{"id":2872,"date":"2014-03-20T01:00:13","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T05:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/?p=2872"},"modified":"2014-03-19T13:06:12","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T17:06:12","slug":"from-public-school-to-the-ivy-league-mandee-adler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/from-public-school-to-the-ivy-league-mandee-adler\/","title":{"rendered":"From Public School to the Ivy League"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"blog-image\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Public-School-Ivy-League-resources\/dp\/1929882955\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Adler.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"From Public School to the Ivy League: How to get into a top school without top dollar resources\" width=\"442\" height=\"662\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2879\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><i>The following excerpt is from the new book by Mandee Heller Adler,<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Public-School-Ivy-League-resources\/dp\/1929882955\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><i>From Public School to the Ivy League: How to get into a top school without top dollar resources<\/i><\/a><i>, which is available at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Public-School-Ivy-League-resources\/dp\/1929882955\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Amazon.com<\/a>. Ms. Adler is the founder and principal of <a href=\"https:\/\/internationalcollegecounselors.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">International College Counselors<\/a>, a Florida-based firm that provides expert strategies for admission to undergraduate colleges, graduate programs, business schools, law schools, medical schools, dental schools and other postgraduate schools.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>From<\/i> Chapter 4: Writing Essays &hellip;<\/p>\n<p><b>ANSWERING THE QUIRKY QUESTIONS<\/b><br \/>\nIn recent years, a number of colleges have been adding quirky questions to their applications. These supplemental questions are considered a way to get students to stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>These questions have included:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"blog-ul\">\n<li>Imagine you have to wear a costume for a year of your life. What would you pick and why?<\/li>\n<li>What is your favorite ride at the amusement park? How does this reflect your approach to life?<\/li>\n<li>What does Play-Doh have to do with Plato?<\/li>\n<li>What would you do with a free afternoon tomorrow?<\/li>\n<li>What was your favorite thing about last Tuesday?<\/li>\n<li>The Spanish poet Antonio Machado wrote, &#8220;Between living and dreaming there is a third thing. Guess it.&#8221; Give us your guess.<\/li>\n<li>According to Henry David Thoreau, &#8220;One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something.&#8221; What is your something?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What colleges are looking for is your voice. Use this as an opportunity to demonstrate your &#8220;out-of-the-box&#8221; thinking. However, don&#8217;t go overboard. Admissions officers are looking to see if you&#8217;ll be an interesting person to have on campus. Interesting means imaginative, not crazy and not dangerous sounding.<\/p>\n<p><b>GREAT FIRST SENTENCES<\/b><br \/>\nYou need a great hook and a great first sentence. Opening sentences have the power to compel and fascinate. Some of our favorite student first sentences include:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"blog-ul\">\n<li><i>For eight years, I have celebrated polyester.<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>I vividly recall coming home from school one day in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to find my house in disarray and my parents packing one suitcase after another.<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>I&#8217;ll admit it: I have a thing for gavels&mdash;a thing for motions and seconds and the clarity that they bring to meetings.<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>I eagerly reached into my Hello Kitty backpack.<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>Max prances in place as we await our turn into the arena.<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>Drip. Drip. Drip. Tick. Tick. Tick. As I lie in the hospital, waiting to be taken into surgery, I can only think that my IV drip sounds just like a metronome.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You want to read more, right?<\/p>\n<p><b>FATAL ESSAY ERRORS<\/b><br \/>\nApplication essays have been requested as part of the college application for the past umpteen years. The admissions teams have seen a lot of &#8220;creativity.&#8221; Here are their least favorite types of essays:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"blog-ul\">\n<li>Metaphor. Don&#8217;t compare yourself to a mango, a Ferris wheel, or any other objects.<\/li>\n<li>Death. Don&#8217;t write about a person or pet&#8217;s death unless it truly affected your life and you can use it to exemplify growth&mdash;for example, if someone died of cancer and you made it your mission to raise money\/awareness, or if a death during high school affected your grades and caused you to stumble, but then you regrouped to overcome.<\/li>\n<li>Free verse essays, essays written as raps, limericks, etc. Don&#8217;t emphasize form over function.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Meta&#8221; essays where you talk about writing an essay, about the process of writing an essay, or about essays themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Additionally, you should avoid writing about the topics below unless you have something extraordinary to say:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"blog-ul\">\n<li>A trip to Europe<\/li>\n<li>Generic admiration for your mom or dad<\/li>\n<li>The controversial rock star or movie star whom you idolize<\/li>\n<li>Overcoming an injury and making an athletic comeback<\/li>\n<li>Volunteering at a local community center<\/li>\n<li>Building homes in Costa Rica with Habit for Humanity<\/li>\n<li>Understanding the meaning of life from a fishing trip<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sorry, but thousands of students have beaten you to these topics and then beaten them to death. These are called &#8220;clich&eacute; essays&#8221; because the reader knows from the get-go just where you are going with it.<\/p>\n<p><b>THE VIDEO COLLEGE ESSAY<\/b><br \/>\nA number of college admissions departments are formally accepting video college essays.<\/p>\n<p>The first step for any student is to view recent videos and see what others have done. This will give you an idea of the range of possibilities.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to actually making your video, it&#8217;s important to be original but in a way that is comfortable for you. Do what works for you. Your main goal needs to be communicating your message.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"blog-ul\">\n<li>Start by identifying the question and any directions.<\/li>\n<li>Think about what you want to say.<\/li>\n<li>Write a script that is clear on the message and ideas you want to get across.<\/li>\n<li>Collect resources and props that you want to use in the video.<\/li>\n<li>Record the video until it&#8217;s as perfect as possible. Some students record the video themselves using a tripod while speaking directly into the camera; others enlist the services of a friend or family member.<\/li>\n<li>Review your video and collect feedback.<\/li>\n<li>Edit, edit, edit, and re-record if necessary.<\/li>\n<li>Get more feedback.<\/li>\n<li>Edit and re-record until it&#8217;s as perfect as it can be. Make sure it fits the requested length and meets all specs before sending it in.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i>To get a head start on preparing for college admissions, order a copy of<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Public-School-Ivy-League-resources\/dp\/1929882955\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">From Public School to the Ivy League: How to get into a top school without top dollar resources<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Public-School-Ivy-League-resources\/dp\/1929882955\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Amazon.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"after-post\">Prepare yourself for the rigors of college with university-level courses in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/parent_ucs_overview.htm\" target=\"_blank\">computer science<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/parent_aml_overview.htm\" target=\"_blank\">mathematical logic<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">IMACS<\/a>. Like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">IMACS<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eimacs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Facebook<\/a> for the latest information about our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imacs.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">local classes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imacs.org\/math-computer-science\/distance-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\">online courses<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following excerpt is from the new book by Mandee Heller Adler, From Public School to the Ivy League: How to get into a top school without top dollar resources, which is available at Amazon.com. Ms. Adler is the founder and principal of International College Counselors, a Florida-based firm that provides expert strategies for admission [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}