Counselor Edition: College Application Workbook To Coherently Present Your Best Self.
Workbook To Help Plan and Review The Application
I just published a Podcast Episode with Athena Lao on a College Application Workbook.
The impetus for this Workbook came after I wrote a piece in this newsletter last fall about how college application readers have about 8 mins to read an application.
So the question becomes, what is the best way to tell your story of dreams, aspiration and successes in the college application, so it can quickly captivate a reader?
The Answer: This Workbook!
The Workbook provides a framework to:
Identify the Story you want to tell;
Describe how different parts of the application should complement that story;
When the application is done, help review if the story you wanted to tell, jumps out to the reader!
The Sections of the Workbook are:
Self-Phrase
Superpower
Academic Proficiency
Experiential
Testimony
Fit
We have used Ian’s profile as an example from our College Guidance Podcast Episodes.
To follow along, the Workbook can be downloaded from here.
Use the guidance to fill in your own Workbook.
1.Self-Phrase
Self-Phrase is a short description that
Encapsulates who you are, and
Who you want to present to application readers.
The reader should be able to get a sense of who you are.
A Self-Phrase consists of a few different parts,
The first clause start out with two to three adjectives, followed by a noun,
So for example, Ian is a “talented and solutions minded builder”.
So we had the two adjectives, talented solutions minded, and then a noun that really spoke to something active, doing something that's builder.
And then we tied that to a concept, a problem, something that Ian wanted to solve that was bigger than him. So sustainability.
And that's what you should do with your self phrase as well, what's a challenge or bigger kind of mission that you can tie your skills to?
So for Ian the self phrase is “Talented and Solutions minded builder who's passionate about sustainability.”
2.Superpower
What is your Superpower?
For most schools, depending on what kind of application you use, for that school, you'll need to write an essay that's anywhere from say 400 to 650 words. And you'll have a few different essay topics to choose from.
The strategy here is to
Think about your Self-Phrase, and
Key descriptors that you've come up with,
And make sure that whatever essay topic you choose,
Whenever someone reads that essay, If they don't know you,
Those key descriptors, that Self-Phrase comes up in their mind, and makes them think,
“Oh, man, this person really has a strong sense of who they are, And we want to get to know them more!”
Checkout Ian’s example in the Podcast.
In the Superpower section of the Workbook, you'll see that you have space to brainstorm by thinking about different prompts that might relate best to the story you're trying to tell.
3.Academic Proficiency
How does the Self-Phrase reflect in academic proficiency?
Academic proficiency means that you're going to need to show in your application that
You're academically prepared for and
You have some prior level of interest in whatever you want to major in or study further.
So think about for yourself:
What subjects or courses have you taken, relate to your potential major of interest?
What standardized tests have you taken, and
How well have you done so that you can show you are somewhat at least somewhat qualified to take on that major when you get to college.
4.Experiential
The next section is called the Experiential section. And by experiential, we really mean your entire life experience.
A lot of times people just think that when you need to talk about what you do outside of class, you must only talk about, say extracurricular activities, clubs you've done outside of the classroom.
In fact, for your application, the readers at universities do want to know about the entirety of your life,
They want to know not only what clubs and extracurriculars you're doing, but
What other other internships or research experiences you might have had,
Other competitions, or contests that you've joined, or
Even any family background, life circumstantial information you might want to share that has impacted your academics or just how you live, as well as
Any other personal hobbies that you have taken really seriously and have shown a lot of personal development in.
So at this point, don't hesitate to write down all of that information, no tidbit of information is too small.
Once you've written all of that out, think what from these can “help me show my Self Phrase, show that these key descriptors that I've identified are really highlighted in my application”.
5.Testimony
Testimony refers to the Letters of Recommendation that you'll usually need to submit along with your application.
Letters of Recommendation are important because they are documents written by a third party that verify to the school that's reading your application, that you are “super awesome”.
So you want to make sure that whoever you ask to write this letter of recommendation, knows you as well as possible and can write about you in very positive enthusiastic terms.
The three main parts to break down recommendations are by academic potential, character and community contributions.
You don’t necessarily have to tell your teacher your Self-Phrase, but when you request a letter of recommendation, you can mention some of the things that you think would be helpful to share about yourself.
6.Fit
The final section of the Workbook is on Fit.
Many colleges will ask you for supplemental mini-essays, usually 100 to 250 words. And the purpose of this is for them to see
How you might add value to the college and to the incoming class,
What will you contribute to that specific colleges community,
And how might you contribute as an alum, even after you graduate from that college?
So with that in mind, in your supplemental essays, you're going to want to show through Self-Phrase that there is really a good fit between you and that college.
What Should You Do Next?
When you listen to the Podcast, follow along section by section and fill out each section in the Workbook.
Create your Profile, if you don’t have one.
Then Build your Self-Phrase.
Test the Self-Phrase with your Counselor or a Trusted Adult or friend, to get feedback on how well it describes you.
Then Work through the 5 Sections - Superpower, Academic Proficiency, Experiential, Testimony and Fit.
For Testimony, make sure you have thought through the teachers that would write your LORs.
Once you have the Workbook filled out, discuss it with your Counselor and incorporate their feedback.
Lastly, before you hit the Submit button for a College Application, Review your application and make notes in the Workbook to make sure your story comes through the way you intended!
On with the Podcast
In this Podcast with Athena, we cover,
What is Self-Phrase and How to Create Your own Self-Phrase;
The Workbook Sections - which include Superpower, Academics, Experiential, Testimony and Fit, and
Guidance using Ian’s Story.
Again, here is the Workbook.
I would love to hear what you think of this Workbook, all your feedback and comments. Thank You!
Good Luck with your application!
Thank You to All for supporting the Podcast and this Newsletter, and to all My Guests who have been generous with their time and counsel on my podcasts.
Have a Wonderful September!
Venkat