Nicholas Dawes

April 13, 2022

DECISION DAY

What's Up With Waitlists? (updated 2023)

Nicholas Dawes

April 13, 2022

DECISION DAY

What's Up With Waitlists? (updated 2023)

So your child has been waitlisted. What now?

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The Secret To A "Perfect" Common App Essay

Every year, students repeat misconceptions and bad advice about how to write a personal statement. The internet is awash in videos and articles by amateur experts who just finished their admissions process and are trying to advise anxious students about how to write the “perfect” essay to get into colleges. Students often find their peers compelling, especially when those peers giving advice got into some fantastic colleges themselves. The reality, however, is that there is no secret to the perfect essay.

Really, those students don’t actually know why they got into a particular college—even a highly selective one. Colleges are not in the habit of telling students why they were accepted. Students just find out, “hey, I got in!” (cue excited screaming and IG/snap stories). It may have been the essay, or it may have been their GPA, extracurriculars, or a clutch recommendation. More likely is a combination of all of these.

What Do I Put In Additional Information?

The “additional information” box is used differently by so many colleges, it can be tricky to understand what constitutes an appropriate use of these boxes. This section is truly optional. There is no reason to fill out this section if you have nothing relevant to add.

But if you do have something that might be relevant to share, let’s talk about the Additional Information section. There are a lot of tabs, sections, and subsections to the Common App, so we will start by telling you where to find the Additional Information tab and what’s in this section. Then we’ll talk about some things that you might put into the Additional Information, and some things to definitely leave out of this section.

Writing the Common App essay? Read This First!

Which prompt you pick matters less than the story you choose to tell and how you tell it. When you begin to get ready to write, you should employ a process that begins with understanding the questions being asked. Turn over all your cards. For some people that involves brainstorming, for others it doesn’t. Whether you brainstorm or not, write with no regard for length; just get all the ideas on paper. Then organize the parts of the story that are really important or the parts that came out well, and begin trimming irrelevant content, shortening sentences and fixing verbs, getting rid of unnecessary adjectives and adverbs. At the end of the process, you should have an essay that tells the reader something about you. It should be a story that no one else could tell but you. And hopefully the writing sounds like you—a polished version of you, a you in a suit-and-tie or blouse-and-blazer, but you nonetheless.

You Need To Know These Things About The Common Application Essay

Insight. That’s the whole point of this essay. Colleges are looking to better understand your student: Who are they? What do they care about? What are their passions? Their dreams? What have they experienced in life, and how have those experiences shaped who they are? These are all questions that students seldom ask themselves. Amid the bustle of high school: the classes, the AP tests, the SAT or ACT, extracurriculars, volunteering, sports, who has the time to stop and think about these things?

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NIck DAWES

Nick has years of experience working with students as a college admissions consultant, test preparation specialist, and teacher. When he’s not helping students achieve their goals or visiting colleges, he can be found on the archery range.

What's Up With Waitlists? (updated 2023)

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NIck DAWES

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