Writing about oneself is not an easy task, but a necessary one when it comes to college applications. Too often students and parents scour the internet looking for the secret to the best college essays, or devour past essays as clues to getting in. But there is no gaming the system when it comes to writing the essay.

Let’s take a step back and think about the importance of the personal statement. In a mass of thousands of applications, the personal statement is one of the few key components of the applications where the student has freedom of expression – both in terms of style and content. In an era when the average GPA of college applicants is above a 3.5, test prep has boosted average standardized test scores, and resume padding is an extracurricular in an of itself, admissions officers are hungry for more information. They want to know who you are, what is important to you, and what makes you tick. With this information, they will get a better sense of what you will contribute to their college campuses and what role you will play in the overall collegiate community.

So don’t waste time reading the 1000 most successful college essays or mimicking the essays your neighbor wrote last year. Your essays need to be uniquely yours!

The first thing you want to do is to evaluate your application. Where are its strengths and weaknesses? What are the important experiences and qualities that are not fully discussed in your transcript, test scores, list of activities, and letters of recommendations? What are the success and failures that have made you stronger? What are the moments that have influenced you? What do you want an admissions officer to know about you when they finish reading your application?

Once you have a sense of what you want to convey, sit down at your computer and just write and write and write about a given experience or thought until you have nothing else to say. Don’t get limited by structure or style. Don’t get bogged down by word counts and “hooks”. Somewhere in your meanderings probably lays the basis of your college essay. Go through these drafts by yourself or with someone that you trust to pick out the most salient and impactful ideas.

Remember that you will likely have at least two essays to write for each given college. Try to balance ideas and experiences. If you want to talk about a failure in one essay, use the other essay to show your strengths. If you want to be a doctor or engineer or teacher want to discuss those interests, pick one essay topic to convey your future goals and use the other to discuss something unrelated to career choice. If you had one really amazing summer experience, relate its meaning in one essay and use the other to discuss one of your hobbies.  If you need to discuss why your grades slipped in one semester, be concise and to the point. No need to draw out this explanation over multiple essay topics since your high school career should not be defined by it.

Every essay is an opportunity to share something about yourself that is not easily evident. Writing about being a hard worker when your grades already show it is too easy. Saying that you want to be a doctor because you like helping people is almost obvious. While you might love dance or music because it offers you the ability to express yourself has already been written about. The same is true for art. It is not that these experiences or sentiments are not important. It is that these ideas don’t even scratch the surface. Do not waste the opportunity in front of you. Think deeply about what you want to convey.

Writing may not be easy, but it is much easier if you write honestly and sincerely. 

All the best, and happy writing! 

Team Insight

This week we’re taking #CollegeFactsFriday to the capital and learning more about American University, located in Washington DC! 

1. American University was founded by John Fletcher Hurst in 1893, and first took on undergraduate students in 1925.

2. There are 250+ student organizations at AU, you can learn more about them here. 

3. The Mascot for American University is one you can probably guess – an Eagle! For the history of “Clawed Z. Eagle”, you can watch a video all about it here.

4. American University has eight schools and over 170 programs including bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

5. Sustainability is a big focus at AU, and electricity on the campus comes from 100% renewable sources! 

6. American University boasts a 90-acre campus in Washington, DC. and offers students the chance to enrich themselves with the history and culture found in the very famous streets around them. AU was ranked #4 for most beautiful urban campuses in 2015! 

7. AU is certainly more than a “sleepy college town” – watch a video about campus life and spirit here. 

8. Famous Alumni from American University include Goldie Hawn, Paul Ryan and Judy Sheindlin – AKA, Judge Judy! 

9. New students to AU take part in the “All American Welcome”, a two week celebration that welcomes new students to campus with over 70 events! Interested in learning more? Click here for the website. 

10. Learn more about American University on social! Visit Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

This week we’re heading to Colorado for #CollegeFactsFriday, learning more about the University of Denver! 

1. Students at DU reap the benefit of its amazing location, located near the beautiful Rocky Mountains and enjoying over 19,000 acres of park space in and around Denver. 

2. University of Denver is ranked in the top 5 schools in the nation for study abroad participation. Around 70% of undergraduate students study abroad for at least one academic term.

3. The college colors are crimson and gold 

4. University of Denver was founded in 1864 as the Colorado Seminary, only six years after the founding of Denver City in what was then the Colorado Territory.

5. Fun fact – the University has it’s own special flower! The DU Rose is a special variety known as “Rosa Denvera.” After the University received a rose bush as a gift in 1912, botanist Ira Cutler discovered the blossoms were unlike any others. He then used the original specimens to develop a distinct variety still used for functions on campus.

6. Getting outside of the classroom during study is a big part of the University of Denver culture. Learn more here. 

7. Being that Denver becomes a winter wonderland during the colder months, it’s no surprise that “Winter Carnival” is one of the favored traditions at the school. It’s a full week of festivities for students to take part in, you can learn more about the 2019 carnival here.  

8. 35% of the buildings on campus are over 50 years old! 

9. DU enrolls approximately 5,600 undergraduate students and 6,100 graduate students

10. Learn more about University of Denver on social! Visit Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for more. 

As we enjoy the last few weeks of sunshine… wait, who are we kidding? It’s California! It’ll still be sunny in November! Well, even still, we can’t help but want to write about a school in sunny CA for #CollegeFactsFriday. Ready to learn more about UC Riverside? Read on! 

1. The very first “first-day” for UC Riverside was in February 1954. Interesting fact about UC Riverside is that the school didn’t start off as a school at all! Rather, UCR was the official UC Citrus Experimentation Station. Read more history here. 

2. UCR Palm Desert, which opened in 2005, extends the reach of UCR to the Coachella Valley, offering a Master of Fine Arts degree, continuing education courses, and a Future Physician Leaders program. 

3. The college colors are blue and yellow 

4. UC Riverside has 101 Bachelor’s Degrees, 55 Master’s Degrees, and 42 Ph.D.’s 

5. UCR Extension provides continuing education and specialized certificate courses to nearly 30,000 per year to meet local workforce training needs, to educate international students, and to provide intellectual enrichment for community members.

6. UC Riverside is ranked No. 2 in the country for financial aid – (source Business Insider 2019)

7. One of the most beautiful parts of campus is the Botanic Gardens, which cover 40 acres.  

8. The mascot for UC Davis is Scotty Highlander, a mascot with a lot of history! Read more here. 

9. There is a great tradition at UC Riverside of hiking the infamous 132 feet high, 70 feet wide letter “C” that is located in the heart of the Box Spring mountains. It has been rumored that if you kiss the “C” the beginning of fall quarter your first-year, you’ll get a 4.0. 

10. Learn more about UC Riverside on social! Visit Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for more.

For students thinking about getting letters of recommendation for their college application, it can tricky to figure out how to best go about the process. We are here to help answer all of your letter of rec questions, and guide you on how to be in the BEST position to receive strong letters! 

One of the first thing we notice is that students seem to think there is some kind of “silver bullet” or secret equation to getting a strong letter of recommendation. Really, all it boils down too is being a good “classroom citizen”. 

What does that mean? Well, it means you don’t necessarily have to have an “A” grade in a class to get a strong letter of recommendation. And in fact, you might have an A in a class and still NOT get a strong letter of recommendation, because the teacher doesn’t know you very well – you showed up, got good grades on tests, and that was that!

A letter of recommendation is NOT about your academic performance. Colleges learn about that through your transcripts, looking at the classes you signed up for, your standardized tests results – they have all kinds of ways to get information about what kind of student you are from an academic perspective. A letter of recommendation is about your character and your personality. 

I strongly recommend that you take a look at the Common Application recommendation form by clicking HERE. Scroll down to the “Recommendation Letter” section, and here you can see the suggestions of what your teachers will be invited to write about in your letter. They are things like maturity, integrity, concern for others, contributing to class discussions, etc.  So, knowing those are the factors your teacher will be writing about, a good classroom citizen is someone that is exhibiting all of those factors every day.

In fact, if you are struggling in a class, engaging in this type of positive behavior can be a really great way of building a strong relationship with your teacher. If they see that you are working toward really overcoming struggles in the class and grappling with the material, it shows a dedicated side to you as a student. Some of the best letters of recommendation we have seen is from students that asked their teachers for help, and really worked toward improving their grades and work in a class. 

Letters of recommendation are really just someone putting pen to paper and writing down what they know about your personality. If you think about all areas of your life, you always want to be behaving in a way that would invite people to say great and positive things about you, should someone ask! 

All the best, 

Team Insight 

This week, #CollegeFactsFriday is heading to New York City! Learn more about Columbia University below: 

1. Columbia University was founded in 1754 as King’s College by royal charter of King George II of England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States.

2. In 1784 the school took on a new name—Columbia, as we know it as today! 

3. The architectural centerpiece of the campus is Low Memorial Library, named in honor of Seth Low’s father (Seth Low was the President of the University at the time of building). The building appears in the New York City Register of Historic Places and is used today for the University’s central administration offices and the visitors center.

4. Columbia’s motto is “In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lumen” which translates to “In thy light shall we see light”.

5. The college colors are blue and white. 

6. Columbia has roughly 6,000 undergraduate students, 22 libraries, 200+ study abroad programs and 13 Graduate and Professional schools. Many more interesting numbers and statistics about Columbia can be found here. 

7. If you graduate from Columbia, you’ll be in great company with your fellow alumni – Former President Barack Obama graduated from Columbia, as did Warren Buffett and Amelia Earhart. 

8. The mascot for Columbia is a lion, and fun fact – the MGM Studio’s Lion was inspired by Columbia’s Lion mascot! 

9. Beginning in fall 2019, Columbia will launch the Year of Water, an interdisciplinary investigation of water in all of its social, political, cultural, economic, and environmental complexities.

10. Learn more about Columbia University on social! Visit Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more. 

We’re back in the Bay for our #CollegeFactsFriday, this week looking at Santa Clara University! Read on for some facts: 

1. Santa Clara University was named the top-ranked regional university in the western United States in the 2019 U.S  News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. The University earned a perfect overall score of 100 out of 100! 

2. Students at Santa Clara enjoy nearly 300 days of sunshine a year – that’s sunny California for you! 

3. There are some fun spots to check out just off of campus, including a game a Levi’s Stadium and the Winchester Mystery house. Check out more spots to visit here. 

4. “Santa Clara College” began as an all-boys preparatory school in 1851. Santa Clara started offering college courses in 1853, and by 1875, had enrolled more than 275 students at the preparatory and collegiate levels. With the addition of the law and engineering schools, the College became “The University of Santa Clara” in 1912

5. The college colors are red and white. 

6. Santa Clara places a big emphasis on sustainability and recently was ranked third among 93 masters-level institutions in the U.S. for its success with campus-wide sustainability initiatives. This includes things such as educating students on water usage, transportation, energy usage, and food waste 

7. Opportunities to learn abroad are integrated into all Majors and fields of study at SCU. Learn more here.  

8. There are more than 50 majors, minors and special programs for law, medicine, and teaching at SCU. 

9. Santa Clara University has a great YouTube channel showing different areas of the school, including housing tours and interviews with students. It’s a great insiders look! 

10. See more of Santa Clara University on social! Visit Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more 

Welcome back to #CollegeFactsFriday! This week we’re taking it to the capital with Georgetown University in Washington, D.C! 

1. Located in Washington D.C, students at Georgetown are surrounded by museums, theaters, famous monuments and landmarks

2. Georgetown was established in 1789 

3. The university motto is “Utraque Unum” which translates to “Both into one” 

4. The college colors for Georgetown are Blue and Gray, and the mascot is Jack the Bulldog

5.  The Civil War (1861-1865) nearly closed Georgetown, as the student body dropped from 313 to 17 between 1859 and 1861. A total of 1,141 students and alumni enlisted in the war, serving in both the Union and Confederate forces. You can read more about the history of the school here. 

6. Georgetown alumni include Bill Clinton, Bradley Cooper and Ivanka Trump 

7. The Georgetown University Medical Center is the largest medical center on campus and houses more than 400 scientists working on basic and clinic research projects. 

8.  The Georgetown seal in mosaic tile that covers the ground at the central entrance to Healy Hall carries a lot of suspicion! It’s believed that students who stand or walk down the middle of the seal will never graduate, so you’ll notice many students walking rather awkwardly around it! 

9. Every year, the “Hoya’s bucket list” is posted in the New Student Guide and lists 25 activities most often cited as essential to the student experience. You can read about these and other traditions at Georgetown in the school newspaper – here.  

10. You can learn more about Georgetown on their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube pages. 

This week we’re sticking close to our HQ in the Bay Area and focusing our #CollegeFactsFriday on The University of California, Berkeley! 

1. UC Berkeley is rated as the Number 1. Public University worldwide by US News & World Report. 

2.  The mascot for UC Berkeley is known as “Oski”, a golden bear. 

3. UC Berkeley was founded in 1868 and has the motto “Fiat Lux” which translates roughly to “let light be made”. 

4. The colors for UC Berkeley are Blue and Gold, chosen in 1873. Blue represents the Californian sky and for the Yale graduates that helped establish the University, and gold represents “Golden State”. 

5.  Many Californian based students and families will be aware of the “Stanford Axe” and the big game between the two schools. The tradition began in 1899 at a Cal v Stanford baseball game, when the axe was brandished at the Stanford rooting section and captured by Cal fans at games end. It was made into the trophy for the annual Big Game in the 1930’s. 

6. UC Berkeley has 14 schools and colleges, including Environmental Design, Journalism and Law. 

7. A fun student tradition is to rub the stone ball in front of the Campanile before an exam. It has been dubbed the “4.0 ball” and is considered good luck. 

8.  There are many clubs, activities and student groups to get involved with at UC Berkeley, in fact there are over 1,000 student groups alone. You can search through them here. 

9. The University Botanical Garden is 34-acres and has over 10,000 types of plants including many rare and endangered species. It’s also incredibly beautiful! 

10. You can learn about UC Berkeley on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube pages. 

Insight counseling students are working hard on their University of California Applications, which always brings up a common question that we get asked – “Which UC Prompt is the right prompt to answer?” 

Well, the first and most important thing to say here is that there is NO “right” prompt to pick. The UC’s have made it very clear that all prompts are considered equally and there are no better or worse prompts in their eyes. There’s only prompts that are better for you and your life experiences, and at the same time, prompts that may not be the right fit for your life experiences. 

My advice to students is to pick a set of prompts that allows you to talk about a range of experiences, talents, values, interests and so on. If you’ve already talked about your creativity in music through the creativity prompt, then you should probably avoid talking about music again in the prompt that asks you to talk about your greatest talent. 

Another key thing that we always tell our students is don’t get too creative because you are worried that all of your activities are cliché… So you’re an athlete who plays an instrument and wants to be a pediatrician because you like helping people… and so are most of your friends. That’s ok! Don’t avoid talking about sports and music and your passion for biology just because you’re worried it won’t be unique. Those are in fact OBVIOUS topics for you to write about. The things that are most important in your life and the things you spend the most time doing. The goal needs to be to focus on how each of these experiences shaped you as a person and helped you build resilience, creativity, concern for others, and other character traits.

If you are applying to an extremely competitive major like any engineering major or computer science, it is wise to choose one essay in which you discuss the experiences that led to your choice. In fact, generally speaking you should be able to see a connection somewhere in your essays between what you want to study and what major you are applying for. It’s also totally ok if you are undecided about your major, but I bet if you are undecided it is because you are curious about a lot of different things and just haven’t quite figured out which subject you want to commit to for the next four years of your life. You can still write about an academic subject that inspires you! 

In the end, think of the four UC prompts that you choose as puzzle pieces that fit together to complete a picture of the whole you. 

All the best, and happy writing! 

Team Insight