Essay and other Application Questions College Application Essay and other Application Questions

Qualities They’re Looking for Special spark, rare talent, special recognition Creativity Complex intelligence, curiosity, intellectual achievement Tenacity, self-discipline, motivation Leadership

Dos and Don’ts Do include special talents, interests not mentioned in this application DO NOT repeat information given elsewhere in the application

Dos and Don’ts Do feel comfortable expressing anxieties, moments of weakness Do reflect on the situation and discuss what you learned from it Use the essay as a chance to to explain any bad news or glitch that appears in another part of your application

Dos and Don’ts Be you Write in your own voice No fabrications

Dos and Don’ts Don’t use cliches (making a mountain out of a mole hill, don’t count your chickens before they hatch, the straw that broke the camel’s back, finding a needle in a haystack) Be original in how you express your thoughts and ideas Don’t worry, the writing doesn’t need to be perfect Humanize the numbers Be insightful

Words of Wisdom There is no list of good things to write about, but there are bad/overused ones - winning the football game, learning something from sports - traveling abroad, summer trip - desire, determination stories: “I’ve always wanted to become a doctor…” UC Berkeley

Words of Wisdom Have you answered the question, “What do we know about this individual?” –UC Berkeley

Assignment UC: your essay is online http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/how-to-apply/personal-statement/index.html 1. Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations. 2. Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

UC YouTube Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zo6NI4wHf4 It's a 52-minute video on how to write the personal statement for the UC's; while it may be from 2007, it's still relevant today.  

Assignment Private School (USC, Biola): you may or may not have an essay provided as part of application Any college with no essay: local scholarship essay

Local Scholarship Essays Write 1-2 pages on one of the following prompts: Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations. Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are? Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure.  How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?

Local Scholarship Essays Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure.  How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?

Fee Waiver Info To qualify for a fee waiver, you must have used a fee waiver for the SAT They can use up to 4 fee waivers when applying to colleges.  Thank you Mrs. Sanders To qualify for a fee waiver, they need to qualify for the reduced/free lunch program.  I wouldn’t tell them that though because a lot of them lie and say they are on reduced/free lunch and they are not.  Unfortunately, we have no way of checking if they are telling the truth or not.  They are supposed to bring in taxes from the previous year, but I doubt many of the counselors actually require this.  We have yet to establish a foolproof way of checking this, and the last time I suggested something, nobody supported me, so I guess we just hand them out to kids who say they are on the lunch program.   Their family income has to be ridiculously low. 

How many colleges can we apply to when we turn in our application? The UC application fee is $70.  They have to pay for each college to which they apply.  The CSU fee is  $55 .  They also have to pay for each college to which they apply. Thank you Mrs. Sanders

What is our CEEB#? 050770 Thank you Mrs. Sanders