Video Transcript

“Hi. My name is Stephanie. I’m a former admissions officer for Northwestern. I’ve read thousands of applications and I’ve also helped hundreds of students with their applications and their application essays.

So, I’m going to give you my top tips for the application process.

Tip #1 is don’t write about your entire life. Choose two or three stories that really represent you well and focus on those stories and giving them as much detail as you can.

Tip #2 [is] don’t focus on the word count. Write as much as you can, again in as much detail as you can, so that you flush your story out without the pressure of the word count. After you’ve gotten your story on paper, and you start fine-tuning, that’s the time to focus on getting the word count right.

Similarly, Tip #3 is don’t focus on the prompts. The prompts can really narrow your focus, and instead, you want to write the story that you want to write, and ideally, you’ll be able to find the prompt that fits your topic.

Tip #4 is if you really hate writing this essay and if you’re really feeling that it’s drudgery, and you don’t like what’s coming out, it’s probably not the right topic for you. If you hate writing it, whoever you’re writing it for is going to hate reading it.

So, Tip #5 is to find former admissions officers to review your application before you submit. Ideally, they’d be from the school that you’re applying to and ideally, they wouldn’t know you or your family. So, how do you do that? Well, the company I work for, AdmissionsCheckup.com, has over 60 former admissions officers who can help you with your application, giving you brutally honest feedback before you submit.

So, better application, betters odds of admission, better odds at a scholarship.

Good luck.

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