Collegewise

What if you made a mistake in your application?

I got a panicked email this week from a reader who’d just found an error in her Common App essay that she’d already submitted to her colleges.  She wondered how much this would hurt her chances and was hoping for some words of encouragement. 

First, while errors are never good, it’s important to understand that no college admissions officer is going to reject you because you mistakenly used “roll” instead of “role” in one sentence of one essay (that wasn’t her error, but it was like that).  There’s a difference between being careless and making one honest albeit embarrassing mistake.  You’re not a lawyer representing Exxon Mobil here—you’re a seventeen-year-old kid writing a college essay about basketball.  Relax. 

But if in your mad rush to meet the deadlines you missed several typos, or you mistakenly told Duke how much you’d love to attend NYU, or you have a string of sentences cobbled together from other essays that you mistakenly pasted in the wrong order and now make absolutely no sense, it’s worth doing something about it.

If you’re in that situation, mail a hard copy of your corrected application or essay to the admissions office(s) with a cover letter asking them to replace the current version with the enclosed copy.  Sign the letter with your full name and social security number.  Be brief (no long explanation necessary) and courteous.   If they haven't read, evaluated and decided on your file yet, they'll usually happily replace materials.

Do not use this as an excuse to second guess everything you’ve sent so you go can go back to the drawing board and write new essays or answer application questions differently.  Once the deadline has passed, the opportunity to rethink your approach is over, and it’s time to move on.  The course of action I’m describing above is appropriate to correct potentially embarrassing mistakes, not to submit what you think are new-and-improved versions of your application materials (parents, especially, should read that last sentence).  And don’t send repeated requests to colleges to update your file with continuously revised materials.  There is no busier time in most college admissions offices than right now, and they won’t appreciate a student who needed three rounds of revisions after the deadline to get your essay right.

The pressure of college admissions can make you feel like one mistake in an application will seal your rejection and doom you to a life living in your parents’ basement.  But sometimes those mistakes happen even to the best kids.  Don’t beat yourself up and please don’t worry too much about it.  Correct it if you can, but remember that college admissions officers are in the business of evaluating 17-year-olds.  They expect you to take this seriously, but they don’t expect you to be perfect all the time.   

Need some final feedback on your Common Application?

This will be my last post of the year promoting our Collegewise Guide to the Common Application.  Arun and I went through every section of the Common App and thought about all the common mistakes we see students make.  We pulled together all the advice we’ve been giving our students over the last 12 years.  And we condensed it into one clear guideline.  The feedback we’ve gotten has been entirely positive, and we’re really happy with the reception.  If you’re preparing to submit yours in the next few days, I promise that our guide will help you.  If it doesn’t, email me at kevinm(at)collegewise(dot)com and I’ll gladly refund your money.

It’s $12.99 and available for immediate download here.  Even if you’ve already finished your application, review it with our guide in hand, and we’ll help you make sure that every section is clear and compelling.

And whether or not we hear from you, good luck with the rest of your application process.  You’re in the throes of it now, but it’s almost over, and the feeling of relief when you finally hit the “Submit” button is almost here. 

If you haven’t finished (or started) your applications

If you’re a senior starting your holiday break today with unfinished (or yet-to-be-started) college applications, let’s confront the brutal facts.  Your college applications are important, and you don’t have a lot of time left to do them.  But you still have plenty of time to do them well if you’re smart about it.  Here’s how.

1. Make your applications a priority.

You don’t need me to tell you this, I know.  But I mention it because if you half-heartedly work on your applications until 24 hours before the deadline, I promise you that you will regret that decision.  You can avoid that fate by starting in earnest now.  Do it.  It will be worth it.

2. Complete the applications before you do the essays.

There is no college application that, without the essays, cannot be filled out in less than 2 hours.  So rather than complete each application in its entirety before moving on to the next one, complete everything but the essays (short or long—it doesn’t matter).  Whenever you come to an essay prompt, copy and paste the prompt into a separate document to be addressed later.  But for now, just complete the applications themselves.

There are two reasons this is a good strategy.  First, it feels good to get some quick victories.  In one day, you can probably complete all the applications.  Sure, you’ve still got essays to do.  But you’ll have momentum.  And it’s easier to push through and do the work when you’re already making progress.

It’s also easier to write essays when you have all the prompts in one place.  Which brings me to…

3. Group your essay prompts based on the story you want to tell.

Instead of working on your essay prompts by school, work on them by theme.  If you’re going to talk about coaching a youth basketball team in more than one essay, group those prompts together.  Answer one of them, then use what you can from that essay in the next similar prompt.  Again, you want to use momentum here.  Once you write about coaching youth basketball, it’s easy to answer other prompts where you’re writing about the same subject.  Sometimes you can even recycle an essay in its entirety.  But even if you have to do slightly different versions of the basketball story for each application, it will be easier than trying to switch back and forth between unrelated stories.

You’ll get more done in a shorter amount of time when you group your essay prompts this way.

4. Leave some time to sleep on it. 

Some of the best application and essay revisions come after you’ve had some time to sleep on them.  Build that sleep time into your timeline.  Leave at least 48 hours (preferably more) between the time that you’re pretty sure you’re done and the time you hit “Submit.” 

5. Expect to doubt everything you’ve done right before you submit.

Your mind does terrible things to you before you make a big, irrevocable decision (that’s why so many people are nervous on their wedding days).  Before you hit “Submit,” you’re going to second guess your essays.  You’re going to wish your SAT scores were higher.   You’re going to be embarrassed that you got a B in trig or don’t have more community service hours or only played varsity softball for one year.  Remember that this is just a normal albeit unfortunate reaction.  Once you expect it to happen, it’s a lot less uncomfortable when it actually arrives.  I’m not trying to get psychological on you, but you’ll see what I mean once you’re about to submit your applications.  Expecting the nerves is the best way to diffuse them.

Lastly, just remember this.  One year from now, you’re going to be arriving home for the holidays from college.  Maybe you’ll arrive home wearing the sweatshirt from the school that today is your top choice.  And maybe it will be a different school.  It doesn’t matter.  It’s still going to be college.  Work hard for the next week, trust yourself, and have faith that it’s all going to work out because it almost always does.

What you leave out

During live performances, most bands play their best songs.  Any tunes they just don’t play as well don’t make the set list—they get left out.

When a chef opens a restaurant, she doesn’t serve a sampling of everything she’s ever cooked.  She puts her best dishes on the menu and lets those speak for her.  She knows what to leave out.

A lawyer doesn’t give a closing argument with five convincing points and two not-so-convincing ones.  He uses that time to drive home his five best points.   Anything that’s not as effective, he leaves out. 

When a good writer finishes a book, she doesn’t include every chapter she worked on in the rough drafts.  Those that didn’t add anything or that just didn’t work, she leaves them out (and if she doesn’t, her editor probably will).

When you do your college applications, don’t just focus on how to present what you’re including.  Think hard about what you’re leaving out.  The one activity that you never did again after freshman year, that paragraph in your essay that makes it go over the word limit but doesn’t really add anything, that description in the optional “Additional Information” section that’s really just repeating something you’ve already listed elsewhere, you don’t need them.  They’re not improving your application.  And they’re just making it harder for the reader to focus on what was really important to you. 

Every time you leave something out, everything that's left in will get more attention.

Keep your proof

It’s only happened a few times, but there have been occasions when a college told one of our Collegewise students,

“We're sorry, but we never received an application from you.”

And there has rarely been a time when it felt better to say,

“Yes, you did—I’ve got the proof right here.”

Admissions offices are processing thousands of pieces of paper this time of year and they do a pretty great job considering the volume.  But mistakes happen.  And when they do, the burden of proof will be on you.

Seniors, as you submit your applications to colleges, please print your confirmations and keep them in a safe place.  Don’t just rely on saving the confirmation that’s emailed to you.  It could get accidentally deleted or your computer could spontaneously combust.  Save both an electronic and a hard copy.

Probably a good idea to do the same thing when you send your required test scores, too. 

Is there any additional information you'd like to share?

Imagine you had a great job interview, one where everything just clicked, your answers flowed easily, and you were able to share all of your most important successes.  Then your interviewer asks you at the end,

“This has been great—is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”

Would you mention a success that wasn’t as important?  Would you fill the space with something you didn’t care so much about?  Probably not.  You’d want to end on a high note rather than share something else that might be less important or less impressive than what you’d already discussed.

That’s exactly how you should treat college application questions that ask, “Is there any other information you’d like to share?”

What seniors should really give thanks for this weekend

Give thanks this weekend for all the good things in your life.  But if you’re a senior still working on college applications, also give thanks for the next four days of time…to finish them.

Working on—and finishing—your remaining college applications over Thanksgiving is a lot less stressful than rushing to do it over your winter holiday.  You’ll do a better job without the pressure of a looming deadline that’s so close you’re not sure you can meet it.  And when you get to your holiday this winter, you’ll really have something to give thanks for.

Pretend your college application deadline is this Sunday.  Then work to finish them like your college future depended on it.  Bring a laptop to Grandma and Grandpa’s if you have to so you can work after you get stuffed.  I'm not saying you should rush them and do a bad job.  But a self-imposed deadline works better than one you don't have any control over.  

It won’t be as fun as taking a little time off, but you’ll buy yourself a few weeks of application-free fun when school lets out in December.

Urban legends

A student I once knew tore his college application essay in half and sent the first half with a note at the bottom that read, “If you want to see the other half, admit me.”  He got admitted to Stanford.   

Have you heard that one before?  There’s a good chance you have.  It’s a college admissions urban legend (obviously from the days before internet applications).  A more recent one involves a student who answered an essay question, “What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?” with simply, “This.”  That story isn’t as ridiculous as the torn essay, but I’ve had three people in two different states tell me the kid who wrote it went to their high school. 

Like most urban legends, these are easy to remember and to pass along to others, but they’re not true.  Can you really imagine a college admissions officer reacting well to a kid dopey enough to tear his essay in half?

Blending in--doing the same activities and applying to the same colleges and writing the same essays as every applicant is no way to stand out.  But an application gimmick isn’t going to make you memorable, either (at least, not in a good way). 

Admissions officers are impressed by real kids, kids who are memorable because they're interesting, not because they used gimmicks.  It’s the kid who did math problems at lunch with the math club, the student who worked 20 hours a week at McDonalds, the quarterback who writes poetry, the tech genius who lights all the school plays, the section editor of the school newspaper who wants to write for Sports Illustrated someday, and the saxophone player in the marching band who wrote about marching in the rain. 

Why would any of those kids want to waste an opportunity to share more about themselves by relying on a gimmick?

When you're applying to college, don't use gimmicks.  Just be clear, honest and thoughtful. You may not become a college admissions urban legend that carries on to the next generation, but at least your story will be real.  And the admissions officers will be more likely to talk about it.

When we follow our own Collegewise advice

I know our Collegewise advice works.  But this week I was reminded that it’s not always easy to follow it, especially when you’re facing the pressure of applying. 

An author I admire announced that he’s holding a three-day marketing seminar in New York.  The class would be limited to 70 people, and you had to apply for admission. 

The application had just three questions:

1.    What do you do (in a hundred words or less, the gist of your job and who you do it for)?

2.    Is there a URL to 'see' you online (a blog, home page, Squidoo page, corporate site etc.).

3.    Where are you headed and where can I help you get to?

I worked hard on my responses but just wasn’t happy with them.  Something wasn’t working.  Then I realized what it was.  I’d forgotten to follow our Collegewise advice.

I was trying too hard to impress him instead of just being honest in my answers.  I was talking more about Collegewise and less about me and what I actually do here.  And the answers just didn’t sound like me—they were formal, stiff, and unrevealing.  It was actually pretty embarrassing to forget to follow my own advice. 

So I deleted everything and started over in the Collegewise way.  I answered the questions honestly, without trying to guess what might sound good.  I made sure every answer helped him better understand me, what I do here, and why I do it.  And I wrote every sentence as if I were speaking to him.  No formal, flowery language—just honest answers that sounded like me.

This week, I got my response:

"Thanks for your interest in the session. I'm honestly blown away by the response I got.  Hundreds of people applied, but you're in the very first batch of invites. The quality of people (and the diversity) is pretty amazing... you're in good company.  I hope you'll be able to join me in December."

Filling out college applications and writing your essays is stressful.  You know you’re going to be judged on the information you share and you really want the colleges to say “Yes.”  It’s hard to relax and let you and your high school career speak for yourselves without trying too hard to impress them.  But that’s exactly what you need to do.

A safe, overly-formal application will be just like all the others.  That’s no way to stand out.  So don’t try to guess what’s going to sound impressive—just be clear and honest.  Keep the focus on you, even when you’re describing an activity, experience or a person who’s inspired you (you are what colleges want to learn more about).  And don’t be so formal that your applications and essays don’t sound like you.  A little personality goes a long way.

It’s not always easy to do.  But I promise you that it works.

10 stupid college application mistakes to avoid

Some mistakes on college applications are worse than others.  Here are my top ten application miscues that can hurt your chances, but frankly, are easy to avoid.  

1. Does any part of your application resemble a text message?  Capitalization, punctuation and complete sentences are your friends.

2. Do your essays use any words you used a thesaurus to find?  Thesaurus words sound like they came, well, from a thesaurus.

3. Did your parents write any part of the application or essays for you?  It will be obvious if they did.

4. Did you self-report any of your classes or grades incorrectly?  If a college asks you to report this information, don’t even attempt it without your official transcript in hand.

5. Did you make excuses for things that were your fault?  If you told them the “C” you got in Spanish was because of a “personality conflict with your teacher,” you’re making this mistake.

6. Does your essay about why you want to attend the school reference the wrong school (a surprisingly common mistake for students recycling essays from other applications)?

7. Speaking of recycling, are you reusing an essay from another school that doesn’t actually answer this particular prompt?  Revise or start over.  But don’t just recycle at all costs. 

8. Did you rely on spell check without a human to back it up?  A student once asked us to review an application in which he’d written that he struggled with “standardized testes.”  I swear I am not making that up.  Spell check doesn’t catch everything.  Find a good human editor to back it up.

9. Are you including extra materials the college didn’t ask you to send, like extra letters of recommendation, a resume, a DVD, an art project, a live reptile that you think best represents you, etc.?  Unless they ask (which some colleges do), assume they don’t want it. 

10. Did you use even the light-hearted questions, like, “What’s something you do just for fun?” as an opportunity to brag about an accomplishment, like, “I sincerely enjoy performing over 100 hours of community service at the hospital”?

P.S. If you’re applying to schools on the Common Application and want more advice about how to avoid mistakes and really make your application stand out, check out our Collegewise Guide to the Common Application.  It’s $12.99 and available as a downloadable PDF.