1. You need to make the most of each application, remembering that for each college to which you apply, you have one application, one shot for gaining admission.
2. Many students approach college applications as a distasteful job they want to get over with as fast as they can, often racing from one question to another almost mindlessly filling in the blanks. To put your best face forward, think about what you write, and the messages the words will elicit as someone reads them. Even the simplest of informational questions can be answered with care and style.
Before filling out an application, ask yourself these questions:
What do I want the admissions people “to get” about `me?
How can I distinguish myself? Where do I “shine?”
Who am I as a person? What is important to me?
What makes me interesting, unique or different from other people?
3. You can find clues to answering these questions by looking at your Activities Resume, at how and with whom you spend time, by talking with your counselor, friends, and family, and especially by going over the personal stories and anecdotes that you collected as a result of Guide 9, Collecting Personal Stories and Anecdotes.
4. Some students worry about putting too much in their applications for fear that colleges will think them arrogant. However, there is a big difference between identifying and describing what you do or have done, and bragging about it. In an honest and upbeat way, tell the reader about your academic background, document your talents, explain how you spend your time when you are not in class, give evidence of how well you express yourself, and do this in your own voice. After you have done that, then let others — your counselor, teachers and others — sing your praises and do the boasting for you.
5. In order to communicate the whole of who you are, make sure that you don’t use the same experience, activity or example in more than one essay response. Not every essay should be about soccer, even if you are a star player. Change and balance your responses. Colleges want to know about the various aspects of your life.
