What goes into a "good" college essay, anyway?

Does it have to be about some enormously dramatic, Lifetime Move-quality event that occurred in a young lad's or lass's life?

Some gigantic, breathtaking obstacle that the young chap or damsel overcame before going onto accomplish scholastic glory?

Or an abundance of wicked smaht-sounding, multi-syllabic words such as "myriad" and "plethora" stuffed into every sentence?

I bet you know the answers to those questions.

What about "good" and "bad" essay topics?

Getting cut from a team, then working out extra hard over the summer in Rocky's old gym, coming back, making the team and kicking the winning goal or making a buzzer beater from half court?

Writing about grandpa's words of wisdom?

Or oing political?

This Thursday night, I'm conducting a free online class to answer all of these questions. Some of my answers should confirm what you knew or suspected, but then again, some may surprise you, come to think of it.,

The class is called,...

These days, I'm derriere-deep with college essay editing for our clients, and have noticed certain repeated, widespread and repeated mistakes.

(Repeated twice in the same sentence was an intentional joke. Alrighty, as you were.)

I figured I'd share a few of them, to help your child come up with a winning personal statement and persuasive supplemental essays.

This Thursday night, I'm conducting a free online class, Top 10 College Essay Mistakes -- How to write an essay so compelling that college admissions officers will practically crawl naked over broken glass to admit your student.

This class is for kids and parents alike.  Please feel free to share this with anyone you know who will soon be staring at that blinking cursor on their laptop, wondering "What the devil do I have to write about" (or 2024 equivalent expression)?

I'm here to help.  Go here to get the details:

Essay Class

- Andy Lockwood

P.S.  Just to get this out of the way, I'll be making a...

Tutoring | Workshop

Announcing:   "Secrets" of How to Triple Odds of Acceptance to Your Dream College...

...and how to comfortably afford tuition...

...even if you think there's no way your family can possibly qualify for any type of financial aid.

This coming Wednesday June 26th, we're conducting our maiden voyage college planning workshop in our brand spanking new offices, live!  (Not a webinar).

If you're the parent of a 9th, 10th or 11th grader with dreams of attending a top college, I created this presentation EXACTLY for you!    Here's a closer look at what's on tap:

*The inconvenient truth about what it takes -- beyond solid grades and near-perfect SATs, "passion projects" and other nonsense -- to get accepted to a top college today (WARNING:  Not "Politically Correct")

*Financial Aid "Loopholes" - how to legally "hide" your money from the financial aid office

*How to avoid Admissions Armageddon and build a balanced,...

Let me get right down to business.  We're closing out registration for our Get College Ready Bootcamp tonight, midnight.

COUPON CODES BOOT-10 / BOOT-10EZ for the one-pay and payment plan options.

If your son or daughter is struggling with the answer to the question, "Why should a college accept YOU?", this opportunity is for you.  And her.

Most kids can't answer this question. 

Or they come up with a non-answer that sounds like something they think admissions officers want to hear (but could pertain to every college applicant):

"I have a 94 GPA."  

"I'm in National Honor Society."

It's not their fault.  High school students have zero training on how to capture admissions officers' attention, hearts and minds and PERSUADE them why they should be admitted to the school of their dreams!

That goes double for parents, who are even more in the dark than their kids. 

You can get the full workup on this summer-long event...

Summer is a good time for rising seniors to finalize their college list.  But this is easier said than done.

Most kids are in the dark about how to create a BALANCED list of colleges.  This happens for two reasons:

1. Kids and guidance counselors rely on misleading software like Naviance or SCOIR, neither of which take into account the 20-25 factors admissions officers consider beyond GPA and standardized test scores (and compare you only to others in your high school, when your TRUE competition is across the country, even out of the country)

2. Kids and parents typically aim high, filling their list with Ivy League and near Ivy colleges, without understanding their TRUE chances of acceptance, when compared to actual data based on ALL of the students admitted in the previous year, across 25 academic and non-academic factors.

Related:  there's an assumption that, if your son or daughter manages to get into an Ivy or equivalent, they're all set and the rest of their...

Six or seven years ago, I was having a sit down in the old office with my bootcamp student.  We'll call him Eddie (not his real name).

Eddie (still not his real name), his mom and I were discussing his college list, which was full of competitive colleges, including two or three Ivies.  Eddie was that type of student:  super high academic credentials and very, very strong, atypical extracurricular activities throughout his high school career.

We arrived at the topic of which college he wanted to apply Early Decision to (that's the binding one, although it's not truly binding.  That's a discussion for another day.).  Eddie had decided on Penn, which, according to our software, estimated his chances of acceptance at 50%.  Not bad.

"Hold on," I said.  "What's the latest thinking on what you'll major in?"  Eddie had been waffling between two.

"Computer Science," he said.  

"OK, that might change things a bit," I replied, plugging...

Can your English teacher help you write a winning college essay?

On one hand, If your high school English teacher (or guidance counselor, for that matter) is a former college admissions officer, then he is absolutely qualified to help brainstorm, strategize and edit your son or daughter’s essay.

Otherwise, he's just guessing.

College essay writing is different than the expository or other type of (boring) papers students write in high school.

Which is why your typical, garden variety English teacher has NO CLUE what a winning college personal statement or supplemental essay should look like, because she's never been inside an admissions office, deliberating the pros and cons of thousands of applicants.

In my 20+ years of college advising experience, I’ve employed several former college admissions officers from the University of Chicago, known for its quirky supplemental college essay topics (“Define X”) and other competitive colleges.  Plus I’ve...

I'm going to go a bit negative this morning, if you'll indulge me.

This time of year, it's rare for a day to go by without having to break bad news.  We get several calls and emails per week from Class of 2024, high school senior families, looking for help with appealing wait lists or rejections from colleges.  And more requests for help negotiating financial aid and merit aid offers.

We have to turn down 9 out of 10 of these requests.

The worst part is that an alarmingly high percentage of inquiries come from moms or dads who have followed us -- reading these emails, attending our webinars and in-person workshops, even speaking to us 1:1 -- since last year, or longer.  Had they retained us a year or two earlier, we could have helped them avoid the pickles they're currently in.

It all could have been avoided.

Tonight, I'm doing one of my last presentations of the year for Rising Seniors -- yes, that means current 11th graders, but not for long -- to help you...

Good morning!

We're hitting the airwaves this morning -- 10:00am EST --  for College Coffee Talk, our live show about college admissions and financial aid news that you can use!  

Here's what's on tap for today:

*How college protests affect families' decisions

F*AFSA mistakes continue

Tune In!

Grab a cup of joe and we'll see you at 10am EST (recorded if you can't make it)

- Andy Lockwood

There's an "Invisible Question"  on the Common Application.   At least that's what I call it.

It's not written anywhere.  You can search high and low, but you'll never find it.

But if you FAIL to answer it, you might as well kiss dreams of acceptance to your Dream College goodbye.

Although it's not spelled out in black and white on the Common Application, this question is in the hearts and minds of every admissions officer pouring over your and the other 999 applications they're tasked to review.

See, when you submit your application - which contains your transcripts, SAT or ACT scores, letters of recommendation, list of extracurricular activities, etc. -- the plain fact is that you will look substantially THE SAME as 20,000, 50,000, 90,000 or more competitor-applicants vying for the same spot you're trying to win for yourself.

That's why you must do some hard THINKING about how you'll answer the Invisible Question...

Why should we take YOU, instead of tens of...