How to Write Yourself into a Top College - Exclusive AMA on Oct 1 w/ College Author and Harvard Alum Eric Tipler

[CC_Sorin]

We are excited to welcome reputed author and college admissions expert Eric Tipler (a.k.a. @etipler) for an exclusive AMA on Tuesday, October 1 in which he’ll answer your questions about getting into your top college, but also share how he got into Harvard University.

About Eric Tipler

@etipler is a writer and teacher based in New York. He has spent the past twenty years working with teenagers as a teacher, writing coach, and college admissions counselor. His students have attended the country’s top colleges and universities, including all eight Ivy League schools. Eric holds degrees from Harvard and Yale, and he is a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

About Eric’s book

Write Yourself In is a groundbreaking new guide to college admissions that reveals exactly how to write successful personal essays. You’ll learn how to find your perfect topic, avoid pitfalls, stay sane, and gain admission to a college where you will flourish.

The book features step-by-step guidance on the Common App personal essay, supplemental essays, strategies for Ivies and other highly selective schools, and scholarship essays. Special sections also address hot-button issues like ChatGPT and the 2023 Supreme Court affirmative action ruling – the first book of its kind to do so.

Eric has a Substack Newsletter that you can follow here.

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The AMA is FREE for all registered users. If you don’t have an account yet, REGISTER NOW!

The written AMA will take place on this page, in the comments section below. Make sure to ask your questions by hitting the reply button below.

[CC_Sorin]

@StudentsEssayReviews, if you have any questions on how to ace your essays at top schools make sure to ask @etipler below.

[etipler]

Good morning! I’m looking forward to hearing from you and answering questions about essays & admissions today.

Feel free to post questions at any time today. From 1:30-6pm I’ll be online intermittently and responding.

Happy to share what I’ve learned over the years, and to learn from you as well. I always learn something new from every parent and student I meet!

[CC_Sorin]

@etipler, do you want to share some essay tips for students targeting top colleges?

[ab07]

@CC_Sorin

Write Yourself In

@etipler, what would you say is the best strategy with essays if you have good test scores and GPA, but feel like your extracurriculars could be considered lacking for what top colleges expect?

I’m also struggling with writing essays that connect well with the reader as I’m more suited to technical/informational writing than creative writing.

[etipler]

@ab07 Good question. Based on what you said (good GPA & test scores, ECs lacking), here are two approaches you might take.

For the Common App personal essay, my initial instinct is to find a small, personal moment to focus on – these are what I call “little turns.” Maybe a moment of insight or turning point when you realized something about yourself: e.g., who you are, what you care about (i.e. value), how you see yourself in relation to others, or where you see yourself headed in the future.

If you write about a “small” moment like that, don’t worry about trying to be “creative” if that doesn’t feel natural to you. Instead, slow down and simply tell the story of that moment and what it meant to you.

You can use my Big Turns/Little Turns brainstorming exercise to try and surface some of those moments for yourself. It’s in my book, and I also put a free version of it online here: https://www.write-yourself-in.com/s/Big-Turns-Little-Turns-Chapter-4-l7g8.pdf

A second option, since your grades & scores are solid, is to ask yourself: is there a topic you’re particularly passionate about AND that you’ve pursued in some way, inside and/or outside the classroom? This is can be a good way to demonstrate intellectual curiosity, which is a top quality admissions officers are looking for.

Most of the time it works best to highlight intellectual curiosity in the supplemental essays. BUT if there’s something you’re particularly passionate about, and especially if there’s a story for how you discovered that passion, it can make for a great personal essay, too.

I hope that helps – good luck!

[CC_Sorin]

@etipler, do you want to share your own application story? What made you pick Harvard and, looking back, do you feel like you made the right decision and why?

[etipler]

@CC_Sorin Sure thing! I can start by answering your first question about “essay tips for students targeting top colleges.”

Last week I was in Los Angeles for NACAC, the biggest national conference in the admissions world. “Everyone” is there, so it’s a great opportunity to hear admissions deans, directors, and committee members talk about their schools and what they’re looking for.

When it came to the essays, the words I kept hearing over and over were authenticity and fit.

Now these are not new concepts, but I think that when you’re applying to selective schools, they are more important now than ever.

What I hear from admissions officers is that they’re no longer using the essays as a test of writing ability, because they know that so many kids have outside help. And in the age of ChatGPT, everyone now has access to tools to help them write a solid essay.

Some of VERY top schools are also looking to the essays, not for some startling new revelation about you, but more for confirmation (or a deeper understanding) of themes they’re seeing elsewhere in the application: your activities and interests, how you show up in the classroom (teacher recs) and the school (counselor letter).

So trying to “shock and awe” them in an essay is unlikely to help you get in; what they’re really looking for is authenticity, and a bit more insight into the person who’s doing all these great things.

So how do you ace your essays? For the AUTHENTICITY bit, the best way is to write about something that’s genuinely meaningful to you, AND that highlights a few of the personal qualities that admissions officers at top schools look for (like leadership, creativity, empathy, resilience, etc.).

Once you’re done, it can be helpful to share the essay with 1 or 2 people who know you well and ask them, “Does this sound like me?” That can be a good test of whether the essay feels (and is) authentic.

On the FIT side, I can’t stress enough the importance of researching the schools and showing in the supplemental essays that you understand what the school is offering and that you want it.

The admissions director at Barnard, for example, talked about how they look for women who want to be having conversations about gender, because that’s a big part of their campus culture and their mission (“As a college for women, Barnard embraces its responsibility to address issues of gender in all of their complexity and urgency” – that’s from Barnard’s mission statement).

In short: if your essays feel like they’re authentically you, and if you’ve done research and they show a fit with the college you’re applying to, there’s a good chance they’re going to work in your favor at top schools.

[etipler]

@CC_Sorin Answering your question: “…share your own application story? What made you pick Harvard and, looking back, do you feel like you made the right decision and why?”

Wow, that takes me back! I’ll start with the first part: What made you pick Harvard?

When I was in high school I wanted to be an orchestral conductor. Growing up in a small town in rural Virginia, I didn’t really know what that entailed, but I DID know that my hero Leonard Bernstein had gone to Harvard. So I dreamed of going there, too.

On the personal side, in high school I was also a brainy, VERY nerdy, band & theater geek who had figured out I was probably gay (but was terrified of anyone finding out), and thus felt very out of place in the rural South. So I imagined Harvard as a place where I might meet other people like me.

But of course, the real answer to your question is that I “picked” Harvard because they picked me – i.e. I got in!

(Will continue below…)

[etipler]

@CC_Sorin That also leads to another question I’ve been asked: Why did Harvard pick me?

Spoiler alert: I don’t think it was because of my essay! That essay was about how I went to music camp the summer before senior year. By the end of the summer I was even more sure that I loved music, but I also learned that I didn’t want to be playing an instrument 6 hours a day, and therefore didn’t want to go to a music conservatory for college.

Looking back, it was probably well-written (my mom’s best friend, a former English teacher, proofread it for me), but now that I know what a great college essay can do, I don’t think it tipped the scales in my favor. It probably didn’t hurt me, but I don’t think it’s the reason I got in.

Instead, I probably got in because of everything else in my application: I happened to be a high-testing, All-State bassoonist valedictorian, class president, with a lot of other extracurriculars, too…from a small town in the rural South.

All of that is important, including the geography. At the beginning of my teaching career I taught at Thomas Jefferson HSST in Northern Virginia (suburbs of Washington, DC), and I quickly realized that the kids there were MUCH more academically accomplished than I had been! If I’d gone to TJ, I imagine my chances of getting into Harvard would have been much lower.

I also tell that story because it’s important to remember that essays, while important, are just one part of the application. Sometimes a great essay can absolutely tip the scales in favor of a particular applicant and persuade the committee to admit them. Bad essays can certainly hurt your chances, but other times the essays don’t have a big impact either way. And some kids are even admitted in spite of their essays!

[thumper1]

@etipler thank you for doing this AMA. I hope others will take the opportunity to read what you have written here. Perhaps it can be pinned someplace on the forum.