Thursday, August 20, 2009

Facing the College Application




What I remember most about applying to college was the endless hours agonizing over the essay portion of the application. Whether my words put me in the right light? And what exactly was the right light? I knew a few people who went temporarily insane as they believed their entire life depended on wowing the admissions committee. It was all very funny in retrospect but painful to live through, in that transient period.

I’m sure the game hasn’t changed that much since I was a senior in high school. People are still procrastinating and fearful. To help with this, I’m leading the workshop, Write Yourself into College. It’s a one-day intensive. And I wanted it to be a kind of antidote to procrastination, worrying, and those given to anxiety-induced panic attacks.

This workshop is intended to help all of those applying to a four-year university who waited to the last minute and need a little push.

Here’s what you can expect:

come to the workshop ready with the essay prompts from your school of choice;
critique a sample essay with your peers, finding out what makes the essay strong and not so strong (noting some alternative choices the author could have made);
work on your first draft, read it out loud, and receive feedback from peers and myself;
then work on your rewrite

By the end of the day, you should be well on your way to completing your first essay for one of your colleges. You also have the option of sending me the final draft before you send it off.

Write Yourself into College will be offered on Saturday, October 10 at The Writer’s Center. For information about this workshop, please drop me a line at abdul.ali@writer.org

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