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How did you create the best application possible?

During #summer18 , I plan to work on my college applications. What do you wish you knew going into it? In hindsight, what do you wish you did or didn't do? How did you create the best application possible?

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Austin’s Answer

Hi Haley,

It is great to hear that you are going to use this summer to start filling out your application and write your essays. Starting early is always a good idea because time does fly by and you do not want to end up feeling rushed to submit your application and finish writing your essays. In hindsight, there were many things that I would change about the college application process the largest of which would be how I wrote my college essay. I ended up getting into my #1 college, but I made it much more difficult on myself that it needed to be. The essay question was simple, it was "Why do you want to go to our university". It should have been an easy question but I really stressed out trying to figure out the "perfect answer". What I did not realize at the time is that there is no such thing as a "perfect answer" to a college essay question, colleges ask essay questions to understand who you are and how you think.


College genuinely want to get to know you and the kind of person you are. If you write an essay filled with general statements of things you "think" they want to hear you really are telling them nothing about yourself. When you write your essay, demonstrate to the college that you are an individual with a personality. Show them who you are and what you can bring to their university. Demonstrate why they should accept you, what is unique about you, and the kind of person you are. That is my first piece of advice.


Secondly, when filling out the application be sure to answer every question and answer it correctly (I accidentally marked myself as "female" and didn't catch it until right before I was going to send in my application). Have another set of eyes go through your college application and essay to make sure that everything is correct and that there are no obvious mistakes that could be corrected .


Thirdly, in your application and in your essay highlight different aspects about yourself. You should demonstrate in your application the whole of who you are not not just one piece of you. You are most likely involved in lots of different activities and have varied interests, highlight those varied parts about you in your application.


I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck in your college application process.


Best,

Austin

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