What do I want to study and why? What experiences in my life led me to want this? What have I done to prove this is what I want? What else can I bring to a college campus that they will want?
It’s tempting to gloss over these questions because they are either too basic or too difficult. But if you think of yourself as a product that a college is going to buy, you want to be clear about your value proposition. The answers to these simple questions inform your admissions strategy and every application element, from essays to letters of recommendation to your college list.
You need to know what you want before you can go get it. And then you need to prove that you’re worthy of receiving it. Don’t worry if you can’t come up with your entire life’s plan right now. That is not necessary and many kids switch direction once they are in college. Think of these questions as what you need to answer at this point in time, for the purpose of applying.
You also don’t have to worry if you don’t have enough solid proof points to back up your desire. No matter how late you are in the application process, we will advise you on specific activities that you can do to improve your case. Part of this is achieved via a “Blueprint” session where we look at each element of your admissions profile and recommend how to enhance and improve them with the time you have remaining.
Solidifying your personal narrative is the first part of our admissions advising process for seniors and it happens through structured dialogue between you and our advisors. It might take five minutes - or it might take five hours.
