By Patti Brugman
As of August 1st, 2012, the Common Application is officially open for business! Now is a great time to ease into the process. Pick out a user name and password, log on, and see what all this “application” business is all about.
What you’ll find are forms that you will only have to fill out once! Start with the basic information: your name, address, and phone number.
If it’s the essay you’re looking for, you can skip right to the list of topics (see below). We recommend starting with just one sentence on each. Then, look over each sentence and see which might have both the most interest to a reader, and depth from the writer (you!) The best part about starting now is that these are the hazy, lazy, days of summer when you have time to write. Don’t wait until October when you’re trying to get your best grades while also stressing over your college list. You’ll easily be overwhelmed. Start now with a blank notebook and a little self-discipline. It’s that easy. Write a little something on each page every day. Write something funny, something tragic, or something poignant. By keeping casual notes like this, you’ll feel less threatened by the whole idea of the application essay. You’ll also know when you arrive at your best essay topic!
Some students use the notebook to write in calligraphy, using a fountain pen. Others craft poetry. Whatever your style, start now. Get it all out, the good topics and the bad ones. While it’s still summer, you can write and rewrite, making the good into “great” and the bad into “pretty good.” It all starts with a blank page and a little free time.
We find that students are very capable of writing the best essays they’ve ever written at this time of year. We are always thrilled by the progress we make with students in just an hour or two. Free thoughts, honest reflections, and deep sincerity are keys to your success.
Just as if you were a champion swimmer at the London Olympics, always think “Gold!”
Below are the Common Application essay topics, unchanged from last year, but very special because they are here for you:
1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
4. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
5. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
6. Topic of your choice.
All the best from PerfectFitCollege.Net 8/12