My College Options

My College Options I work with English-language learners and have done so for almost 20 years. While many of them make tremendous strides in language acquisition and score well on standardized tests, they often fall short in expressing themselves in the traditional essay. It may be due in part to discomfort with the American form of boasting. This clashes with their upbringing in many cases. Such students are raised to see themselves as part of a collective society, as opposed to the American way of trying to stand out based on personal accomplishments. Don’t share anything that doesn’t make you sound good, unless you absolutely have to and you can turn it around to show the positive. In addition, the use of the personal essay discriminates against people from other cultures. He had perfect grades, high tests scores and an otherwise strong application. Many of the elements of an effective college admissions essay further that goal. Here’s my attempt to list the features that comprise a great college application essay. That said, you have to start telling the story from the beginning, so there’s no other place to start than the introduction. Admissions officers want to learn something about you from your essay that they can’t learn from reading the other sections of your application. Always think about what information you want colleges to know and use when evaluating your application. For help with your college essay or college guidance, visit or call . Include information not elsewhere in your application. Being a storyteller is also a physical commitmentâ€"it is a pact made between self and audience that asserts that the work of narration is not accomplished until everyone is listening. Most people would never dream of pulling this in a social setting, and yet this is exactly what far too many admissions essays end up sounding like. It is essential to recognize that an admissions essay shouldn’t be a series of explicit arguments, even if it is providing evidence and establishing a claim. No judgment here, just help from people who’ve done the exact same thing as you. It’s better to pull the mother of all all-nighters than to skip your college application essay. Their values cause many to hold back on their accomplishments and thus they cannot compete as effectively. Conversely, students of lower socioeconomic backgrounds are forced to rely on themselves. Students approaching the admissions process often panic at the essay stage because, they decide, they have nothing dramatic or exciting or relevant to talk about. Without a cancer cure or an Olympic gold or a pebble from the top of Mount Everest on their mantel, college applicants throw up their hands and lament, “I’m doomed! See the Additional Resources section of this page for a list of helpful books and sites about using MLA Style. Ariel functions almost as a teacher, giving the kind of instruction and feedback that helped my son to understand what admission officers are looking for, and how best to achieve that. No, she can't get a B student into Harvard, but I think that she can make your child's 'reach' schools a little more reachable. ” Here’s where the dictum “tell a story” breaks down, and the directive “be a storyteller” kicks in. Being a storyteller is a state of mindâ€"it is an intellectual position that assumes that anything can be interesting if presented in the right way. I truly believe Ariel can help guide him or her to create an essay that is 'the best' of whatever group of applicants your child is part of. Her prices are quite reasonable compared to many others and I think it's a modest investment with a potentially big pay-off. Also, she's pleasant to deal withâ€"polite, low-key, punctual. I'm a nervous helicopter mom with lots of questions, which she was unfailingly patient in answering. “After working for the past couple of months with Ariel on his essays, my son just got admitted to Stanford!!!