College entrance essays more important than ever
Essays often the key to acceptance
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By Stacey Powells, Times Correspondent
If a college application essay isn’t top-notch, kiss acceptance to that college goodbye. Jody Cohan-French, who was looking for a significant way to incorporate writing into her already busy life, found a niche helping students polish their college essays.
"I needed to make a living like everybody else and a friend of mine who is a teacher at UCLA asked me if I thought about doing this," said Cohan-French. The ‘this’ she is referring to was helping college-bound students with their essays, an integral part of their college application process. "I found that I had a knack for doing this and I love it. There’s a huge business out there now where people help students apply to college. This has happened because there are more students applying to university."
Cohan-French stated that when she applied for college she only applied to two universities. These days, students can apply to up to ten colleges, hedging their bets because the competition is so fierce. "There are more Americans applying than there were several decades ago as well as more international students who apply to colleges here in the states. There are hundreds of thousands of violinists, students extraordinaire, and students with excellent grades and SAT scores applying to these colleges." She said the essays are where the core of the student applications can really leap off the paper.
"Some colleges may have students come in for interviews, but they have to get past the essays first," she said. "The essay is where the student can really make themselves stand out. My focus is helping the students write their essays and that starts first with interpreting the prompts."
There are several types of prompts. The CommonApp prompt stands for ‘Common Application.’ Several schools in the United States sign up for this prompt because it’s one-stop shopping for the main essay used by many private universities. Many of those schools also have supplemental essays which will have to be done for each school.
"For the CommonApp, you have to pick out one of seven prompts and write a 650-word essay," said Cohan-French. A sample of a prompt would be to, ‘Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking and what was the outcome?’
The University of California does not use the CommonApp. "They have their own set of prompts," said Cohan-French. "Since last year, they now have eight prompts and students have to answer four of them." Each University of California prompt has to be 350 words.
"If they don’t read the prompt correctly or understand them, students can go off in another direction or end up telling instead of showing their life stories and the details of those stories," said Cohan-French. "I make sure the details of their life stories are in their essays."
In her experience, Cohan-French said a lot of students underestimate the entire process. "You cannot treat these like the essays due in English class that you write the night before it’s due," continued Cohan-French. "I get a lot of smiles when I tell students that because that’s exactly what most of them do. I tell them they have to write a finished, polished essay which means on average, they will go through each essay between six and sixteen times."
Cohan-French said that being organized and understanding that these essays will take time can make the difference between acceptance and being denied acceptance. Cohan-French will hold her first local free workshop based on her book, “The Write Way into College: Rising Above GPA’s and Test Scores with Memorable Application Essays” on Monday, Aug. 27 at the Mammoth Lakes Library from 5 – 6:30 p.m. Anyone considering applying for college is encouraged to attend. For more information, contact Jody Cohan-French at www.jodycohan-writer.com
If a college application essay isn’t top-notch, kiss acceptance to that college goodbye. Jody Cohan-French, who was looking for a significant way to incorporate writing into her already busy life, found a niche helping students polish their college essays.
"I needed to make a living like everybody else and a friend of mine who is a teacher at UCLA asked me if I thought about doing this," said Cohan-French. The ‘this’ she is referring to was helping college-bound students with their essays, an integral part of their college application process. "I found that I had a knack for doing this and I love it. There’s a huge business out there now where people help students apply to college. This has happened because there are more students applying to university."
Cohan-French stated that when she applied for college she only applied to two universities. These days, students can apply to up to ten colleges, hedging their bets because the competition is so fierce. "There are more Americans applying than there were several decades ago as well as more international students who apply to colleges here in the states. There are hundreds of thousands of violinists, students extraordinaire, and students with excellent grades and SAT scores applying to these colleges." She said the essays are where the core of the student applications can really leap off the paper.
"Some colleges may have students come in for interviews, but they have to get past the essays first," she said. "The essay is where the student can really make themselves stand out. My focus is helping the students write their essays and that starts first with interpreting the prompts."
There are several types of prompts. The CommonApp prompt stands for ‘Common Application.’ Several schools in the United States sign up for this prompt because it’s one-stop shopping for the main essay used by many private universities. Many of those schools also have supplemental essays which will have to be done for each school.
"For the CommonApp, you have to pick out one of seven prompts and write a 650-word essay," said Cohan-French. A sample of a prompt would be to, ‘Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking and what was the outcome?’
The University of California does not use the CommonApp. "They have their own set of prompts," said Cohan-French. "Since last year, they now have eight prompts and students have to answer four of them." Each University of California prompt has to be 350 words.
"If they don’t read the prompt correctly or understand them, students can go off in another direction or end up telling instead of showing their life stories and the details of those stories," said Cohan-French. "I make sure the details of their life stories are in their essays."
In her experience, Cohan-French said a lot of students underestimate the entire process. "You cannot treat these like the essays due in English class that you write the night before it’s due," continued Cohan-French. "I get a lot of smiles when I tell students that because that’s exactly what most of them do. I tell them they have to write a finished, polished essay which means on average, they will go through each essay between six and sixteen times."
Cohan-French said that being organized and understanding that these essays will take time can make the difference between acceptance and being denied acceptance. Cohan-French will hold her first local free workshop based on her book, “The Write Way into College: Rising Above GPA’s and Test Scores with Memorable Application Essays” on Monday, Aug. 27 at the Mammoth Lakes Library from 5 – 6:30 p.m. Anyone considering applying for college is encouraged to attend. For more information, contact Jody Cohan-French at www.jodycohan-writer.com
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