Coalition For College

Coalition For College Sometimes, teens don’t recognize their own unique traits â€" but we do. So, it can help your student if you can throw out some ideas too. When you actually paste your essay into the Common Applicationâ€"read your essay once again and fix any formatting errors that may have occurred in the system. After all your hard work, you don't want careless errors to detract from your message. Don’t trap yourself with the 5 paragraph structure, but do focus on a few central moments in time. Although you may have a million ideas and pieces of information you believe are important, it is imperative that you discern what is most significant to propel your narrative. The envisioning process is both strange and abstract, but crucial to creating a successful outline. Envisioning helps you establish your central narrative that you will focus your essay on, but is actually a bit of a misnomer. One that has worked for many teens is to have them brainstorm 21 fun facts about themselves that most people won’t know about them. Again, I think that this is a place where parents can provide a little support. The goal is for your essay to illustrate the development of them by showing you both in action and in reflection. Have a few people review it.Once you have completed a draft, ask someone you trust to review your work. You may think it’s better than your teen’s writing and you may be correct. “How I changed and matured in high school” or anything similar. If there is something specific you’d like feedback on, ask for it. Some reviewers may be better equipped to provide feedback on individual aspects of your essay. While it sounds like this is something you do in your mind, it is actually best done on the page. Considering which prompt aligns best with your overall story, brainstorm by asking yourself what are the strengths, personal qualities or values you want to highlight in the essay. There are plenty of online applications that prevent you from being distracted by the internet. If you need to listen to music to drown out noise, use lyricless music. Ambient electronic and mellow piano are good places to start. Double check that your outline is aligned with the prompt.If it is, proceed with writing your first draft. If it isn’t, identify why not and consider either changing the outline or selecting a different prompt more aligned with your developing story. Your personal statement should be well written, but less formal than an analytical essay for English class. Use language and a tone that your family and friends would recognize as you. Turn off your cell phoneâ€"at least your notificationsâ€"and any other distracting technology. Try to step away from your essay for a few days between drafts. Understand that just because someone else wrote ten drafts doesn’t mean you should. Repeat the above suggestions as many times as you deem necessary.