I recently helped a high school sophomore with his application to   Cornell’s Precollege Studies program . As he wrote and I edited, I had a gut feeling that his application had what I call the “Ivy League Sparkle”. There was something special about it, something that set him apart from other students his age. He turned in his application and was admitted the next day. Now, of course it’s impossible to know if a student will gain acceptance to an Ivy League school or program: it’s fiercely competitive and there are many unseen factors at play. But the more I’ve thought about how to define that sparkle, the more I’ve realized that all of my students who gain acceptance to prestigious universities have a few elements in common. Their writing is authentic . It centers on events that truly happened, legitimately frustrating obstacles, and experiences that changed the way they perceive the world. When my students decide on their topic, they almost always confess that they feel embarrassed to write about it. That’s usually a good sign because it means they’re digging deep. Of course I don’t want them to write about anything that’s too difficult, but choosing an aspect of life with true meaning shows admissions officers their maturity and experience. Their writing feels human, not academic . I joke with my students that home-run essays rarely begin with, “AP Chemistry is my favorite subject because…” Successful essays utilize the literary techniques that great journalists, authors, and poets use: essays of this caliber would not always receive an A in class because they are creative and take risks. A good hook, clear examples and analysis, and a bit of flair help essays grab attention. A person with struggles and quirks jumps off the page; a flawless robot does not. Their writing is entirely free of grammatical and spelling errors . This is important. Top-tier schools need to know that their students have complete mastery of the English language because the literature they expect students to read and understand is difficult. Perfection is an unattainable goal in most areas of life, but in the realm of college essays it is vital and I insist upon it.

Some high schools and colleges now require or encourage a video submission with your application. Anyone can film a short video about themselves, but if you incorporate these professional acting tips for taping, you’ll eliminate many of the mistakes that make admissions teams roll their eyes. Lighting If you can, find a ring light or softbox to provide front or side light. Sunlight is one of the best light sources and can make you look great. Film facing a window to take advantage of it However, DO NOT film yourself standing in front of a window or strong back light. It will turn you into a silhouette! Make sure that the light isn’t altering your skin tone. Yellow light bulbs can make you look sickly, and lights that are too bright can make you look washed out or flat. Framing Frame your shot from the chest up. Don’t cut off the top of your head. Center your face in the frame. Look slightly to the side of the camera lens. Looking straight into the lens is unnerving for the viewer. Film yourself against a solid color background. Walls work well for this. Filming in front of curtains, windows, or blinds can be distracting. Make sure the background color allows your whole outline to be seen. For example, if you have dark hair, don’t film in front of a dark background because your hair will blend into it! Sound Make sure there are no sirens, pets, air conditioners, car noises, fans, or other distracting sounds in your video. This means that if a car drives by while you’re recording and you can hear it when you play the video, you should re-record if you can. Make sure your voice can be heard clearly. Consider purchasing a small lavalier mic that works with your equipment to get the best possible sound quality. Editing You DO NOT need to be a professional editor to make your video look good. There are many inexpensive editing programs that don’t require installation, like WeVideo . DO NOT go crazy with effects or transitions. Admissions teams prefer to see a clean, simple video that’s about you. Film in 4K if you can. If not, use the highest definition you can. Make sure the video starts with you talking, or with one second of silence before. Don’t forget to trim any extra “dead space” off the end as well. Presence Know exactly what you’re going to say. Enunciate so that the viewer can understand every word, but it doesn’t need to sound like Shakespeare. Breathe! Have fun! Chill out! If you can find a way to feel relaxed and free it will come through beautifully in the video. Don’t be afraid to show your personality. They want human beings, not robots. Smile and have fun! Don’t belabor. Once it’s good enough, edit it and send it in.

Even the brightest kids go through periods of boredom and lack of motivation. Burnout is becoming more common, and it’s not the student’s fault: high expectations, over-scheduling, poor nutrition, and lack of sleep can all contribute. Here are some of the most effective ways we’ve found for unmotivated students battling burnout and feeling re-energized. Take a break. Routine and hard work are important, but sometimes getting away from them can help provide space to recover and reset. It is not the end of the world to take a mental health day from school. If you do, try to plan it on a day when there isn’t a test or large assignment due, but take the space you need when you need it. School will still be there tomorrow. Take some activities off your plate. Many students have activities after school and on weekends. While they absolutely contribute to a healthy and balanced life, having too many can take up time that should be devoted to rest. Even if they are all fun and important, see if there’s one that you can let go or take a break from. Adhere to a disciplined sleep schedule. Kids these days! Up till who knows what hour, then off to school early the next day. Not getting sufficient sleep, and not getting to bed early enough, can result in fatigue, burnout, and tardiness. Try setting a “lights out” time when all screens are put away, making sure the room is cool or warm enough, and blocking out ambient light from windows.  Stay well-fed and hydrated. Everyone has different nutritional needs, but the basics are the same for everyone: if you don’t eat enough, you won’t have the energy to engage with difficult tasks like schoolwork, and if you eat too much you might feel lethargic. Ask a doctor how to develop a plan for optimal nutrition, and make sure to drink enough water! Create time for non-school, non-work activities. “All work and no play” is a swift road to burnout. Schedule time for enjoyable, relaxing activities that make you feel at ease. If the activity stresses you out, even if it’s well-intentioned, pick a different one. Just because you “should” be doing something doesn’t mean you have to. Meditate, go for walks in nature, or find another way to calm the mind.Cultivating mindfulness may seem “woo-woo”, but as more and more schools begin to build it into their school days, students are finding how much of a difference it can make. One of the simplest and most effective forms is constructive rest , which can be performed anywhere you can comfortably lie down. Give it a try and see how your back feels afterward!

When I was a sophomore at Yale, my acting professor Toni Dorfman looked at the class over the top of her Hogwarts-level spectacles and said, “every director should be forced to act in a play at least once a year. That way they will remember what it feels like to be vulnerable.” I applied to college in 2009. I wanted so badly to get into Yale and I wrote the best essays I could. I was crushed the first, second, third, and fourth times my English teacher read my supplement essay and said, “this isn’t good enough to get what you want. Try again.” The fifth draft gained me early admission to Yale. It’s been a while since then. I’m an actor and audition several times a week. When you send in an audition tape, that’s it. You don’t hear back unless you get a callback or book the job: casting offices are so busy that they don’t have time to send out rejection letters or feedback. You might think this would be the absolute worst, that you’d wait in limbo forever, but after a few years you learn to send the tape away and move on with your life. I’m pretty used to it now. A student of mine recently reached out to tell me about the agony of the wait to hear back from colleges. After the conversation, I realized something: I’m pretty distant from the actual, visceral feeling of that experience. I remember what it felt like, but I don’t feel the gut-wrenching anxiety anymore. I decided that it was time for me to put myself out there in the same way my students do. I wrote a screenplay based on my twenties, around 100 pages, and submitted it to some of the best film writing festivals in the world just to see what would happen. The first few days of waiting were brutal. What will they say? Can I truly detach from the outcome and just be proud of my work, like I tell my students to do? I was deeply and truly authentic in my writing: can I handle the rejection of that by people I’ve never met? Can I practice what I preach to my students and accept whatever happens? Uh, sort of. It’s hard. I’m twelve years older now than I was when I applied to college: twelve more years of experience and practice. Turns out, it’s still pretty hard. I got my first rejection letter a few weeks later. I sighed defeat, until I read the letter carefully and realized it had no fewer than four grammar and spelling errors in it. I actually sent it to my students: see? You put your heart out there, even pay money to do it, and the people who reject you can’t even spell. The second letter was full of feedback: honest, impartial feedback about what I could do to make my screenplay better. This I could handle. After, of course, ten minutes of feeling totally miffed that I didn’t get a perfect score and an Oscar. If you’re really looking to test your self worth, I highly recommend sending something full of genuine love and effort to a bunch of people you don’t know. Just make sure you have a therapy appointment set up in advance. After all this (well, during it: I’m still waiting to hear back from eight other festivals), and after taking some very deep breaths and a walk outside, I came down in the same place I was when I started. I believe that when applying to college, if you turn in an application that is authentically you and represents your best work, then the chips will fall as they may. This is the most important lesson I can teach to my seniors in high school: there’s a lot of rejection in the world. Can you become confident enough in yourself and proud enough of your work to trust that your people will find you, see you, and say yes?

Mr. Hogan taught me that reading wasn’t enough: I needed to internalize and take good notes. Mrs. Mac let me cry on her shoulder in the hallway. She made choir and orchestra a safe place to be myself. Mrs. Anastacio gave me my first B. She looked me square in the eye and said, “you can do better.” So I did. Dr. McCord made me memorize the names of important works of art. When I went to Europe for the first time, half the point was to see that art in person. Sr. Heiner unapologetically dropped the great works of Spanish literature in front of me and said, “figure it out”. Mrs. Veal trusted me to work on my own and ask her questions when I needed to. In French. Mr. Wolterstorff showed me that I didn’t need to feel ashamed of how much I love singing and music. Ms. Hurley taught me that having big emotions affects people around you, and that it’s important to be responsible with them. Coach Ackerman taught me that lifting weights isn’t just for guys who play sports. Mrs. McGuinn rewarded my small insights and taught me that writing well is one of the most important skills anyone can practice. Mr. Kelly taught me how to do calculus at 6:35 am every day of senior year. These people were more than teachers to me. They were mentors, therapists, and coaches. They gave me permission to be who I was and helped me ask deeper questions of myself. They handed me information to struggle with and then stepped back so that I could discover what I’m made of. They’re the reason I’m a teacher today. Not because they helped me ace a test or get into college, but because they taught me that the most valuable thing I can know… is myself.

Parents and students make this error all the time. But with a little understanding (and a brief psych lesson!) it can be avoided. — The thought pattern goes something like this: “I want to apply to all eight Ivy League schools because then my chances of getting in will be better.” Here’s the mistake: applying to more schools does give you more “at bats”, but it does not increase the probability that you will get in to any particular school. This is a case of gambler’s fallacy, or the fallacy of the maturity of chances. It’s the belief that events are related when they are actually statistically independent. Here’s the classic example: a gambler makes a bet and pulls the lever on a slot machine. He loses. He then believes that because he lost, it is more likely  that he will win in the future. That’s not true: each pull of the lever is an independent event, and the number of pulls does not affect his chances to win any single time. College applications are the same way. Just because you’ve got a pile of rejections on your desk doesn’t mean it’s more likely that you’ll get into the next school. And, unfortunately, college admissions is a gamble: there’s no way to know if you’ll hit the jackpot. What you can do is increase the quality of your applications. Write a great personal essay. Get glowing letters of recommendation. Nail the interview. Make sure that everything is turned in on time. That way, you’re not relying on chance, but giving it your absolute all. If you feel that your application represents your best work and your authentic self, that’s the best you can do. Pull the lever, and good luck.

Oh, man. Talk about an easy one to fix. Bless the students who come to me and say, “my essay is done! I’m ready to turn it in!” I read it over, and while the ideas may be good, there are spelling errors and grammatical mistakes all over the place. Colleges care about this a lot . If you turn in a college application that has spelling or grammar errors in it, even if that’s a legitimate source of struggle for you, it hurts your application. Writing well, which includes using correct punctuation and subject-verb agreement, is one of the primary skills colleges look for when admitting students. The easiest way to fix this is to take your essay to a trusted English teacher or someone who has an absolute mastery of diction and syntax. They’ll be able to show you what to fix, and may even have some feedback on how you can strengthen your story or analysis. But if you’re not going to do that, do me a huge favor and go through this list before you turn it in: Use spell-check on a word processor. That should catch most spelling errors. Don’t let any “squiggly lines” remain there. If the computer has a suggestion, consider it carefully. It might be wrong, but at least think about it. Make sure your subjects and verbs agree. For example, “I stand” is correct but “I stands” is not. Use a variety of punctuation marks correctly: this will indicate your mastery. Vary your syntax. You can have some long, delicious sentences that provide a lot of information in one go. Short ones work too. Make sure that every sentence you write is complete sentence. It needs a subject and a verb, unless  you’re making an intentional stylistic choice. Capitalize the first word of every sentence as well as proper nouns. Indent the beginning of each paragraph Use commas correctly. This is a tough skill to learn and you may want to consult a teacher. This is, of course, a partial list, but I hope it helps you in the editing and proofreading process. No student of mine is going to turn in an essay with mistakes in it!

Earlier this week a student came in with a list of 40 schools he wanted to apply to. That’s a good way to start! But the Common App will only let you submit to 20 schools at most. There are others that don’t use the Common App (like the UC schools, the University of Washington, and universities in Europe), so you CAN have more than 20, but here are some ways to choose your final college application list: Think about geography.  Do you despise winter? Then maybe schools in Maine can go. Do you hate humidity? Then maybe eliminate schools in the southeast. On the other hand, do you love beach days? Then make sure schools in California make it to your final list. Do you need beautiful fall leaves every year? Then keep schools in the northeast or midwest. Are you applying somewhere just because you feel like you should? If you’re applying to all eight Ivies, eliminating some can cut down on the number of essays you’ll need to write: those applications are no joke. Are your parents making you apply to their alma mater? There can be good reasons for this (like scholarships), but if you really don’t want to go there, have a talk with them. Is there a degree program, study abroad opportunity, or aspect of student life that you’re really excited about? When choosing your final list, take a look at the specific programs offered by each school. Keep the schools that inspire you. Is there a city you really want to live in? Maybe you want to try living life in a big city, or maybe you want a quiet mountain town. If there are any places you’re really excited to live in, keep those. Are sports really important to you?  Big schools like CU Boulder and the University of Michigan have thriving sports programs, and athletes and non-athletes alike attend games and school events often. They also have massive lecture classes and lots of places to hang out. If that’s not your vibe, maybe you only want to apply to schools with a smaller student-to-faculty ratio. Is money an important consideration?  State universities can be really expensive for out-of-state students, and schools with large endowments can provide big scholarships. Some schools will also give you scholarships for certain degree programs, or they might not offer scholarships at all. Financial aid is an important part of the equation, so talk to your parents and fill out the FAFSA. After going through the whole list, if you still haven’t eliminated enough, then keep the ones you really want and look to see how many are reach, target, and safety schools. Aim to have around 5 reaches, 10 targets, and 5 safeties: fill in the gaps with schools you didn’t choose right off the bat. Remember, 20 schools is the max, not necessarily a number to shoot for. The more schools you have on your list, the more work you’ll have to do during the college admissions process, but you also might have a nicer hand to choose from when decisions come in. When you start writing, focus on the schools you want to go to the most and take it from there: you can do it!