silver Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 As I'm planning out 11th grade, I'm thinking it is probably a good idea to work on a common app essay junior year so that we don't have to pull our hair out trying to get it done by the application deadline senior year. My understanding is that the essay questions don't tend to change much from year to year, so this is doable. What are some good resources for helping a student plan and edit college/scholarship application essays? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzberrymom Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 I looooovvveeeed this piece and it helped so much. We read it aloud together and then the ideas started flowing: Hack the College Essay For the nitty gritty stuff, this helped a lot too: How to Prepare a Standout College Application She also kept a list of quirky thoughts as they came to her. A lot of these made it into the essays later. I think it’s great to get an early start, but a huge amount of maturing (emotional and intellectual) happened during the summer before senior year. We also started junior year, but I sort of wish we had built in some time towards the end of the summer to work on it instead. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 College Essay Guy and WOW Writing Workshop both have a lot of good resources. I like WOW Writing a little bit more and use their coaching techniques with the students I work with. But the College Essay Guy approach might be easier for a student to self-excecute. I'd suggest working on the main personal statement at the end of junior year or early in the summer before senior year. That lets the student write about who they are around the time they are applying rather than halfway through high school. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Sebastian (a lady) said: I'd suggest working on the main personal statement at the end of junior year or early in the summer before senior year. That lets the student write about who they are around the time they are applying rather than halfway through high school. Sorry to ask a possibly stupid question, but what is the "main personal statement"? Edited March 21, 2023 by cintinative Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 47 minutes ago, cintinative said: Sorry to ask a possibly stupid question, but what is the "main personal statement"? Not a stupid question. The main personal statement is the long essay the student writes about themselves. In the Common App, it has a 650 word limit. There are several prompts to respond to, but the point is for the student to write about what they want colleges to know about them beyond the rest of the application. In Common App, this essay is available to any colleges the student applies to. The Common App also has an additional information section and a place to describe the effects of things like Covid-19, hurricanes, fires, and other outside disruptions. Individual colleges may also have writing supplements. For example, Why do you want to attend American University? That's an example of a Why Us? essay. Others might ask the student to write about an aspect of their identity they think is important to who they are. Others ask students to write about their intended major or other topics. University of California system doesn't use Common App. The UCs have 8 Personal Insight Questions and require students to respond to 4 of them. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted May 22, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 Bumping up this thread as we head into summer -- any other suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted May 23, 2023 Share Posted May 23, 2023 I second @Sebastian (a lady)'s two picks of College Essay Guy and WOW. And agreeing that WOW is harder to implement solo. College Essay Guy can be overwhelming for students though. I think it's good for an intermediary (a teacher, a parent) to unfold small bits of them as needed. His values exercise is a decent jumping off point. Honestly, I don't think you need much more than those. If you want to use a provider for support, a bunch of places have classes. There's one at PA Homeschoolers, Brave Writer, Online G3, and I have one at Aim Academy. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted May 23, 2023 Share Posted May 23, 2023 2 hours ago, Farrar said: I second @Sebastian (a lady)'s two picks of College Essay Guy and WOW. And agreeing that WOW is harder to implement solo. College Essay Guy can be overwhelming for students though. I think it's good for an intermediary (a teacher, a parent) to unfold small bits of them as needed. His values exercise is a decent jumping off point. Honestly, I don't think you need much more than those. If you want to use a provider for support, a bunch of places have classes. There's one at PA Homeschoolers, Brave Writer, Online G3, and I have one at Aim Academy. Thanks, this is helpful. I don't think we need a provider (and DS strongly prefers to work with me) but something that we can do together would be ideal. I'll check out both of these. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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