Your Essay Doesn't Have to Be "This"
The College Essay Lab | ACT Update
Here's a big hangup I hear from our college advisory students, year after year:
"I can't come up with anything original."
To that I say, "Balderdash!"
Because that's not THE THING. Not your job.
A college essay writer's task is not to be "original."
Think about it, the average admissions officer reviews 1,000 applications each year. Some applications have two-five supplemental essays, each.
If the admissions officer has three years' career experience, that amounts to at least 3,000 essays, perhaps triple or quadruple that amount when supplemental essays are part of the equation.
Your chances of surprising your admissions officer?
Approximately the same as Joe Biden pulling a Tom Brady, "un-retiring" and winning the presidency.
That is to say, zero.
Ah, so what IS your task?
To write something fresh. Unusual. Something INTERESTING.
How do you do this?
Generally speaking, an interesting essay is so because it shares details instead of generalities, insight into the writer instead of superficialities, and sometimes, self-deprecation instead of pure braggadocio.
A good essay tells a story, such as a before and after. A simple formula:
1. I used to be this way.
2. Then [this thing] happened.
3. This is how I changed, and
4. This is what I did, afterward, as a result.
My "exploding" offer to get our help brainstorming, editing and polishing your child's essays (not "writing it for them") for a 20% off "scholarship" , expires at the end of the month. Here's the page that describes that service.
Use coupon code ADMIT2025 before the deal expires or we run out of capacity.
Here's where to sign up:
ACT Changes Part 2
Our head tutor has uncovered additional information about how the ACT is changing. Join us tomorrow (Sunday) night for part two of our original discussion.
That's it for today, see ya soon.
- Andy Lockwood