My Successful Letter of Appeal to UC Berkeley

Republished from The Huffington Post: https://huff.to/Yb74KD UC Berkeley was my dream school. In fact, as a student at a large public high school in the East Bay, as the son and grandson of alumni, and as a young person interested in politics, the University of California, Berkeley, was one of the few schools I knew. I applied in November of my senior year of high school. That spring, I received a thin letter in the mail from the admissions office. I went to the garage to open it, to receive the good news. Maybe the small letter would inform me that the fat packet of smiling faces of my future classmates was on its way or available online? Nope. I decided to appeal the decision. I knew the odds were slim: less than 1 percent of the student body at Berkeley were admitted off an appeal. Additionally, I was under the [...]

Tackling the college admissions essay

So you’ve toured the campuses, taken the SATs, and filled out a mountain of paperwork. And yet…the dreaded personal statement/statement of purpose/epic essay remains. Whatever its name, the college admissions essay is crucial for an application to just about any school. Many times you can use (or at least tweak) the same one for several applications that have fairly basic prompts, while other schools might pose a more specific question. Whatever the case, a few basic rules of thumb may help smooth the writing process… 1) Be yourself It’s a cliché for a reason. Now is not the time to insert random polysyllabic words you just looked up or adopt the voice of your favorite author. The admissions essay is your chance to break away from the standardized test scores and tedious forms—be yourself, but take the opportunity to be your best self. Just strike a balance between striving for [...]