College Counseling Corner

By Sarah Soule 

It’s summer. What should rising seniors be doing to prepare for the fall and the onset of the college application season? Now is the time that students should be considering the approaching process of applying to college with sincere earnest. On Aug. 1, the Common Application, www.commonapp.org, will go live and members of the Class of 2016 will be able to create an account that they will utilize when they apply to college during the senior year.

Summer is an ideal time to review college websites, tour campuses, and read admission literature. Students can begin to narrow down their list of choices of where they will ultimately apply after carefully evaluating the institutions that they are considering.

Not all colleges require applicants to write an essay, but the members of the Common Application do and they have already published their questions for the 2015-16 year. Students will be asked to address one of the following questions:

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

2. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

3. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea.  What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

5. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

I encourage students to review these questions and to draft a response and create a working essay that they can review over the course of the coming weeks and months. The Common Application cannot be personalized to each college to which a student is applying, i.e. students should not specifically reference an individual institution in their essay. The same essay is sent to all colleges a student applies to on the Common Application. Please note that some colleges do require supplemental essays that are specific to them and address questions that they are want answered on the Common Application.

The essay is a way for a student to share his or herself with the admission committee during the review process. In addition, colleges will consider the applicant’s transcript, extra curricular and athletic involvement, work and leadership opportunities.

Take time to enjoy the summer, but also gear up for the important approaching process of applying to college.

Sarah Soule has 33 years of experience working in the field of college and independent school admissions. She served as a senior member of the admission staff at Champlain and as the Director of College Counseling at the Vermont Commons School. She has been quoted in the nationally published Princeton Review’s The Portable Guidance Counselor and advises students individually as an educational consultant on the process of applying to college. She resides in Shelburne.