By Sam Segan
If you’re currently in the spring of your junior year–it’s time to start thinking about the essays you’ll need to write for college applications. Here are five first steps.
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Start a journal.
The best way to become a better writer? Write! Capture your voice and seek insight into your values, beliefs, and passions–all the elements you’ll want to include in college essays. Use a journaling app for daily prompts.
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Talk to your guidance counselor.
They may be overwhelmed in the fall, but they should have time for you now. What do they see as your “story”? What version of you do they see that you might not?
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Step up your extracurricular activities.
Seek leadership positions and take risks like submitting material to a school paper or seeking a new role on a sports team. Start a club related to one of your interests. The easiest way to have something to say is to be part of something worth talking about.
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Reach out to professors or alumni of your target schools.
If you can arrange to meet professors on college visits–which you should be doing this spring–you can learn more about the programs that interest you. It will help you set up your “Why Here?” essay and show them you’re really interested!
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Read sample essays.
We love the Johns Hopkins “Essays that Worked”; here, you can find ten successful Harvard admissions essays. And if you work with a Bespoke tutor, we can show you sample essays from some of our most successful students, too.
Of course, there’s also time for fun. Make sure that, amidst the tumult of junior year, you are finding time for your true passions, even if they aren’t “resume-worthy.” Your hobby of crafting amigurumi animals or skateboarding might become the core of a great personal essay.
