State University of New York - SUNY LogoThe SUNY (State University of New York) schools have many specific differences, including certain essay questions, scholarship requirements, and the like. But they share this question in common:

Please provide additional information that will help us better understand your academic performance. You may also explain any chronological gaps in your academic history (e.g. a period of time after high school graduation before applying to college).

At first glance, this question seems like it could be an optional "tell us anything" prompt, or even a required "disciplinary" question, telling you to explain any suspensions, or run-ins with authorities that have disrupted your time in school. At College Essay Organizer, we recommend that anybody without the kind of disciplinary problems or "gaps" in the academic record use this prompt as an opportunity to discuss his or her intellectual interests.

We have discussed the intellectual interest essay here before on the blog, but most importantly, it is the piece of writing that tells the school why you are interested in what they can offer you, and what you bring to the table as a member of the student body. It is a chance to discuss your interests while also implying what you are good at and how you spend your time most effectively. It can be a chance to distinguish yourself from your peers in a unique way, which is something you should always be looking for opportunities to do.

Common App LogoAt College Essay Organizer we research college application requirements like it's our job. Actually, it is our job. And one of the odd sides of this job is that we are constantly finding inconsistencies between different versions of applications that schools put out, not to mention inconsistent or incorrect information explaining the application documents on the schools' sites.

One of the most notable disparities we've found is with the Common App itself. That's right, even the trusty old Common App has a significant difference between its paper (or PDF) version and its online version.

The paper version of the Common App calls for 150 words for it short essay, while the online version calls for 750 characters. The distinction is important, especially if you're running long, in which case the online version on the Common App will simply cut your writing off at the 750 character limit. So that 150-word essay can be significantly shorter if you're using big (some might say college-ready) vocabulary.

The Common App's short essay and optional space question are also worded differently. It's not a significant difference, though in many cases with colleges, different forms of college applications often feature different word counts, character limits, or even completely different questions! Just remember that College Essay Organizer is here to research these elements full time and contact the colleges to help resolve any confusion. So feel free to rely on us - it's our job.

Emma Watson Brown University Student

One of these people goes to Brown University. Exciting! You should probably not write your essay about that.

Brown University has always been known for its distinctive academic requirements - distinctive in that it has nearly no traditional academic requirements at all. Brown does not have a core curriculum, and allows students to shape their learning around a required number of credits each semester. As one might expect, a number of Brown's essay requirements address this atypical aspect of the school, one of which goes a little something like this:

"A distinctive feature of the Brown Curriculum is the opportunity to be the 'architect of your education.' Why does this academic environment appeal to you?"

This is another way of asking why you are interested in the school, something we've addressed here on CEO Blog before. When Brown asks you what's so great about leaving your educational requirements for you to choose, what they're really asking is what you are interested in and how you plan to take advantage of the opportunities such an arrangement allows you more than anything you might find in a Brown University promotional pamphlet.

Don't forget that your writing is always about what you can do for the school and its student body, regardless of the question. The implied meaning of all your responses is that you are a desirable candidate, and that you have qualities that set you apart from the thousands of other applicants. So when writing about a school-specific quality, like when addressing this prompt from Brown, make sure that you are identifying your own interests, and detailing how they would come alive in such an environment. Be specific, clear, and assertive and find the spots where their interests are yours, too.

New York TimesThis article recently featured on the New York Times stresses the importance of the college essay, even going so far as to suggest that students should devote their summers to crafting an experience worthy of a college essay. One of the more interesting aspects to the article is that students do not need to necessarily spend an enormous amount of money, or even travel great distances to come up with an experience that makes for a stand-out essay. Trips can be small, or even local, just so long as they are targeted, specific, and memorable:

Students do not have to spend a summer abroad for an essay-worthy experience. When Mary Lang Gill was a rising senior at the Atlanta Girls School, a private school, she hired Pam Proctor, an independent college counselor and the author of “The College Hook,” a college admissions guide. After learning that Ms. Gill loved to paint, Ms. Proctor connected her to the Florida Highwaymen, a band of renegade painters active during the 1950s and ’60s.

“I spent a whole day with them,” painting and observing, said Ms. Gill, who just graduated from Dickinson College. “It was one of the coolest things ever, and I love that and I got to put it on my application.” Ms. Proctor said she spent a great deal of time with students helping them find the right topic for the college essay. “Picking the essays is as important as writing them,” she said. After that, she said, the stories “write themselves.”

Creating a strong college essay is often about specificity and significance of subject as much as command of basic writing. By keeping that in mind, often just a few hours' work in selecting a topic, and a day or three of effort to make it a reality can yield a truly unique piece of writing, not to mention a genuine experience and new sights for the student.

Keep in mind, though, that most articles and books about the college essay process fail to point out that you'll have many essays to write, not just one. Check for free here to see how many essays your colleges require.

The Common App has gone live for the new application season and we are doing the necessary legwork to confirm all currently available requirements, including optional, departmental, and scholarship ones.

Though the Common App has updated, not all schools that accept the Common App have currently released their supplements, so over the next few weeks, you will notice that the number of schools that are current for the new year will be increasing each day.

We appreciate the positive feedback we've been getting from our users this year! There have been a lot of great accounts of how College Essay Organizer has helped students, counselors, and parents in the admissions process, and we're always glad to hear them. Keep them coming!

Harvard Shield

November 1 comes quickly, little crimsonites.

In 2007, Harvard eliminated its Early Action program and required that everyone send in applications on the same date, January 1st, but this year, it returns to Early Action, with the first round of applications due on November 1, 2011.

The move in 2007 was seen as a reaction against the increasingly competitive admissions environment in America, and many applauded the effort. But other popular schools took this as a competitive advantage and did not follow suit, so Harvard has done its applicants a favor by sparing them the difficult choice of a binding decision from another school when they'd really like to take a shot at Harvard.

Early Action and Early Decision programs certainly increase the pressure on students and parents alike - decisions are often made with a limited amount of information and on very short timetables, but they have their upsides for schools, allowing them to increase yields and fill large portions of their classes with students that are sure to attend.

This decision - coming from the top, as it were - should be read as a firm statement that Early Action and Early Decsion programs are here to stay. Get your work done as early as you can, do your homework, and learn as much as you can about your top choices before committing to your number one school.

That's right. The wait is over.

The Common App went live yesterday officially beginning the application process for the class of 2016. The Common App, now totaling 456 schools, has added 45 new members this year, including Caldwell College, Howard University, and St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

College Essay Organizer is now in the thick of the updating process, keeping track of all the new changes and supplemental essay questions for you. Expect hundreds of updates by the end of the week!

We continue to receive feedback on how College Essay Organizer is the perfect partner for using the Common App. It instantly delivers not only the supplemental essay questions, but also the department-specific questions and scholarship questions, which are often not included in the Common App. Check here for some great tips on how to use College Essay Organizer and the Common App to write winning essays.

Fox Searchlight's Another Earth

Another Earth, starring Brit Marling

The remarkable new film ANOTHER EARTH, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and is currently expanding around the country, hinges, funnily enough, on an essay. Brit Marling plays Rhoda, a young girl stricken with grief after driving drunk shortly after being accepted into M.I.T., and killing all but one member of a young family in a crash.

After serving a four-year prison sentence, Rhoda is released, and finds that the "little blue dot" that had appeared in the night sky on the same night of her accident has crept closer to Earth and revealed itself as a mirror world to our own. It has the same geography, the same environment, and even the same people, all living parallel lives to those on Earth.

Soon enough, a contest emerges, put together by a Richard Branson-like entrepreneur who wants to allow a normal person to be among the first to travel to Earth II. The application to go revolves around a 500-word essay, and Rhoda focuses on her prison time in her application. She wins.

What we found amusing was that the tack Rhoda chooses for her essay makes all the difference, which actually felt very true. Rhoda, like any good college applicant, chose from among her specific life experiences and painted herself as the ideal candidate. She did it not by focusing on her own desire to be on Earth II (something that she shared with all the other applicants), but by focusing on the one thing that made her distinct from the others she'd be judged against. Few things are more important than this when choosing your essay topic. You've got to make an effort to stand apart from the pack.

The film's sci-fi elements hang over every scene, but what drives the drama is the interpersonal connection between Rhoda and her one surviving victim. The way in which this very small film is able to engage audiences on both a micro and an interplanetary level should not be lost on us. The shocking truth of your unique emotional responses to everyday scenarios can carry an unforgettable strength, even for complete strangers. Commit to those instances in your life in which you felt something powerful and you may be surprised how far these pieces of writing can take you.

IECA LogoThe IECA just put out a press release about our new strategic partnership. Here is the full text:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 12, 2011

IECA and College Essay Organizer Announce Strategic Partnership: All Members Receive Free Accounts

Fairfax, VA—IECA is proud to announce an exclusive strategic partnership with College Essay Organizer. “We have always been committed to offering our membership the most innovative and unique benefits,” said IECA Executive Director, Mark Sklarow. “Particularly in regard to new technology that saves members time and helps them work smarter.” With this in mind, IECA will now provide interested IECA members with free College Essay Organizer student accounts during each college application season, in addition to the already specially discounted rates for IECA members. Each member of IECA will receive one free student account valued at $49; any member purchasing nine or more student accounts directly from College Essay Organizer will get an additional free account. (The more student accounts a member purchases, the lower the per student rate.)

Member feedback on this one-of-a kind web tool has been overwhelmingly positive since it was first unveiled at last year’s IECA conference. In this short time, hundreds of members have begun working with College Essay Organizer. “We designed our Web site with independent educational consultants in mind,” said Dan Stern, President of College Essay Organizer. “Our goal has always been to help IECA members optimize their time and ensure an even more professional way of running, and growing, their businesses.”

For those who are new to College Essay Organizer, this partnership will give IECA members the opportunity to discover how this easy-to-use, groundbreaking technology will save time, reduce anxiety, and allow members to work more efficiently during the busy application season. IECA members who already know the value of College Essay Organizer will enjoy the additional savings with their free account(s).

Will University of Chicago win our 2011-2012 most interesting essay question award?

We’ve had another exciting day of seeing what’s out there! University of Georgia, University of Chicago, and University of Florida were among the colleges that released some of their 2011-2012 essay questions.

For those of you who have been reading countless essay questions, University of Chicago’s new questions will definitely put some glee in your day. It’s always refreshing to come across a school that is dedicated to breaking conformity and getting your creative juices flowing. You can’t help but smile when you hear a question like, “Don’t write about reverse psychology,” or, “What does Play-Doh™ have to do with Plato?”

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