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College Advising, Superb Application Essay Development

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  • How to Write the University of Virginia Application Essays in 2019-2020 (That’s You, high school class of 2020). Part 1 of 2 Parts

    2019-2020 First-Year Application Essay Questions– 

    1. We are looking for passionate students to join our diverse community of scholars, researchers, and artists. Answer the question that corresponds to the school/program to which you are applying in a half page or roughly 250 words.

    • College of Arts and Sciences – What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?
    • School of Engineering and Applied Sciences – If you were given funding for a small engineering project that would make everyday life better for one friend or family member, what would you design?
    • School of Architecture – Describe an instance or place where you have been inspired by architecture or design. 
    • School of Nursing – School of Nursing applicants may have experience shadowing, volunteering, or working in a health care environment. Tell us about a health care-related experience or another significant interaction that deepened your interest in studying Nursing
    • Kinesiology Program – Discuss experiences that led you to choose the kinesiology major. 

    2. Answer one of the following questions in a half page or roughly 250 words.

    • What’s your favorite word and why?
    • We are a community with quirks, both in language and in traditions. Describe one of your quirks and why it is part of who you are.
    • Student self-governance, which encourages student investment and initiative, is a hallmark of the UVA culture. In her fourth year at UVA, Laura Nelson was inspired to create Flash Seminars, one-time classes which facilitate high-energy discussion about thought-provoking topics outside of traditional coursework. If you created a Flash Seminar, what idea would you explore and why?
    • UVA students paint messages on Beta Bridge when they want to share information with our community. What would you paint on Beta Bridge and why is this your message
    • UVA students are charged with living honorably and upholding a Community of Trust. Give us an example of a community that is important to you and how you worked to strengthen that community.

    This post originally appeared on Notes from Peabody, the UVA admission blog at http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/ .

    I will be back in the next week with more detailed commentary on these essay topics individually. But to start with question one, they are offering a slant on the Why You Want to Go Here/What You Plan to Study and Why essay questions, which are featured in many college apps, from Cornell on the East Side to Harvey Mudd out West—but note that here UV is looking for what you know about their programs and what inspires you rather than for a simple restatement of your activities. This means that you need to start clicking around and doing some research on UV and its specific programs. I have multiple posts on researching colleges for similar questions, under Cornell and Chicago, which can serve as examples for you to check out. Go to the website, click, read, then click some more, before writing about why you want to go to any university. There will be some overlap with activities, but this is your chance to reach out and touch someone with a heartfelt but not cheesy statement about what inspires you as well as showing what you know about them. And what you know about them can include specific classes, professors, research programs and results . . . .Anything you know after researching the essay is useful . . ..

    Question two is aimed a range of possibilities in which you can express your ingenuity or integrity. More on those later.

  • The University of Chicago Admissions Essay for 2019-2020: How to Write for Prompt Two.

    Next up: the Off-the-Wall, otherwise known as Chicago’s Essay Number Two. Below you will find all of the prompts, which includes new prompts for this year and a selection of golden oldies from years past that you may also write about. See my links for commentary and analysis on multiple prompts.I will also choose a couple of the new prompts to analyze in separate posts in the coming weeks, so come back soon.

    With that, here they are:

    University of Chicago Question 2 for 2019-2020–see below for the past question option, on which I offer detailed analysis:

    Extended Essay (Required; Choose one)

    Essay Option 1

    Cats have nine lives, Pac-Man has 3 lives, and radioactive isotopes have half-lives. How many lives does something else—conceptual or actual—have, and why?
    —Inspired by Kedrick Shin, Class of 2019

    Essay Option 2

    If there’s a limited amount of matter in the universe, how can Olive Garden (along with other restaurants and their concepts of food infinity) offer truly unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks? Explain this using any method of analysis you wish—physics, biology, economics, history, theology… the options, as you can tell, are endless.
    —Inspired by Yoonseo Lee, Class of 2023

    Essay Option 3

    A hot dog might be a sandwich, and cereal might be a soup, but is a ______ a ______?
    —Inspired by Arya Muralidharan, Class of 2021 (and dozens of others who, this year and in past years, have submitted the question “Is a hot dog a sandwich,” to which we reply, “maybe”)

    Essay Option 4

    “Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” – Jessamyn West
    —Inspired by Elizabeth Mansfield, Class of 2020

    Essay Option 5

    UChicago has international campus centers around the world, but we don’t have any interplanetary, interstellar, or interdimensional campuses… yet! Propose a spot in time or space, in this or any universe, for a new UChicago campus. What types of courses would be taught at this site? What cultural experiences await students who study there?
    —Inspired by Peter Jasperse, Class of 2022

    Essay Option 6

    “Don’t be afraid to pick past prompts! I liked some of the ones from previous years more than those made newly available for my year. Also, don’t worry about the ‘correct’ way to interpret a question. If there exists a correct way to interpret the prompt I chose, it certainly was not my answer.”
    —Matthew Lohrs, Class of 2023

    In the spirit of adventurous inquiry (and with the encouragement of one of our current students!) choose one of our past prompts (or create a question of your own). Be original, creative, thought provoking. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun!

    Some classic questions from previous years…

    “Mind that does not stick.”
    —Zen Master Shoitsu (1202–80)

    What is the sound of one essay getting you into the U of Chicago? Up to you, but here is my post on this essay prompt, again from a few years back:

    How to Write the University of Chicago Zen Essay

    Vestigiality refers to genetically determined structures or attributes that have apparently lost most or all of their ancestral function, but have been retained during the process of evolution. In humans, for instance, the appendix is thought to be a vestigial structure. Describe something vestigial (real or imagined) and provide an explanation for its existence.
    —Inspired by Tiffany Kim, Class of 2020

    Here is my analysis on this essay from a couple of years ago; keep in mind that some references reflect events in that year, not this year: Vestigiality Essay Analysis

    In French, there is no difference between “conscience” and “consciousness.” In Japanese, there is a word that specifically refers to the splittable wooden chopsticks you get at restaurants. The German word “fremdschämen” encapsulates the feeling you get when you’re embarrassed on behalf of someone else. All of these require explanation in order to properly communicate their meaning, and are, to varying degrees, untranslatable. Choose a word, tell us what it means, and then explain why it cannot (or should not) be translated from its original language.
    —Inspired by Emily Driscoll, Class of 2018

    Click on the link below for my analysis of this “translation” essay:

    Lost in Translation Analysis

    The mantis shrimp can perceive both polarized light and multispectral images; they have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. Human eyes have color receptors for three colors (red, green, and blue); the mantis shrimp has receptors for sixteen types of color, enabling them to see a spectrum far beyond the capacity of the human brain. Seriously, how cool is the mantis shrimp: mantisshrimp.uchicago.edu What might they be able to see that we cannot? What are we missing?
    —Inspired by Tess Moran, AB’16

    Ah, the Mantis Shrimp, most entertaining of pets. Here is my Analysis of this Mantis Shrimp prompt, from a few years back:

    How to Write the Mantis Shrimp Essay

    Heisenberg claims that you cannot know both the position and momentum of an electron with total certainty. Choose two other concepts that cannot be known simultaneously and discuss the implications. (Do not consider yourself limited to the field of physics).
    —Inspired by Doran Bennett, AB’07

    Ah, uncertainty–here is my analysis on the Uncertainty Principle and its applications from days past:

    You Want a Schroedinger’s Cat? How to Write About Heisenberg

    Susan Sontag, AB’51, wrote that “[s]ilence remains, inescapably, a form of speech.” Write about an issue or a situation when you remained silent, and explain how silence may speak in ways that you did or did not intend. The Aesthetics of Silence, 1967.
    —Anonymous Suggestion

    Susan Sontag appears with some frequency in the U Chicago prompts because A, she was a brilliant writer and who could do art, science, social topics, you name it and, B, she was a U Chicago grad. Here is my analysis of her for this topic:

    The Dark Lady, Susan Sontag, Speaks

    “…I [was] eager to escape backward again, to be off to invent a past for the present.” —The Rose Rabbi by Daniel Stern
    Present: pres·ent
    1. Something that is offered, presented, or given as a gift.
    Let’s stick with this definition. Unusual presents, accidental presents, metaphorical presents, re-gifted presents, etc.—pick any present you have ever received and invent a past for it.
    —Inspired by Jennifer Qin, AB’16

    Nothing like rabbinical science fiction–here is my post on this Rose Rabbi prompt from a few years ago:

    The Rose Rabbi–Back to the Future.

    The word floccinaucinihilipilification is the act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant or of having no value. It originated in the mid-18th century from the Latin words “floccus,” “naucum,” “nihilum,” and “pilus”—all words meaning “of little use.” Coin your own word using parts from any language you choose, tell us its meaning, and describe the plausible (if only to you) scenarios in which it would be most appropriately used. 

    -Inspired by Ben Zhang, Class of 2022 

    If you are ready to coin a word, or just interested, here is my post on this essay prompt–

    How to Write the U-Chicago New Word Essay

    “Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.“—Miles Davis (1926–91)
    —Inspired by Jack Reeves

    Click this link for how to play what is not there: Miles Davis.

    “A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.” –Oscar Wilde. Othello and Iago. Dorothy and the Wicked Witch. Autobots and Decepticons. History and art are full of heroes and their enemies. Tell us about the relationship between you and your arch-nemesis (either real or imagined).
    —Inspired by Martin Krzywy, AB’16

    So where is Waldo, really?
    —Inspired by Robin Ye, AB’16

    How are apples and oranges supposed to be compared? Possible answers involve, but are not limited to, statistics, chemistry, physics, linguistics, and philosophy.
    —Inspired by Florence Chan, AB’15

    The ball is in your court—a penny for your thoughts, but say it, don’t spray it. So long as you don’t bite off more than you can chew, beat around the bush, or cut corners, writing this essay should be a piece of cake. Create your own idiom, and tell us its origin—you know, the whole nine yards. PS: A picture is worth a thousand words.
    —Inspired by April Bell, AB’17, and Maya Shaked, Class of 2018 (It takes two to tango.)

    Little pigs, French hens, a family of bears. Blind mice, musketeers, the Fates. Parts of an atom, laws of thought, a guideline for composition. Omne trium perfectum? Create your own group of threes, and describe why and how they fit together.
    —Inspired by Zilin Cui, Class of 2018

    Find x.
    —Inspired by Benjamin Nuzzo, an admitted student from Eton College, UK

    Dog and Cat. Coffee and Tea. Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world. What are they?
    —Inspired by an anonymous alumna, AB’06

    How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be.)
    —Inspired by Kelly Kennedy, AB’10

    Chicago author Nelson Algren said, “A writer does well if in his whole life he can tell the story of one street.” Chicagoans, but not just Chicagoans, have always found something instructive, and pleasing, and profound in the stories of their block, of Main Street, of Highway 61, of a farm lane, of the Celestial Highway. Tell us the story of a street, path, road—real or imagined or metaphorical.
    —Anonymous Suggestion

    UChicago professor W. J. T. Mitchell entitled his 2005 book What Do Pictures Want? Describe a picture, and explore what it wants.
    —Inspired by Anna Andel

    University of Chicago alumna and renowned author/critic Susan Sontag said, “The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions.” We all have heard serious questions, absurd questions, and seriously absurd questions, some of which cannot be answered without obliterating the very question. Destroy a question with your answer.
    —Inspired by Aleksandra Ciric

    Superstring theory has revolutionized speculation about the physical world by suggesting that strings play a pivotal role in the universe. Strings, however, always have explained or enriched our lives, from Theseus’s escape route from the Labyrinth, to kittens playing with balls of yarn, to the single hair that held the sword above Damocles, to the Old Norse tradition that one’s life is a thread woven into a tapestry of fate, to the beautiful sounds of the finely tuned string of a violin, to the children’s game of cat’s cradle, to the concept of stringing someone along. Use the power of string to explain the biggest or the smallest phenomenon.
    —Inspired by Adam Sobolweski

    Have you ever walked through the aisles of a warehouse store like Costco or Sam’s Club and wondered who would buy a jar of mustard a foot and a half tall? We’ve bought it, but it didn’t stop us from wondering about other things, like absurd eating contests, impulse buys, excess, unimagined uses for mustard, storage, preservatives, notions of bigness…and dozens of other ideas both silly and serious. Write an essay somehow inspired by super-huge mustard.
    —Inspired by Katherine Gold

    People often think of language as a connector, something that brings people together by helping them share experiences, feelings, ideas, etc. We, however, are interested in how language sets people apart. Start with the peculiarities of your own personal language—the voice you use when speaking most intimately to yourself, the vocabulary that spills out when you’re startled, or special phrases and gestures that no one else seems to use or even understand—and tell us how your language makes you unique. You may want to think about subtle riffs or idiosyncrasies based on cadence, rhythm, rhyme, or (mis)pronunciation.
    —Inspired by Kimberly Traube

    In 2015, the city of Melbourne, Australia created a “tree-mail” service, in which all of the trees in the city received an email address so that residents could report any tree-related issues. As an unexpected result, people began to email their favorite trees sweet and occasionally humorous letters. Imagine this has been expanded to any object (tree or otherwise) in the world, and share with us the letter you’d send to your favorite.
    -Inspired by Hannah Lu, Class of 2020 

    You’re on a voyage in the thirteenth century, sailing across the tempestuous seas. What if, suddenly, you fell off the edge of the Earth?
    -Inspired by Chandani Latey, AB’93 

    Lost your keys? Alohomora. Noisy roommate? Quietus. Feel the need to shatter windows for some reason? Finestra. Create your own spell, charm, jinx, or other means for magical mayhem. How is it enacted? Is there an incantation? Does it involve a potion or other magical object? If so, what’s in it or what is it? What does it do? 
    -Inspired by Emma Sorkin, Class of 2021 

    Joan of Arkansas. Queen Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Babe Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mash up a historical figure with a new time period, environment, location, or occupation, and tell us their story.
    —Inspired by Drew Donaldson, AB’16

    Alice falls down the rabbit hole. Milo drives through the tollbooth. Dorothy is swept up in the tornado. Neo takes the red pill. Don’t tell us about another world you’ve imagined, heard about, or created. Rather, tell us about its portal. Sure, some people think of the University of Chicago as a portal to their future, but please choose another portal to write about.
    —Inspired by Raphael Hallerman, Class of 2020

    Due to a series of clerical errors, there is exactly one typo (an extra letter, a removed letter, or an altered letter) in the name of every department at the University of Chicago. Oops! Describe your new intended major. Why are you interested in it and what courses or areas of focus within it might you want to explore? Potential options include Commuter Science, Bromance Languages and Literatures, Pundamentals: Issues and Texts, Ant History… a full list of unmodified majors ready for your editor’s eye is available here.
    —Inspired by Josh Kaufman, AB’18

    What’s so odd about odd numbers?
    —Inspired by Mario Rosasco, AB’09

    Imagine you’ve struck a deal with the Dean of Admissions himself, Dean Nondorf. It goes as follows: you’re guaranteed admission to the University of Chicago regardless of any circumstances that arise. This bond is grounded on the condition that you’ll obtain a blank, 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, and draw, write, sketch, shade, stencil, paint etc., anything and everything you want on it; your only limitations will be the boundaries of both sides on the single page. Now the catch… your submission, for the rest of your life, will always be the first thing anyone you meet for the first time will see. Whether it’s at a job interview, a blind date, arrival at your first Humanities class, before you even say, “hey,” they’ll already have seen your page, and formulated that first impression. Show us your page. What’s on it, and why? If your piece is largely or exclusively visual, please make sure to share a creator’s accompanying statement of at least 300 words, which we will happily allow to be on its own, separate page.
    PS: This is a creative thought experiment, and selecting this essay prompt does not guarantee your admission to UChicago.
    -Inspired by Amandeep Singh Ahluwalia, Class of 2022

  • How to Write The University of Chicago Supplemental Essays for 2019-2020–Question One, and How to Write About It

    Yes, it’s that time again, as the mundane meets the off-the-wall in the University of Chicago questions for 2019-2020. The mundane comes first:

    University of Chicago Question 1 for 2019-2020 (Required)

    How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future? Please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to UChicago.

    Their first question is pretty typical for many schools–call it the “Why I want to go there” question. This comes in many guises, but always suggests that you need to do some due diligence and get to know U Chicago more. It’s okay to have some attitude, but the prompt suggests that you not just wing it by yacking about crazy times doing the scavenger hunt, etc, etc. You should be looking at bit at the programs and areas you might choose for study. You are going to find this question in many applications, some more tightly focused than others, such as Cornell’s perennial College Interest essay in which you identify your area of study and discuss it and what your plans at Cornell are. I would suggest that this essay demands the due diligence of a couple of hours of clicking and reading on U Chicago’s website, but also chasing down particular work of interest by particular people in particular areas, up to and including reading up on research and experimental programs and projects that are ongoing.

    Obviously not all research opportunities are open to undergrads, but in showing awareness and an ambition to participate you sketch a picture of yourself while showing that you have a high level of interest. And Chicago does have a focus on undergraduate research. Here are a couple of places to start looking at Chicago as a place to study:

    University of Chicago Undergraduate Research

    Research News, The University of Chicago

    Once you have looked through these, just keep looking around their website(s). Take the international opportunities: UChicago International

    And let’s not forget the Humanities, Oh Humans: UChicago Humanities

    And finally, the University of Chicago’s Admissions Blog, which is about much more than admissions and has quite a bit on campus life:

    Uncommon Blog

    And why not, here is the famous Scavenger Hunt–

    Scavenger hunt:  Lore.   The hunt represents the University of Chicago’s world view, taken to an extreme, so it is worth knowing about.  You will get a broader look at the atmosphere and outlook of the university in a recent article  published in the New Yorker: U of C Scavenger Hunt.  Like my website, the New Yorker has a paywall on some content; if you or your parents have a New Yorker subscription, you can read the full article; if not,  you may need to pay for access to it.    This article does give you some history and insight into Chicago’s essay prompts and school tradition as well as the scavenger hunt itself–I’d say it is worth the fee to learn more about the school.

    And finally, I have posted on writing for the U Chicago Prompt 1 before; take a look here:

    Additional Advice for U Chicago’s Prompt 1

    That’s it for now. Take notes and start working on it. Go for a catchy hook and opener . . . .I can help with that and more ideas on where to find information for U Chicago if you want to work on essay development and editing–

    Click Here to Contact Me for Essay Help

    Next up: the Off-the-Wall, otherwise known as Chicago’s Essay Number Two, which allows you to write about one of this year’s new prompts or pick from a selection of past questions–I have posted extensively on some of these in the past and will provide links to my discussions on past questions. Check out my post on U Chicago’s 2019-2020 Question 2 for more.

  • The Common Application Essay Prompts for 2019-2020–and Tips on How to Write Them

    The Common Application Prompts for 2019-2020 appear under the theme “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Yes, that’s right, the Common App folks are not changing their prompts this year. That does not mean, however, that it is a good idea to copy verbatim ideas in your older sibling/friend/ghost writer’s old essays, much less recycling an essay you have used for, say, school, or worst of all, an essay that somebody else used last year. Turnitin.com started turning its attention to college application essays way back in 2011, and by 2012, there was reporting on this anti-plagiarism wrinkle. Many colleges screen your essays. If you plagiarize, kiss your app goodbye.

    I do apologize for starting off on this note but in the aftermath of the Singer college-admissions bribery scandal, it seems like a good time to establish the basic ethical boundaries of college applications. Researching, seeking advice, getting editing commentary are all considered legit, so long as the essays are in the deepest sense, yours. What that means is admittedly a gray area, but when it comes to cheating, examples are the best way to learn. Copying, for one: no, please. Asking somebody else to write your essays: also a big no-no.

    So do your own writing: lesson one. Lesson two, go ahead and start your Common Application Essay, but do not create an account or upload information on the Common Application itself. All accounts and information currently on the Common Application site are linked to last year’s applications. In the last days of July the Common Application will go offline and then will reappear in its 2019-2020 version on or around August 1st. At that point you can go online to select colleges and begin uploading essays and answering questions.

    Between now and August 1, what you can also do, of course is . . . start those essays. Job one is to choose one of the prompts below. As you read them, you will notice that these are not really speculative essays. They are not looking for what you might do in the future; they are looking for what you have done. Prompts 2, 3, 4 and 5 are at the heart of the list and pretty much define the ethos of these Common App prompts overall, which is based on things in your (hopefully recent) past that you have done or experienced that define you. Of course it is all the better if that time you challenged a belief (prompt 3) or overcame an obstacle (prompt 2) or that accomplishment or realization that sparked a period of growth (prompt 5) are also shown as influencing your future–say in that conclusion to yor essay where you talk about how you plan to continue working on the problem you solved or addressed locally via studying x in college to prepare to deal with that problem on a broader scale, or acting from that new understanding and period of growth by doing y (define factor y) . . . in and after college. . . . and so on.

    A couple of other recommendations–Don’t write an argument or speech-style essay structure defined by the firstly, secondly, and thirdly of subtopics which you then develop (robotically) in the essay body as first, secondly thirdly . . . also avoid simply restating your intro in your conclusion. And if you must use that essay structure that starts with a you-are-there- narrative, then explains how you got there, then explains the life’s lesson learned . . . make sure you use good vivid detail, but don’t overdo the drama in the hook and opener.

    For example: If I never see an essay that starts with a writer pinned down by enemy gunfire and running out of water and ammunition . . . only to find out this is a video game and the author got there by playing but plans to be a programmer . . . and video game designer. . . Or if I never have an author dangling by her fingertips from a hold thirty feet up a sheer rock face, and one foot pops off a hold . . . only to find that she is top-roped in a climbing gym . . . And that climbing taught her discipline and determination . . . . I will be happy. Happy never to see one of these attempts to pump up the drama again.

    Consider just starting with a good hook and an expository opener, without the overdramatized narrative , just so see what happens. And if the whole thing seems too daunting, contact me for editing help.

    2019-2020 Common Application Essay Prompts

    1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

    2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

    3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

    4. 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 that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

    5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

    6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

    7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

    Here are some results from last year’s application process–

    During the 2018-2019 application year, the most popular topic of choice was: “Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.” (24.1%).

     The next most popular topics were: “Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.” (23.7%),

    followed by “The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?” (21.1%).

    Final note–whether you apply to the Ivy League or hundreds of western, land-grant colleges, or hundreds more small, liberal-arts colleges, your Common Application essay is the lead essay for your application. Start early and be willing to try multiple essays and approaches.

  • The Georgia Tech Essay Prompt for 2019-2020 is Ready to Fly: Tips For Writing GT’s Supplemental Essay, Some Warnings, and Some Advice About Dealing with Admissions Offices.

    It’s time to look at application shenanigans as well as to analyze GT’s supplemental essay for this year. Below I offer a long opening discussion and some helpful links, and then take a look at how to write this year’s Georgia Tech application essay. Feel free to scroll down if you are feeling impatient, but the early part of this post is worth reading, and its links are worth looking at and listening to, as I open up via an interview with a GT dean and then discuss the use of Turnitin in college admissions.

    Let’s begin our look at Georgia Tech for 2019-2020 with an interesting interview featuring GT’s excellent Dean of Admissions, Rick Clark–this is a few years old, but it offers an insider’s view of the process as a whole, from the point of view of the guy who runs GT’s entire admissions office, and the interview discusses applications essays specifically at some length, as well as some of those applications shenanigans I mentioned. . . Note that many of these app faux-pas coming from parents, btw, so for those of you students applying who have family members who are, ah, overly involved, . . . have your mom and dad listen.

    This Ira Glass interview of Rick Clark at Georgia Tech is good for laughs and a little perspective on the process as a whole, while offering the personality and perspective of a guy who reads applications for a living: The Old College Try

    Lesson One: if you are reusing essays, be sure to do a word/phrase search and replace that other college name you put in for that other application.

    Another lesson I want to add that is not discussed with Mr. Clark in this interview: Any schools using Turnitin.com or their own software will pick up that you are reusing essays in whole and in part . . . so do so with judgment. App officers know the pressure of the process, and won’t hold it against you if you recycle ideas in your essays as a rule, but it’s all about context–if you write an essay pledging your undying love and unparalleled passion for, say, Duke, then submit the same essay to a different school, just changing the school names, this will pop up once the essay has been loaded into Turnitin and then has been used again. Reusing college application essays is not cheating, but it definitely undercuts your . . claim for undying love for school B if the same essay pops up for a different college in a plagiarism scan.

    Yes, Turnitin and other plagiarism software are in increasing use for college essays. To show you what I mean, below is an excerpt on a recent report on Turnitin’s role in catching “contract essay” cheating. Contract essay cheating involves hiring somebody to write an application or other essay for you. To deal with this, as well as with more run of the mill plagiarism issues in college applications, Turnitin is used increasingly by colleges to screen application essays, and you can expect that to go up in the wake of the Varsity Blues college cheating investigation. Here is an excerpt on a report about this issue–

    Staying one step ahead (excerpt):

    In the war on contract cheating, some schools see new technology as their best weapon and their best shot to stay one step ahead of unscrupulous students. The company that makes the Turnitin plagiarism detection software has just upped its game with a new program called Authorship Investigate.

    The software first inspects a document’s metadata, like when it was created, by whom it was created and how many times it was reopened and re-edited. Turnitin’s vice president for product management, Bill Loller, says sometimes it’s as simple as looking at the document’s name. Essay mills typically name their documents something like “Order Number 123,” and students have been known to actually submit it that way. “You would be amazed at how frequently that happens,” says Loller.

    (Thanks to reporter Tovia Smith, and a shout-out to NPR for this excerpt).

    Note that one key sign of contract cheating is a doc that has not been opened up much and edited . . . and that shows some odd stuff in its metadata.

    So write your stuff, then seek editing help, then revise, revise, revise, and absolutely avoid the temptations of contract essays.

    Okay, enough about that stuff. Now let’s look at Georgia Tech’s prompt for 2019-2020, for a single, 250-word supplemental essay:

    Additionally, you will be asked to respond to the prompt below. For the 2020 Application, we have decided to ask only one additional prompt. We hope that will save you just a bit of time as you work through our application. 

    Why do you want to study your chosen major at Georgia Tech, and how do you think Georgia Tech will prepare you to pursue opportunities in that field after graduation? (max 250 words)

    Here is what GT says they are looking for:

    Essays are evaluated for both content and writing/grammatical skills. So, before submitting your application, you should take the time to edit and review your essay thoroughly. The traits of a strong essay include ones that:

    • Demonstrate authenticity
    • Brings you to life on paper
    • Are excellent in topic, style, and grammar
    • Demonstrate thoughtfulness

    Note that this is the kind of prompt that demands you do some due-diligence research on what the college offers, tailored to your plans. Note also that this suggest that GT was having problems with their other essay from last year, which was based on a set of pretty generic personal questions that probably saw a lot of essay recycling.

    GT has solved this problem by asking you to write about them. I have written about this before, so here is a link to a similar prompt that gives you a look at the process: Why Cornell. This kind of “Why Us/What are You going To Do Here question is pretty common, with other examples, like Brown, for a point of comparison: Brown Essays 2019-2020.

    To close out this post, I have some final advice, shown via personal experience, on How To Deal With a College Admissions Office:

    On 6/19/19, GT Admissions confirmed, during my annual phone call to them, that there will are no significant changes in the application essays planned for this year. Then they dropped one of the two prompts from last year when they officially put them up on their website this week (I write this in mid-July, 2019). I would call dropping an essay a pretty significant change. You?

    This is a lesson in dealing with any topic directed to a college admissions office–these are complicated organizations with a several layers of people on campus, and the more popular universities also hire off-campus readers/evaluators of application material who do the evaluations as a seasonal gig, largely at home.

    When dealing with an admissions office, before you can get to anybody making executive decisions, you have to pass through a first layer that is often an undergrad working the phones to cover tuition, who may or may not then refer you to a lower-level admissions counselor or officer, and that person may consult one of a set of supervisors or more experienced app officers; and behind them are people you will almost never get to talk to, such as an Assistant Dean for admissions and then, for GT, the boss, otherwise known as the Dean of Admissions, whom maybe 1 in 1,000 applicants will ever talk to directly in any way–for GT, that would be the excellent and funny Rick Clark.

    In my case, I talked to a student, then left a message with a counselor I have chatted to over the years, and she returned my call to tell me there would be no changes other than to some wording. Then GT released their prompts–and dropped that second essay. Which tells you how much verbal promise is worth. So: on any call on an important topic, ask for an e-mail follow up and confirmation in writing. Or better yet, e-mail, then follow up with a call when they don’t respond within a day or so (almost always true once the app season starts–busy, busy, busy, so use that) then focus on getting a response to the e-mail rather than a verbal statement.

    Again, this is for important information . . .Don’t pursue e-mails for trivial information or information that is clearly stated on their website–do your reading first. And try not to be irritating.

    Come back soon, more Ivy League Prompts will confirm this week . ..

  • Harvey Mudd Application Essay Prompts for 2019-2020

    While the full Harvey Mudd application does not go live until the Common Application website goes live, you can write the essays now. But beware–any information you upload or write into the Common App before it closes and then reopens at the end of July/beginning of August will be deleted, along with your account.

    I have confirmed these 2019-2020 Harvey Mudd prompts after discussing with my contact counselor at HMC, so go ahead and get started with your favorite word-processing tool–just don’t upload them until August. There is only one change to HM’s essay prompts from last year, which is the addition of one new prompt–you can see this one at Prompt 3.

    Harvey Mudd College Required Additional Writing

    Short Answer

    Please answer the following (500 word limit):
    What influenced you to apply to Harvey Mudd College? What about the HMC curriculum and community appeals to you?

    Essay

    Choose any one of the essay topics below (500 word limit):

    1. Many students choose HMC because they don’t want to give up their interests in the Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts – or HSA as we call it at HMC. Tell us about your dream HSA class. Your answer might (but doesn’t have to) include projects you could do, texts you might want to read, or topics you would want to explore.
    2. “Scientific research is a human endeavor. The choices of topics that we research are based on our biases, our beliefs, and what we bring: our cultures and our families. The kinds of problems that people put their talents to solving depends on their values.” -Dr. Clifton Poodry.  How has your own background influenced the types of problems you want to solve?
    3. Who in your life is depending on you? For what are they depending on you?
    4. What is one thing we won’t know about you after reading your application that you haven’t already reported in the Common Application “Additional Information” section?

  • University of Texas, Austin Essays for 2019-2020–Here are the Prompts Along with Tips on Writing Them, and a Special Bonus

    That bonus would be the lyrics for that most UT Austin of songs, The Eyes of Texas. But before that, and my commentary on how to write these essays, here are UT’s prompts:

    2019-2020  University of Texas Essay Prompts

    ApplyTexas Essay Prompts A, B and C For U.S. Freshman and International Freshman Applications

    Slated to replace current ApplyTexas essay choices A, B and C For inclusion in ApplyTexas applications for the 2020-2021 cycle (Summer 2020, Fall 2020, and Spring 2021 – opening 7/1/19)

    Past guidelines—350-650 words, recommend 500 (e.g. one page). These have not been confirmed, but essay lengths are expected to remain the same.

    Essay A: Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

    Essay B: Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

    Essay C: You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

    I will be annotating each of these prompts with suggestions, so please bookmark come back to this webpage in the next week or so.

    Oh, and of course:

    “The Eyes of Texas”

    I once did know a president

    A-way down South, in Texas.

    And, always, everywhere he went,

    He saw the Eyes of Texas.

    The Eyes of Texas are upon you,

    All the livelong day.

    The Eyes of Texas are upon you,

    You cannot get away.

    Do not think you can escape them

    At night or early in the morn —

    The Eyes of Texas are upon you

    ’Til Gabriel blows his horn.

    Sing me a song of Prexy,*

    Of days long since gone by.

    Again I seek to greet him,

    And hear his kind reply.

    Smiles of gracious welcome

    Before my memory rise,

    Again I hear him say to me,

    “Remember Texas’ Eyes.”

    *“Prexy” refers to a President, particularly a college president, and dates back to the early 19th Century, so yes, it does predate UT Austin and in fact predates the state of Texas.

    (To be sung at UT football games and after a few too many fermented beverages on sundry occasions)

  • The University of California Essay Prompts for 2019-2020

    Here are your UC prompts for this year, Oh Class of 2024:

    2019-2020  University of California Essay Prompts

    Write your responses to the personal insight questions in advance What you tell us in your responses gives us the context to better understand the rest of the information you’ve provided in your application. Be open, be honest, be yourself. Instructions: You will have 8 questions to choose from. You must respond to only 4 of the 8 questions. Each response is limited to a maximum of 350 words. Which questions you choose to answer is entirely up to you. All questions are given equal consideration in the application review process.

    Questions:

    1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
    2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.
    3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
    4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
    5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
    6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.
    7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
    8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California? Visit ucal.us/personalquestions for more information and to download our student worksheets.

    I will be updating this post with commentary and advice on these essay prompts soon. Come back in a few days.

  • Introductory College Essay Workshops in June and July 2019

    Introductory College Essay Workshops in June and July With Follow-Up Editing–Also Available for Distance Clients Via Skype

    I will be holding small-group essay workshops that introduce the process and get a draft started, on a weekly basis in June and July, meeting at public locations (e.g. conference rooms at libraries) in the Danville and Lafayette areas.  This includes an overview of the writing situation and your audience, advice on approaches, a quick look at some examples and some time to start composing.  We can break out and continue working in a semi-independent fashion following the two-hour introduction, or you can continue on your own, and the fee for the introduction includes an edit on your first draft in the week following the seminar, so you can see how I work throughout the process before you commit to a wider editing package. 

    Fee of $125 ahead of workshop via Paypal or at beginning of workshop via check.  I can offer additional support and consulting on an hourly basis—you determine your needs and pay as you go.  Seminars currently scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays, and by demand during the week.  No more than five students per session.    Seminars outside of the Lamorinda area, including South Bay, North Bay, Peninsula and San Francisco, by arrangement

  • Applying to College in 2019-2020: An Early Look at Early Application Data

    Greetings Rising Seniors and anybody else who wants to look at which colleges are a “fit” for them.

    While this post is going to take a look at some early application results for this year, first let me digress for a paragraph: the “fit” of a college–how well it matches your needs and qualifications– is a bit more like the fit of a pair of good jeans than it is s simple statistical match. The ratings you see in various services like the U.S. News don’t tell you anything about how you will feel at a particular school. Location, including weather, culture and activities are also part of the package of things to consider, along with the usual suspects, like the size of the campus, class sizes and strength of programs.

    But this is still early days, and I have talked about fit elsewhere (and will again, soon), so let’s move on to some data on the more popular names–though it’s never early to try to think outside the box, as I will show.

    Early Admissions for Fall of 2019 (Class of 2023):

    Princeton

    13.9 % admitted (743 accepted out of 5,335 applicants, and you can assume that over 80% of those will accept and attend).

    Harvard:

    13.4% admitted. (935 accepted out of 6,598-and again, the yield–those who accept the admissions offer–will be in the 80% range)

    Yale

    13.1% admiited (794 accepted out of 6,016 early action applicants. This will also be a very high yield group, and Jeremiah Quinlan, the current Dean of Undergrad Admissions stated the 56% of those not accepted were deferred and will be reconsidered for admissions)

    Columbia

    Has not released results. They are the most chary in providing data among the Ivy League (that New Yawk attitude, I guess) but they did say that 4,461 students applied for binding Early Decision. They won’t tell you anything about their admit rate for ED, but I do want to point out that this means hundreds more early applicants this year over last. And now let’s jump to my go-to application for the Ivies, Cornell–great offerings across the board in terms of majors and quality of programs, and still the easiest Ivy to get into:

    Cornell

    22.6% accepted in Cornell’s Early Decision applications (1,395 admits out of 6,159 apps . . . Among other things to note, Cornell was overt in its appeal to legacy applicants, indicating that they should show their seriousness by doing an early decision app [and then pay whatever tuition package Cornell offers, as you give up your chance to wait to see what other offers might come when you apply E.D. . . Just remindin’] ).

    Your Takeway

    I realize that this is far from a complete review of Ivy League early app data, but it is enough to “do the math.” And the math says that you can double to nearly triple your chances with an early application of whatever kind, on a raw statistical basis.

    How do I know this? From last year’s data. Look below for a more complete picture of early versus regular decision last year (meaning people who were incoming freshman last August). The reality, however, is that the raw numbers don’t say a lot about any individual’s chances of admission, and there are important “other” factors, such as . . . well that legacy leverage, indicated above in that comment from Cornell. Yes, a legacy applicant who applies early will get a boost, it’s official. Please note, Dear Reader, that I am not commenting on that in any way; I am just stating the facts, which is the only purpose of this post. I have written about this before, however, and will write about this again . . . but for now, look below and you will find last year’s early and regular application data–then do the math as you start thinking about where to apply, and where to apply early

    Last year’s data (Class of 2022):

    Some Ivy League examples and Stanford in 2018:

    Princeton:  Early Admissions–15.4%; Regular Admissions–5.5% (6.1% last year [2017] )

    Harvard:  Early Admissions–14.539%; Regular Admissions–4.59% (5.2% last year [2017] )

    Yale:  Early Admissions–14.68%; Regular Admissions–6.3% (6.9% last year [2017] )

    Columbia–5.5% admit rate; no data supplied for early admissions admit rate. (At least some things are consistent . . . )

    UPenn–Early Admissions–18.5%; Regular Admissions–8.39% (9.15% last year)

    Brown: Early Admissions–21.7%*; Regular Admissions–7.2%

    Cornell:  Early Admissions–24.3%; Regular Admissions–10.3%

    Dartmouth–Early Admissions–24.9%; Regular Admissions–8.7%

    Saving the toughest nut for last:

    Stanford;  Regular Admissions–4.3%; Stanford has not released early application information, or not released it until the following year, for some time, but about 33% of the new class was admitted early. (Again, this is last year’s data. I will update on Stanford soon, but they are becoming the Columbia of the West Coast in terms of data stinginess . . . so much for information wanting to be free.

    *Oh, and The Brown early admissions asterisk for fall of 2018 entry data (class of 2022) was due to this data being released indirectly via a presentation, rather than through a press release. I updated it separately, for my clients. This is a free blog site so . . . not everything gets posted here, but I do hope you find it useful, Oh Free Public User).