Blog - Early Action: Tale of a burning ship

Terminology:

  • T20: slang for "Top 20 schools". Usually, when people say T20, they mean like T30 cuz like so many schools go in and out of the rankings cuz rankings are bs :D.
  • Ivies: A group of colleges that play sports together, associated with prestiege and old-money (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell)
  • HYPSM: The "Top 5" schools in the US (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT)

Cycles

If you're unfamilliar with college applications, there's three "cycles":

  • Early Decision (ED) - Due November 1st, you get your decision by December, and if you get in, you have to go, and get scammed with your money.
  • Early Action (EA) - This is due November 1st (or, if you're UT/UNC, October 15). You usually get your results by December for ivies/t20s, and late Jan for publics.
  • Regular Decision (RD) - Every single college uses this, and it's the 'normal' round. It's due January 1st, and you get your results by late March. It only makes sense to apply to ivies/t20s with this method.

Essentially, if you CAN apply early, do it. It shows commitment and that you want to go to the school, and it definitely is worth it.

My Journey + Tips

So, I actually didn't know college apps were a thing until like June. Essentially, as soon as I finished AP Exams, I realized that I had to start preparing for apps. The issue was that I couldn't write for my life.

So, I started to binge college essay videos, and they were utterly useless. If you're in a similar situation and want to improve your writing, I suggest that you just write. Write as much as you can. Write drafts, blogs, and everything. Here's some tips:

  • READ these books: On Writing by Stephen King. On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
  • Please refrain from reading too many accepted to X college essays. I don't want to sound pretentious, but a LOT of people overestimate how good their essays are.
  • Don't use chatGPT. You'll sound robotic and monotonous. Trust me, this is how you ruin your essay. Use it for feedback, but remember that a human reading it is infinitely better than AI. Get your friends, cousins, family, teachers, etc.
  • Let it Marinate. What do I mean? After you do a first draft, let the essay sit for a day in the back of your mind, and then come back to it. You'll be less attached to it and be able to critique it more.

Anwyays, here's what my journey looked like:

  1. Reccomendation letters, July. This should be the FIRST THING YOU DO, and make sure that you stay ON TOP of it. Some schools have 1, 2, 3, required, and some even specify that they want one humanities teacher (MIT/Caltech). Ask your teacher before the school year ends, and make sure to fill out their brag sheet. Here's what I did wrong- I made my brag sheet 11 pages long. Realistically, the teacher isn't reading all that, so you should keep it concise and straight up tell them what you want them to put.
  2. Personal Statement Grind, August. I straight up watched like 3+ days worth of videos about how to write a good PS. This is what I learned: Colleges don't care about your activities, cuz realistically, there's someone else thats a carbon copy of you, but better. So, what you gotta do is show your personality. Especially in this day and age, where most people write like robots and ChatGPT, this is REALLY important and it can distinguish you from the pool. What do I mean? Instead of writing a traditional boring essay, find a cool metaphor or write a cool story and tie in the elements of your personality and culture.
  3. Acitivies List/Honors. For these, I reccomend that you do a draft early on, in June/July, and then keep adding more as you apply for scholarships and awards throught the year.
  4. Supplemental Essays Grind, September+October. In my opinion, these essays are the most important part of your application. If a college is asking you a question, they really do want to know you. You should use these to showcase parts of your personality/passions, and make sure to ANSWER THE PROMPT!!!

Shoot me an email at tahakrawjani@gmail.com if you want help or feedback on your essays. Good luck CO27!

-Taha Rawjani