How to College: A Counselor’s Advice for Essays and the Admissions Process

By Jen Ren, Co-Editor-in-Chief

If you haven’t watched Ms. Julia Husen’s interview about “How to College”, access it here.

Not enough time to watch it all? Here’s a snippet of the advice:

The “protips”-

1. Don’t be negative about yourself or your old high school

2. Don’t do write about “living in two worlds” cliché

3. For “Why School X” essays: replace the name of the college with another, and if it reads fine, it’s too generic

4. Show your essays to your parents, a trusted peer, and an adult

5. Get feedback, not edits

6. Essays need to be easy and enjoyable to read

… and 8 more!

Did you know?

1. Colleges only have about 17 minutes to read your ENTIRE application (including grades, test scores, secondary school report, essays, recommendations, everything) and for you to impress those admissions officers!

2. EA schools will not ask for first quarter senior grades, ED schools will, and REA/SCEA depends from school to school and year to year

In the end, though, Ms. Julia would like to say that “everybody is going to go to college” and this whole application process “is not like getting married and moving to Russia…[if you don’t] like your college first semester, transfer! This is not a fatal mistake you’re going to make!”

Seniors: good luck, and make sure those apps are turned in on time!