@acomfysofa Yea I have my ACT/SAT done already, thank God. I just have Subject tests in June, but then so many supplements and essays, and someone told me that supps aren’t released until like august so I prob won’t be able to finish them during the summer.
Also, fly in programs have their own essays and stuff.
@kassh4 I mean if you wanted to, you could just search up the supplements from last year and do the prompts that are pretty much done every year.
@ak2018 Do they really not change them? If that’s the case ill get started right as summer starts hopefully ill be done by the time school starts.
@kassh4 Most of them don’t, especially schools on the Common App. The Common App actually emphasizes doing your essays early, even earlier than senior year. For supplements, schools may add or change some of them, but they usually keep the prompts asking why you want to go to X school, why’d you choose your major, and why you’d be a perfect fit for X school. Those general prompts are always usually kept. Those are also the easiest prompts to copy and paste because almost every school does one.
The common app essay scares me so bad, I hate writing about myself. I remember in elementary school we had these things called “writing assessments” and usually the prompt was a personal narrative and I no joke would literally (and by literally I mean literally) cry.
I have many talents, writing about myself isn’t one of them.
I’m scared of just becoming a cliche in the eyes of an admissions group. Nothing really separates me from many other people. I think I’m going to write about my summer job and programs over the past three years and how it caused me to find out what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Every time a teacher at my school talks about college essays they always say that simplicity is the best along with originality. I also heard that you want to show that you have a passion for something without saying “I have a passion for…” yet you have to make it come through throughout the essay.
I think my grades and EC’s will make me stand out but when they read my essays I’m scared that they won’t see a strong essay.
Idk I feel really unprepared to write college essays too. My whole high school career, I have written only research papers. I can’t even remember the last time I wrote a narrative or something like the CA essay. It’s so foreign to me. EC’s wise I really don’t do much outside two clubs, but those two clubs I have been really successful and I put a lot of time into them so I’m hoping that is enough. Also pretty nervous about schools that require an LOR from a humanities teacher.
I hate writing about myself so I’m also a little bit worried about the college essays. The fact that they carry so much weight and can make a huge difference between being accepted to attending a top university and getting rejected.
But I believe we all can show our passion through the essays, just looking up writing tips, asking an English teacher to help you and constantly revising the essay is the key.
Has anyone applied to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) Youth Leadership Institute? I handed in my application right when they opened it up. I was wondering if anyone else might know when they will be sending acceptance/rejection letters. Is it at the end of may or beginning of June? I really want to get accepted :)) it looks like so much fun!
I actually like writing the shorter essays prompts because I’m actually a pretty good writer and I like to let my personality show. I hate writing about my life though, especially from age 12 - 15, because those were the dark years for me. :))
I’m I the only one looking forward to writing about myself? 
I love introspective stuff like that, I think it produces some of my strongest writing. I don’t have much else going for me, so I hope my essays stand out in a good way.
My senior year schedule looks like this:
AP Euro
AP Lit
AP Stat
APES
H Latin IV (no AP Latin at my school :c )
Fitness and Nutrition (gym substitute, one semester)
Classical Studies (Greek and Roman culture, one semester)
Creative Writing (one semester)
It will be fun. I’m looking forward to my electives. 
Also, question: What is your guys’ opinion on growing up in generation STEM? I was reading these articles after trying to figure out why so many kids our age want to have a STEM career. Like literally half my graduating class wants to go into STEM and a quarter of my class wants to be some type of engineer. With the introduction of our school’s Pre-Governor’s school program, a two-year program meant to help students prepare for our county’s STEM Governor’s School their junior and senior years, my school’s becoming full of STEM career hopefuls. I think it’s great and all, but it’s definitely making the field more competitive. It’s definitely a good thing that engineers are needed! That and if it weren’t for all the STEM opportunities I’ve had, I wouldn’t be on my way to several engineering jobs after high school.
@reidd799 Hamilton has been and remains one of the relatively few colleges in the country at which math appears among the most popular majors. In a recent year Hamilton graduated math majors at ten times the national average.
https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/beyond-the-numbers-hamilton-s-exemplary-math-department
@ak2018 As someone with no talent or interest in STEM I get worried about my career prospects, but at the same time, I figure with all the people trying to go into STEM, that job market wouldn’t be much better if I went into it anyway.That’s what I tell myself, anyway…
Re #11753, note that Hamilton also appears as one of the 26 colleges listed in a Princeton Review sampling, “Great Schools for Mathematics Majors.”
Definitely our world rn is very “pre-career” oriented in my opinion. Yes, STEM has increased a lot, but I think careers in Business (esp Finance, Management, Start-up) has become the option for tons of people who don’t like science… most people don’t consider that most people have careers that aren’t necessarily the top pre-professional careers (doctor, lawyer, MBA-holding CEO, dentist, engineer)…a lot of people have more general degrees and work in corporate in some way (ie R&D for lots of science majors, HR and Marketing, Packaging/Optimization for engineers)
So right now it’s hard…it seems like everyone is competing with you for that spot with a lucrative career…but usually only the most driven people can rise up there!! Every one of y’all can do it, since we’re already thinking of these things early…but it can be scary when everyone around you seems to want to be pre-med, pre-law, engineering, computer science, pre-business ahhhh
I agree, introspective writing is good, and talking about your accomplishments should be a source of pride and achievement.
I mean, STEM is booming right now. Honestly, engineering is a very “safe” degree. While the pay isn’t as good as a doctor or lawyer, having an engineering degree pretty much guarantees employment as long as you were a decent student.
When it comes to professions like doctors and lawyers, the education process can take a long time and be extremely competitive. In contrast, engineering usually only requires a Bachelor’s degree to start working.
That said, STEM isn’t for everyone.
@RMNiMiTz I don’t buy engineering being ‘safer.’ Depending on your field, job security may depend completely on the market. Doctors are always needed. A mechanical engineer looking for employment during a recession won’t always find that to be the case. While in other fields, being older increases your value. In tech and engineering, it makes you easier to replace. There’s a reason the average age at google is 29.
I want to go into tech too (not the traditional silicon valley route though shudders), but it definitely isn’t a free ticket. Just like a Philosophy major, you have to find your own opportunities and make your own career.
Hate to disagree with you, but an engineer definitely has a higher chance of getting decent field-related employment compared to a philosopher. I am not saying that philosophy is a bad major, but you have to be a really really good philosophy major (top 1-2%) to score a good job. Compare that to engineering, where an average student can score a decent government desk job.
Doctors are always needed, but getting into med school is very difficult, especially compared to getting into engineering.
That’s not necessarily true. By the time they get old, most engineers are in management roles with their MBAs. Google also can’t be compared to more traditional engineering firms.
Nothing in life is a free ticket, no matter what you major in. It’s just a lot easier to get a ticket as an engineer than as a philosopher.
@RMNiMiTz Fair enough. We disagree and that’s fine.