May 24th, 2010
Like Heinz Vinegar, the Common App will now be more powerful than you ever could have imagined.
The Common App will add at least twenty-five schools this coming year, enticing students to apply to even more schools than they might have in years past. As we've said before, there's very little downside to applying to a large number of schools, and whatever hangups you might have (cost, inconvenience) should be outweighed by the long-term benefits of landing a spot at a reach school (successful friends, higher income potential).
So there are more schools on the Common App. Problem solved, right? Not quite. One of the big misconceptions about the Common App is that adding schools to your list is a click-and-you're-done situation if they're all on the Common App. But the large majority of these 25 new schools will ask for supplemental essays, so having these schools on your list might mean fewer applications, but won't necessarily cut down the number of essays you're required to write. That's where CEO comes in. We can streamline that process instantly, automatically, and inexpensively.
What's more, starting next week and going throughout the fall, CEO will be updating its database of essay requirements to keep them as current as possible. And with our new email notification system, we'll be able to alert you as soon as the requirements are made available so you can start early and save yourself the stress.
The new additions to the Common App might mean fewer applications, but with CEO, it'll mean fewer apps and fewer essays. If you're a rising senior, check out the discounts we have available. They won't be there after July first!
Tags: accomplishments, Admissions, CEO, College, College Essay Organizer, Common App, Deadline, early decision, Essay, Guide, Help, junior, New York Times, News, Organization, Overwhelming, procrastination, Regular Decision, Tips, Top Choice, university
Posted in News | Comments Off
April 19th, 2010
Our CEO and founder Daniel Stern is quoted in this New York Times article on plagiarism. One of the unexpected - but great - side effects of CEO's service is that it cuts down on plagiarism. And maybe better yet for the more ethical time-strapped teens we help, it cuts down on that nagging urge to plagiarize.
I mean, it's right there. Copy. Paste. Done. Why not? It's a time saver. And the colleges aren't doing you any favors there by making their applications so similar, yet not identical. Why not take just a little help from your friends?
It's an ethical issue everyone wrestles with, especially when doing work you're not necessarily pouring your heart and soul into. But where CEO comes to the rescue is in the focus and ethical re-application of the work you've already done for your other apps. It cuts down on the work you need to do, making the apps especially easy for those sure-bet and safety schools you have on your list. For sure, by the time you get to those apps, you've outlined your grand life plan in five hundred words or less enough times. No need to do it again, right? Right.
Now thank CEO instead of the command-v.
Tags: accomplishments, Admissions, avoid, CEO, College, College Essay Organizer, Common App, Deadline, early decision, Essay, Grades, Guide, Help, mistake, New York Times, News, Overwhelming, personal, Plagiarism, procrastination, Regular Decision, School, statement, Tips, Top Choice, university
Posted in In the News | Comments Off
April 8th, 2010
...Maybe don't apply early here.
A brief article posted last week by the New York Times' Education desk confirms that applications to elite American universities rose again this year despite economic hardship. But as always, the number of available spots isn't budging, so the selectivity of those schools continue to increase, and the need for applicants to diversify their applications increases.
Though it might seem dire, there are a number of pieces of good news to take from this. Selectivity increasing at the top means that those schools are stronger than ever. It also means that schools that used to be considered good (or at the very least, good enough) are also improving. Better and better students will find themselves at lower-tier schools, thus raising the quality of the student bodies there.
And what really makes this whole thing not as bad as it seems is that the tools at your disposal have never made applying to school easier or more efficient. Though you'll definitely need to apply to a broader selection of schools to increase the chances you'll be somewhere that satisfies you, tools like CEO can make that task a much more manageable one, often times requiring no additional work from you.
Tags: Admissions, CEO, College, College Essay Organizer, Common App, Deadline, early decision, Essay, Extra Curricular, Grades, Guidance Counselor, Guide, Help, holistic, junior, New York Times, News, Organization, Overwhelming, personal, procrastination, Regular Decision, rejected, SAT, School, statement, Tips, Top Choice, university
Posted in News | Comments Off
March 4th, 2010
Even the best get a little... hold on... wait... uh, busy.
Our friends at the New York Times has published an article on a recent study showing that most people who graduated from high school in the last dozen years thought their guidance counselor was unable to provide useful advice on their college decision, with a large percentage feeling that the help offered was impersonal.
Also cited in the article was the sobering statistic that the American School Counselor Association considers a student:counselor ratio of 100 to 1 as 'optimal,' but that the average nationwide is 265:1, with schools in California shooting up over 1,000:1.
We should read this as evidence that the people tasked with providing the kind of organization and optimization that today's college application process requires are understandably overwhelmed by the task much of the time. And who can blame them? Much of a guidance counselor's time is eaten up with in-school requirements, scheduling conflicts, and even disciplinary issues that have nothing to do with helping to plan college experiences for their students.
So for students, try to make your time with your counselor count - and know that they aren't necessarily going to have the resources to organize your work for you, nor are they necessarily going to be able to plan your meetings in advance in a way that will optimize the experience for both of you.
Make sure that the preliminary, basic work of organization and management of your tasks is taken care of automatically, and try your best to mine your guidance counselor's considerable knowledge of university specifics and different opportunities, rather than just focusing on "what you have to do to get these applications done." You'll be much better served the sooner you can get to the upper-level discussions your guidance counselor is qualified to have with you. And he or she will be a lot happier, more grateful, and eager to do so.
For guidance counselors, remember that there are tools out there that may seem cost-prohibitve at first, but ultimately save your school money through greater efficiency. Using CEO as a management tool, for example, makes your job easier, cuts anxiety for all involved, and helps you keep on top of where your students' applications stand without a single piece of paper to keep track of.
Tags: Admissions, California, College, College Essay Organizer, Deadline, Essay, Guidance Counselor, Guide, Help, New York Times, News, Organization, Overwhelming, School, university
Posted in Studies | Comments Off
January 11th, 2010
The Rushmore Beekeepers. I'm a member, but also its founder.
The New York Times' lovely blog, The Choice, has recently done a couple of posts that don't seem to be intentionally linked but have an interesting relationship regarding an important question many have asked about their college essays. What's worth writing about when it comes to extra-curricular activities? Is it worth it to spend your time discussing something that's already on your resume? And is it a no-brainer to write about the most remarkable one on the list? Should we always write about the thing we've stretched furthest and hardest to do?
Extra-curriculars are the worst victim of resume padding there is. They tend to be easy to add (or even make up), and every school has several that require little or no work most of the time. But we generally know even before we're asked which ones are important to us. We know which ones were added because we love them - the ones we'd be happy to do without even being credited for it - and those that were asked just to look good on paper.
What you're perhaps less likely to believe is that the person reading your essay can tell, too. Even if he or she hasn't met you. And it's not because the activity is rare or sounds fake, but that a lack of passion will almost invariably be revealed in an essay.
What's most important when choosing what to write about is not whether it seems the most exceptional, or seems like it took the most amount or work, or even the one that needs the most explaining. It's the one you can write about in an excited, engaging, and specific way. When you find these topics, you're golden, because you will be able to articulate what it is that fills you with that excitement, and only then will the reader understand what makes you, you.
Tags: Admissions, avoid, CEO, College, Common App, Essay, Guide, Help, mistake, New York Times, personal, statement, Tips, Top Choice, university
Posted in College Essay Writing Tips | Comments Off
January 4th, 2010
From high above we see... Crazy things afoot.
The recent problems with the University of Chicago’s admissions department highlight a number of things we should all be aware of regarding the process. First and foremost, it is not a science. There are any number of reasons that can keep you from an acceptance letter, many of which are completely out of your control. Elements such as where you grew up, past histories of applicants similar to you, even the number of kids from your high school applying to the same university can weigh heavily on an admissions officer’s decision if spaces are highly competitive.
But more importantly, recognize that the sample essay the dean of UChicago saw fit to send out was an example of something novel. It gave him a bit of a shock in its approach and its form. It was not the kind of five-paragraph thesis essay the school has seen a thousand times. The writer had an idea and committed to it, and that commitment allowed him to stand out in a spectacular way (perhaps more than he would have liked, in this case!)
You should also notice that it is not the best piece of writing known to man. It is not a work that would make Fitzgerald blush with its superior insight into the human condition. But it is clear. Very clear. It has purpose and intent, and above all, it tells us something about the person reading it that the application cannot. That, above all, should be your goal in developing your application essays.
Tags: Admissions, avoid, CEO, College, College Essay Organizer, early decision, Essay, Guide, Help, mistake, New York Times, News, rejected, statement, Tips, Top Choice, university, University of Chicago
Posted in News | Comments Off
January 1st, 2010
The proud, the beautiful, the oddly explicit. The University of Chicago.
As reported by The New York Times, the dean of admissions at the University of Chicago was so smitten with an essay comparing the University to an elusive lover that he thought it would be a good idea to send it out to all of UChicago's prospective applicants. All of them. As you might imagine, this did a lot more harm than good as hundreds of already-stressed applicants found out that the essay was nothing like theirs, or at all similar to what they had planned, and immediately assumed they had done something wrong. Many began to wonder if they should toss all their hard work and start new essays altogether.
It's human nature to read something you've been told is successful and want to emulate it, but don't read this sample essay - though the applicant has been accepted - as a model of what to do. Instead, think about what the essay dares to say about its author and take that as inspiration to be free and forceful in your writing.
The college essay ought to be a personal, expressive piece of work, not a regurgitation of the five-paragraph model you've been taught in high school. Look at the sample essay Chicago has released and think of it not as a model but as an invitation to be bold in your writing - to commit to a style and execute it the best way you know how, rather than mimicking something or writing the way you think you're supposed to. This a prime example of how to stand out from what is an increasingly large pile of applications at the nation's top schools.
Tags: Admissions, avoid, CEO, College, College Essay Organizer, early decision, Essay, Guide, mistake, New York Times, Tips, Top Choice, university, University of Chicago
Posted in News | Comments Off
December 9th, 2009
http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/cut-offs/?hp
One in five. Too many? I guess that depends.
The New York Times refers here to an official study showing that one in five schools these days is using an unpublicized SAT cut-off point for applicants, and one in four of those schools that require the ACT does the same. Sounds bad, right? Well, I’d argue not entirely. We ought to see this as the glass being a lot more than half full.
This study's flip side shows that the overwhelming majority of schools are keeping their analysis holistic, and are willing to look at the application in full rather than in strictly numerical terms. (Remember that many of the larger schools, for whom the essay is irrelevant or nonexistent, are likely to be the ones using these cutoffs.) This also means that the schools are giving each application time, which is what we as applicants should be most grateful for. It’s the thing that takes the most effort and the most money on the part of the schools, so their doing that kind of legwork is beneficial for us.
It also means that all that time-consuming work that they’re throwing at you actually does matter! These essays are given quality reads and given their fair due in the evaluation process. So remember that even though they are not a quick-fix solution to elevating your application from dud to stud, they most certainly can be a quick-fix solution to making your application rise to the top. Make your work stand out, and as we at CEO like to put it, you will let your life speak.
Tags: Admissions, College, Essay, Guide, Help, holistic, New York Times, Tips, university
Posted in Studies | Comments Off
December 2nd, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/education/edlife/01admission-t.html
Holistic Admissions Sounds... Peaceful.
The New York Times recently posted a great write-up on the difficulties facing students in applying to universities that used to be content in addressing students in terms of their numbers, but that due to rising demand have shifted to analyzing them holistically. Of course this can be good or bad depending on your point of view, but either way, it demands that students stand out a bit more with their writing.
A holistic approach means universities are using your 'intangibles' to differentiate you from other students more than they used to - and this applies even to some of the bigger schools, as the NYT makes clear here with their California State system example.
So what do we make of this? Especially given yesterday's post about the ever-increasing amount of writing that students are expected to do, how do we also account for these intangible assessments? The answer is to make sure that your writing is as strong as it can possibly be, and that means not over-extending yourself when it comes to answering the myriad questions these schools are going to throw at you. Stay focused and clear and you've done your best.
Give that NYT article above a good read. It's a three page piece with a lot of very good details to demystify the process a bit more for you.
Tags: Admissions, College, Essay, Guide, Help, New York Times, statement, Tips, Top Choice, university
Posted in News | Comments Off
« Newer Posts
