We’re back with the third installation of our common app essay series. We’re breaking everything down and calling out the pros and cons of each question. Here are our thoughts on prompt #3:
How to Write the Common App Essay Prompt #2, 2021-2022
How to Write the Common App Essay Prompt #1, 2021-2022
The 2021-2022 college application season is upon us, and we’re here with a series about how to approach and answer all seven of the common app essay prompts. At times, we will suggest things that seem difficult. We’ll write about things that don’t align with what you might have read on the internet. We’ll also let you know when we think it’s best you skip a prompt. We’ve gathered quite a few tips and tricks over the years, and we want to help our blog readers write essays that work. Let’s dive into the first prompt:
Ivy League 2025 Class Numbers
The pandemic has disrupted and upended countless industries. Scores of state-of-the-art corporate developments in major cities across the nation sit empty. Schools everywhere have adapted to remote learning. As the vaccines bring new hope to a country that’s been on pause for more than a year, many Americans might be beginning to return to some semblance of normalcy. But as some corporate employees head back into the office for the first time and students head into summer with hopes that they can pass hard-copy notes to their friends in the fall, college hopefuls might be entering into a new post-pandemic world of college applications entirely. Applications for universities have been at an all-time high for the past decade or so. But this last admissions cycle truly marked a change in competition. And perhaps for good.
Time Management Tips for Juniors
A few weeks ago, we got an email from one of our blog readers who was looking for summer plans related to climate change. We’ll be writing a separate blog post about that, but they were also looking for time management tips. In addition to wanting to pursue an environmental position, she also wanted a paying job, to keep up with an independent project, study for the SAT, and start her college applications. We totally get that balancing work, fun, and extracurricular activities can be challenging. Here are our tips for not going crazy this summer:
Getting Rejected by the Ivy League during Covid
College decisions are out, and while our TKG clients got into their top choice schools, we know that there are many people out there wondering: what happened? People want to know: “how come I didn’t get into my dream school?” This might sound cheesy but it’s worth noting: getting into a certain college has literally nothing to do with your value as a person. Rejection is hard, and while we can’t make you feel better, we do think it might be helpful to read the below. We don’t know your life, we don’t know where you applied, but we are familiar with how this process works. Here are a few reasons why might have gotten rejected:
How To Get On A Political Campaign As A High School Student
We recently received an email from a blog reader asking for advice on how to become a member of a political campaign this upcoming summer. We love to hear from our readers when they have specific questions, and we commend anyone who is committed to solidifying summer plans during these uncertain times. Keep reading for our tips:
Freshman Year of High School Tips
Best English Major Undergraduate Programs
We scoured the internet for our favorite English major programs and made efforts to only include programs that focus on English, and not writing. These kinds of programs are often blended together, but not everyone who plans to study English wants to be a writer. Enter this list. As per usual, we do not create our lists based on rankings and look for unique programs with special opportunities.
How To Craft A Killer College Essay
The New Common App Essay Prompt
Let us rejoice, there is a new common app essay prompt and it’s actually not half bad! Before we dive in, it’s only fair to mention that at TKG, we always choose prompt #7. Always. Prompt #7 is, in our opinion, far superior to the rest because you can take it in any direction you so choose. We’ve copied the prompt below for reference:
College Essays About Leadership
Let’s start with some hard facts! This may be disheartening to hear, but college admissions officers spend just a few minutes reading your application. We know, we know. You work on it for weeks, months even. It feels unfair, but it’s true. Let’s say they spend five minutes reading your application in its entirety. What this really means is that you have five minutes, and just a few opportunities, to add depth to your application and to show them that you’re a dynamic high school student who has a lot to offer to any given college.
Early Decision Pros and Cons
The anticipation of applying to college is a lot. The pressure of getting in where you want to go is even greater. The idea of just doing it once and then being done is appealing to many students. But relief shouldn’t be the motivating factor in applying early decision to a school. While it’s true that acceptance rates for early decision schools trend higher, applying early decision is a huge commitment—it’s one you can’t get out of. In this post, we talk about what that means and the reasons someone might consider early decision as an option.
College Essays about Covid--NYTimes Reaction
Common App Essays About Music
Do I Stay on a Waitlist?
Getting waitlisted can be frustrating. You spend all this time working throughout high school to get into your dream school only to face uncertainty. It can feel like being in limbo, but there are things you can do to get yourself out of limbo, one way or another. In this post, we discuss how to proceed if you’ve been waitlisted.
Should I Apply To Princeton?
Princeton University is an Ivy League school in you guessed it, Princeton, New Jersey. The student to faculty ratio is 5:1, just over 5,200 undergraduate students attend, and the academic programs are fantastic. The school is hugely popular for many reasons: exceptional resources, lovely facilities, loan-free aid packages, and its long-standing reputation as a school where smart kids have tons of fun. Princeton also has a long and checkered past with early action applications. We wrote a long-form blog post about it here, please read it!
UPenn Transfer Acceptance Rate
We’re just going to start off by saying, transferring into an Ivy League is hard. There is a common misconception that you can go to a state school or community college for a year, do alright, and transfer into an Ivy. That’s not the case. Students who might be able to get into an Ivy as a transfer are kids who were already qualified to go when applying the first time around, but didn’t quite make the cut.
Stanford University SAT Requirements
The pandemic has upended everything in the college application process. But the most radical change has to do with testing. Most schools have made standardized testing optional during coronavirus, or have done away with it all together. That’s because you can’t ask thousands of kids to cram into testing centers and classrooms across the country during a pandemic. Stanford is one of those schools, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the test.
Colgate University 2020-2021 Analysis
It’s quite common to hear from colleges across the country that they received “a record number of applications this year.” Because it drives down their acceptance rates and makes schools seem more appealing, there are few things that colleges love more than an increase in applications. We usually take these kinds of statements with a grain of salt because we know to expect them, but in January, Colgate put out a statement that was truly astounding.