Express Yourself: Generating Content for Your Application

“Express yourself.” This seemingly simple piece of advice is critical to writing a strong application essay or personal statement. However, it is also one of the most challenging suggestions for applicants to implement, as it requires a high level of self-awareness. Below are two effective, easy-to-apply strategies that you can use to generate essay topics, anecdotes, personal characteristics, and meaningful experiences that illuminate who you are as an individual.

Twelve Topics Fast
Come up with a list of 4 ways to describe yourself (athlete, musician, reader, son/daughter). Next, think of 3 stories you could tell about yourself in each of these roles. Jot down a few notes about each story—sensory details about what you saw and heard, how you felt, what happened, what you learned. The result: twelve potential essay topics.

Who am I?
Make a quick list of characteristics that you think describe you (e.g., loyal, extroverted, diplomatic, inquisitive). Focus on positive characteristics that you believe make you a special, appealing person whom others will want to get to know better. Select one characteristic from your list and free write about a time you demonstrated that characteristic. Repeat as desired. You might to try to generate additional evidence about the first characteristic or select another characteristic on your list about which to free write.

Once you have generated notes and jottings, you will move to a phase of selecting from that beautiful mess the best of the best. The stories and themes you choose to expand upon need not be complex, glamorous, or extraordinary. But they should be meaningful, compelling, and uniquely yours. Consider how the information you present will help the admissions committee get to know you. What does it say about who you are?

A few general tips to help you avoid common pitfalls:

• Follow the instructions. Choose anecdotes that actually help you answer the question posed in the application.
• Tell a personal, memorable story, but be aware that this is not a private journal entry. Do not include information you would be embarrassed to show your grandmother. Do not include information that will make the admissions committee pity or fear you.
• Start drafting early. Give yourself plenty of time to reflect and revise as needed.

The A B Cs (and Ds) of Time Management

One of the most common challenges students face is time management. Simply keeping track of commitments from multiple courses, extracurricular activities, family obligations, and paid employment can feel like a full time job in and of itself.

I'd like to share four simple time management principles* with you, intended to get you on track and keep you there.

A is for "Anticipate & Plan"
To effectively manage your time and commitments, make friends with some kind of calendar system. Low-tech or high-tech is up to you, the important thing is that it is portable! Log your deadlines, tasks, and commitments on the calendar. Block off time for studying, commuting, and relaxing in addition to blocking off time for classes and meetings. Keep your calendar up-to-date and refer to it often, so you are never surprised by a commitment or deadline.

B is for "Break it Down"
When faced with a complex task, try to disaggregate it into smaller, more manageable chunks. Think about a logical order for completing each smaller parts, and create a timeline for yourself that builds in time to work on each part. For example, do not simply schedule time on your calendar to "write psychology paper." Consider that to effectively complete the paper, you will need to do library research, generate a thesis statement, write an outline and a draft, and edit the draft into its final version. On your schedule, include a realistic amount of time for you to work on each piece of this larger project.

C is for "Cross it Off"
As you meet your goals and complete tasks, reward yourself by crossing them off of your to-do list. Creating a to-do list not only makes you aware of what you need to accomplish, it can also offer a psychological boost as you cross items off. You can see your progress, really see how much you have done.

D is for "Don't Procrastinate"
"Trying to catch up on time management is like trying to catch up on sleep - it's almost impossible to do" (Nist-Olejnick and Holschuh 2007: 78). Small spans of wasted time can really add up, with adverse consequences for your schoolwork, your activities, your health, and your sanity. If you make time management a way of life, you will be less stressed and get more accomplished. Take care of business first, then party.



*I learned these principles from Sherrie Nist-Olejnik and Jodi Patrick Holschuh's excellent book College Rules! How to Study, Survive, and Succeed in College, Second Edition. (2007) Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. p. 77 - 85. This book should basically be required reading for all undergraduates, as it is chock full of wonderful advice on study skills, interpersonal skills, and life skills. Honestly, much of it is also applicable to grad students and professional students as well. Check it out on Amazon.com!

Fall is almost here! Are you ready for college application season?

The beginning of the school year is right around the corner, and college application deadlines will be here before you know it. Be aware that some colleges have early decision deadlines that are as early as October. (That’s less than two months away!)

If you will be a high school senior this year, you should be…

• Finalizing the list of schools to which you plan to apply
• Beginning to work on application essays
• Updating your academic resumes with recent activities & accomplishments
• Considering which teachers to ask for letters of recommendation
  

If you will be a junior, sophomore, or freshman, you should be…

• Preparing for standardized tests (PSAT, SAT, Subject Tests, ACT)
• Beginning to research colleges
• Earning good grades in courses that challenge you
• Participating in extracurricular activities that interest you
• Building relationships with teachers who might later write letters on your behalf
  

With deadlines in the near future (especially for seniors), procrastination can be a formidable enemy. Fight it! If you would like help with these and many other aspects of the college application process, I am here for you. Please check out my college advising web page and/or drop me a line.

Keep Track of your Apps!

The fall application season is just around the corner. Many colleges, universities, and graduate programs begin reviewing applications as early as October, and the majority of deadlines will fall between November and January.

If you have been doing your research this summer, you are hopefully zeroing in on a manageable list of schools to which you plan to apply. It is common to submit four or more applications, each with different deadlines, essays, and forms. To avoid becoming overwhelmed and confused by the sheer number of tasks, dates, and requirements you must manage, I recommend using an application tracker, a simple organizational tool that will provide you with a snapshot of what you need to accomplish and when. Here is an example of a basic application tracker that could be used for either the undergraduate or graduate application process:


For a full-size pdf version of this tracker, click here.

Alternatively, you can build your own application tracker and customize it to your process. Depending on how you work most effectively, you may wish to track your applications with hard copy worksheets, in word processing documents, or on spreadsheets (e.g., in excel). No matter what the specific format, be sure to include space to record:

• The school or program name
• Key contact information
  
• All relevant deadlines
  
• A complete list of application requirements (so you can check them off as you meet them!)

As you work your way through the application season, consult your application tracker frequently and keep it up to date. This simple tool can help you stay focused and on schedule.

If you have questions or would like assistance creating your own application tracker, please contact me by visiting my website.

National College Fair in Los Angeles!

The 2009 Greater Los Angeles National College Fair will be held at the Pasadena Convention Center on Monday, April 20th and Tuesday, April 21st.

A National College Fair presents a wonderful opportunity to learn about many schools at once. Here are a few tips for getting the most out of attending:

• Before the fair, check out the list of schools that will be participating. Decide which booths you want to be sure to visit.
• Print out adhesive labels with your name, contact information, and graduation year to stick on information cards and mailing lists at the fair.
• Bring your questions, plus a pen and small notebook to jot down the answers you obtain.
• At the fair, when you visit a school of interest, be sure to put yourself on the mailing list. Introduce yourself to the college rep at the booth, ask questions, and politely request a business card.
• Save some time at the end to browse other booths. You may discover a wonderful school you had not previously considered!
• Look for RED CURTAINS to find the COUNSELING CENTER. Here, you'll find local high school counselors who can talk with you about the college search process and make suggestions about which schools to visit, based on your interests and intended major.
• Look for YELLOW CURTAINS to find the RESOURCE CENTER. Here, you'll find financial aid representatives who can talk with you about scholarships and financial aid.
  

For more details about the 2009 Greater Los Angeles National College Fair, visit:
http://www.nacacnet.org/EventsTraining/CollegeFairs/ncf/Spring/Pages/LosAngelesNCF.aspx

How to Appeal a Rejection

It’s a bummer to get rejected from a college you were excited to attend, but it happens to even the best candidates. Really. So don’t be too hard on yourself.

You might consider appealing the rejection. Appeals are rarely successful, but if you feel strongly that a school should give you a second look, here are the steps to take.

• Contact the school’s Admissions Office. You, the student, should be the one to place this call. Do not have parents, teachers, or advisors call on your behalf. The school will want to hear from you personally. Your initiative demonstrates your continued interest in the school.
• Contact the school as soon as you receive the rejection notification, as some schools have deadlines for appeals as early as April 15th.
• When you call the Admissions Office, calmly and politely express your continued interest in the school without whining, complaining, or being overly emotional about the rejection.
• Verify that the school received all of your materials—make sure you weren’t rejected due to administrative errors or missing information! Say something like: “Was there anything missing in my folder? Did you receive all the information I sent?” Then list the materials you sent.
• Request detailed instructions for the school’s appeals process. Follow those instructions exactly. The process typically includes some paperwork and follow-up phone calls, a letter from you, up to three letters of support (e.g., from teachers), and any additional information that would help your cause.

Your appeal will have the best chance of success if you can bring compelling new information to light about why you should be accepted. In your appeal, describe…

• New achievements (perhaps you took the SAT again and earned a higher score, maybe you just won a major competition)
• Any personal hardships or extenuating circumstances of which the school was not previously aware
• Connections you have made with faculty; more concrete information about how that school’s programs and resources are a good fit for your academic strengths and goals.
  

Even if your repeal is unsuccessful, take the following good advice from The College Board’s website to heart: Consider the upside of a rejection letter. Sometimes it is easier to make a decision if your choices are narrowed down. If you had been accepted all of your wish-list schools, you would be facing a difficult decision. Secondly, if you were accepted to all of your schools, perhaps you would always wonder, “Should I have aimed higher?”

There are many schools out there that can meet your needs and make you happy. Though it might feel pretty crummy right now, a rejection is not the end of the world.

Wish colleges could see only your best SAT scores? That wish just came true…

The College Board has recently decided to allow students to choose which SAT scores to send to colleges. This option, called Score Choice, became available in March 2009. Under the old rules, if a student reported SAT scores to a given college, all of his or her scores went. For better or for worse, this has recently changed.

As of March 2009...

…Students may choose which scores to report by test date for the SAT and by individual test for the SAT II Subject Tests.

...Students cannot pick and choose which sections to send. For instance, you can’t send your May Critical Reading score and your January Writing and Mathematics scores.

…It is free to use Score Choice.

…It is optional to use Score Choice. If a student does not enroll, then all scores from all test dates are automatically sent to the student’s colleges (as under the current system).

…Students must opt into Score Choice prior to their test date—upon registering for the SAT. Score Choice will be available online through the College Board website and by phone through the toll-free customer service line.

The rationale for this policy change was to make taking the SAT less stressful for students, while maintaining the test's integrity. Kids can fight anxiety by taking a “real practice” test to get comfortable. This has obvious benefits for teens’ emotional wellbeing. The change is, understandably, very popular with students.

However, critics of Score Choice argue that it obscures the context in which a score is earned. A test-taker can hide an uncharacteristically low score or the fact that it took five sittings to earn a high one. The kid who gets a 760 Math on his first try would look just like the one who got that same score on his fifth. If the context for earning scores is not transparent—revealed uniformly for comparison to all other test-takers—is the result really a “standardized” score at all?

Just as Score Choice is optional for teens, it is also optional for colleges. If a particular college decides to require students to submit all scores, then applicants will need to comply—rendering Score Choice effectively moot for that school. This creates even more variability: University A might see only a teen’s top score, while University B receives all of the scores.

Opponents of the change also fear that it will further disadvantage youths from underserved populations who can only afford to take the SAT once or twice. In contrast, a more affluent kid could take it repeatedly until he gets his desired scores, and colleges would no longer necessarily see that. A similar concern involves the “default setting”: unless otherwise specified, all scores are sent to all schools. This default may hurt underserved teens as they are the least likely to have access to efficient pipelines for receiving information about SAT policy changes or strategic coaching about how to take advantage of options such as Score Choice. Information about Score Choice must reach the ears of all students in order for SAT scores to remain meaningful.

Though concerns remain about keeping the playing field level, a recent College Board survey of over 3,600 respondents found that students of “all income and ethnic segments” express “strong interest in having more control over their scores.”

So what’s a teen to do? Ideally, students should enroll in Score Choice online when they register to take the SAT. You should sit for the test two to four times, taking comfort in the knowledge that a fluke low score can be suppressed. Next, read college applications carefully, as different schools may have different score-reporting requirements. If a college permits Score Choice, then you should report scores from the test date on which you performed best.