A couple weeks ago I invited Sharon Epstein, an award-winning essay writing and college interview coach, to talk about tips for awesome essays. If you didn’t get a chance to read the post, here it is. Read it. It’s really good!
This week, Sharon invited me to write about resumes for her blog, Applying to College.
Check it out and, and always, let me know what you think!
Eric Dobler is the president and founder of Dobler College Consulting. Follow him on Twitter.
Let’s call that what it is: attention seeking. It’s the same reason the super-hot girl calls herself ugly or the buff guy calls himself fat: validation.
But you are not here seeking validation. You are here because you don’t know if your extracurricular activities are going to help you get into a great school. So, let’s figure this out, shall we?
It’s not what you do, but how you do it
Why do you think schools want you to take extracurricular activities? There are several reasons that all lead to one specific reason. First of all, do you think the school cares if you like swimming, polo, dancing, or theater? Not really. So asking if newspaper is better than theater is like asking if Lady Gaga is better than Natalie Portman.
Gaga makes music and Portman makes hearts melt (re: movies). They are not comparable. Likewise, picking extracurricular activities without a basis for comparison is insane.
Theater is better if you want to act; newspaper is better if you want to write. Right?
Second, schools really want to see if you are more than a number on a page. Grades prove that you have the intellectual ability to read and understand material, understand teachers and testing, and manage your time. The SAT does the same. Extracurricular activities prove who you are outside of academics. And that’s really what colleges should be about. Preparing you for the world outside of school.
The activities you do outside of school prove if you will be a future leader or follower. If you will sacrifice your free time for some greater good or if you care more about munchies and YouTube than the written word, sports, or poor people.
The problem is picking activities that you are good at, that you can become a leader in, and that look good on an application.
Passion Is The New Currency
Now look, If you are doing it for some ulterior motive (getting into a university), then you suck. Seriously. It’s like me learning to salsa just so I can pick up girls. I love salsa. And yes, it’s awesome for picking up girls. But that’s a nice bonus. Getting into a school because of your clubs is a great bonus, but if you are not interested in the club, that will show and just make you look like a sycophant.
The best extracurricular activity you can choose will:
– Be related to your big picture goals
– Be something you are really interested in
– Be something that you can rise to the top in
– Be something that you would be proud to tell people about
You want to succeed in life. You want to do really, really well in life. Seriously. But you also want to be happy.
Imagine this:
I am really interested in rock climbing. So, my extracurricular activity in high school was to rock climb. Now, that’s not a team sport, so how can I take what I love and make it awesomely application-worthy? I organize a rock climbing trip with kids from the inner city.
I do what I love, and I help people. And I can write a passionate essay about that. And, doing something like that might get picked up in the paper, so in my application I can refer to the time the newspaper wrote about me being an awesome human.
You need to join clubs that you will grow into. Schools need future leaders. That is a fact. “True story, bro.” So, pick something that you will succeed at. People tend to get passionate around success and uninterested in failure. So, succeed. You succeed, and everything else will fall into place.
Thanks, but where is the cake?
Let’s get some easy steps in place so you can really, thoroughly, legitimately, and awesomely find a great activity or activities to get involved in.
(1) What are you into? What is your thing?
This is open-ended. Just write down all the stuff that makes you smile, happy, laugh, get excited about. Most of you know what you are into. If you don’t know, then figure it out. What are you into? Movies, girls, boys, sports, helping people, TV, writing, poetry, food? Figure that out.
(2) Of those things that you are into, what can you probably be good at?
Helping people is easy, right? Just help. But let’s say you are really into basketball. But you are like 5 foot nothing, cannot sprint, and only know how to shoot granny style. Well, being a varsity captain is not in your future. But, you could do something auxiliary (cheerleading, mascot, film, reporting) that deals with your passion. Write it all down.
(3) Of those things that you could be capable of, which are offered in some capacity by your school?
Let’s say you are all into Christian stuff, but your school does not offer Christian stuff. Then Christian stuff needs to go into your “outside of school” pile.
If you want to be an actor, but your school does not have a film or theater department, don’t cross it out, but move it to “outside of school”.
(4) Of those things that are not listed in your school but you really love, hit up your counselor, your parents, and Google and figure out who does that stuff in your town.
Where could you go outside of school to get involved in knitting, or pet care, or magic? Do your research and write things down. If you want to write poetry but your school isn’t into that, find any poetry meet ups or poetry publishers in town. If you like water polo but your school doesn’t have a pool, find a club in town that has a team.
(5) Pick some on-campus activities and at least one off-campus activity.
Go out, ask to be on the team, apply, call the YMCA, call the local newspaper, intern, write, work, play for free. Just get yourself busy. If you join these things (pick 2-4 that you can totally dominate) or do these things, you will naturally move up the ranks, because you are into it. If you think about how cool it will be to finish school and write, workout, fight, climb, sing, or act, then you have found an extracurricular activity that you are passionate about. And that, my friends, is an extracurricular activity that matters. Because you will write about this activity, and you will tell people about it, and you will BE defined by it. So make sure you pick something that you are proud of.
NOTE: Please note that there are some exceptions to these rules. If you are really into sex, drugs, racism, or ultra-violence, you should definitely NOT get involved in those things as a way to get into college. Fight club all you want in your own time, but that’s not really the mark of a future leader. Also, don’t be a racist; racism sucks.
What are your current extracurricular activities? Will you become captain (or captain equivalent) anytime soon? If not, why not?
*Craig is an awesome dude who runs Craig Gonzales Tutoring. He has put together a pretty stellar SAT Tutorial Kit that he gives away for free. You should find him, like him, email him, and let him help you rock that SAT.
If you have any thoughts you would like to share on writing an extracurricular activities, please use the comment box below – I would love to hear from you! You can also email me at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com or Craig at craig@craiggonzalestutoring.com.
Eric Dobler is the president and founder of Dobler College Consulting. Follow him on Twitter.
Stressed? You may be wondering how you’re going to write a great college application essay. Don’t worry, itcan be done. Here are five ways to help your essay stand out and get noticed:
1. Make Yourself Shine
Your college essay should represent you in a positive light. So think about your best qualities: Are you compassionate? Do you have a business mind? Are you an awesome big brother? Write down your ideas andthen think of an example that illustrates each one. You’ll probably find that one or two of your ideas stand out from the rest.
Two reasons to toss an idea: 1. You don’t have a specific example to write about. 2. Fifty other students can write the same essay, which means it’s not unique enough to you.
2. Show How You’ve Grown
Whatever essay topic you choose, you need to show what you learned from that experience. Let’s say, for instance, that you’ve got an Uncle Joe and you want to write about how important he was in your life. Don’t spend the entire essay on Uncle Joe’s biography, make sure the reader knows how he influenced you and how you use those lessons in your life today. Similarly, if you’re writing about your family’s traditions, don’t just explain your traditions, spend time on how those traditions have shaped you.
3. Don’t Choose a Topic that’s Too Big
The Common Application limits you to 500 words; that’s five or six paragraphs for your entire essay. So focus on one aspect of yourself, or on an event that took place in a short period of time. Instead of writing about your entire summer vacation, for example, choose one thing that happened during your vacation and write about what you learned from it.
4. Use Detail
Detail sets the scene for your reader. You probably know that every story needs the “who, what, when, where and why,” but also ask yourself “how did it look, feel, smell, sound or taste?” Then choose (but don’t overuse) a few good adjectives and adverbs. Give characters names and write a bit of dialogue if it fits. Well-placed details will help your essay come to lifeand make it more memorable to read.
5. Edit
Okay, here’s the nagging part – leave enough time to edit. Well-edited essays make a good impression; essays with mistakes don’t. So make sure commas and periods are in the right place and that everything is spelled correctly. Don’t just rely on spell check, because spell check can miss mistakes (“their” vs. “there” for example). And if the name of the college is in your essay, make sure it’s the correct school. (Don’t laugh, people do it a lot.) This is a great time to ask a teacher or other adult who’s good with grammar to help you proofread. Be careful: Too many mistakes will leave your college reader with a poor impression of both you and your writing skills. For some college admissions officers, that’s a deal-breaker.
If you have any thoughts you would like to share on writing an awesome college essay, please use the comment box below – I would love to hear from you! You can also email me at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com or Sharon at sharon@firstimpressionscollegeconsulting.com.
Eric Dobler is the president and founder of Dobler College Consulting. Follow him on Twitter.
As far as figuring out what type of colleges to select, that’s something that comes with time, conversation and research. There are many factors that go into defining at which type of school your son or daughter will do well. For example, he or she should be thinking about attributes such as location, size of the student body, cost, private or public and reputation.
The honest answer here is that your son or daughter has to first understand what is most important to them. Once they have a good grasp on their values, interests, personality style and skills (what I refer to as their VIPS), then you have a starting point for identifying which schools are going to be the best matches for him or her. One of the services included in my Early Exploration Package is a profile review where I help a student identify these VIPS and then use them to begin their college search.
Q: What are the best things to look at in a college?
The best things to look at are the things that are most important to your student which takes me back to the previous two questions. Your first step is to help him or her identify their VIPS, get a good handle on what is most important to them in their search and then start visiting schools, attending college fairs, and doing online research. Of all these things, going on some college visits will end up being one of the more important things you can do. A few months ago I wrote a blog about tips for high school juniors. One of those tips was about campus visits – even if your son or daughter isn’t sure which schools they might be interested in yet, just visiting a school because it’s local can be so valuable in helping them identify what is and isn’t important.
If you have any thoughts you would like to share on “A Conversation About College,” please use the comment box below – I would love to hear from you! You can also email me directly at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com.
Eric Dobler is the president and founder of Dobler College Consulting. Follow him on Twitter.
This is Part IV of a running series called, “A Conversation About College” which covered some of the more pressing questions about college admissions that were asked at a workshop I conducted a few weeks ago at Sacred Heart Church in Southbury, Connecticut:
Academic scholarships, which are also known as merit scholarships, typically are awarded to students who have excelled academically while in high school. However, not all schools will restrict their merit money to students who finish in the top 10%. Some schools will offer money in tiers where a student in the top 10% may get more money than a student in the top 20%. Your best bet is to use a website like MeritAid.com where you can research individual schools to see what they offer and who qualifies. The information may not always give you all the details, but then that is a great question to ask on a college visit or when your son or daughter meets an admissions counselor at a school visit or college fair.
Private scholarships are tricky. They are typically rather small and the search can really chew up a lot of your son or daughter’s time which should be otherwise spent on priorities like school work, athletics or whichever activities they truly enjoy. In fact, the average private scholarship is just $2500 and less than 7% of graduating senior receive one. Having said that, FastWeb.com is a website where your son or daughter can create a profile and then be notified when scholarships which meet his or her criteria become available. I would also have them check with their school counseling office and the town library. Both should have resources for local scholarships as well as application information.
Q: Financial aid forms – how to best complete them?
There are two financial aid forms, the FAFSA and the CSS Profile. The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the federal form required to be considered for aid at any institution. The CSS Profile is only required if your child chooses to apply to one or more of some 250+ private schools that require it. Check with each school he or she is considering so that you know if you need to complete both. Once you know which forms you need to fill out, you need to know that you cannot fill out the FAFSA until January 1st of the student’s senior year while the Profile can be filled out as soon as your child has identified schools where he or she will be applying.
Another great resource dedicated to everything in the financial realm of the college admissions world is a blog by Lynn O’Shaughnessy called, The College Solution. I tell all my students and their parents that it is a must-read.
If you have any thoughts you would like to share on “A Conversation About College,” please use the comment box below – I would love to hear from you! You can also email me directly at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com.
Eric Dobler is the president and founder of Dobler College Consulting. Follow him on Twitter.
