The College Essay: Marketing your child for college admission
By Daryl CapuanoCollege CounselingHaving helped students with their college essays for the last decade, I know the following with certainty:
1.) English class college admission essays are generally not effective
2.) Most parents do not know what makes college admission essays effective but many – in an effort to help – provide guidance to their confused child
3.) Almost no students know – and almost all agree – that they have no idea what makes a college admissions essay effective
The first point that I instill to our college counseling clients relates to marketing.
It seems disconcerting but the whole college process is a “welcome to the real world” shake up for many privileged students from Connecticut’s lush suburbs.
My young clients understand advertising and they understand that advertising is designed to sell products. They also understand that advertising is part of marketing.
The light bulb goes on when they realize that they are the produce and that the college essay is the advertisement that helps them market themselves.
Indeed, the college essay is perhaps the most important purely subjective piece in the college admissions puzzle.
In 2021, due to the pandemic and the decline in many objective metrics, the essay (and essays) have taken on a new level of importance.
The Learning Consultants provides the best college essay writing help in Connecticut.
CEO, The Learning Consultants and Connecticut’s top private education consultant
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