The Write Way into College: Rising Above GPAs and Test Scores with Memorable Application Essays

by Jody Cohan-French

Overview

Stand out. Get in.

Competition to get into colleges is fierce. Many applicants have solid GPAs and test scores, and similar leadership and volunteer experiences--so how do you rise above the crowd? In The Write Way into College, author Jody Cohan-French shows you how to set yourself apart and present your unique potential through compelling application essays. As Jody says, "The key is to tell your story and reveal something distinguishing or memorable about yourself."

This accessible guide explains how to interpret and break down essay prompts, tap into the engaging details of your topics, and break way from conventional structure to set your writing voice free. By studying example essays, you'll also learn how to self-edit, condense redundant content, and avoid the typical application essay pitfalls. The Write Way Into College will help you find that essay-writing groove and get on your way to the college and future you've worked so hard for.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632991836
Publisher:	River Grove Books
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.41(d)

About the Author

Jody Cohan-French is an award-winning writer, editor, and writing coach, whose students have gained entry to their dream universities from California to the Ivy League. Her previous book, The World Was Our Stage: Spanning the Globe with ABC Sports, is a collaboration with producer/director Doug Wilson. In the book, 17-time Emmy Award winner Doug recounts his incredible fifty-year journey with ABC Sports and its groundbreaking sports anthology program, Wide World of Sports.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

GETTING ORGANIZED

Times have changed since I was a senior in high school and applied to only two colleges. In today's highly competitive admissions market, most students hedge their bets with at least ten schools. That's a lot of essay writing and deadlines to track. The number one mistake I see many students make in the college application process is underestimating the amount of time it will take. Your schedules are so jam-packed that these applications become yet another item that you set aside until the deadline is looming.

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WARNING

Do not treat college application essays like English papers you'd throw together the night before they are due!

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Truth is, you've likely only written a first draft of those hurried high school papers. Your teacher may give valuable comments, but there is rarely time in the schedule to address feedback with a rewrite. You take your grade and move on to the next assignment.

Your college application essays, however, must be a finished product.

Even professional writers go through their drafts multiple times — and so do a barrage of editors, from line editors to copyeditors to proofreaders. In this day and age of short attention spans, keep in mind that good writing takes time. My students make anywhere from five to seventeen passes on each essay. Because they're fine-tuning, some drafts may take only a few minutes. My point: The longer you wait to start writing your application essays, the more stress you'll feel. Plan ahead. Start in the summer, when you don't have school distractions and deadline stress. If necessary, drop one activity to make room for working on your college applications.

THE GRID

Create a spreadsheet so you can track progress and deadlines. I recommend the following column headers:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Customize this grid. For example, you might want to add personal deadlines ahead of the actual ones.

In the ESSAY PROMPTS column, insert the entire prompt(s) for each school.

In the TOPIC column, summarize the subject matter of each essay. You don't need anything lengthy here, just some shorthand that triggers your memory (e.g., "summer in Florence," "robot presentation," or "gazebo").

When evaluating a private school package, don't forget to include your Common Application essay.

Some majors and programs (typically art, architecture, design, music, theater, and film) have additional application requirements that might include more essays, submission of a portfolio of work, or an audition. Be sure to include these items in your grid.

Having an overview of the prompts and topics serves two purposes.

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You avoid repeating content for a school that requires multiple essays.

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In each application, you'll want to paint the broadest possible picture of yourself. The University of California application, for example, requires four written essays. If you write about your tae kwon do practice in one essay, you don't want to write about it in another unless you don't have anything else to say or the story or angle is completely different. Those four essays should touch on four different aspects of your life and personality.

The same concept goes for tone. If one essay is humorous, be sure to present your more serious side in another. The entire essay package needs to work as a whole; it should be like a sampler box of chocolates, not one vanilla cream after another.

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The grid serves as a content database.

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Different schools might have similar or identical prompts. Seeing your essay topics at a glance points you to content, so you can borrow without reinventing the wheel. Similar prompts, however, doesn't mean you can just cut and paste one essay into another. Some rewriting almost always needs to be done (we'll discuss this later).

Using the grid in conjunction with your calendar is also great preparation for college, where you will be juggling classes, exams, assignments, and activities all on your own!

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Feeling overwhelmed?

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Just take it one essay at a time. Piece by piece, your application essays will all come together. Set aside an hour each day. If you aren't disciplined, set a writing date with a friend. You don't even need to be in the same room. Call or text each other at a set time and start writing. Check in on each other's progress an hour later.

You might be the type who needs to get out of your regular space in order to concentrate, not to mention avoid distractions such as your PlayStation or the frig. If so, pack up that laptop or pad of paper and head to the library, coffee house, or park. Even if you aren't interacting with other people, their energy can help you settle down and focus.

As you start to ponder the prompts, be prepared to capture ideas — whether writing in a notebook or recording on your smartphone — as they come to mind. By dividing an intimidating writing project into little pieces, you will, over time, fill blank pages with black stuff.

CHAPTER 2

THE PROMPTS

As Maria von Trapp would say, "Let's start at the very beginning." When it comes to writing application essays, a very good place to start is with the prompts. During my career, I've read several essays that were solid pieces of writing, but the students did not address the prompt! Submit an essay that neglects to completely address the prompt or goes off topic, and the admissions folks will learn something about you, all right. Unfortunately, it's that you have poor reading comprehension and pay little attention to detail. Into the circular file your application goes!

To avoid this tactical error, be clear on what a prompt is asking, and be sure to address each point.

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If you don't understand a prompt, don't guess.

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Ask your school counselor or English teacher, call the admissions office, or do some online research.

BREAKING DOWN THE PROMPT

Print the prompt and read it out loud. Read it again, highlighting key words:

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PROMPT

Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma — anything of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

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Now, put those key words into a list. By rewriting the prompt, you will clearly see the points to address in your essay. Note that this particular prompt calls for you to make a choice: Will you write about a problem you have solved or one you would like to solve?

For this illustration, we'll go with a problem you'd like to solve.

1 Describe the problem.

2 How is this problem of personal importance to you?

3 Explain the problem's significance to you.

4 What steps you would take to identify a solution?

There is one problem to identify and three items that must be addressed in this prompt

If any part of a prompt seems vague, look up the key words — even if you have a general grasp of their meaning. Take, for instance, the following:

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PROMPT

Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.

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I have students look up the words "intellectual" and "vitality" so they are clear on the nuances of their meaning.

BRAINSTORMING

Most students start writing prematurely. This forces their essays structurally and lessens chances of discovery through the creative process. Take the pressure off writing and free yourself by brainstorming first. See what you find.

Let's return to the example "problem" prompt. Brainstorm about those four points. You don't have to follow list order, but in this case, identifying the problem first makes sense. Jot down a few problems of personal importance that you would like to solve. Unless you clearly have a topic, there's no need to narrow yourself right away.

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Size does not matter!

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You don't have to write about solving global warming or ending the war on terrorism. You can write about something as "small" as trying to mend a rift between two friends. I'll discuss "size" more later, but for now, just identify a problem you'd like to solve. If you pick subject matter from your own experiences, your personal connection to the material will make the writing come easier.

Now, pretend you are an Olympic swimmer coiled on the block. The starter gun goes off, and you fly into the water and swim your brains out. In this case, you'll write your brains out. For at least ten minutes.

Don't worry about organizing thoughts or connecting sentences or utilizing good grammar. Don't judge; don't hold back. Just keep that pen or those keys moving. You are simply downloading thoughts. Later, you'll cull through these thoughts to craft an essay. But for now — even if those initial sentences seem worthless or stupid — keep going. This process often reveals good content ... if you let yourself go.

Repeat this downloading with each point of the prompt. If thoughts don't come easily, you may not have picked a problem that is truly significant to you. (We'll come back to what to do with your brainstorming notes in Chapter 4 on "Crafting.")

THE POWER OF A "SMALL" STORY

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PROMPT

Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?

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After we read this prompt together, I asked students to write down places where they felt content. I then asked them to describe their place. I noticed one student wasn't writing. She said she was hesitant because her place wasn't all that significant. When I asked her where she felt content, she shook her head, a little embarrassed. I pointed out that she had written down her happy place immediately, so it had to be meaningful to her. She finally revealed it was the gazebo at her neighborhood park; she liked to stop there on her way home from school. I asked her to brainstorm about the gazebo: how it looks, what happens there, what she does, and how she feels there. When I looked back a few minutes later, she was engrossed, her pen moving effortlessly.

The brainstorming exercise helped this student discover some terrific material. She was also able to adapt this material to a similar prompt for another school:

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PROMPT

Describe the world you come from: for example, your family, clubs, school, community, city, or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations? [250 words]

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After brainstorming about her dreams and aspirations, this student realized she could perfectly link her thoughts. The resulting "simple" story about a gazebo in a park earned the student early admission to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology:

My eyes drift away from "Exploring Gymnosperm Diversity" in my biology textbook as two women in hijabs wander into my gazebo and say hello. A few minutes later, an elderly Asian man stops to take in the view of the lake. Then, two teenagers burst in. I'm drawn to the one on the skateboard because I skate, too. They're blasting awful hip-hop, but I like the beat.

I love going to the park after school to do my homework. I prefer the solitude I feel when I'm alone in the company of strangers to the loneliness I often feel at home as an only child. Unlike the chambered nautilus, I like to find space outside my shell where I can open up to the world. As all these characters come through my gazebo, I feel oddly comfortable with them. I feel a connection.

I've realized that these chance meetings face-to-face in the park are no different than the Canterbury of tales I read about online in the "Lives" column of The New York Times or while interacting through hashtags on Twitter and blogs on Tumblr. Such online encounters are natural for me, and as a computer scientist, I want to create more of the technology that makes them feel so natural. Through advancements in artificial intelligence, human-computer interfaces, and mobile computing, I want to hear and help share other people's stories, whether on the other side of the gazebo or the other side of cyberspace.

Look at all the things this essay reveals about this student! We learn much more than the fact that she likes to study in the gazebo after school and wants to become a computer scientist. This essay is loaded with information about the writer, and it is all conveyed through good storytelling. I want to note that connecting her ideas was not planned; it was discovered. If you let yourself brainstorm and explore without judgment, magic can happen to you, too.

Another student I worked with wrote about the couch in her living room. That's right, the couch. And she gained early admission to the University of Pennsylvania. Now, the couch wasn't her literal world, but the stories about how her family acquired that couch and the life experiences that occurred on and around that couch were. Here is her essay:

The leg is still crooked from the day we found it lying on the street, unwanted. We took it home. I had never seen my parents so excited. When they came to America, all they brought with them were two suitcases. My father was looking for a job and my mother took care of my brother and me, so they counted every penny. Finding something we needed was a gift.

Thirteen years later, that couch is still in our living room. The orange stain on the cushion reminds me of the day my brother taught me how to throw a basketball. He showed me his special flick of the wrist, which I imitated, forgetting the Orangina in my hand, which went flying. My brother and I have spent a lot of time sitting on that couch. We talk about everything: what kind of friends I should make, which classes to take, and what kind of person I should be.

The condition of the left arm has worsened lately. Sometimes when I'm too tired to stand while practicing viola, I lean on it for support. While working on Brahms' Sonata No. 2, I swayed so much to the romantic music that I gradually wore off the paint. I used to play viola like a robot; it was all about winning competitions. But when I played the sonata at the senior center, everything changed. To see the gratitude on the faces in the audience and hear their applause — even though I made mistakes — made me realize that performing music isn't about how well I play; it's about playing with my heart.

The seat on the far left is still empty ... waiting ... for my father. After moving from job to job, he finally found stable employment in China. Even though we now live in a spacious house and can afford new furniture, our beloved couch is still with us. I miss my father and cherish when he returns home every three months to sit with the entire family that awaits him on the couch.

I've spent so much time on this piece of furniture it feels like my own little world. Whenever I sit on it, I am reminded of the memories it holds. I also think about my future. I want to work hard like my parents as I start my new, independent life. I want to be a role model to my loved ones like my brother has been to me. I want to play the viola, or do anything in life, not just for me but also for others. I want to be the parent that my father never could be and stay close to my family.

As I head off to college, my world will expand through the classes I attend and the people I meet. I will continue to learn from new experiences even if, like the couch, they have imperfections, because these imperfections are what shape who I am and who I want to be.

So just write away and see what comes up. You are on an exposition expedition!

CHOOSING AN APPROPRIATE TOPIC

The purpose of these essays is to let admissions get to know you, but if you are wondering if a certain topic is taboo, check in with a school counselor or other trusted adult. Potentially difficult topics include suicide, rape, criminal behavior, abusive parents, and drug abuse. Sometimes, how you handle or approach the topic makes the difference between taboo and acceptable. You would certainly want to show a positive outcome or growth and how you got there. A good rule of thumb is the "too much information" test: If someone winces and says, "TMI!" when you discuss this topic, don't go there in your essay. In all but one situation, I have advised my students to stay clear of difficult subjects for the simple reason that they had stronger topics to explore.

DIVERSITY PROMPTS

Diversity. This is one of those words you should look up so you completely understand it. Diversity goes beyond race or religion and whether or not you belong to a minority group. Schools with these prompts are basically telling you they take pride in being a melting pot. They want to know what you will bring to their mix — not only via your personal diversity but your attitude toward others.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Write Way Into College"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Jody Cohan-French.
Excerpted by permission of River Grove Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION,
GETTING ORGANIZED,
The Grid,
THE PROMPTS,
Breaking Down the Prompt,
Brainstorming,
The Power of a "Small" Story,
Choosing an Appropriate Topic,
Diversity Prompts,
The Dreaded "Why" Prompts,
Similar Prompts,
List Prompts,
Optional Prompts,
International Students,
When You Have Options,
THE DETAILS,
Assume Your Reader Knows Nothing,
Think Like a Reporter,
Watch Your Language,
Have No Fear,
Can You Pass Your Essay to the Right?,
CRAFTING,
Divide and Conquer,
Keep the Prompt in Front of You,
Address the Key Words and Phrases,
Ready? Go!,
PRE-EDITING CHECKLIST,
Have You Addressed the Prompt?,
Have You Responded to Each Point in the Prompt?,
Have You Stayed on Topic?,
EDITING BASICS,
The Domino Theory of Editing,
Visual Impressions,
Tense and Point of View,
First Paragraphs,
Burying the Lede,
Slap-On Endings,
CONDENSING,
Word Count,
Keep it Simple, Stupid,
Redundancies,
Don't Tell Us the Obvious,
Don't Give Away the Goods,
STYLE,
Skip the Beauty Pageant Statements,
Easy on the Schmaltz,
Don't Brag,
Avoid Brownnosing,
Watch Your Tone,
Write Inside,
POLISHING,
Lose or Replace Stilted Transitions,
Can You Taste Your Essay?,
The "It" Word,
The "There" Word,
Got Rhythm?,
Guidance for International Students,
Read Your Draft Out Loud,
Assembling the Entire Package,
PUT YOUR ESSAY TO THE TEST,
But Wait,
PARTING ADVICE,
Don't Procrastinate,
Public or Private School?,
Apply for Scholarships,
Work the Interview,
Check Your Ego,
Be True to Your School and Yourself,
APPENDIX,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS,
ABOUT THE AUTHOR,