“Now that students are applying to more and more colleges, they run the risk of making their applications more generic,” says Michael Pelly, who oversees admissions and financial aid as a vice chancellor at Chapman University in California.
Answers to application questions should be specific and should reflect an understanding of why you would be a good fit at that particular college, he says, just as résumés are tailored when applying for jobs. It’s easy to spot cut-and-paste answers, he warns.
When writing a personal essay, pick a topic that shows how you tick or what you care deeply about, says college adviser Lee Bierer. So many students now take service-oriented trips, for instance, that it comes across as clichéd to write about how much more fortunate you are than you ever realized.
Her ears perked up recently when one advisee mentioned that he has spent half an hour a day for the past three years practicing to be ambidextrous, because he read somewhere that ambidextrous people are more successful. “That’s an essay topic, “ she says, “something not every other kid has done.”
