COMMUNICATING THEIR STORIES: STRATEGIES FOR HELPING STUDENTS WRITE POWERFUL COLLEGE ESSAYS

NACAC 2013

Rebecca Joseph, California State University, Los Angeles, CARebecca Cullen, The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, VAMargit Dahl, Yale University, CTErica Sanders, University of Michigan, MI

Essays = Opportunity

• Control

• Reflect

• Share

How Important are the Essays?1.Grades

2.Rigor of Coursework, School

3.Test Scores

4.Essays*

5.Recommendations

6.Activities

7.Special skills, talents, awards, community service and passions

What do Admissions Officers Look for?

• Context• Values• Intellectual curiosity, a playful mind, or a sense of

humor• Commitment/Depth of Interests• Interaction with and/or perception by others• Special talents and qualities • Realistic self-appraisal

Steps to Success• Understand• Organize• Prepare• Reflect• Brainstorm• Draft• Edit

Understand the Landscape

• The Common Application: New Prompts, New Members, and New Length Requirements!

• Large Public Universities• Private College Specific Applications• Other Systems (Universal Application, etc.)

Organize

• Create a Master Chart• Major Deadlines and Needs• Essay Questions: core and supplemental

• Look For Patterns• Color code all similar or overlapping essays

Prepare

• Search for “Essays that Worked”• Find Unusual Essay Prompts• Read Essays from Older Students

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Sample Essays from YaleIn addition to Common App

1. Why Yale (120 word max)

2. 5 25 word short responses

3. 1 500 word long essay

4. 1 additional essay for engineering applicants (500 word max)

Reflect• Write a Resume

• Academics• In-School Activities• Out-of-School Activities

• Seek to Convey• Consistency• Development• Leadership• Initiative

Brainstorm• Dear Roommate Letters• Culture Bags• Facebook Pictures• Write a “Where I’m From” poem modeled on

George Lyon’s original• Write three responses to the old common

application short essay activities prompt• “What activity, in or out of school, have you truly

loved and why?”

JRH

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Draft• Into

• Lead the reader into the story• Start with a hook• Consider cutting first paragraph(s) from first draft

• Through• Use 1/3, 2/3 method• Use first person• Show don’t tell

• Beyond• Connect to who student is now and who student wants to be• Evoke core qualities, convey morals

Edit

• Know When to Stop• Just Say “No!”

• Students• Parents• Educators

• Authentic Voice

Essays = Opportunity

• Help students realize that essays give them a chance to:• Tell a story that is important to them• Share their authentic voice• Control an aspect of the application process• Reinforce other important aspects of their

application

Contact Us• Dr. Rebecca Joseph:

rjoseph@allcollegeessays.org and rjoseph@calstatela.edu.

• iPhone/iPad/Google App-All College Application Essays

• Rebecca Cullen: rcullen@jkcf.org • Margit Dahl: margit.dahl@yale.edu • Erica Sanders: yale@umich.edu