Don't Force It: How to Get into College without Losing Yourself in the Process

Live Coaching: Using Early Apps to Prepare for Regular Decision

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In today’s episode, we preview a live coaching session with a student fresh off submitting early college apps! Together, we tackle time management, tailoring essays, and balancing a college list—plus, we strategize for regular deadlines right around the corner. Listen in for essential tips and insights on managing the college app process with confidence!

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Click here to download your copy of the activity list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Qz8wgDibry2rjI0yb_1JhiB4dCpdu-ylSwMsP9-zLJU/edit?usp=sharing

Access free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

Roger:

First Wave is done, but also, like, excited and nervous, because I just realized, like, Oh, I got one month till you see deadlines, and then only one more month after that till regular decision, and I have like, eight more schools for regular decision.

Sheila Akbar:

Hey, folks, welcome back to the podcast. As I mentioned at the end of our last episode last week, we are going to be transitioning to a live coaching model in 2025 and as a way for us to get ready for that and preview that format. To you all, today's episode will be a live coaching episode, and then this one is going to be a little different than our future live coaching episodes, in which it'll be a one time session, the first time I'm meeting a student and coaching them through a particular challenge. What I have done for this week is taken the topic that I wanted to talk to you all about and gotten one of my existing students to join me in the studio to talk about how we are going to use the materials he has been working on and created for some early applications, and how he's going to use those to pivot into the upcoming deadlines for the University of California. You'll hear in the episode he decides he wants to apply to the University of Washington, and then also for his regular decision applications. So the context is here we know each other, and I have seen the other essays that he's written, and I know the content that he has and how he can deploy it. I'm also really familiar with what his goals are, or where they are right now in terms of what he wants to study and what kind of work he may want to do after college, and in future episodes, we probably won't have that kind of in depth knowledge or even the rapport to be able to move through, you know, these sort of challenging issues, you know. So I'll let you take a listen. I'm going to give this student a name, and we will call him Roger. He is based in Southern California, not too far from me, and take a listen as we talk through what do we do next? Now that early applications are done. How are you feeling after we submitted all of these early applications? Like, truthfully, how does it feel?

Roger:

Well, it's very relieving, for sure. Like, first wave is done, but also, like, excited and nervous, because I just realized, like, Oh, I got one month till you see deadlines, and then only one more month after that till regular decision. And I have like eight more schools for regular decision. And it took me, like almost a month to get two three schools done for E like ED EA. So it's a little little nervous, nervy for sure. Yeah, you also mentioned before we started recording that soccer season is about to start for you. Yep, in two weeks we got gonna do your time. Oh, definitely. It's gonna make my time so much like I've got so much less time to do homework and ASB stuff, and college asks for sure, like two week, two games a week, and probably going to be mostly away, so the bus rides are pretty long.

Sheila Akbar:

The thing that I want you to think about with that is, not only is your quote unquote free time, I know you don't have a lot of free time, but your quote unquote free time is going to be eaten up by soccer practice and games and commuting back and forth and all of this stuff, which is just going to make it harder for you to find the time to do this work, which is on top of your normal school work and other extracurriculars, but you are also going to be physically exhausted, yeah, right? Your level of physical activity is about to amp up. You know, a certain amount of physical activity is actually really great for creativity,

Roger:

Okay.

Sheila Akbar:

But too much. You know, we might go in the other direction. You're just gonna be so bedraggled.

Roger:

Like during summer?

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, like summer you were, you were teaching sailing for like nine hours a day in the hot sun, and you just didn't have the brain power, right? So that's something I want you to think about. I think we have to be really, really careful with our time management, because we also have holidays in the course of this, and they're like, days off of school and, like, probably other things going on too, family stuff. So when your time is crunched like this, it's even more important that you plan ahead. Okay, right? I know you're like, Oh God, what have I gotten myself in to? Don't worry, like, we're gonna get through it. And the good news is, now that you have submitted two applications in the early round, there's a whole bunch of stuff that we don't have to do again, right? Your Common App essay is done. Yeah, we might look at it and make some revisions, but you don't have to start that from scratch. Which we were doing right? Your activity list is done. And again, we might make some revisions, but you're not starting from scratch. You know, all of the little details that you have to fill out on the application form are done for the common app. But maybe the bad news is, the UC system uses a totally separate application. You will have to fill out that information in another format over there, and the activity list there is different. So that's one thing that you should definitely get a start on. And I have a template that I put into your admission spreadsheet for that. It's called UC activities. And like, hey listeners, I'm gonna drop that link in the in the show notes too, so you can get to this template so you can organize your UC activities, so you will have to do that. But the other piece of good news is that for your early schools, you wrote like four pretty distinct supplemental essays, and then a bunch of those, like little short answers between those and your personal statement, I am pretty sure we have almost all the material you're gonna need for the UCs and your other applications.

Roger:

All right.

Sheila Akbar:

Of course, we have to tweak it, but like you, are you and you showed up in those essays, that's not gonna change, right? When they ask you about your academic interests? Well, we have some core content that we can lean on and add to or change around to fit someone else's academic interest question. When they ask you about your favorite extracurricular activity, you have an essay about that. When you need to talk about a challenge that you overcame, you have something about that, right? So we're not starting from scratch. So you're in a really good position, and I know that you're feeling so bedraggled, and we just had the election yesterday, I'm sure that's also on your mind, but, you know, I think keeping up the momentum, you will be surprised at how easy it is going to be to finish this. I don't want to pretend it's going to be like a walk in the park. It's going to be work, and I know you're getting tired and busy, but we're starting from a very different place.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Right.

Roger:

Let's do it

Sheila Akbar:

Right. Okay, so the first thing I want us to reflect on, besides how you're feeling and how we're going to manage this, is, what do you think went really well with your early action applications?

Roger:

Well, I guess starting in, like, especially summer, I tried to start on, I actually started aiming for UCS first, like I was brainstorming answers to the UC questions. And that, like me starting so early, I think was really work. Early was so good because it got my brain to start thinking about questions and start reflecting on like, my own traits and like things about myself, and I got my mindset and like, got my mindset into like, reflecting about myself and what was unique about myself. And even though I wrote like, six drafts for UCS, and I'm probably not gonna use any of them, that led to me being able to think of other ideas when I was switching over to ED's and EA's, where I was like, Oh, this is so much. This is me. This is like, something I really want to share about myself. And I think that was something that I was very I think I.

Sheila Akbar:

You're proud of?

Roger:

Yeah, yeah, that I was proud of. But I think just like, when, whenever you come up with your the ideas, and you're like, oh, that's like, such a core part of me. You're like, wow. Like, I didn't realize that myself. But then if I could change something, I think definitely staying off social media would have been actually a big one, like, as in not taking social media advice and things with a grain of salt, because everyone has their like, advantages and stuff, and people have heard so many stories, and the stories are so radically different that, like, I think that it's bad if you already have a mindset that you can't really get into certain schools because of your GPA or like test scores.

Sheila Akbar:

So I think you're sharing two really important insights. One is, you did start writing over the summer, and you had a bunch of ideas that didn't go very far, but the fact that you were trying out a lot of ideas, I think, kind of cleared out the cobwebs and helped you think about like, we don't know, what do I really want to say, not, I'm trying to write something that sounds like a college essay, whatever that is, right? So you gave it a couple of goes and like, we might use some of that content, we'll see. But even if we don't, it was really, really beneficial for you to do that, because I even remember when your mom, you know, first reached out to me. She was like, he's locked up, you know, he doesn't share his emotions. And you know you, you were pretty vulnerable in your essays. And I think that block, I don't know, permanently, but that block has been removed, at least when it comes to these essays, and you seem much more comfortable writing about yourself, which I really love to see. And then the second thing you said about like tuning out the social media advice and the, you know, everybody else's stories, I think, is so so key. And I really hope that you have success in doing that, because it's really hard. I mean, you're gonna be on social media, you're talking about college stuff, you know, the algorithm hears that, and they're just gonna feed you this video and that video, but if you can stay focused on what you know matters to you, who you are, what your story is, and you know, the data, the facts, it'll be a little easier to not get swept up in that. But I think that's really great advice. Okay, anything else that like didn't go well, that you want to avoid from this last round?

Roger:

I guess, like the time, because I started writing ED's with, like, I'd say, like a month, like the supplementals with like, a month or a month and a half to go.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah.

Roger:

And I guess it was, it would have been nice having extra time, but it also the time, the limited time, also, like, pushed me, like, Oh, you Gotta go. It's time to pick it up.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, you are also, I think, the kind of person who likes an intense challenge.

Roger:

A little bit, yeah, yeah, for sure.

Sheila Akbar:

Right, super competitive. You're intense in that way.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

So I feel like that time pressure might have helped you a little bit, but, you know, we're not starting from scratch now. So it's not, you know, from Point Zero to done in a month, it's maybe 50% of the way to done in a month away.

Roger:

It was kind of odd too, because usually I'm not a procrastinator, especially with my homework, but college apps were just so hard for me to get started.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah.

Roger:

And then, especially like during the summer, that was like me with all the cobweb like, trying to clear the cobbler cobweb was like that. I had a really long block, like, writing, writer's block, like, I couldn't think I would sit in my chair and just try to think of ideas and nothing would come up. And then that's when I started, like, free writing and then journaling, like you told me, and then, like, slowly it got better.

Sheila Akbar:

It came out, yeah, great. Okay, let's get into some of the work. Then I, you know, I told you, if we're looking at UC's we've got a deadline November 30th, and then we're going to be looking at a couple of regular decision schools, you know, January 1st, January 5th deadline is the timeline on that, and knowing that you've got a busy next couple of months, and we've got the holidays that I really want you to be able to take a break from school and from college apps on. I would love to see your UC's done before Thanksgiving, and like, 75% of your regular decision stuff done before Thanksgiving.

Roger:

Ooh. All right, let's do it.

Sheila Akbar:

I'm going to show you how it's possible today, hopefully in the next, like, half an hour here. So let's first confirm, like, where you're going to apply, because I I know that this happens to a lot of people. Like, when you start off and you build this, like, really idealistic college list, then you do the work for one or two of them, and it makes you have second thoughts, or do I want to apply to school that has eight supplemental essays, like I barely five three. So let's talk about that. So for the UCs are you targeting specific campuses?

Roger:

Yes, so definitely UCLA, Berkeley, and then UCSD and UCSB.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay. And UCSB?

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Yep, okay. And one thing that we need to be double checking and making sure you've got a plan for is with the University of California applications, you do have to say what major you are intending to apply to. And every one of those campuses will ask you for an alternative major. Some of them will even ask for a second alternative. Major. So have you done that work to figure out what's the exact major at each of these schools?

Roger:

Yes, I did this. Actually did this during summer, so we'll see.

Sheila Akbar:

Fantastic.

Roger:

Yeah, we'll see how relevant it is. Now, I'll put it on the spreadsheet.

Sheila Akbar:

Great. And then I don't think this applies to you would be looking at statistics or applied math, right?

Roger:

Yes.

Sheila Akbar:

Some of the UC majors are what they call selective, some, some of the campuses call them capped or high demand majors, yeah, and these are typically things like computer science engineering, statistics might fall into that category at some of those campuses. So we're going to want to double check that. It doesn't mean you're going to have to take any additional steps. It's just, you know, for you to manage your expectations that these are high demand majors. They can't accept everybody who wants to do that major. So they will be looking for particular signs of interest, advanced study in that area, you know, extracurriculars, internship like, whatever it is that's related to that area that really demonstrates, you know, this is what you want to do, and that you have some, you know, training and preparation for that major, you have a better chance of being selected for those selective majors. Yes, so, okay, we'll want to double check that that might impact how you approach the questions.

Roger:

Oh, okay, what way?

Sheila Akbar:

Because if, if it is a capped major, then you'll probably want to use, you know, the UC has these eight personal insight questions. One of them is to talk about a an educational opportunity that you've taken advantage of, right? And we'd want to answer that question with information about this particular topic, and like, where the interest came from, and what you've done outside of school related to that interest, and how you want to apply it as a way to sort of bolster your application for that selective major.

Roger:

Got it. Got it.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, so double check that, and then as I'm looking at the list of colleges that you kind of prepared earlier in the summer, I'm wondering how many of them still feel relevant to you. So you applied to brown, you applied to USC, we're going to do the UCs. I see Michigan, Northeastern UW and Washington. I see Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, Dartmouth, NYU. How are you thinking about this?

Roger:

Yeah, like a lot of the schools I researched, I really liked, visited Stanford, which was great, even though I know, like, Stanford is a far reach, but I'm willing to do the work for that one.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay.

Roger:

But yeah, I also agree. Like, I definitely think I needed more safeties, or like, more like, in my range, definitely, so.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, what you actually need are more targets.

Roger:

Okay.

Sheila Akbar:

Right? Like, I want one or two safeties. Some people call them likely schools. You've got your reach schools. The reach schools are always the easiest to figure out, right? Like, they're like, oh my gosh, it would be so amazing to go here. It's like, the best college in the world, right? But it's the in between schools where you actually have a very good chance that most people overlook. So you know, given your grades, your SAT scores, like, You're a pretty competitive student, right? And that makes it even harder to find the target school because you're like, oh, wait, I'm not gonna settle

Roger:

Yeah, yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Right, if I'm gonna go, especially as a California resident, if I'm gonna go out of state, it's gotta be really great, right? I don't know if you've had that conversation with with your family.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

About, like, when does out of state tuition become worth it.

Roger:

Yeah, like, my, I talked to my mom, and she was definitely saying how it's not worth it to go out of state if, like, I get into like, a really good UC school, because the UC schools are already so great, and it's not worth it paying out of state tuition for a school that's worse than, or, like, academically, worse than or

Sheila Akbar:

Or even equivalent to,

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Right.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, yeah.

Roger:

Which has made like, searching for safety schools, or, like, sorry, targets so much harder.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, for sure. I mean, in some cases. And this, this applies, I work with a lot of international students who are like, I can go to the best college in my home country, like I'm already in because of whatever my grades are, but if I can go to a quote, unquote better college in the United States, I'll go there. So then they're only applying to, you know, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and if they don't get in, they've got a great option at home, right? You might think about it the same way, like, when would you go to a college out of state, over UC San Diego or UC Santa, Barbara or UCLA even.

Roger:

Yeah

Sheila Akbar:

Right, and that's where your research is going to be really helpful, right? Because, you know, we're using words like better and worse, but like those are, those are meaningless terms, right?

Roger:

Yeah, yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

We got to get really specific to what you want out of your college experience, what your education is actually going to be, what the outcomes could be like. What relationships do these colleges have with employers that you're really interested in, or industries that you're, you know, intending to work in?

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

And how can that help you? Set you up, set yourself up for success. I think that should be your measure of of what's worth it.

Roger:

Yeah, I agree.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, but we know for sure we're gonna do Stanford. You said.

Roger:

Yes. And then also, like, recently added UW, like, because I thought, like, oh, that's like, a good like, it's like, kind of close, but not really.

Sheila Akbar:

So I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but UW's overall admission rate is, like, close to 60%. Their computer science admissions rate. Can you guess what it is?

Roger:

Like, five or something.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah.

Roger:

Oh, boy.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay? So it's like, you might as well be applying to Stanford.

Roger:

Yeah.

Unknown:

The other thing is, University of Washington's deadline is November 15.

Roger:

Yeah, yo, I was looking at it too, though, like my my brown like matches up pretty perfectly with.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, yeah, you feel like you can do it?

Roger:

Yes.

Sheila Akbar:

Now, since you mentioned that your brown essays overlap really nicely with University of Washington, this is probably a good, good point to like pivot to, how do we make something that you've already written fit a new school, right? So there are a kind of couple of steps to this that I see. First is like, just take stock of what you've already written, right? And if we think about Brown, we had a question about academic interest. We had a question about something that brings you joy, and we had a question about how your upbringing has shaped you as a person. And then there are a couple other short things, like, why Brown and you know, what's your most meaningful extracurricular? But those were pretty short, right? And when we look at the University of Washington supplemental essays, we have tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helps shape it. Now this is a longer one, and usually people use their common app essay for this. Then they also say our families and communities define us and our individual worlds. Community might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports, team or club, coworkers, etc, describe the world you come from and how you as a product of it, might add to the diversity of University of Washington. So it is very similar to that question that brown asks, which is, like, you know, College Hill reminds people of home, like, tell us about your home and what you're gonna bring.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

But this one has, like, the specific lens of diversity on it.

Roger:

Okay.

Sheila Akbar:

So really, just one essay. So we've, we've taken stock what you've got, you've got that, what's called the Home essay from Brown you want to adapt to this, this one here. What of that essay? If we pull it up, let's see, what of that essay do you feel like could apply directly?

Roger:

I think the like, the direct, it's like we talked about how I kind of redefine masculinity, or just how I, how I yeah, so then I think that's kind of like the diversity part, like it's a new point of view.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

And, you know, the question says, describe the world you come from, and the brown question said, share an aspect of your growing up, right, which for you you talked about feeling not like the stereotypical male leader.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Right, and like how you've you've come to embrace just who you are, use your natural strengths and talents and like, you know, challenge the status quo kind of assumptions about

Roger:

Who you're supposed to be.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah. And so, how can we adapt that, that idea of like, Oh, I'm not the stereotypical dude to the way University of Washington asked this question, which is, describe the world you come from?

Roger:

I think my struggles with like, my insecurity with height, definitely is like my world, like the world that I came from, and then, like, as a product of it.

Sheila Akbar:

Like, you're gonna say you came from like, a world of tall people, or something?

Roger:

No, oh, like, physically.

Sheila Akbar:

How are you gonna do that?

Roger:

Or, like, I'll describe how. Oh, like, do you mean like, like a physical world, or like, the community, or

Sheila Akbar:

Well, any way you want to describe it. But, you know, I think, I actually think it might be more helpful to talk about where your idea or that original idea that you ended up challenging seems to come from.

Roger:

Oh, like their origin and like the stereotypes and.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, like, where did you pick that up? Is it like, you know, men you saw on TV that you looked up to, or maybe your dad looked up to, or, you know, other guy friends kind of looked up to. Where did that come from, right? And then, because of, because that was like, not so clearly, not you.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

The world of your, you know, I think your mom, your sisters, had a lot to do with this.

Roger:

Yeah, my parents.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, right. Like that world is really what shaped you.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Right, in contrast to this other image that was coming at you from other places. And then I think you can keep the material you have about, you know, using your size advantage on the soccer field and holding space for people's opinions and feelings in your leadership. You know that that next paragraph that you have, and then I think we have to address that they're asking about diversity, and you are defining diversity in a very specific way, right? Maybe not the first way people would define diversity.

Roger:

Oh, really.

Sheila Akbar:

Well, maybe I should clarify. And sounds like we might be on different pages about this, but I think usually when people see the word diversity, they think, racial diversity.

Roger:

Okay, yeah, I guess.

Sheila Akbar:

You're talking about something slightly different. I agree. It is an aspect of diversity. I think it absolutely brings some, you know, variation in the way people could think about themselves. And I think it's really what you have to say. Here is a really important, like, umbrella kind of concept for why diversity is a good thing, right? Like, we should all be able to be ourselves.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

But I think we need, you need to kind of explicitly state that.

Roger:

Okay.

Sheila Akbar:

The kind of diversity that you're really focused on is, like, the diversity of, you know, nuance and allowing people to be how they want to be, and like, redefining masculinity, or redefining what it is to be a leader. The other thing we can think about here is, like, while it would be really easy to just kind of copy paste this essay and then maybe change, you know, two, three sentences throughout UW does not get to hear all of these other wonderful stories that you have told some of the other colleges already.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

About your experiences sailing, about your academic interests, about, you know the kind of work that you do in your school culture.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Right. So there may be aspects of those essays that you want to pull in to this one too, to sort of make your best case.

Roger:

I see what you're saying, yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah. So what does that make you think about?

Roger:

Okay, so, like, I don't have to say how well I can, like, other than me saying how I try to understand others and like, share feelings with teammates and other people. I can say how it helps me teach kids how to sail, or, like, how to help them get over their fears and.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah.

Roger:

Okay, yeah, that sounds

Sheila Akbar:

Exactly, exactly, yeah. I think that could be a really great way to approach this. And you know, you have a little more space. This essay is 300 words.

Roger:

Yes.

Sheila Akbar:

Versus the 250 that you had for brown. So I think, I think that's, that's a good plan. So, you know, you don't have to, well, I guess UW's application is due November 15. You do have to write this right now. But when we're doing this for other schools, what we'll want to think about is, what do we have?

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

What can we use? And then just detail out what needs to change.

Roger:

Got it Okay.

Sheila Akbar:

Right? Like, okay. I need to address my definition of diversity. I need to add in this other bit of content about sailing. I need to, you know, look up a specific mentorship program on the University of Washington campus that I would be really interested in doing whatever the tasks are, and just list them out, and that way, it will be easier for you to just tackle each task one at a time, instead of thinking about I have this amorphous essay that I have to put together, and it also means that there's some of those things that you know will take you a little bit more time, and some things that will be very easy. Depending on your mood, on a particular day, you could do the hard thing or you could do the easy thing.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Right. You don't have to do it all at once. You don't have to do it in order. So that's what I recommend for that.

Roger:

Got it. Yeah, that sounds really good.

Sheila Akbar:

Good. Okay, wonderful. Let's also talk about, let's do this with like another school.

Roger:

Okay. UC's?

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, let's look at the UCs, yeah, absolutely. Okay. So I know you did a little pre work on this, and you started thinking about four of the questions that you thought you could answer. You wrote a bunch of stuff. Describe them to me, kind of crystallized the content of each of those essays that you've written so far.

Roger:

Alright, so we started with the the second prompt of the PI cues, which is like everyone has a creative side, and express, describe how you express your creative side. And I started writing about how I video edit for a doctor, which allows which those patients, I mean, those videos have actually been really impactful in allowing patients to take charge of their own health, and also helps a lot of people who don't have access to like specialties like, let's say, a dermatologist. And then my second one shoot. I don't remember what topic I was writing this one for. Oh, wait, it says three greatest talent. But so I was trying to write about how my greatest talent was, how I have a really open mindset, and I'm really spontaneous, and I like want to try a bunch of stuff. And I tried to describe that, how like through that, or my or like me coming into high school, and how at first I was really not very spirited about high school. I didn't really want to try a lot of new things. But then once I started, it started domino effecting. So then, yeah, but then I couldn't really make a really clear connection, and I was still kind of exploring that one myself too. So kind of threw out that one, we got one where I tried to just, I, well, I told a story about how it was a moment with my. Oh, it was a moment with my dad where, like, in a violin practice, where I was really stubborn to his advice, and how, like, over time, I realized I was actually he was trying to teach me how to, like, have a growth mindset and like, learn from my mistakes. And then I said, how that like connected to sailing, and how. Now I like try to do that with them for sailing. And then another one I have is, let's see, there's a sailing one, which I try to talk about my sailing community, and how, at first, when I started sailing, I was really scared. I was kind of not I was not doing so great. But then, like, it was really encouraging community, and I felt like I, like, was able to learn and be myself without needing to, like, succeed all the time. And then I talked about how that I applied that to like, how I teach other kids now. And then the last one, oh, this one was, this one was just me writing like, stuff about why I like math and why, how I think it's like, it's a whole nother language, and how it's like, been like, intertwined in all of my life, and how I think and like sports and everything.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay. So we have a bunch of options, and I'll point out to you that none of these really overlap with the essays that you wrote for the Common App schools. Right? Your your main essay is about having a positive like a positive mindset and like being kind to yourself. You have, as we already discussed, an academic interest essay, a joy, essay, a aspect of you growing up essay, right? And so none of those are being reused here.

Roger:

Oh, yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

The other thing I'll comment on is you mentioned two essay drafts here that both touch on sailing.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Right, like a different aspect of sailing in both of them. But I worry a little bit that you're, you know, kind of wasting an opportunity to show them something different about you.

Roger:

Oh, yeah, yeah, I definitely wouldn't, yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

So if we start with what you already have, simply because those are great essays and they're fully edited, right? My priority, or my preference would be, let's see where we could reuse those first, and then, if we still need some more content, maybe we come back to one of these things that you started with, right? So looking at the personal insight questions, so let's first scan for academic interest.

Roger:

Okay.

Sheila Akbar:

Which could be a greatest talent or skill? Maybe. Number four is describe how you've taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity. Which would you say you've done anything specific with math, above and beyond the curriculum? I mean, you are taking very advanced classes.

Roger:

Yeah. I'm, yeah, I guess the community college course I'm taking right now. And then the survey study was also pretty related.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, the research that you did.

Roger:

Yes.

Sheila Akbar:

That, I think that would be a really good one to highlight here, especially if statistics is a selective major at one of the UC's.

Roger:

Okay, got it, yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

But you, you haven't written anything about that research study or those classes?

Roger:

Yeah, I think it's in a blurb in the like, it's a little bit of a free right, in the in that, like, academic interest one, but it's definitely not like a fully formed idea.

Sheila Akbar:

Right. Okay, all right. Well, that's one to think about. Then looking at number six as well, which is an academic subject that inspires you. And I wonder, then I know, for brown you wrote an essay about wanting to learn more about, like, applications of Applied Math, particularly in like social sciences.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

And then you could probably use, like, maybe half of that brown essay, along with more information about the research that you did.

Roger:

Okay.

Sheila Akbar:

For number six.

Roger:

So like intertwine, like how I want to like apply math, and also like how I like, have found that you can apply math.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah.

Roger:

Okay.

Sheila Akbar:

So that's the brown open curriculum, plus new writing on research. Okay, I'm making this list for you the second brown essay, which is about something that you do for joy. You ended up writing about teaching sailing and helping kids get over their fears, right? I really love that story. That could be an example of your leadership.

Roger:

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah. It could also be, you know, one of your greatest talents.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Right? Because you do talk about yourself as a big brother to a lot of people, right on, like, different teams in your own family, and then, of course, as a sailing instructor. So you could spin it that way.

Roger:

Okay.

Sheila Akbar:

one here?

Roger:

I was thinking challenge, because if I like, describe like, my like height being a challenge. But then again, it's not really the most significant.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, yeah.

Roger:

It's a little bit dramatic like,

Sheila Akbar:

To say that's your most significant.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, okay.

Roger:

Yeah. It could be my, like, greatest skill or talent is a little bit of, like, I'd have to, like, rework it a little bit.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, well, maybe it doesn't have a great fit.

Roger:

Or it could be just like, make a community, or make your community a better place. That's like, kind of the end of like, what I kind of described.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, that could, that could be it, my mind is skipping ahead a little bit, though, to using your personal statement in which you wrote about, kind of keeping a positive attitude.

Roger:

Yeah

Sheila Akbar:

And how that really defines your style of leadership. That feels like a clear fit for number one. Describe an example of your leadership, right?

Roger:

Oh, okay.

Sheila Akbar:

I'll say one is your common app essay, and then the it would be number three, your greatest talent or skill would be like mentoring, right?

Roger:

Got it, yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

And then we need one more. We need one more.

Roger:

Oh, yeah. I mean, if we use the, the. What are your thoughts if we use the Brown, the like me being, the what is it I want to thank the where you come from, brown one for just like, question number eight for the UC's?

Sheila Akbar:

What makes you a strong candidate?

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

You know, it could be number seven too.

Roger:

Yeah, that's what I was thinking like the end.

Sheila Akbar:

Because you do kind of talk about school spirit in that one, not being embarrassed to, like, scream your head off at games and stuff.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, so let's do that. Seven is, let's just call it the short essay.

Roger:

Okay.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah. Okay, that feels like a really good plan for UC. And you know, there may be phrases that we pull from, like these original writings that you did. But again, like, see them as just like, your warm up exercises, I got you to this place where you got these other really great essays out. Good, okay, well, I know that this is a lot. I think my recommendation to you is to, like, just get the easy stuff done as soon as possible, copy, paste the essays, create the Google Docs, start the application form. And for UC's, of course, it's a little bit nuanced, like you've got to categorize your classes in the A through G categorization. Anything that doesn't fall into there goes onto your activity list. Your awards that have a separate section on the common app go into your activity list, and then your actual extracurriculars also go into your activity list. And then the descriptions there are longer. It's 350 characters.

Roger:

Oh. Should I use all of it?

Sheila Akbar:

So. You should use most of it if there are things that you feel like you really, you know on the common app, there's never enough room to share everything.

Roger:

Yeah, yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

350 may feel like too much. You don't have to use every single character, but you should probably say more than we're already saying.

Roger:

Okay, okay, got it. Like, okay, yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

So just like, yeah, I encourage that to be your first step, the easy copy, paste stuff, right? Even just copy, paste your activity lists from the common app into into the UC template.

Roger:

Got it.

Sheila Akbar:

And then, you know, discharge some of that, like overwhelm and be like.

Roger:

Yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

Main things are done. The next thing you do is go through and make your list of, like, what do I need to do with this? What do I need to do with that?

Roger:

Got it, yeah.

Sheila Akbar:

And then take it kind of step by step. Priority should be UW first, and then UC's, and then, you know, we'll talk again soon about where else you might want to apply regular decision. Okay, cool. Sounds good. Okay, great. All right, good work.

Roger:

All right.

Sheila Akbar:

All right. Talk to you soon.

Roger:

Thank you.

Sheila Akbar:

Talk to you soon. Bye, Well, we had to leave it there, but I know that I'm going to look over some essays, you know, pretty soon, from him, and help him submit a number of additional applications and finalize his regular decision list. But I do hope that this example is helpful for any of you listening, especially for those of you who may have students who did some early applications and are thinking, I'll worry about my regular decisions in December when I hear back from my earlies. Well number one, not every early application will give you a notification by early December. A lot of early action applications don't have notification dates until the end of January or even sometime in February nowadays, so you may not know. Secondly, if you do hear back, you could be hearing great news, which is awesome. You're done. You don't even have to lift a finger on any other application. You could be deferred, in which case you do want to apply to other schools, and you're kind of stuck in this little bit of a limbo. It can be very hard to motivate yourself, because it feels like a rejection, but at the same time, oh, they didn't really reject me, but they didn't let me in. So, and you're gonna have to submit probably some additional materials to that school, so you've got more work than just applying to your regulars. And then finally, you could get denied, and that is not gonna feel good, no matter how you prepare for it. It is not the end of the world, but it does sting, and it will be hard for you to be creative, to think about other schools, to kind of pick yourself back up and go into some intense writing and application creation, to finish regular decision schools. So I really, really urge you to start thinking about this before you hear back from any early applications, to make a plan for how to get those things done, to really vet your school list and make sure you are applying to the right programs that it's worth your time to apply to and do your best with the written materials that you'll need to put together, and hopefully you'll be able to reuse, just like we did in this episode, reuse some of the material you've already created. It's not easy. We put these kids through a lot, folks, but capitalize on the momentum and stretch it out so that it doesn't have to be super intense, especially at a time when they're feeling really down if they get bad news. Okay, as I mentioned, I will link my UC activity template in the show notes, and if you are a student, or know, a student, who would like to be coached through something even something more specific than what we did here, we can go through a specific essay, or, you know, smaller questions than you know, all of the stuff that Roger needed to go through with me, please fill out the form. I'm really excited to talk to more students. And of course, you know my my team of admissions officers will also be getting involved. So it might not be me, might be somebody else who's who's even more well versed in in the particular challenge that the student is facing. If you're a parent who is worried about this process or some aspect of high school and higher education, there's a form for you too. So please spread the word. I want to help as many people as possible and make the time that you spend here as impactful as possible, and hopefully you can see yourself or your student in the situations that we're talking through here. All right. Well, happy mid November, folks, and we'll see you next time. Thanks.