enRoute college consulting
You. Your College. Connected.
About enRoute College Consulting
A quick overview of college admissions: Colleges look at your academic statistics first. This is who you are “on paper” and includes things like your grades and transcript(s), your test scores, the high school you attended, etc. Then, they proceed to the essay and the Common App activities list looking for a glimmer—something that distinguishes you from your peers. What can they find there to convince them you’d be an excellent addition to their incoming freshman class?
The college application essay is a strange animal, and one that isn’t well understood outside college admissions. Students often start by taking an academic, “serious” tack. Many juniors even write a college application essay as an assignment in their junior year English classes. However, ultimately, a successful application essay is highly personal and more akin to a piece of creative writing.
As a former college admission professional, August through December was a dizzying flood of words; we read essays day and night, thousands of them, until admission season came to a close. College admission readers, therefore, get really good at predictive reading and judging. Their time scarcity, combined with limited spots, means that admissions readers need to find a spark in the first 100 words of an essay that will ignite their decision to read the following 550 words thoroughly. That hook your high school English teacher talks about? It’s real, and, done well, it can do some heavy lifting. Then, in the 550 words following your intro, college admissions readers are looking for a story that compels them to picture you at their college or university. The college essay and the activities list are places where you can earn your spot just by being —and strategically showcasing—YOU.
How we help transform your essays
Here’s where I can help. After a decade in selective college admissions, I’ve spent the past twenty years guiding students one-on-one to shine in their college application essays and activities lists. My students have earned spots at highly selective colleges and universities such as Yale, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Stanford, Penn, Vanderbilt, Duke, and Notre Dame; they have also earned top institutional scholarships at both private liberal arts schools and state universities. (I’ve also edited novels, medical journal articles, blogs, and Ph.D. dissertations, as well as ghost-written books and articles.) I know the power of wordcraft to say what you want to say—better.
When I brainstorm with you, I can help you move from staring at a blank screen—or possibly at an old version of an essay you wrote but never really liked—to something that feels exciting, engaging, and authentic (and will therefore be more successful). I’ll help you consider caveats and possibilities, providing simple ways to think about building your essay. Next, in the first round of feedback, I’ll focus on your topic and content. I’ll ask big-picture questions to help clarify your take-aways and overall strategy. Then we’ll move on to more specific revisions related to style, structure, word choice, and (of course) grammar and general polish.
The missed opportunity of the activities list
Don’t sleep on your activities list! Most students approach this part of the application like a dry, fill-in-the-blanks accounting of their time spent outside the classroom. For that reason, with some extra elbow grease, treating each of your activities like a micro (150 characters!) essay can make an outsized impression on college admission readers. I can help you portray your work and extracurriculars as the mosaic they are.
The hidden benefits of working on your essay
Many of my students don’t love writing—some even confess to hating it. Working with me may not change that, but I can help you arrive at an essay you’re proud of and that represents you authentically to the colleges on your list. You may even find the process of self-discovery to be fun with the help of an experienced guide. I look forward to getting started!
Erin McKenzie
enRoute College Consulting