2024 Winter - A Complete Guide to the College Application Process

About Teacher:

Currently a 1st-year student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Harold is majoring in Sound engineering with a minor in Electrical Engineering. In his most recent semester, he took English 125 and achieved an overall grade of 97.33 percent. After completing his first semester, he achieved a grade point average of 3.97.

He also has expanded knowledge of the college application process and interviews. During his application process, Harold applied to 12 schools and participated in 3 interviews and received over $200,000 scholarships in total.

Description:

Start your college journey with this welcoming 10-week course, carefully curated to guide you through the complexities of the application process. 

In the initial weeks, you'll receive a warm introduction and guidance on researching and curating a personalized college list, distinguishing between Safety, Achievable, and Dream colleges. 

Progress into refining your college-specific essays and engaging in constructive group reviews in the subsequent weeks. Explore the art of showcasing your high school achievements through a well-crafted Activities and Honors list, accompanied by insightful tips on securing strong recommendation letters. 

As the course unfolds, delve into the intricacies of crafting a compelling Personal Statement, exploring various writing options, strategies, and undergoing multiple drafts with peer and instructor feedback. 

The final stretch focuses on honing your writing skills through drafting, group reviews, and culminates in the completion of your polished Personal Statement.

 In the concluding weeks, shift your focus to the crucial aspect of scholarships, ensuring you are well-equipped to navigate this essential facet of your college journey. Join us for this enriching experience, where each week contributes to shaping your path towards academic success and personal growth.

Topics we will explore:

1. Activity list

2. Honors

3. Recommendation letter

4. Scholarships

5. Personal Statement

6. College-specific essays

7. Portfolios and Interview and resume

Week 1: Introduction

• General introduction (Teacher and Students)

• How to research colleges

• Create a college list

• Safety colleges, Achievable colleges, Dream colleges

• HOMEWORK: Complete the rest of your college list

Week 2: College-specific essays

Week 3: College-specific essay group review

Week 4: Activities and Honors list and Recommendation letter and how to properly ask

• High school activities

  • What have you achieved in high school that would look good when applying to college?

• Examples:

  • Sports, Clubs, School Services, Outside of school services

  • Know how to write about them in action verbs

• Writing descriptors and talking and looking through the commonapp format

• HOMEWORK: Complete the rest of your list if you need more time.

Week 5: Portfolios and Interview and Resume

Week 6: PERSONAL STATEMENT

• Talk about what the PS is and why it is such an important essay

• 7 PS writing options

• PS writing strategies – Draft, Review, Group review, Final draft

• Coming up with a list of IDEAS to write your PS about

• BE PERSONAL

• HOMEWORK: Complete a list with at least 5 ideas and 3, 1-3 sentence long thesis statements

Week 7: DRAFTING

• How to personalize your writing more

• What to expand on when using the list we created from homework

• Paragraph transitions and adding in brags that are not completely transparent

Week 8: GROUP REVIEW

• Review 3 peoples papers this class

• Constructive criticism and noticing what makes each person paper personal

• What writers choices can we emphasize more on

Week 9: FINAL DRAFT

Week 10: Scholarships

• Now that we are finished with the hard work, work on building a list of scholarships

• How to apply to scholarships

• Where to look and finding scholarships that fit your needs

Mr. Harold Wu

Currently a 1st-year student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Harold is majoring in Sound engineering with a minor in Electrical Engineering. In his most recent semester, he took English 125 and achieved an overall grade of 97.33 percent. After completing his first semester, he achieved a grade point average of 3.97. He also has expanded knowledge of the college application process and interviews. During his application process, Harold applied to 12 schools and participated in 3 interviews and received over $200,000 scholarships in total.