My College Options

My College Options Your English teacher reads your essay as 1 out of 30. The admissions officers reads as 1 out of 1000’s and possibly even 10,000 or more. The problem with that question isn't that the answer should be obvious. It's a stupid question because lying to your colleges is a stupid thing to do. Each student needs to be able to claim authentic ownership of their essays. Mom and Dad may be great help during the brainstorming process of generating essay topics. Parents may know other details about the student that they should include in the essay. And most students aren't posing the question hypothetically. They're asking because they're considering telling the lie. I think the five paragraphs for an essay is more of a rule-of-thumb number that is easy to teach students when they are first learning to write. Now schools are putting those same students at a disadvantage before they even have the chance to submit their transcripts. If you're in the process of applying for college, be warned that it isn't just your grades and extracurricular activities that are being reviewed by schools. These practices could lead to schools favoring students based on financial incentives for the school, placing students from low-income backgrounds at a disadvantage. Your teacher was just trying to make sure you understood how to write, not give you a rule you had to always obey. Students applying to colleges that use the Common Application will typically need to respond to one of seven essay prompts. For the 2020 application cycle, the length limit for the essay is 650 words. That limit includes the essay title, notes, and any other text that you include in the essay text box. Dr. Allen Grove is an Alfred University English professor and a college admissions expert with 20 years of experience helping students transition to college. Admissions officers are looking for something, anything, to distinguish your essay from the pile. I recommend that students try to find an adult other than their parents to help with essay editing. Parents are blinded by love and perhaps perfection. I do not believe that parents make good essay editors because they are not admissions officers. They do not know what admissions officers are looking for. For the same reason, I do not think English teachers make great admissions essay readers. Your English teacher reads your essay to assign one grade out of many. The admissions officer reads to determine if they should offer you one spot out of probably relatively very few. Many applicants will have high GPA’s and SAT scores, volunteer in a local organization, or be the president of a club or captain of a sports team. Model UN is a club for middle school, high school, or college students whose members simulate UN committees. If you're still unsure, drop by a meeting at your school to get a sense of what joining the club would be like. While this is a great way to get more information, it usually isn’t a very interactive experience. Model United Nations, often referred to as Model UN or MUN, is an extracurricular most commonly for high school students, but also available to college and middle school students. Parents are also a great second pair of eyes for grammar and spelling errors. I would still suggest that a English professional still read over the essay for expert editing purposes. However, parents should not try to change the voice of the student, which can be difficult to refrain from. The essay needs to be a reflection of the student’s creativity, writing ability and personality; not the parent.