Online Admission Essays: Your Adviser Can Help You Out

Are you a high school student applying to multiple colleges or universities? If so, you are probably busy and stressed by the number of application essays you have to write. Every school has a unique prompt, a different word count limit, and different expectations from it’s applicants! It’s enough to make anyone want to throw in the towel and apply only to safety schools.

If this is the situation you’re in, don’t panic! There is someone you can turn to for assistance editing and proofing your many application essays: your academic advisor or school counselor. An adviser is a wealth of advice and information on the admissions process, and can review your work and provide worthwhile comments. Here are some reasons why you should seek out your adviser before uploading your admissions essays.

Your Adviser Knows the Admissions Process Backwards and Forwards

Your school’s adviser or school counselor has probably spent several years or more helping countless students select universities, prepare their applications, write their essays, and accept admissions offers. As a result, they know more about how schools decide whom to admit than virtually anyone else you have access to.

Take advantage of this experience and wisdom! Schedule a meeting with your adviser to talk about your application process, and bring information on each school and copies of your admissions essays. Listen carefully to your adviser’s past experiences with the admissions committees of each school. They have firsthand experience you do not.

Your Adviser Has Read Tons of Application Essays

School counselors and academic advisers read, critique, and edit their students’ application essays every fall, so they know what works and what doesn’t. They also have a good sense of what topics are being written about by many students, and what kinds of errors are common for students applying to universities. Even if you read hundreds of application essays while preparing for your own application, you could not possibly have the years of reading that your adviser probably does. Pick their brain!

Your Adviser is There to Help

High schools hire and maintain counseling and advising staff so they can ensure that students have a source of information and advice about college applications. Most schools desperately want to increase the number of recent graduates who go on to pursue challenging degrees, and so they are invested in your success. Furthermore, a counselor or adviser is a remarkable source of free assistance. Such advice and tutoring normally costs a sizable hourly fee. So take advantage of the opportunity while it lasts!


#