Daily Beast and Essay Coaching Top Ten Lists Overlap

April 4, 2011. Kathleen Kingsbury asks admissions officers in the Daily Beast: What advice would you give prospective students that they’ve probably never heard before?  The Daily Beast is read by over four million people monthly, according to Quantcast.com.

Kingsbury’s “Top Ten College Admissions Tips” were excellent, and had some significant overlap with the following Essay Coaching handout distributed to those who attended March 9, 2011 College Night at the Ann Arbor Library:

Top Ten Hints For Writing a Winning College Application Essay

1.   Don’t wait until September of your senior year to write your essays–it’s best to start in spring of your junior year.

2.   Start with the Common App essay questions (commonapp.org).

3.   Read books containing winning college essays to see the variety (e.g. Fiske Real College Essays That Work).

4.   Dream big, but when it comes to your essay, you don’t need to sound like Hemingway, you need to sound like you!

5.   Buy a notebook and use it for observations, epiphanies, notes, and middle-of-the-night ideas.

6.   Visit as many colleges as possible to learn about courses and programs that attract you and where you’ll fit best.

7.   Talk about college experiences with friends and family to demystify college and hear others’ experiences.

8.   Ask yourself:  What is the point of the story you tell in your essay?  What does the person who is reading my essay learn about me?

9.   The best essays display passion, initiative, talent, and/or leadership.

10.    Ask a stranger to review your draft.