Six College Essay Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
1. Wasting time choosing the “right” topic or “perfecting” an essay. The students with the highest GPAs and test scores don’t...
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A Bloc of Writers has over 10 years of experience helping students ace their college essays. Our team works one-on-one with students to guide them from inception through the final draft of the college application essay. Whether you are just starting to brainstorm or you have completed the first draft of your Common Application personal statement, A Bloc of Writers can help!
The goal of the college application essay is not simply to impress admissions officers, but to unveil who you are–something that’s hard to do by looking at a list of grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities. Likewise, a thoughtful, well-crafted essay gives readers insight into who you really are and what’s important to you, and allows admissions officers to get a sense whether you will fit in at their school. On the other hand, a mediocre, boring or lackluster essay can jeopardize your chances of gaining admittance to a college or university.
Bring up the college application essay and many high school students will feel overwhelmed because they think they have to cull 17 or 18 years of their life into one all or nothing, make or break tale. At A Bloc of Writers, we try to demystify this process, and help students find and tell their stories. Because at its heart, college essay writing is about storytelling.
Writing a strong essay takes time, especially if you’re new to writing narrative essays, that is, most high school students used to writing formulaic, five-paragraph essays. In other words, expect to revise your essays.
But don’t worry! Our team will work one-on-one with students to guide them from inception through the final draft of the college application essays.
The good news? There are many things students can do to boost their odds of acceptance at a selective college – if they understand the ins and outs of college admissions.
We can help rising seniors and underclassmen:
Formulate a well-planned admissions strategy and create a schedule, including Early Action and Early Decision applications;
Evaluate your academic record, standardized test scores and extracurricular activities, etc. to create a realistic, balanced college list;
Offer recommendations for summer and extracurricular activities to make your college applications stand out;
Fill out the activities field and other parts of the Common Application;
Help students complete their junior year “to do” list, and make recommendations for fall course selection;
Offer advice about on-campus and alumni interviews, as well as other ways to show “demonstrated interest.”
We offer a free 30-minute phone consultation, which will allow you to learn more about our services and figure out how we can help you gain admission to the college of your dreams.
At A Bloc of Writers, we work with students regardless of what stage in the college application process they are in, but our preference is to start early. If you are looking for college consulting guidance, sophomore or junior year is ideal, while it’s best to start (and complete) college essays the summer before senior year. That said, as application deadlines approach, our team will be working night and day to help you finish your college applications on time.