and #11: not allowing yourself ample time to polish it. Read ten ways in which you can ruin your college admissions essay! https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/07/how-to-ruin-your-college-admissions-essay/knot-czech-yore-dam-spelling #commonappessay

During the busy college season, admission officers spend countless hours reading college essays. So how can yours stand out from the rest? By crafting a memorable essay beginning with an engaging opening statement or what we call a "hook". Read this article to find out three ways to create a "hook": https://www.collegeraptor.com/getting-in/articles/college-applications/engaging-ways-to-open-your-college-app-essay/ #commonappessay #supplementalessays #coalitionessay

Check out this article which describes each of the Common Application's seven prompts, give examples on how to answer each one of them and, finally, provides tips on how to write the actual essay. https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-the-common-application-essays-2018-2019/ #commonappessay

Every year, the New York Times selects the best college essays on work, money and social class. These are the top picks for 2018: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/your-money/college-essay-topic-money-social-class.html #commonappessay #NewYorkTimes

We see it every year and each year, it gets worse and worse...so many top students getting rejected from so many colleges. But why exactly is this occurring? Please read this article that helps explain what is going on in the college admissions world. https://blog.collegevine.com/why-are-students-getting-rejected-from-every-college/ #collegeacceptances #demonstratedinterest #commonappessay #supplementalessays #Extracurriculars

Proofe reed your essayes! A typo here or there won't hurt your chances of getting in but it certainly won't help either! Check out this article which lists the 10 most common grammar mistakes seen in college applications: https://www.c2educate.com/blog/10-grammar-mistakes-that-hurt-college-apps-and-all-other-writing/ #commonappessay #supplementalessays #admissionstips

Should you talk about politics or religion in a college essay? Uumm... it depends. For one, you have to take into consideration to which schools are you sending this essay to or i.e. how would they take it? It would be better off if you didn't have as a central theme in your college essay such a divisive topic but if you have a very strong opinion about it, there are ways to address it without getting your application into the REJECT pile. Check out this article which talk

Please use your voice and not your mother's, your father's, your guidance counselor's nor your coach's! The essay has to sound like you! This is the most important tip to a successful essay! The second tip is to "show and tell": start with an anecdote and base the rest of the essay on that. Why? You need to keep the essay interesting. So, 1) show your voice and 2) keep it interesting! Check out this link which talks precisely about this: http://www.forbes.com/sites/christear

High School Senior, Brittany Stinson, got into 5 Ivy League schools and into Stanford University with a now famous and very mundane essay called simply "Costco". I mean what can be more mundane than a visit to Costco? Check it out! Do you think this is "Ivy-material"? http://www.businessinsider.com/high-school-senior-who-got-into-5-ivy-league-schools-shares-her-admissions-essay-2016-4?utm_content=bufferdc218&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer #com

Early Decision/Early Action applicants are right now finalizing their college applications and their essays. Please, please, please use your voice when writing your essays. Show the schools who you are! Read them and see if they are you! If they are not, you still have time before November 1st to revise them and make them your own. Also, don't forget to proofread them and make sure there are no misspellings nor grammatical mistakes! And above all, goodluck on your ED/EA sch