Curriculum High School

Course Curriculum: College Application Essay Boot Camp

The Approach

The college admissions essay may be the most important paper that students write during their high school careers. This workshop gives students the insights, strategies, and feedback needed to write essays that truly stand out to college admissions officers.

The writing tasks prescribed here typify the types of applications required by universities nationwide. Students are also encouraged to bring in and develop papers that have very specific outcomes or that are required by the student’s school of choice.

Week 1

Writing Task

Complete two college-application essays based on the common app format.

Skills
  • Understanding the subtleties of the narrative-style application essay.
  • Developing a personal narrative arch that is compelling to the reader.
  • Creating an angle that will make the essays stand out from the crowd.
  • Analyzing and deconstructing exemplary papers and understanding what makes them effective.
  • Incorporating the kind of academic phrases and vocabulary to provide the paper intellectual heft.
  • Engage in the feedback/revision cycle.
  • Workshopping drafts with the teacher and college-student assistant, and making revisions until essays are ideal.

Week 2

Writing Task

Complete three short-form college-application essays in the style of the types of supplementary essays required by elite universities.

Skills
  • Understanding how to quickly create a narrative arch within a short-form essay.
  • Developing a point of view that is unique and which makes these essays stand out from the crowd.
  • Analyzing and deconstructing exemplary papers and understanding what makes them effective.
  • Incorporating the kind of academic phrases and vocabulary to provide the paper intellectual heft.
  • Engage in the feedback revision cycle.
  • Workshopping drafts with the teacher and college-student assistant, and making revisions until essays are ideal.

The Final Report

At the conclusion of the boot camp, all students will receive a detailed report prepared by the teacher and college-student assistant. The report will discuss each student’s strengths and weaknesses and provide recommendations about how students can continue to improve as academic writers.


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