APPLICATIONS AND ESSAYS

College admissions officers read application forms carefully, and you should regard each of your application forms as a vital component of your candidacy.

A. Filling Out the Actual Application

The application is your opportunity to speak for yourself. Give it your careful attention. Before filling out applications, carefully read the directions and questions. Before you begin you may wish to photocopy the applications so that you can do a rough draft to ensure that your answers will fit in the provided space.

There are several different ways that you can file college applications: on-line; with the CD ROM APPLY (available in the College Office in late September); or with a hard copy (the individual application designed by the college or the Common Application). Individual college applications are available by mail or on the college's web site. The Common Application, accepted by many (but not all) private colleges and universities, may be downloaded www.commonapp.org or you may obtain a printed copy in the College Office in the fall. Some of you may feel pressed for time or find it difficult to obtain a college’s application; in that case, the Common Application will prove useful. If you choose to file the Common Application rather than the college's own application, be aware that many schools which accept the Common Application also require a supplement that may include an additional essay.

When you complete applications, unless otherwise specified, always fill them out in black ink or type. Although you need not feel you have to type your applications, write, print, or type as neatly as possible so that it will not be a strain for an admissions officer to read your writing late at night. If you make an error, do not panic; use white-out or a single line crossout to make your correction. Again, to avoid errors, plan everything before you write. Or make a few copies of the original application and fill in a practice copy, to be sure everything fits.

Many students and parents ask if it is acceptable to let someone else type their applications. All colleges will answer: do it yourself. They are unimpressed by students who present slick, perfect masterpieces prepared by someone else. Believe us, they know the difference between your work and a professional's. Though Brown University may be the only school remaining that requires students to handwrite their essays, as long as you write legibly, it is perfectly acceptable to handwrite your application.

Be sure to answer all questions fully, specifically, and thoughtfully. A short essay question that asks about an academic, extracurricular, or vocational interest is looking to find out more about you in an honest and personal way. On longer essays, make sure that you leave enough time to write the number of revisions necessary to produce a final copy that pleases you.

Be sure to proofread everything on the application before mailing it. Check to see that you have followed directions, answered all questions, and checked all possible grammar and spelling errors. Include your full name at the top of each page of your applications. While your parents cannot write your application for you, we urge you to have them proofread your essays and applications. Sometimes, it is not possible to catch all of your own errors.

Finally, you should photocopy each completed application so that you have a copy in case the original is lost.

B. The Essay

The essay represents a most time-consuming and difficult but important part of the application. In it, you are able to speak for yourself and your candidacy in a frank and straightforward style, and you should take full advantage of this opportunity

It is impossible to define, in any narrow sense, what makes a "good essay." Every successful essay shares two elements in common. First, the essay itself shows fluent writing so that you demonstrate good technical control of language. Colleges are concerned about the writing proficiency of their students, and you can strengthen your candidacy by demonstrating good writing skills. Second, the essay should reveal an honest and thoughtful portrayal of yourself, your values, accomplishments, and goals. If you are able to meet both of these criteria and feel that you have done the best job you can, you have written a "good" -- i.e. successful -- essay.

Depending on the questions asked in an application, an essay can also highlight your strengths, any uniqueness in your background or experiences, or the contributions that you can make to a college. Selective colleges especially are looking for students who demonstrate not a large quantity of activities, but a high quality and depth of commitment. They look for students who possess genuine intellectual interests. They also look for those students who are not just self-interested but are willing to give of themselves out of concern for others.

Finally, here are a few practical hints.
1.) Leave yourself plenty of time to write your essays. We urge you to write initial drafts during the summer before your senior year, and to revise them if necessary during the fall.
2.) Ask a teacher, advisor or counselor whose judgment you trust to read or listen to your essays. No one else can write an essay for you or be expected to correct all of your grammar mistakes, but someone who knows you can give you general suggestions for improvement, as well as point out aspects of the essay which seem unclear.
3.) Use anecdotes or examples. That is, show the reader about yourself through exploring and reflecting upon your experiences; do not simply tell the reader about your experiences as an analytical, objective observer; tell a story. Remember, though, an anecdote alone is not sufficient. At some point in the essay, you need to reflect back on your purpose.
4.) Do not reiterate in your essay what is already clearly spelled out in some other part of your application. That is a waste of time.
5.) Do not take anything for granted. Unless you tell the admissions officer that your church raised $2,000 for you to attend St. Albans because of what you had contributed to its youth group, she will not know that. As long as you are honest and not arrogant, you should by all means "toot your own horn".
6.) In other words, be enthusiastic and positive about yourself.
7.) Be specific and concrete. It is often easy in an open-ended essay to write what amounts to only clichéd generalities. Tell the college, for example, how many hours you commit to your volunteer work, or about the awards and distinctions you have earned in an activity.

The best rule of thumb that we can suggest is: BE TRUE TO YOURSELF. This may seem obvious, even cliched, but trying to "package" yourself in a certain way to impress colleges will likely not work to your advantage. Often, students hear from peers, parents, or hired consultants that admissions officers want to see certain character traits or inclinations. They then assume that they should undertake an activity or say something in their application that seems to convey the desired impression.

Someone reading your application will form an impression of you from many sources, so a single activity or statement is not likely to accomplish that. For example, if you do not have a history of volunteering, do not expect that doing a community service program for one term or in one summer will suddenly transform you into someone who has acted upon a heartfelt concern for the welfare of others. On the other hand, if you have committed yourself to such work over time, do not hesitate to discuss its importance to you somewhere in the application.

As a practical matter, you should complete all your applications by the end of Christmas break, even if some or all of your applications are due later than that. Believe us, you do not want to have applications hanging over your head when you return to St. Albans in January. Moreover, you will need large blocks of time -- which occur rarely during the academic term -- when you do not feel pressured or distracted by homework, mid-term exams, or extracurricular activities, so that you can concentrate effectively and have your parents or others available as proofreaders.

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