Patch Blog: 6 Tips for the College Common Application

As most high school seniors can tell you, the deadline for applying to many private colleges is fast approaching: January 1, 2012. 

Here are some last-minute answers to questions about the essay components of the Common Application:

1. Students are asked to limit their personal essay to 500 words. Is it okay to go over?

You probably don’t have to worry if you go a few words or even sentences over the word count, but anything more is not recommended, according to Don Fraser, Jr., director of Education and Training at the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Arlington, VA.   

“Ultimately it’s about following directions,” says Fraser. “If a student writes 700 words, the college thinks right out of the gate that the student can’t follow directions.”   

In addition, according to Fraser, admissions officers have so little time to read each essay, they’re apt to skim  a longer one, which doesn’t work in your favor.

2. Can students use one of their UC essays for the Common Application personal essay? 

“You absolutely can and should,” says Julie Fulton, CEO of Mosaic College Prep, a full-service college admissions consulting company.

In fact, you can use both of your UC essays.

“Remember that one of the UC prompts asks about your background aka 'the world you come from,’ and the other asks about a personal experience, quality, talent or activity,” Fulton continues. “You could conceivably use a shortened version of the personal experience/activity essay for the common application's 1000-character statement asking you to expand on one of your activities, and then use the 'world you come from’ essay for the common application's uploaded personal statement.”

3. On the short 1000-character statement asking you to “briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities,” which activity should students write about?

Some students think they have to write about one of their top-ranked activities, but this isn’t necessarily true.  Any extracurricular you chose to write about is fine as long “as you haven’t already talked about it anywhere else in your application and you really care about it,” says Fraser.

4. Students put a lot of work into the personal statement. Do they also need to worry about showing off their writing skills in the short answer?

Yes.   

“There is so much work that goes into writing the longer essay that kids let their guard down when it comes to this shorter answer, and they don’t think they have to be as precise or grammatically correct,” says Fraser. “But they do.”    

It can raise eyebrows if you don’t edit your short answer carefully. Not only that, says Fraser, admissions officers look to see if the short and long answer share a similar writing style. If those two pieces are dramatically different, readers may wonder if the student really wrote his own personal statement.

5. Some students are wondering if they should include a second essay, for example, one of the UC essays, into the “Additional Information” part of the Common App? Is this a good idea?

No, says Fraser. 

“You’ve already had the opportunity to share an essay. Most colleges are not going to look there for another one and don’t have the time to read a second one.” 

Instead, this is the place to share a short piece of information—you transferred schools and your grades dropped, a parent lost a job—that you are not writing about elsewhere but you feel is important to your profile. Alternatively, you can download a resume here if you feel your extracurricular activities need supplementing.

6. Is it possible to edit an essay once you’ve submitted the Common Application?   

You can’t change your application once you’ve submitted it to a specific college.  But yes, you can edit your application to submit to new colleges. 

To do this, “you must go to a unique URL and create a new version of the application,” explains Fulton. “Once the application has been copied, you can edit the new version. Go to the instructions page of the Common Application to get the link to copy the application.”

Next Post: Answers to common questions about supplemental essays.