Yes, there is such a thing as writing your college essay too early. For over a decade, my students (and their parents) have heard me deliver this refrain, and it remains true as it ever was.
At the sprightly age of 16 or 17, students are pulling from a limited set of life experiences for their college application essays; and every month of life lived offers new experiences and paths to maturity that could help them write more thoughtful and effective personal statements. Ideally, students should begin writing their essays at the tail end of their junior year or the summer before their senior year, but not before. That said, there is no such thing as preparing to write your essay too early. Just because you shouldn’t pen your personal missive in full before the end of junior year doesn’t mean you can’t start gearing up for the task. Here are three things you can do to be better prepared when you finally sit down to tap out that admissions essay masterpiece. 1. WRAP YOUR HEAD AROUND THE TASK AT HAND.Most students come to the application process with little experience writing personal statements. Very few have been tasked with writing these kinds of highly introspective essays in their school curriculum and many feel uncomfortable writing at length in the first person. The college essay is also an assignment with a highly specific purpose, meant to reveal something to admissions about an applicant that may not be present anywhere else on the application............ Excerpt from USA Today College
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Standardized tests take on a whole new meaning in high school, with the SAT and/or ACT being huge components in the college application process. With the SAT coming up on April 5, I talked with Matthew Pietrafetta of Academic Approach, a test preparation and tutoring company with locations in Chicago, New York, and Boston. He offered his expert advice on what parents can do to get teens ready for the SAT and ACT.
His wisdom is applicable to both those taking the test next week and those who are still a few years off. Between Us Parents: In an ideal world, what does the parent role for a child preparing for the SAT look like to you? Matthew Peitrafetta: Parents play a tremendous role in trying to build purpose. Teenagers can get a little cynical and not see the purpose. If purpose is built through compliance or authoritarian rule, there isn’t intrinsic motivation. Most successful students are intrinsically motivated. Those are character traits developed way before 16 and 17, so building purpose around learning and performance and having that be very positive is the principle role that the parent is involved in. Parents are involved in the psychology of our children and how they approach achievement. Parents need to be positive as they encourage their kids to be their best. For 20 years I've been meeting with families to go over practice test scores and have seen a lot of different tones set by parents. My favorite is when parents ask their kid, “What do you make of that?” It empowers the child and makes it a constructive conversation about the learning process and not just looking at the test as an anxiety-producing right of passage that's part of getting into a certain college.................. (Excerpt posted from: ChicagoNow) A high school student's visit to the college of their choice is one of the exciting parts of their journey to college. It can be pretty exhausting, but it is also a lot of fun. This can be done formally or informally. The most important thing is that students learn as much information as they can from each school so that they can make sound comparison and decision.
Here are a few tips for high school students who need to make the most of their campus visits. Attend official campus tours Official campus tours, according to The Seattle Times will make the students feel and experience what it is like to be a college student for a day. There are some tours that offer surprising benefits like a scholarship. Visit a diverse selection of schools Students must visit different public and private colleges. This will help them discover more amazing things they would not be expecting from these schools.......... (Excerpt posted from: University Herald) Imagine you’re going on your first college visit. You’re stopping by the admission office. You’re touring the campus with a student who walks backwards—backwards!—the entire time. You’re trying the food. You’re...you’re…
Well, you’re not exactly sure what else you should do. And why would you be? Visiting colleges is not an activity that lends itself to practice. It’s more like on-the-job training. The good news is that you’ll learn as you go along. You’ll be more prepared for your second visit because you’ll know what you wish you had done on your first. The even better news is that there are some terrific resources to help you plan a successful college visit in advance. This post isn’t one of them......... (Excerpt posted from: HuffPost) A new survey of college admission officers delivers a bracing suggestion to helicopter parents: Take a big step back and let your children be in charge of the application process.
If there are offended gasps ricocheting through the tony lanes of America, there are also waves of applause from educators who've seen the ugly side of "parent involvement" during college application season. Just take a look at some of the things admissions officers are begging parents not to do:
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This blog is meant to share information, resources and tools. Some are original works by staff at NTHS and others are republications of useful posts. These republications, the authors and any comments do not represent North Tahoe High School, it's staff or TTUSD (or it's opinions/beliefs). Archives
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