the application. 

It is important for high school seniors, community college transfer students and others applying for admission as undergraduates to apply no later than November 30, 2013. after that date, most CSU campuses will stop accepting applications. 

You must submit an individual application for each campus for which you want to apply and pay the application fee for each campus applied to.

The CSU site has a new tool this year that provides students with information about degress offered at each campus. The degree database has a comprehensive listing of all undergraduate and graduate programs offered at the 23 campuses. 

• Written By: Miriam Schaffer
• October 05, 2013

Be Knowledgeable About the Colleges You Apply To

Author: Miriam Schaffer

Being aware of the academic programs of the colleges you apply to can help with writing your college essay or personal statement. Often a college application will have a short answer in which you will have to write why you want to attend a specific school. Although the short answers are brief, It's important to provide specifics about programs and other aspects of a college or university that you are interested in. Demonstrating an understanding and insight into what a college offers, shows that you are truly interested in applying.

If you happen to be interested in applying to UC Davis, and are interested in an area such as environmental science, then it's important for you to know that in September 2013, the university was awarded an $11 million federal grant to lead a study of how to reduce the impact the nation's transportation system has on climate change. UC Davis was awarded the grant as a result of a national competition by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

College applications and the essays or personal statements that go along with applying to college can be overwhelming. We'll help you organize your college applications and work with you to develop essay topics and get them ready to submit to the colleges of your choice. Contact us for more information.

• Written By: Miriam Schaffer
• September 26, 2013

College Essay Prompts on the Common Application

Author: Miriam Schaffer

• • There is a new version of the Common Application this year.  

Common Application Essay Prompts

One of the major changes is that there is no longer a “topic of choice” essay prompt. The Common Application prompts are the following:

• 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."

Common Application Essay Word Limit
There is a 650-word limit on the application essay, a change from the previous 500-word limit. The 650-word limit will be strictly enforced and a response shorter than 250 words will be rejected.

Help Writing a College Essay
Getting started on a college essay can be a difficult process for some high school students. Colleges For You offers assistance and guidance with developing an essay topic, essay structure and organization, critique and proofreading.

• Written By: Miriam Schaffer
• September 25, 2013

Begin College Planning In Freshman Year of High School

Author: Miriam Schaffer

It is not too early to meet with a college advisor when your teen is in his or her freshman year of high school.

Even though college may be three or four years away, many colleges look at all four years of your high school record. Creating a strategic plan for high school classes, extracurricular activities, and summer jobs and/or enrichment can reduce stress and uncertainty when it’s time to begin applying to college in senior year.

I cannot tell you how many students and families I talk with at the end of their junior or beginning of senior year in high school who realize advance planning might have helped their college applications.

Here are areas that can be planned out in freshman year:

Course Schedule
Plan out your four years of high school classes. It can be changed and revised as you move forward, but it is good to have a “roadmap” of what you will be studying in high school

The more challenging your course load, the more it will benefit you. If you are capable of being successful in AP and Honors classes, then you want to prepare to take those classes.

If you do take an AP class, be sure to check out the schedule for AP tests, so that you can take the test while the subject area is still fresh in your mind. 

Extracurricular Activities
Whether you like sports, drama, community service, leadership, or journalism, being active in high school helps your overall profile. In addition, college applications often have a section in which you list activities you were involved in.

Do not join activities, just for something to write on the college application. Join activities that you are interested in. It’s okay to be in the same activity all four years. When it comes to filling out the college application, you will want to show how you contributed to the activity and perhaps even assumed a leadership role in it.  

Volunteering
Sign up to volunteer with organizations that truly interest you. Places where volunteers are often needed include:

• Animal shelters and veterinary facilities
• Food Banks
• Hospitals
• Libraries
• Museums
• Nursing homes and retirement communities
• Public gardens         

Learn to successfully manage your time. Perhaps you may be able to volunteer only once a month. It’s most important to keep your GPA as high as possible.

Summer
Having a summer job will add to your college application, may help you to save some money for college, and lets you learn about what interests you, and the requirements for different jobs. You can also begin to gain a realization about jobs that are a good for you and those that you don’t find interesting.

You might also want to expand on your volunteer activities, take some classes, or travel. Whatever you choose, try to stay active so that you have some information to include on your college application where it asks you to list what you did every summer during your high school years.

More Information
Ifyou are in your freshman year of high school, and need help with planning for college, send an email to , or fill out the form in the Contact Us section.

• Written By: Miriam Schaffer
• September 13, 2013