As a rising senior, I am starting to apply early to a great school. But, how do I start? Should I fill out the common application after July 1st? How do I start writing the application essay? I tried, but nothing came out. What should it be about? I don’t know whether or not I should write about my hearing loss and the obstacles I faced and overcame, my moving and how my character grew, or other experiences that might affected my life.
<p>Any comment would be helpful!</p>
<p>First step is to figure out the schools that you want to attend. Then look at their personal statement prompts. It will tell you exactly what to write about, or at the very least, help you narrow it down. Any ideas where you want to go?</p>
<p>Yes…Princeton</p>
<p>I am looking at Princeton’s application and they have everything clearly outlined. There is a variety of subjects that you can write about. Personally, I think you should definately write about your hearing loss and the obstacles that you have faced. This makes you unique and it will definately make for an interesting read, especially in the eyes of the admissions committee. Check out the link.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/pr/admissions/u/appl/pdf/puapplflds.pdf[/url]”>http://www.princeton.edu/pr/admissions/u/appl/pdf/puapplflds.pdf</a></p>
<p>I have a suggestion - doen’t make P’ton your first application. App’s tend to improve as you do them (till you get sick of them). Try submitting your safety schools first.</p>
<p>Try getting a copy of the common application and fill it out. Once you have your GC’ phone number and the high school’s CCB all in one place, filling in the blanks on most applications is very manual. You can develop your activity list (or resume). Most colleges have at least one essay question that you can pretty much insert your own question for. I would recommend “Acing the College Application” by Michele Hernandez as a good book that focuses on the admissions process from the viewpoint of the app.</p>
<p>I think, though, that you should probably spend more time on thinking about what you want in a college. Saying that you want Princeton might imply that you are planning a ED app, but you should still look at other schools both in case you are not accepted ED or just to get a better feel for what you want. A person can visit colleges over the summer before senior year. It is a good idea to visit local colleges that you don’t even plan to apply to just to get a feel for different types of schools such as large/midsize/small, university/LAC, public/private, urban/rural/suburban, political atmosphere on campus, social life, and so on. I don’t know why you chose Princeton, but it is important not to just fall in love with a name.</p>
<p>Hey, on the app, it says put 1,2,3 in order of preference. When I click on the pdf file, it just checks it; does that matteR?</p>
<p>I really resent the family information portion of the application. We are all being judged by our parents. </p>
<p>If they are middle class and have gone to college, it will really hurt our chances to get into collge.</p>
<p>If they have phd’s or have not gone to college at all, it will help.</p>
<p>I think admissions should be parent information blind.</p>
<p>I’d write a quick rough draft of more than one essay and see how it goes. You usually have enough freedom to use practically any topic you want. I know I thought of some topics, then once I started to write it, found that I didn’t have much interesting stuff to say about it. Then others just poured out easily once I started writing. It’s worth it to write a couple essays and pick one to polish, plus having extra essays waiting to be used never hurts anything…Trust me, you will find an application for something they can be used for. </p>
<p>I agree with previous posters that you shouldn’t limit yourself to one favorite school so soon. There are many wonderful schools out there that you could look at and would probably be equally happy at as you’d be a Princeton.</p>
<p>I agree with Cynthia, it helps to do a few drafts of different kinds of essays, so you can gauge how it’s going and learn to refine your work. Plus you don’t write by thinking in your head. You write by sitting down and putting pen to paper. While you do this your initial idea does not then have to take all the space in your head and you can then have space to move forward and develop the thoughts.</p>
<p>Last fall, dd’s school year started with a Sr. class essay writing workshop. They did a few drafts of various essays from the common ap. This was a good and valuable exercise even though she didn’t use them.</p>
<p>It is true that the essays get better. After doing her EA essay at a school that didn’t limit word count, she was able to make the essay even better when she had to cut it in 1/2. It seems impossible, but nothing was left out, but the essay was distilled to the essence.</p>
<p>If you try but nothing comes out then you maybe have nothing to offer the school, eh? Try writing little incidents with detail. Don’t try right off to write an entire comprehensive essay. Try writing what kind of hearing problem you have and what happened, how you felt when it occurred. Try writing a funny thing that happened because you couldn’t hear. See what comes out. Write about your favorite subject in shool and why. Then later you might get a good idea for an essay. Look at the stuff you do. Describe it to a stranger.</p>
<p>Anyone want to answer my question?</p>