To Write An Extraordinary College Essay, Tell An Ordinary Story

To Write An Extraordinary College Essay, Tell An “Ordinary” Story Talk with your school counselor for more information. Don’t forget to visit CFNC.org for free test resources. A major task to complete on the college planning checklist is taking a standardized test. Please check with each institution for exact costs. Students planning to take advantage of early action or early decision deadlines will need to have their essays and applications completed soon after school starts. These deadlines are usually between November 1 and November 15. If students don’t take the ACT or SAT in school, they can sign up online. In high school, I began debating and found that I loved it. Most North Carolina public school students will take the ACT for free during the spring semester of their junior year. Check with your school to see what’s available for free test prep. Selective schools may require additional essays, personal statements, and portfolios that showcase student work. Students should choose recommenders who know them well and can speak to their strengths. This is not a section of the application to be put off until the last minute. Students should give their recommender time to write the best representation of the student. But I wonder how today’s overscheduled students find time to explore any one extracurricularâ€"whether it’s a sport, a musical instrument, or anything else worth doingâ€"in any depth. The key challenge for our young people is not to master more activities, but to learn that mastery requires doing one thing at a time. The typical application for college today has eight to 10 spaces for students’ activities outside class, and parents and students have become convinced that the more spaces filled, the better. There are no assurances when it comes to college admission. Some schools are highly selective and accept only a small percentage of the number of students who apply for admission. The Handbook contains direct links to the website of each school. The costs listed in the handbook are intended to provide a range that can be used to help make enrollment and financial planning decisions. Check each school’s website so you don’t miss an important deadline. The summer going into your senior year is an important time to start finalizing your plan for applying to college. That means narrowing down your list of schools and settling on the three to five colleges where you know for sure you want to submit applications. Some students will take standardized tests multiple times to improve their scores. Remember, there is a fee for each exam, unless you qualify for free or reduced lunch. Religious tradition testifies that immersion changes lives. Research agrees; the College Board reviewed dozens of studies to find the factors that most predict success. After grades and test scores, the factor that most predicts college success is follow-throughâ€"that is, students’ sustained effort and growth in one or two extracurricular activities while in high school. Students who devote themselves to an activity are more likely to succeed later in areas such as campus leadership and independent accomplishment. Long lists cultivate busy mediocrity rather than sustained excellence. To get into college or to earn scholarships, it is much more effective to be very good at a small set of things than to check off a long list. CampusReel offers 15,000 tours of over 300 campuses. College fairs give students and their families a chance to get information from a large number of colleges and to meet college admissions representatives at one local event.