8 Creative Ways to Start Your College Essay (Student examples included!)

For most students, writing the college essay can be stressful. What I tell students is to look at the essay as an opportunity to share their story with college admissions officers, showing how they stand out from other candidates. But getting started is difficult. Often students delay writing the essay until it is assigned by their senior English teachers. This is a big mistake, as it is too close to fall early application deadlines and the final product does not make a compelling case for acceptance. I recommend students start early by choosing a memorable essay topic to write about.

Why College Admissions is Personal

I subscribe to Paper.li newsletter to keep updated on trends in college admissions. In this week's edition, I noticed an article written by someone I attended the University of Chicago with, Phoebe Maltz Bovy. The article was titled, " The False Promise of 'Holistic' College Admissions." 

Bovy argues that college admissions officers unfairly judge students' character based on a few pieces of information -- standardized test scores, transcripts, essays, activity lists, and recommendations. I agree that using "holistic" is probably not the best term since the average admissions officer spends very little time reading a candidate's application before making an initial decision. Less to do with the assertion that colleges make false promises, what resonated with me about Bovy's article is the question it prompted: is college admissions too personal? If there's not enough time to get to know students on a personal level, with college applications reaching record highs,  then why are students being asked to divulge their most secret moments, many that have never been shared with anyone? Why are admissions officers Google searching students? 

Juniors: Reflect and Re-visit

In college admissions, you have 1000 words at most to convince schools you are worthy of an acceptance letter. Half the battle of a successful sell is applying to the right colleges.

Before you get to fit, you have to know yourself. Start by putting your thoughts on paper that answers the important questions that drive your academic priorities and interests: Who am I? What am I about? How do I learn best? In what type of environment do I thrive? What kind of people do I enjoy being with? What do I do well? What challenges me? Who inspires me?

As you answer these questions, use narrative to demonstrate your growth and personal evolution over time. Also, take inventory of defining moments in your life. Piece together your stories and look for common themes: leadership, discovery, overcoming obstacles, or stepping outside of your comfort zone for example.

Time spent on reflection upon and re-visiting yourself serves a dual purpose of getting you closer to your best-fit school and lays the foundation for next year's college applications.

Juniors: No Mid-Winter Break Plans? Visit Colleges From Home.

Before deciding which colleges to apply to, it is recommended that you visit first. However this can be quite costly and time consuming. These days many colleges participate in virtual tour portals for you to learn about them from the comfort of your own home. Here are three resources where you can experience college without leaving the couch:

Dreams of Attending an Ivy? Adopt a Tiger Mom.

In recent news, Amy Chua, author of the controversial child rearing memoir, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" has returned to the spotlight with a new book that examines characteristics that make particular immigrant groups successful in the United States.

Chua's first book, self-praises her "tiger mom" success-above-all driven parenting style. She's a diehard mom who commingles high levels of expectations and demands of her children with parental investment and involvement. Chua's stark sermon of strict Chinese parenting sucker punches the Western mom's self-esteem building approach.

Since the book's 2011 release, Chua's eldest daughter is attending Harvard; and her youngest daughter is also Ivy-bound. How could admissions officers not reward an accomplished 17 year old musician who's played at Carnegie Hall?

In the college admissions game, is tiger mom parenting a good thing?  Consider what a tiger mom could do for you:

Seniors: Reasons to love the final semester of High School

College applications....done. Financial aid applications....complete.
Anxiously you wait for college decisions and financial aid packages to arrive. This waiting period can be nerve wrecking, and "senioritis" is beginning to settle in. Yet graduation is still months away. The best thing you can do now is love your final semester of high school.

Juniors: What should I be doing now to prepare for the College Admissions process?

It’s the time between Regents exams and spring college fairs, what’s a junior in high school to do to prepare for the upcoming college admissions process? We put together a list of the most important tasks for juniors to tackle before April:

  Researching Colleges. This summer you will begin the college application process. Get started now by doing work to craft a preliminary list. There are nearly 3,000 colleges in the United States. Look into which ones fit you best by taking inventory of yourself and what you’re looking to get out of the college experience. Next make an appointment at your school or local library college and career center to learn about print and on-line resources available to inform your research. Also ask the resource center coordinator for a schedule of upcoming college fairs and open houses to visit.

How Education Is Lived in America

In 2000, The New York Times featured a summer-long series, “How Race Is Lived in America”. Through interviews, this groundbreaking series chronicled race relations in American society. If readers had hoped to find good news, quickly they met disappointment. The newspaper’s bleak findings detail Americans who reflect on experiences growing up apart from friends because of race; others give remarkable accounts of confronting the racial divide in housing, entertainment, law, sports, and medicine.