When Should Students Begin their College Essays?
Summer after Sophomore Year, Prep Course Finds
NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Story To College, the leader in college application essay instruction, has announced that it is launching a new course in the summer of 2014: the Tenth Grade Early Advantage Course. Designed specifically for rising high school juniors looking for an edge in the increasingly competitive college application landscape, registered students will work directly with instructors who have been trained in the Story To College curriculum.
The course takes place at the Story To College offices in midtown Manhattan, in classes of six students or fewer per teacher, and each student receives individualized written feedback each day in addition to collaborative in-class work.
According to the 2011 National Association of College Admissions Counseling SOCA Report, the importance of an applicant's written essays is outranked only by the student's grades, strength of curriculum, and SAT/ACT scores. "Students spend so much time on their extracurricular activities and on finding the right recommendations, but, for a lot of kids who are evenly matched on the academic front, the right essay can be the deciding factor," said Jack Scotti, MSEd, V.P. of Strategy and Curriculum Development for Story To College.
Educational consultant and certified counselor Lynne Scheurer, MS MA, founder of Tools for Success Consulting, finds a similar trend in the students she coaches: "The students who invest time, early in their high school years, exploring what they want to achieve in college--and life--do a much better job of presenting their unique vision to colleges when the application season arrives."
In developing the new course, Story To College partnered with the University of Rochester over two summers to work with high-achieving sophomores from New York City's public schools. In the five day course, students built a portfolio of five essay drafts, revising at least two to completion.
From this pilot program, Story To College found that the optimum time for students to begin developing college application essays is the summer before junior year. Graduates of the program left with a storytelling toolkit they could adapt for a variety of applications, including scholarships, internships, and leadership opportunities.
"Without senior year breathing down their neck, students were able to explore their experiences more freely, think more creatively, and develop a vision of who they wanted to be in the future and what they wanted to do, " said Carol Barash, PhD, Story To College's Founder and CEO. "When they became seniors, our graduates from the tenth grade program were not only capable of writing their own essays, but they became teachers and leaders for their peers. This program sets students up to be successful, focused, and independent in their final high school years."
Founded in 2010, Story To College has worked with over 10,000 students and 440 teachers from across the globe, teaching them how to find their unique stories and, using their own authentic voices, develop essays that reveal their character to admissions officers.
A full calendar of 2014 courses, including those for rising seniors, is available at the Story To College website: http://www.storytocollege.com/courses.
For more information and free resources about the college admissions process, please visit http://www.storytocollege.com.
Media Contact: Sophie Herron, Story To College, 646-790-8982, [email protected]
News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com
SOURCE Story To College
Share this article