More Than a Test Score

A big myth about college applications: if your grades are poor, your SATs below average, and your list of extracurriculars nonexistent, you can still knock it out of the park with a stellar college essay.

False! It’s been said that a great college essay will heal the sick but won’t raise the dead. Ultimately, admissions officers are looking for students who’ve already proven they can be citizens of a larger intellectual and social community—students who have proven through grades, test scores, and recommendations that they can not only handle college but can also thrive there. So coming up with a last-minute mind-blowing essay to right the rest of your academic wrongs isn’t realistic.

That said, college essays are an increasingly crucial part of the admissions process and many times can make the difference between an acceptance or rejection for students who are on the fence.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is to use the essay as a tool to show a different part of you. If your application already includes lists of homeless shelters where you volunteered and a curriculum heavy in math, don’t talk about that one time you taught a homeless person how to add. Talk about something completely different, something that will give admissions officers yet another glimpse of who you are.

And while almost any essay topic can work, any topic can also fail. Many students make the mistake of starting with too broad a focus. By the time you’re into the meat of the story, you’re out of word count. So cut to the chase. Don’t start with “I have always enjoyed science.” Start with “As soon as I cut that frog open I knew I wanted to be a biologist.”

Keep it lively, keep it personal, and, if possible, make them laugh. Admissions officers remember a smart, funny essay the same way we remember a good joke. It makes us want to pass it on and tell it again. That’s the way a good essay should be. And that’s a surefire way to make your essay matter.

This post has been written and published with permission of College Essay Optimizer, a Zinch partner in bringing you the resources you need to make applying to college simple, stress-free, and successful.

Chances are, your days are already pretty packed: classes, extracurriculars, seeing friends, spending time with family… and now throw on top of that applying to college. Senior year can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to writing your personal essays. And while you’ve certainly written essays on the Civil War, Einstein, or plant biology, a personal essay is a different animal.

Instead of trying to brainstorm an essay that matches an existing question from your school of choice, try working backward. Think of a personal experience that moved you or changed you … then tailor that to answer the question. Let’s say you want to write about your experience playing the flute for the first time with a large orchestra. This story answers a lot of possible essay questions: what was a personal activity of special significance, or an accomplishment you are proud of—even an adversity you have dealt with. This one story can be tweaked into the many essays your colleges require.

It’s great to get feedback from a friend or a teacher on a draft you’ve written, but don’t overdo it. A common mistake is an essay written “by committee” – too many people have read it and the writer is trying to please too many different opinions.  In the end, you’re left with an essay with all the life sucked out of it. Find one person you trust—preferably not a family member or friend—and let that individual be your sounding board.

Make sure to set aside a little bit of time every day to work on your essay. It’s better to spend 20 minutes on it daily than 10 hours right before it’s due. You’ll find that visiting it every day will help your ideas flow and connect better, give you perspective on what you’ve already written, and reduce the chances of sloppy mistakes.

This post has been written and published with permission of College Essay Optimizer, a Zinch partner in bringing you the resources you need to make applying to college simple, stress-free, and successful.

Okay, so we know some people aren’t smarter than a fifth grader, but are you smarter than a celebrity? We found the SAT scores of some people you just might know and where they went to college. Bill Gates? George W. Bush? Read on to see how you stacked up next to some pretty important people in the world, courtesy ofPowerScore.com. The scores are a combination of Reading (800) and Math (800).

Paul Allen: 1600
Microsoft co-founder
Washington State University

Bill Gates: 1590
Microsoft co-founder
Harvard University

Bill O’Reilly: 1585
Political commentator and host of The O’Reilly Factor
Marist College

James Woods: 1579
Actor (Scary Movie 2, Any Given Sunday)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ben Stein: 1573
Actor and game show host (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Win Ben Stein’s Money)
Columbia University

Al Gore: 1355
45th Vice President of the United States
Harvard University

Stephen King: 1300s
Author (The Shining, The Green Mile)
University of Maine

Meredith Vieira: 1300s
Television Host (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Today Show)
Tufts University

George W. Bush: 1206
43rd President of the United States
Yale University

Amy Tan: 1100s
Author (The Joy Luck Club)
San Jose State University

Bill Clinton: 1032
42nd President of the United States
University of Oxford

Al Franken: 1020
Actor, author, and political commentator (Saturday Night Live)
Harvard University

Howard Stern: 870
Radio Personality
Boston University

We are proud to announce our fourth Easy As Pie Scholarship Winner.

The winner is Alexa Uderman!

Here is more about our winner:

Art is my passion and my most reliable form of communicating my own sense of expression as who I am or was at certain checkpoints in my life is defined by my art. Everyday I continue to challenge myself in not analyzing, but experiencing, the intriguing process of its creation and, therefore, the unveiling of my inner self and perspectives. As of yet, I still do not understand my work, leaving the mystery of my personal discovery and the ultimate drive to creating art: to deepen the soul and release individual reactions to both tangible and philosophical society. Without this drive, I am lost.

Reading your profiles is always a pleasure! Keep making those amazing profiles and don’t forget to check back soon to read Alexa’s interview!

Alicia Bierstedt is a freshman at the University of Chicago majoring in Earth Science.  She has a deep interest in paleontology and her Chegg Textbook Scholarship will help her buy her expensive science books.  Take a look at her profile to see an example of a winning profile!

When/where did you hear about Zinch and the “Chegg Freshman Textbook Scholarship”?

I found out about Zinch about a year ago, through another scholarship site. It helped me find several scholarships as a high school senior, and has continued to help me as a college student. I figured, since the scholarship was so easy to apply for, I might as well give it a shot.

What was your reaction when you found out that you had won the “Chegg Freshman Textbook Scholarship”?

I actually found out I had won this scholarship on the Zinch blog before I received the notification email, and couldn’t figure out why my picture was in the post. Once I did, though, I was really excited. My first quarter at college, I had a pretty severe case of sticker shock from my textbook costs. Being an earth science major, I need a lot of science and math textbooks, which are really expensive. This will definitely help offset the costs.

What got you interested in paleontology?

Paleontology has been an interest of mine from a very young age. I never really grew out of my 2-year-old dinosaur phase. My interest really grew when I got involved at the Denver Museum of Science, taking paleontology courses and volunteering in the exhibits. I was also lucky enough to get the opportunity to work at an excavation, helping to dig up a dinosaur fossil. That sealed the deal, for me.

What graduate college do you want to go to and why?

I’m not sure at this point what grad school I’ll go to. I may stay at University of Chicago: it’s currently one of the top 5 schools for paleontology in the US. It will definitely be a top-caliber school, though. I’ve got a couple years to figure it out.

What is one outrageous (as in crazy, impulsive, dangerous, etc…) thing you want to do before you die?

Probably travel the world. I really want to travel through Europe, and to Australia and New Zealand. I would love to take a year out of my life and just see the world, without worrying about school or work.

How are you more than a test score?

My achievements and my dreams are what make me more than a test score. Yes, my test scores are a piece of that, but my volunteer and paleontology experience can’t be summed up in a number. My drive to keep succeeding and to share what I know with others are even harder to quantify. There’s no test for a passion to learn and to teach.

Thanks everyone for applying and congratulations to Alicia!