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supplemental essays

“I hate my college essay supplements!” It’s OK, we got you.

November 21, 2021 by Sara Nolan Leave a Comment

keep communication simple and direct

Are you stressed as all hell about supplements? Are you starting to get stiff in your language or overwhelmed by the sheer number of prompts, that all feel vaguely similar? I'm here to give you a pep talk about the “Why This School?” essays that are most challenging for students to write well.  Are you starting to write supplemental essays that sound like: “The majestic campus enthralled me and I imagined myself walking down the path to the dining hall….”  GAH. Take a big step back. 3 things to remember that will help you avoid common pitfalls:  1) supplements are a dating game 2) go beyond 1-click research to authentic interest  3) don’t tell them what they already know (OK, and four-- it’s OK to sound like you.) These Tips Will IMMEDIATELY Make Your College Supplements Suck Less The supplements are a dating game and you don’t have to treat them any differently. You might be amazing, and the school might be amazing, but how does that help you be amazing together? It doesn’t. I’ve read so many “vanilla” supplements, with a lot of “right” words but no distinctive flavor about the individual applicant.  If you and this school are really committing to each other (which you are), then use the supplement as a chance to weave in your particular interests. Tell them a little something you didn’t focus on elsewhere-- that you’ve been deconstructing family toasters since you were 3 and are interested in their engineering track. Or maybe you spent all of middle school browsing the library and you’re interested in literacy classes. Or maybe you grew up in a very small town and you’re so excited about their campus cultural initiatives. Make yourself an attractive person to date and commit to.  2.  If you try to stack your supplements with “1-click” research, you look lazy.  Dig into their website! Take a virtual tour and come up with a list of questions. Notice specifics. What research are their professors doing? What is student life like? Go at least  Continue Reading …

Filed Under: Essays, Feedback, Prompts, Solutions, Uncategorized Tagged With: authentic, college application supplements, prompts, supplemental essays, Supplements, voice

How to write your best “Why This College?” essay

June 11, 2018 by Sara Nolan Leave a Comment

Why This College Essay invites you to visit the place

The "Why This College?" essay may be a supplement, but it's really important! After you finish your main personal statement, having to write the "Why This College?" essay can trigger your impulse to exaggerate, bullshit, or regurgitate-- three common pitfalls. Don't. Instead, aim to do your best writing, thinking and match-making on the "Why This College" essay. Here's how. First, understand the "Why This College?" essay as another golden opportunity to show who you are and why you are a fit for this school. Show some enthusiasm, and build up confidence in your college list. Remember, no question on the application is really a waste of space or time; each should be treated as an opportunity to add to the picture of yourself you are creating for colleges. Each written supplement is a chance to be convincing, make your case, and land a sweet date. Here are three common pitfalls to avoid, and what to do instead for your best "Why This College" essay: "Why This College?" essay Exaggeration: If you eat a meal at my house and then tell me I am the best cook ever, I might grow shy (Who, me?), then a little worried about your judgment (Are you sure you think that?), then move on to disbelief (That's not true!), then dismissal (You don't know anything about good cooking). If you spend time (and precious word count) on superlatives and hyperbole, the admissions team may go through that same thought sequence as well, and it probably won't end in your favor. They KNOW they are not THE BEST IN THE WORLD AT EVERYTHING. But what if you instead say to me, "Wow, I have never had kale with garlic that tastes this good, and I should know, because I am a green vegetable junkie!"? Then I might believe you. You've given me a highly specific and accurate compliment. You've shown me why you are qualified to make this assessment. And you've contextualized it in a bigger picture of your tastes and preferences. We're cool! Can you think of a parallel example for  Continue Reading …

Filed Under: Essays, Solutions, Uncategorized, Writing Tips Tagged With: honesty, pitfalls, supplemental essays, Why This College Essays, Writing

Can’t I write about sports?

December 6, 2017 by Sara Nolan

No, You can't write about (just) sports Here's why-- if you write about sports, the likelihood of your essay being cliched, or, worse, of you not realizing it's cliched-- is mighty strong. But also, Yes, you can. If you can make a surprising connection while writing about sports, you're golden. Admissions officers will remember you for (most of) the rest of their lives. Example of brilliant sports essay (Hint-- it's not about Sports!) Here's an incredible essay by Natalie Diaz, an amazing poet and thinker and former b-ball champ: She is not writing about basketball-- she is writing about basketball, and. Basketball and _______:  violence against Native peoples how Brown bodies are subjugated growing up poor the visceral nature of writing as a body used to being in motion. escape cultural navigation Get it? Sports, And What?  If you are hell-bent on writing about sports, I suggest making your list of and's. Consider: Why are you writing about this sport, really? What other story about your life is it helping you tell? Avoid these cliched approaches to sports essays I could recite the following essays in my sleep, because I've read them too many times. So have you. No surprises here. Please don't write these overdone, canned essays-- even if you really mean them. (And I really believe you mean them) "And then I heard my ligament pop and knew my life would never be the same." "I learned that life is like a game and you need to be a team-player!" "We turned in around in the last quarter, and that taught me I could overcome anything!" (Because, actually, that's a premature conclusion! MAYBE you can overcome anything; or maybe you just overcame this.) I believe in being a realist with teenagers. When you step beyond the cliches and the lessons you could have read somewhere else, you learn something more true, and more valuable, about your life and yourself.   Get your game-writing on Here's  Continue Reading …

Filed Under: Integrity, Solutions, Stories, Uncategorized, Writing Tips Tagged With: connections, examples, sports, supplemental essays, topics, writers to emulate

Why You? Why Me! Tackling Supplemental Essays

November 18, 2015 by Sara Nolan

Admit it: you, me, and possibly everyone else thinks the college application supplemental essays sometimes suck, and so you may be leaving them to tackle last, after your core essay is polished and powerful. Then (now!) you face a daunting sucky pile. But as is true for the rest of the application process, supplemental essays don't have to make you gag, stall, and then use hyperbole to compensate.  It's up to you to make them work, and worth your time to do so, since many students have upward of twenty to write. Here are our tips on writing these essays successfully. First, why do they suck (and merit such a low-brow verb)? Because the supplemental essays violate an important maxim: Ask a good question, get a good answer.   Unfortunately, the supplemental essay questions are often dry, and so get your dry responses.  And the human urge to spout grand life plans and BS a bit. Students often get trapped responding to the "Why Our School?" essay, which can require anywhere from a painful 150 to a brutal 500 words, with one of the following unsuccessful moves: Copy-pasting text from the school's website (I think they may have read that already). Sharing your grand Life Plans (think ALL CAPS). Spewing a healthy load of BS praise ("This school has a STUPENDOUS anthropology program!!!!"). The issue with each of these approaches is: You told them what they already know.  (But they are really glad you took the time to Ctrl-X, Ctrl-V). Your long-term ambitions and Big Dreams are not as relevant or important here as your immediate ambitions and actions. BS cannot sound like anything but BS.  Admissions officers are hired for their BS detectors. Also, Schools are not like dogs-- they are not hoping for your praise.  You are hoping for theirs. Luckily, we can call on a powerful, effective and simple recipe to get us through-- since we are stuck with these supplemental essay questions for now (Hallelujah to U Chicago, and the other schools  Continue Reading …

Filed Under: Integrity, Questions, Solutions, Uncategorized, Writing Tips Tagged With: be specific, college essay, college websites, fit, good answers, honesty, know your stuff, professors, supplemental essays, Supplements, Why this school?, writing tips

Supplemental Essays and Online Dating

October 21, 2015 by Sara Nolan

The match has to be right Successful supplemental essays for college admission, just like successful dating and mating, but you're not there yet, are all about the suitability of the particular match made. After much skepticism and playing hard-to-get, I was matched with my amazing husband online--score! A good algorithm found the overlap in our particulars.  By contrast, I've read about 600 mediocre supplemental essays in the past month that demo a weak match at best. A primer on better verbal flirting with educational institutions in these important supplemental essays is clearly needed for college applicants who are eager to be passionately and appropriately paired. False starts can be fixed Not the writer's fault: these essays, like dating, can be full of false starts. But here's how intentionally approaching the supplemental essays like you would online dating helps you produce convincing writing and persuade the target schools you're a good match. (And  those of you more interested in dating than writing, remember this supplemental fact: wherever you enroll, you'll likely wind up in romantic relationships too...so consider the pool you enter!)  Continue Reading …

Filed Under: Revising, Solutions, State of Mind, Uncategorized, Writing Tips Tagged With: dream school, fit, match, specifics, supplemental essays, writing tips

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