Primary Essay
Your essays are the most important part of your college application, and no, these aren't like the argumentative essays you wrote freshman year about whether or not school uniforms were good or bad, but a space to tell your story. A space to talk about what makes you unique. To start, you want to figure out what's going to capture the admissions officer. Do you want to start with a hook? A metaphor? Descriptive scenery? No matter what, it should be compelling. It should pull your readers in, and have them begging for more. At the end of your essay, your first few sentences should loop back, connecting one overall theme. That theme? You.
Why Us?
Every college has a "why this college?" essay. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your interest and how you can fit in. I like to think of it as a first date. Why are the school and you perfect for each other? This is not a space to write about the reputation or how it's the prime location for your desires. The admissions officers know the university is prestigious. They know they have prime locations. Another thing not to do is to write about how you'd feel attending the place. You need to be confident, in responding. It's not, "I find the classes here match my desires, etc..." No. You can keep this sentence, but it needs some workshopping. "The classes here match my desire to discover advanced computer science methods never seen before." Already, the sentence is much more powerful. Finally, don't ever EVER copy and paste your answers for every school. Every school is different, and you have different reasons for applying. Make those reasons known.
Activities List
This portion of your application is entirely up to you. As someone who did multiple activities throughout high school, I didn't have enough space for only ten activities. This is where I organized all of them from the most important and impactful to the least, narrowing down my decisions. You want to demonstrate a level of commitment and dedication, along with your leadership skills in every few sentences. You want to be strategic with your wording as well. Specify every little thing, as annoying as it may be. For example:
(Don't) Editor for The Underground
(Do) Editor-in-Chief, The Underground Student Newspaper.
For your description,
(Don't) Edited students' news articles for The Underground in preparation for publishing and distribution from grade 10 to present.
(Do) Managed staff of 12 to publish monthly content; runner up of the newspaper of the year competition through FirstNews Education 2019.
You want to have active verbs, shining the spotlight on measurable impacts and progress, and don't forget to use present themes if you're still in the club or organization.
Good luck!
- Kara