by Marie Todd
It’s November, and we are starting down the home stretch of the college application season. As we enter the regular admissions cycle, additional deadlines are looming. Congratulations if you applied Early Action or Early Decision using the Common App. Now you can turn your attention to Regular Decision deadlines, which will vary somewhat over the …
by Marie Todd
The University of California (UC) system consists of nine campuses that all use the same application. They are UC Berkeley (Cal), UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC Merced, UC Santa Barbara, UC Los Angeles (UCLA), UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and UC San Diego. If you are applying to one or more of these campuses, you …
by Marie Todd
The preparation for a successful college application does not happen overnight but is instead the culmination of years of work throughout high school. However, not all aspiring college students take the correct steps leading up to, and during, the application process. Here are four mistakes successful college candidates don’t make and that you should avoid, …
by Marie Todd
The University of Pennsylvania, or Penn, was established in 1790 and is one of the oldest universities in America. This prestigious Ivy League school is known for its top-notch research as well as its undergraduate programs that focus on practical applications grounded in a strong liberal arts foundation. It accepts the Common App or the …
by Marie Todd
Not surprisingly, Yale University is consistently ranked among the top universities in the world. It accepts the Common Application, Coalition Application, and QuestBridge Application. All three applications require a personal statement essay plus additional Yale-specific short answers and a Yale writing supplement. This prestigious Ivy League school prides itself on providing undergraduates with an exceptional …
by Marie Todd
If you are heading into your senior year of high school, you might be worrying about how you can possibly increase your chances of getting accepted to your top college choices. You’ve worked earnestly for the past three years, and that work has all been excellent preparation. Now it’s time for the next stage – the …
by Marie Todd
When you feel you have taken the draft of your college essay as far as you can on your own, share it with a few carefully chosen friends, mentors, and/or family members that you trust. Ask these individuals to keep the following questions in mind as they read your essay and to offer you their …
by Marie Todd
A common writing problem we see in applicants’ early drafts is that the writer will refer to something important but never fully explain what that thing is. For example, an applicant might claim that a particular fight his parents had affected the way he now views education, but he doesn’t offer any details about the …
by Marie Todd
We understand that getting started actually writing your college essays can be difficult. Even if you’ve gone through all the steps of thinking, brainstorming, and maybe even the “clustering” and “circling” of interconnected ideas, you might still feel intimidated by the writing process. And after all, there’s a lot on the line with your college …
by Marie Todd
Making an outline for your essay before you begin writing can be extremely helpful in keeping you focused on the details of your story and its most vital elements. Outlines also keep you mindful of the architecture of the story you’re trying to tell: What comes first? What needs to follow? Schools tend to have …
by Marie Todd
There are many places to find sample college essays, such as here and in the many books written to help students apply to college. When reading sample essays, you want to pay attention to how they are structured and try to understand what makes them effective. Then, you can combine what you’ve learned with the …
by Marie Todd
The central theme of your essay doesn’t have to be something earth-shattering or particularly amazing, but it does need to be something that genuinely matters to you and will therefore convey key aspects of your character. Your theme might be something that engages you, something you’re interested in describing, or something you want to explore …
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