College is expensive and hard work, but more Americans are looking to attend school. This article will help the youngest applicants in their quest for acceptance.
As guidance counselors often say, it is better to start planning earlier rather than later if one is contemplating a move in life. This is most certainly true when that move involves attending a college or university in the United States. Applications, standardized tests, and letters of recommendation take time. Likewise, looking to hire essay writer and taking college visits requires advanced planning as well. This article highlights some of the most important factors and actions to mull and to take when applying to school while still attending high school.
Parents and Children Need to Discuss Paying for College
Too often, parents and children put off talking about whom will pay for what when it comes to life after high school. College is very expensive, and many families cannot afford the financial burden. Children need to be made aware of this early, so that part-time jobs, loans, scholarships, and other sources of financial support may be found.
Some parents are willing to co-sign for loans, while many are not willing to do so. For this to be less stressful both financially and discussion-wise, it is often best to sit down and discuss payment for college before a child is sold on a particular school or has invested a lot of time into the college search.
High School Students Need to Find Recommendation Letter Writers
Another thing student ought to do early is getting the application packets for the schools they are interested in and secure any required letters of recommendation. Doing this early in the application year guarantees time if someone backs out of writing due to other commitments, and likewise, it allows recommenders (teachers, coaches) time to write thorough letters.
A great idea is to secure letters after projects, awards, etc. where the recommender can describe in detail one’s achievements. Specific details and examples make the high school applicant stand out in a sea of application packets, so it is important to get strong writers who know students well and who will not settle for a missed deadline or haphazardly, generic letter.
Write A Winning Essay
The Challenge
For most college-bound high school seniors, this time of year is probably the most stressful of their entire academic life. Most seniors are extremely aware of the competitive hurdles that they have to surmount to gain acceptance to a college of their choice. For many students, the simple part of applying to college is completing the college application; the difficult part is writing the College Essay. For most high school seniors, writing this essay will be one of the toughest challenges they have faced because everyone has advice about what it takes to write a winning essay.
The Pros and Advice
To make this situation even more difficult for students are the multitudes of experts giving essay writing “tips” that sometimes offer students different and conflicting information. For years, students have been advised to only submit perfect applications and essays to colleges, which has resulted in some students asking to write my essay, writing semi-robotic and uninformative essays. Recently, some professional counselors have recommended that applicants find ways to inject at least a single error into their application and/or essay to appear to be more human to admission committees. With all of this “free” floating advice surrounding them, there’s little wonder that most high school college applicants are confused and frustrated about their world, the environment, and their current task at hand.
What College Admissions Want
Colleges are looking for an insight into the student that isn’t revealed in test scores, transcripts, or letters of recommendation. College admissions representatives are looking to find what makes an applicant unique. Admissions representatives are looking for the unquantifiable, intangible essence that exists beneath the surface of a young person that makes them more than the expected stellar student, athlete, or student leader. All college essay questions are geared to reveal what individual students think and feel is important about their world, their environment or simply what a student feels is their place in the world.
What’s So Difficult
Most students who are college-bound know how to write a compelling school essay that earns top grades. The problem for highest school seniors is being able to articulate who they are because most of them are still trying to understand the world and few know or understand what defines them as different from their friends or strangers. So, to ask a student to write an essay like an academic essay writer that clearly defines who they are or to describe what they have experienced in a very personal way, in 500 to 750 words or less, is the challenge.
Some Essay Writing Tips
- Give yourself at least two weeks to write your college essay.
- Only express genuine feelings
- Make sure that your essay is focused
- Remember: The college essay is only a persuasive essay about you and how you feel about a particular subject.
- Never have someone else write your college essay. No one knows you better than you.
- There are no “right” or “wrong” essays unless you choose to express yourself inappropriately.
- Relax and be assured that you’ll do just fine.
- Re-read, edit and re-read again. If possible, have someone proofread your essay before submission.
Make a List of Schools and Scholarships
As senior year approaches, college visits and discussions of favorite colleges and universities need to be had, between parents and child, and between child and guidance counselors, teachers, and admissions officials. Application packets and scholarship applications take lots of time to compose and mail, as they likewise take a lot of time for admissions officials to go through and decide upon.
The more schools applied to and the more scholarships went for may seem like the safer and better option, but the key is that then the time has to be divided among more tasks. Less time can be spent on polishing each application and double-checking for accuracy, thoroughness, and timeliness. Likewise, the stress of so many deadlines among the other obligations high school students have can lead to fatigue or illness. Making a list of schools (including safety or two) and scholarships early on allows students a time-obligation balance as well as a timetable to adhere to.
In general, taking the time to talk about money, prioritize application deadlines, and weighing recommenders wisely will benefit all and push the stress off of the organizational elements and onto the long wait for SAT scores, transcripts, and prom dates instead of things that could be balanced and decided upon before senior year gets underway.
