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Health & Fitness

College Application Essays - Avoid the Stress

Mistake: Not reading the school’s website.  

WHY US? Within the supplemental essays, each college is going to ask why you want to attend that particular institution.

If you are a guy, imagine this: You walk up to a girl and ask, “Will you go out with me?” She says, “Why me?” You respond, “I don’t know….you’re standing here.” (Obviously, not a good answer). Of course I put that out to the guys because if a girl did the same thing to a guy, the guy would say, “Sounds good to me.”

The Point is…you need to KNOW the school. Think of their website as an advertisement for their product. The site is designed to sell you on them by telling you all they have to offer.

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WARNING:  Don’t use the website information to sound like you are working in their advertising department. Here is an example of that….as well as too many clichés to count. (That itself is a cliché)

Penn Nursing’s motto, “Care to Change the World,” speaks to who I am.  I want to be that nurse practitioner who impacts families, who betters society, and who makes a difference.  I want to be that PNP who smiles, who makes children feel comfortable, and who heals.   

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And Penn’s School of Nursing will help me achieve that goal.  Where else can you gain clinical exposure in the sophomore year with access to world-class hospitals, such as The Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania?  Where else do you have the opportunity to engage in real-world research, like at LIFE, and improve quality of elder care?   

But practical experience is just one side of the double helix of education.  The rigor of Penn’s academic curriculum also calls my name. The emphasis on leadership appeals to me.   

The above example tells me NOTHING about the teen. I may hire her to work in the public relations department but she’s not becoming a student in the nursing department.

I want to go to (Name of School Here): “I want to go to NYU because it is in New York City and I want that city experience.”  There are more than FIFTY colleges in New York City so saying that you want to go to NYU because it’s in the city is as bad as saying, “I want to go out with you because you are standing here.” Why specifically NYU? What does NYU offer that all the other institutions don’t offer? What is it about NYU that will complement your aspirations? SPECIFICALLY.

Don’t cut and paste. Don’t plagiarize. Don’t regurgitate the website’s stats.  

Bottom Line: Why is this place specifically the best fit for you?

I will be presenting a FREE workshop on the Top Five Mistakes Students Make on their College Application Essays at each of the following libraries. (Pre-registration is strongly advised. Please call the library if you wish to attend) I am also available to speak at PTA meetings, JCC, etc....

This is my complete list as of now….NY, NJ, and CT.

July 22 – Bernardsville Library (NJ)

Sept 9 –   Shelter Rock Library (NY)

Sept 12 – West Windsor North HS PTA (NJ)

Sept 16 -  Syosset Library  (NY)

Sept 17 – Mount Pleasant Library (NY)

Sept 18 – Manhasset Library  (NY)

Sept 23 – Bellmore Library (NY)

Sept 24 – Jericho Library (NY)

Sept 25 – Montvale Library (NJ)

Sept 26 – Avon Library (CT)

Sept 30 – Smithtown Library (NY)

Oct 2 – Warren Library (NJ)

Oct 3 –   Oceanside Library  (NY)

Oct 6 –  National College Fair (Nassau Coliseum) 

Oct 7 – Maplewood Library (NJ)

Oct 8 – Academy of Allied Health Sciences HS PTA (NJ)

Oct 9 –   My 55th BD….I’ll be under the bed, curled in the fetal position, crying.

Oct 10 – Leonia Library (NJ)

Oct 17 – Sea Cliff Library (NY)                                                                  

Randy Levin is the ONLY college application essay expert asked to speak at the National College Fair- Nassau Coliseum – Oct 6th 2013. The vast majority of Randy’s clients are accepted to the Ivy League or other prestigious colleges. He has a MA in English and a MFA in Creative Writing. He is a published writer and was a high school English teacher in high achieving north shore Long Island school districts for close to ten years.  For FREE information, go to his website: WriteToCollege.com


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