How to Write a College Essay about Your Culture

If you’re sitting down to write your college essay but have no idea what to put on paper (or, more likely, the screen), we’re here to help. Writing a college essay can be scary and overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. One of the ways to make it fun is to write about something you love, something you cherish, and something that is close to you — and often that means your culture.

How to Write a College Essay about Music

Most people on the planet have a relationship with music. In fact, we’d dare to say everyone does. No matter what one’s culture, experiences, abilities, location, or preferences are, there is, somewhere, a relationship to the sounds (and in some cases vibrations) that, when combined and layered, we call music. Because what is music, after all, but layered sound that speaks to us in some meaningful way?

Best Colleges for Leadership

What do we mean by ‘leadership’ when talking about college? Is it an academic track? Or an extracurricular program? Or a role you step into? Much of the time, it’s all of the above. Leaders aren’t born, they are made — and the 10 colleges we’ve listed below want to turn their students into leaders and are putting in the time to make it happen. From majors to certificates to summer programs, these schools go above and beyond to produce effective and ethical leaders who will go on to shape the communities, companies, and organizations they work in.

How to Write a College Essay about Religion

Picking a topic for your college essay can be intimidating, to put it lightly. In 650 words, you are supposed to distill yourself into an essay that is both a convincing argument for offering you admission and a literary masterpiece. That’s a lot. But picking the right topic for your essay can be the key to the puzzle. With the right topic, things flow.

How to Write a College Essay about a Summer Job

We love jobs. We love summer jobs, and we love after-school jobs. We love part-time jobs, and we love seasonal jobs. We advise nearly all of our students to get a summer job that pays real money to do real work, as opposed to an internship — which is also good but different. Many colleges even prioritize applicants who have real-world work experience, so getting a job pays you at work and in the college admissions process. Because of this, a summer job is nearly always a great topic for a college essay.

College Athletic Recruiting for Colby College

Colby College is a private liberal arts college located in Waterville, Maine with about 2,000 students total. Their most popular majors include economics, political science, and psychology, so it’s definitely a liberal arts school. They’re also a pretty athletic school, with 1/3rd of the campus competing in at least one (if not more!) varsity sport. Colby is part of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), and competes in D3 sports with Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Tufts, Trinity, Wesleyan, and Williams. They’re also part of the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium, which is some weird micro-athletic conference made up of all the maine colleges in Maine. We are so good at puns. Moving on!

Ultimate Guide to Writing a College Essay about Failure

The College Essay is mythical in status, but at the core it’s just an essay. Like any essay, it needs to say something, and preferably something interesting. As part of your college application, what it says shouldn’t be obvious, but it should make sense. You shouldn’t be repeating something elsewhere in your application, but what you say should resonate with the reader because it makes them feel like they’ve gotten to know you a little better than they would have without it. In 650 words, you need to do all of this while sounding smart, self-aware, and like someone they have to say yes to. That’s a big lift, but we’re here for you.

College Athletic Recruiting for Tufts

Tufts Univeristy is a private research institution located a hop, skip, and a jump away from Boston. They used to be a small liberal arts school, but decided to start offering PhD’s in the 70s, and now have approximately 7k undergrads and 7k grad students. They’re huge into STEM, with top-notch undergrad and grad programs in chemistry, biology, and biomedical engineering. They also do a lot of crossover programs with the New England Conservatory of Music, MIT, and Harvard. Tufts is part of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), and competes in D3 sports with Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Wesleyan, and Williams. Unlike many of their NESCAC cohorts, Tufts isn’t an overwhelmingly athletic school, but it is one of the top athletic programs in D3 sports. Also, their mascot is an elephant named Jumbo. We found this disturbing information about Jumbo’s lore:

USC Legacy Strategy

“Will being a SCion help them get in?” It’s a question we get a lot from USC alumni parents. For those not in the know, ‘SCion’ is the term that USC uses for legacies and the children of donors. The short answer is that yes, it will help but probably not as much as you think. Legacy admissions are more complicated than the easy-in that many alumni parents expect them to be. So, we wanted to break down all the complex ins and out of legacy admissions at USC.

Dartmouth Legacy Strategy

Dartmouth was the first college to have a legacy admissions policy in 1922. It has been over 100 years and many legacy students still apply to Dartmouth every year. A lot has changed since 1922 but legacy admissions are still a difficult-to-understand “field.” We constantly talk to parents who are confused by legacy admissions and what it means for their students, so today we wanted to break down everything we know about Dartmouth legacy admissions and what parents need to do if their legacy is dreaming of Dartmouth.

Best Colleges for Jewish Studies 

Jewish studies isn’t just for those who want to go on to become clergy or even for those who are interested in prayer. But it’s a solid major for any who’s pre-law or just largely interested in studying Jewish history and practice from an academic perspective. And most (all but two) schools that made our list approach Jewish Studies from an academic lens, as opposed to one that involves prayer. 

College Athletic Recruiting for Wesleyan

Wesleyan University, located in Middletown, Connecticut, is a private liberal arts university with a little bit of a STEM bent. It’s also an incredibly academic school–several studies from 2008 found that undergraduates from Wesleyan were 2nd in the country for pursuing PhDs among all liberal arts schools. It’s also a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and competes in D3 sports with Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Tufts, Trinity, and Williams. Approximately 25% of students at Wesleyan play a varsity sport, making it one of the less sporty schools in NESCAC, despite the fact they were an original member of the NCAA.

Columbia Legacy Strategy

"Of course, my kid will go to Columbia, he's a legacy!" We hear this from parents probably every week. We work with a lot of Ivy League legacies. We hate to break it to you, but just being a legacy isn't the boost that many parents believe it is. Legacy admissions are cloaked in secrecy on purpose, so today we want to demystify legacy admissions at Columbia and what your legacy student needs to get in.

Best Colleges if you want to be a Lawyer

The requirements to apply to law school are less specific than for medical school programs, so “pre-law” is more of an idea than it is a strict program. At most undergraduate colleges, and all of the top ones, there is no such program as ‘pre-law,’ but there are some things that undergraduate students can do to make themselves more attractive to law schools when it comes time to apply.

Brown Legacy Strategy

Brown is kind of always having a moment. It's gotten even more popular than some of the other Ivies recently. In turn, this has driven down its already competitive acceptance rate. Right now, its acceptance rate sits at about 5%. It's harder than ever to get into Brown, but many alumni parents talk like their students will 100% get in because they are “legacies.” This always makes us a bit, to use an SAT word, ~trepidacious~. Legacy admissions are complex, secretive by design, and not the lock that many parents believe they are. So today we want to talk about what legacy admissions actually look like at Brown and what legacies can do as candidates to help stack their decks.