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Conquering the College Essay

There are very few places in your application where you get a chance to show who you are and highlight the parts of yourself you want to showcase, and by far the most important is the college essay.

The personal statement (a.k.a. the college essay) is that dark cloud that looms in the background of the college application process. Students fear the college essay because they don’t know what to write about, and can never find the time to work on it amongst piles of homework, tests, sports and extracurriculars that fill Senior fall.

Parents dread the college essay because they end up spending hours proofreading and/or nagging their child to get it done.

We’ve seen this happen again and again, and after years of being called in for last-minute essay triage, we came up with a way for students to bypass all of this, and have an outstanding personal statement all ready to go before Senior fall begins: the CATES College Essay Workshop.g

The CATES College Essay Workshop offers a solution to the struggle of creating the personal statement: students can focus on writing their essay for three days during the summer, with the aid of our experienced tutors and expert college advisors who we bring in. They will learn about what goes into making a great personal statement, and discover what makes them a unique applicant.

In addition to their personal statement, students will have a chance to work on the following elements of their college applications: the supplemental essay, the optional essay, the resume, the common application, and interview skills.

The CATES College Essay Workshop provides a creative, supportive environment for students all over the New York area in which each student can find his or her own voice and story. Students will have access to different instructors, with different viewpoints, who will help them develop their understanding of style, mechanics, and voice.

Each day, students will come to our Manhattan center and work with CATES editors and college advisors as they craft their personal statement. At the end of each day, students will turn their work in to CATES editors, who will carefully review and critique it. Before the next writing session, students will receive individual feedback and coaching.

The college application process is all about figuring out how you stand out from the crowd (which, in NYC, can be difficult). By brainstorming and crafting their essays in the company of a group of their peers, students gain a better understanding of how they themselves are unique, and learn how best to highlight it.