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Keys to Submitting Your Best College Application: Proofread, Proofread, Proofread

11/30/2014

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What is the number one mistake that high school seniors make when completing their college applications? Not taking the time to proofread. 

With college admissions being more competitive now than ever before, students simply cannot afford to be careless and not review their work before submitting.  As admissions teams are assessing thousands of applications, silly mistakes can cause your application to end up in the wrong file – the round one.

College Application Proofreading Tips:

Don’t procrastinate. One, you’ll give yourself plenty of time to calmly look over all aspects of your application and make any changes or revisions that may be necessary without feeling added pressure.  Two, you’ll be able to successfully meet the application deadlines for your desired schools.  In addition, admissions teams have read plenty of applications to know when an application has been carefully put together by a responsible student, and when an application been hastily thrown together at the last second.

Allow a parent, teacher, or counselor to look over your application.  (Note that this is NOT the same as having them DO IT for you…you are the one applying to college, not them.) Having someone read over your application is a great way to further work out any kinks – they’ll be able to notice grammatical and spelling errors, make note of any omissions of required information, and will be able to provide valuable feedback on your application essay.  Also, while utilizing spellcheck is the norm (and typically works well) don’t assume that the program will pick up on every little detail.  A fresh pair of eyes looking over your work will be able to negate any possible embarrassment from commonly misused words that often slip by the spellcheck (than/then, accept/except, there/their/they’re, etc.).

Lastly, while cutting and pasting can be a terrific tool, and recycling essays can be a huge time saver, both acts tend to enable carelessness…with the application playing such a huge role in your future you cannot just set it and forget it.  Many times, prospective students will simply plug previously used passages into place on an application for a different school, not proofreading their work and instead taking for granted that if the essays worked once, that they will work again.  Consequently, a common error occurs on the ‘Why Our School?’ essay when the application is submitted but the student forgets to change the name of the school.  Seems simple, right? Yet, this error happens more often than it ever should.  Embarrassing? Absolutely. Detrimental to your chances? Definitely. And, as we just had rivalry games in college football on Saturday, can you imagine telling the University of Michigan how badly you want to be a Buckeye? Writing to Oregon State to tell them you’ve always wanted to be a Duck? Or working to convince the University of Alabama that you’ve had your heart set on being a Tiger?

Yikes.

Read, review and then proofread your applications again.  Take care to submit your best work, the best reflection of yourself…and good luck!


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Selectively Selfish

11/20/2014

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In recent meetings and consultations, a number of parents have expressed similar concerns regarding their children and the environments that they are currently living and learning in:

"Our son's team isn't very good...we're afraid that coaches and scouts are not going to notice him."

"We are worried that our daughter isn't paying attention in class because her peers do not bother to pay attention and, in turn, are a distraction."

"Our child won't read or do any of his assigned work during his free period at school because he gets made fun of by the other students."

It doesn't matter the background of the family, the school, or the team, these instances have occurred over time in classrooms and schools across the US and will, no doubt, continue to be a cause for concern for students and parents alike. The response given to each of these concerned families and students, as well as the action I've directed each of them to take, is actually quite simple to manage. It does, however, (at least at first glance) work against an ideal ingrained in the individual over time, worked into childhood lessons along with basic manners and respect for others.

Be SELECTIVELY SELFISH.

Not selfish.  SELECTIVELY SELFISH.

Not simply selfish for the sake of being egocentric and self-centered, tasked to up-heaving all that you were ever taught that is right...No, don't do that. Take a snippet of selfishness, like a page from a book, and choose carefully, realizing that being selfish is permissible at times.

So what is it to be Selectively Selfish? Call it self-discipline, motivation, a strong sense of pride...in summary, this is an eagerness to work tirelessly and harder than anyone else, to achieve your goals and to reach for your definition of success.  It's the act of not hearing or seeing what the naysayers in the peanut gallery are saying and doing - ignoring them, and focusing on the end result.  It's having tunnel-vision.

This is not over-confidence. This is not hubris. Being Selectively Selfish does not give you the means to be truly selfish - to be rude, indecent, or to hurt others as a method to better yourself.  This is, instead, all about You - Selectively Selfish is simply more of: "I'm just doing my own thing." Or, as is popular to say these days: "Do You."  This mindset will create positive value for a student, or someone of any age - it will water the seed towards a greater sense of self-confidence and accomplishment.  Be mentally tough, have class, and be Selectively Selfish.  Maintain respect for others but always uphold the respect you have for You. Be sure to conduct yourself in such a way that you are able to place yourself in a better position (for you future, etc.) in relation to those around you.

In athletics, if you feel that your team has a lousy record (which will happen!) continue to strive towards being a great teammate, work with your team to try to right the ship as a whole, but constantly push yourself to be a better player.  Only you can control how good, or how great, you can be.  I'm not asking you to become a ball hog or a puck hog, but when the chips are down, that's when your absolute best needs to appear.  When teams get down by a few goals (points, runs, etc.) oftentimes they will hang their heads and wilt, not trying, but only merely passing the time until the game's final buzzer sounds. You cannot allow yourself to fall into that trap.  Be Selectively Selfish. Keep your head held high, keep playing at the highest level you can, work harder than anyone else in the game...good things can and will happen for you.  And you never know just who is watching from the stands.

In academics, while it can certainly be hard at times, you need to do your best to tune out distractions, to ignore the bullies and the name-callers, and to focus on yourself and your studies.  You know that paying attention to your teacher is one way to get the grades that you desire and to succeed in the classroom.  You know that doing your work to the best of your abilities and in a timely fashion, all while studying constantly and consistently, is the other way to achieve success in your academics - not to mention making you increasingly more intelligent, and ready to take on the world.  If the other students choose not to listen, not to study, not to read, write, and overall not participate in school, then so be it.  That is their decision, let them live with it.  You can only, and should only, worry about yourself.  Be Selectively Selfish. The other students won't ask for help because they are 'too cool', or they are too worried about what other students think. Do the opposite - raise your hand, ask questions, develop of better understanding that will serve you now and well into the future.

In summary, don't listen to the negatives of others, don't pay attention to what others are doing, good or bad, and please do not worry about what other people think (though worrying about what people think has seemed to blossom with the growth of social media, a blog topic all it's own). 

Instead, be selfish...Selectively Selfish. Do YOU. Live YOUR life. And each day focus on making the right decisions and doing the right things for YOU and YOUR life.  You only get one chance...take it and run with it. 
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    Chad Dorman

    LAC - Founder/Director

    Jaclyn Corley

    Founder - The College Essay Captain, and featured guest blogger here for LAC. It's her mission to inspire people to tell empowering stories.

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