Hello everyone,

Hope you are having a great weekend! For this week’s CTP tip, we wanted to talk about one of the most crucial elements of the college application process, The Common Application Essay. The Common App essay is the best way for admissions committees to get to you know you. Recommendations are what your teachers say about you, transcripts are what your grades say about you, but think of the essay as what YOU say about YOU. For this reason, try to treat the essay as an opportunity to tell colleges why you are unique and what matters to you. Since your Common App essay will be seen by numerous colleges, you will want to paint a portrait of yourself that is accessible to a breadth of institutions and admissions officers.

Because the Common App essay is only 650 words long and has few formal directions, organizing a response might seem daunting. Here are a few steps to formulate a strong and unique common app essay

Brainstorm

To begin developing your own high-level ideas, you can address these Core Four questions that all good Common App essays should answer: “Who Am I?”, “Why Am I Here?”, “What is Unique About Me?”, “What Matters to Me?”
The first question focuses on your personality traits — who you are. The second question targets your progression throughout high school (an arc or journey). The third question is more difficult to grasp, but it involves showing why your personality traits, methods of thinking, areas of interest, and tangible skills form a unique combination. The fourth question is a concluding point that can be answered simply, normally in the conclusion paragraph.  

Overall, there is no single “correct” topic. Your essay will be strong as long as you are comfortable and passionate about your idea and it answers the Core Four questions.

Organize

Common App essays are not traditional five-paragraph essays. You are free to be creative in structure, employ dialogue, and use vivid descriptions—and you should! Make sure that context and logic are inherent in your essay, however. From paragraph to paragraph, sentence to sentence, your ideas should be clear and flow naturally. Great ways to ensure this are using a story arc following a few major points, or focusing on cause and effect.

Write

Your Common App essay must display excellent writing in terms of grammar and sentence structure.
A few tips to accomplish this are: 

“Show, don’t tell” is vital to writing an engaging essay, and this is the point students struggle with most.  Instead of saying, “I struggled to make friends when I transferred schools,” you can show your emotions by writing, “I scanned the bustling school cafeteria, feeling more and more forlorn with each unfamiliar face. I found an empty table and ate my lunch alone.”
 
In many cases, writing can include more specific word choice. For example, “As a kid, I always played basketball,” can be improved to be “Every day after school as kid, I ran home, laced up my sneakers, and shot a basketball in my driveway until the sun went down and I could barely see.”
 
To use active voice over passive voice, be sure that your sentence’s subject performs the action indicated by the verb, rather than the action performing onto the subject. Instead of writing “this project was built by my own hands,” you would say “I built this project with my own hands.”
 
Finally, avoid clichés like adages, sayings, and quotes that do not bring value to your essay. Examples include phrases like “Be the change you wish to see in the world” (it’s also important to know that sayings like these are often seriously misquoted—Gandhi did not actually utter these words) and lavish claims like “it was the greatest experience of my life.”
 
Deciding on a Prompt

Each of the common application essay prompts lends itself to distinct topics and strategies, so selecting the prompt that best aligns with your idea is essential to writing an effective Common App essay.
Here are this year’s prompts:
 https://www.commonapp.org/blog/2019-2020-common-app-essay-prompts

We understand that common app essays are one of the most difficult, time taking and daunting elements of the application process. Just know that it is a process and it takes time to craft your own unique story. You got this!!

Hey Everyone,

Since Regular Application season is approaching us, we wanted to highlight some of the criteria to use in choosing your colleges. Some of you have a college that you have wanted to go to since you were six, while some of you might not be as sure when it comes to choosing that one particular college among the many thousands. But fear not, CTP is here to help you get an inch closer to choosing that "Dream College."

The first thing you should know is that you shouldn't have just one Dream College. It just doesn't work that way. You have to be flexible. You can't put all of your eggs in one basket. So try to find colleges that match your expectations. Of course, one college might satisfy your expectations more than any other, but you should also keep tabs on other schools, just in case. Especially during the regular application season, it's of paramount importance to have a list of dream colleges rather than being fixated on just one.

Now that we have covered that we need to have multiple dream colleges, now let's see what criteria we should use in picking these colleges.

1. Financial Aid: Depending on your financial status, this might actually be the most important criteria of all. College expenses are expensive going sometimes as high as 80,000. As such, it's a no-brainer that this criteria matters. Don't take it at face value when colleges say they give financial aid in their emails. Colleges and universities don't often speak openly about financial aid policies. This is a touchy subject for them. You need to find out whether they give financial aid for international students or not. Specifically, you need to find out whether the colleges provide students with need-based financial aid for international students or not, which you can find on Google. Unless you have a gold mine somewhere, it's best to pursue colleges that have need-based financial aid for international students.

2. Apply to your Ethiopians’ Alma Mater(s): this is something some people fail to realize. Whenever colleges send you information about themselves talking about how many international students they accept or have, you should take that with a grain of salt. This statistics on international acceptance doesn't fully shed light on the case with Ethiopians. While making your list of dream colleges, you should think about whether Ethiopians have been able to go to that school, and if possible, how many? I'm not saying that you have no chance of getting into colleges that Ethiopians haven't gotten into. All I'm saying is that the math is definitely not on your side. So, if possible, try to get a sense of how many Ethiopians go into that college, and use this as one criteria to make your choice

3. Major Interest: although colleges more or less are good at all of the majors they provide, one college could have the best software engineering program or the best business program in the country. As such, this is also something you can factor into your choice. Also, you should be able to truly understand the education policy of each colleges because they might have something different to what you expected. For example when it says Columbia University has a core curriculum, you should be able to know what that actually entails.

4. Setting: You should also know that you aren't only going to learn at that college, but you are also going to live there. Therefore, you should think about whether you would like to live in a city or a suburb.

5. Be Realistic: This is the criteria I hate to point out, but it's still important. SAT Scores and transcripts don't tell the whole story, but you should try to see the score bracket of that school and your score and make serious decisions based on that. It's good to be optimistic but you also gotta be realistic at the same time. I'm not saying scores are the be all end all of the application, but they do matter.

https://www.internationalstudent.com/school-search/usa/
This is a site that you can use with regards to searching schools in the United States that accept international students. But, be sure to look out for institutions outside the US as well. There are some amazing institutions in the rest of the word like Canada and Abu Dhabi that accept international students.

https://blog.collegevine.com/schools-that-grant-financial-aid-to-international-students-a-complete-list/
This is a helpful site for figuring out which colleges provide need-based and need-blind financial aid for international students.

Hello everyone! Last week must have been rough for y’all without an Instagram takeover. We’re so sorry😢🙊 BUT! Don’t think we’ve forgotten you because today we have our FIFTH takeover coming to you from Princeton University!🎉🎊🙌🏾 As you know, every week we show you what a day in the life of a college student here is like. Check out the stories if you’re interested! Make sure you’re following us on Instagram too. Here’s the link:

www.instagram.com/ctpethiopia

Hola peeps! Today let's talk a little about recommendations.

Recommendations are a very important, and yet the most underestimated, part of the college applications. By now you may have heard the spiel that admission officers expect very highly of your personal statements (the college application essays) mostly because it's the only place where they get to know and, depending on how good you are with your rhetoric, SEE your personality. (psst If you didn't get what I meant by "SEE", then check out last week's post about college essays and paritcularly about the SHOW DON'T TELL advice.")
And that's all true. Your personal statements indeed allow others to hear about the person you are outside the realm of academics and numbers. But there's one thing they fail at. Personal statements are accounts written by YOU about yourself, your personalities, and your accomplishments. And it's not unusual that people try to exaggerate their positive side and hide their negative sides. That's why admission officers are always looking for Teacher and Counsellor recommendations. They want to hear about you from someone else that's neither you nor your friend.

There's a reason why habesha parents try to investigate and find out about the man their daughter is about to marry through other people rather than directly confronting him. There is a reason why they "mastenat" him by their super secret source of knowledge (aka gossiping with other people). But anyways, I digress.

Before I go into any details, let me first walk you through some scenario. Suppose I wrote to you a two page letter today describing about how I am a brilliant mathmetician, an astonishing physicist, an inspiring activist, a dazzling musician, a charitable giver, an incredible orator, a phenomenal singer and a virtuoso painter. You would never come close to believing me, will you? Plus, who am I kidding, I'm not really that good at painting :).

But suppose it was my Biology professor that was sending you an email about how he has seen me consistently participate in the class, show an incredible level of dedication in my semester long project about "Hygiene and its health impacts in Ethiopia" where I showed not only great leadership skills in organizing my team mates throughout the process but also an insightful understanding in my final paper that I submitted. He also recounts to you how proud he was when I helped with organizing a "Save the planet, or if not, just clean Addis" community event where I help mobilize the students in our school to go out and clean the neighbourhood. And suppose he also mentions to you in his email about a particular conversation we had about "Cultural medicines in the rural regions and their astonishing effectiveness" and how he realized that day not only how passionate I was about herbal medicine but also how inquisitve and committed I am in my quest to learn and discover new and relevant things. Then you would have no reason but to believe him and be impressed by the driven and self-motivated person that I am.

THAT'S WHY RECOMMENDATIONS CAN BE EXTREMELY HELPFUL in your college applications if done right. As you set on your endeavors of trying to convince college admission officers about why they should accept you, having someone like your professor put in word for you about how you are "an Einestien in the class, a Marthin Luther King in the afternoon, a Spider man at night and a Mother Theresa in the weekends." would most defintely help.

Now in all my attempt to entertain you long enough to reading the whole of this post, I hope you've got my point: Stories of heroism sound more plausible and captivating when they're told by someone other than the hero.

That said, I can only wish that I have convinced you to see recommendation letters as much more imporant than you used to before reading this post. It's highly advisable that you ask your teachers to write you a recommendation at least a month in advance before your application deadlines. Here are two more short readings that we recommend you do as you think about recommendations. Maybe you can also make your teachers read these too so that they understand how much their recommendations can have an impact on your future and how they should go on about writing you one.

Hello everyone! Make sure you read the prior messages about recommendations. We think it’s very helpful! And today we have another Instagram takeover all the way from the University of Chicago!🎉🎊🙌🏾 As you know, every week we show you what a day in the life of a college student here is like. Check out the stories if you’re interested! Make sure you’re following us on Instagram too. Here’s the link:

www.instagram.com/ctpethiopia

Hello fam,

Hope you all had a good holiday season. For those who have completed their college applications, give yourselves a pat on the back. You’ve worked very hard to complete all those essays and other application requirements. We, at CTP, hope that you get to bear the fruits of your efforts. If you still have Regular Decision II lurking in the corner, we send you this digital energy boost and hope that it helps you cross the final bridge. YOU GOT THIS! 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽

For those who are already thinking about the next application cycle, CTP has a number of events and opportunities that you can benefit from. Here is what we are cooking for the next few months.

1. Spring Workshops: all day workshops that take place on three Saturdays starting in mid March that will give you an introduction about the college application process and other CTP programs.

2. CTP Summer Sessions: a 6-8 week summer program that goes deep into topics introduced on the Spring Workshops. More information about the summer session will be communicated when the application opens in March/April. Watch out for your inbox!

3. Insta takeover: a weekly (sometimes biweekly) effort that introduces you to a day in a life of a college student studying abroad. Don’t miss all the fun, follow us on insta today! — https://www.instagram.com/ctpethiopia/ —(you can also find past takeovers on the saved stories section).

4. Last, but definitely not least, our famous weekly posts about the application process, presented to you by our dedicated members.

We hope you are as excited to engage with CTP in the coming months as we are in making it as useful as it can be.

In closing, as we work hard to provide you more opportunities and resources, we ask that you help us spread the word about CTP by telling someone about our work. Spread the knowledge :)

Peace and Love,
The CTP Team

Hello all,

Our insta takeover resumes tomorrow as we bring you a day in a life of Gebrella, a freshman at Pomona College. Make sure to tune in! She is excited to show you around campus!

Follow us on Instagram and enjoy the fun. https://www.instagram.com/ctpethiopia/

Cheers!

ሰላም CTP fam. Hope your week is going well.

Today we will be talking about Rolling Admissions. Rolling Admission is a part of the application cycle for some colleges in which the schools evaluate applications as they are received, with out any set deadlines. one advantage of rolling admissions is getting quicker responses from the colleges. Since the schools release decisions on an on-going basis, you might only have to wait for weeks instead of months to hear back from them. Since rolling decision grants a long application window, colleges with rolling admission can be your last minute options, as they tend to have late deadlines.

One caveat about rolling decision is that spots at schools with rolling admission might fill up very quickly, and the longer one waits the harder it will be to get accepted. Hence, applying as early as possible is encouraged.

While no Ivy League colleges use a rolling admissions system, there are many reputable colleges that do. Some of these include Purdue University, Arizona State, Michigan State, University of Pittsburgh, Indiana, Pace University, Roger Williams, Rutgers, Loyola Marymount, among many others.

Schools with rolling admission generally have higher acceptance rates, but it might be hard to get accepted as spaces become limited. So applying early is very advantageous.

Here is a link for a complete list of schools with rolling admissions. https://blog.prepscholar.com/colleges-with-rolling-admissions

Hope this was helpful.
መልካም ምሽት!

Hey Everyone,

We are into March and we are fast approaching the climax of the application season. As most of you are waiting for your application decisions, we talked about the alternatives that are available for you last week in our segment on Rolling Decisions. This week we are going to take a turn and talk to our members that are aspiring to apply to colleges within the next one or two years. As March is pivotal for those that have already applied to college, it is to also pivotal for those of you that are about to get started.

Let's start from your school life. You should strive to boost your grades. Your GPA can come in handy, especially if you have to make up for the other components of your college application. But, if you feel your GPA isn't on the right course, don't worry as there are various components to the application.

This is also the perfect time to assess where you lie when it comes to extracurriculars. You should start thinking about ways you can participate and take roles in different clubs. This is also a perfect time to think about if you wanna participate in voluntary activities right now or over the summer, as it can come handy in the application process. There are various voluntary organizations which are eager to work with you like SOS Children's Village, Red Cross and many others. It is a good way to give back to your community, while gathering activities you can add to your application at the same time.

The other important things are standardized tests. By now, most of you are accustomed to the SAT, ACT, SAT Subject tests, and TOEFL. U.S. colleges accept either the SAT or ACT. So it doesn't matter which you take, but you can Google the specific requirements of each college to be sure. Most colleges outside of the U.S. like in Canada require the TOEFL, but most U.S. colleges don't require it. You can get your TOEFL requirement waived by most U.S. colleges since you have taken a foreign language(English) in high school. But you should still check the requirements of the particular college on their webpage. If you are a junior in high school, you should aim to take your first SAT or ACT or TOEFL by June so that it can give you enough time for improving your scores over the summer with the aim of taking it a second time in October. But if you don't believe that schedule works for you, it's okay. Just make sure, to leave enough amount of time so that you can take the exam a second time in case you want to improve it. For most people, the SAT is one of those exams where you need to go through it first so that you can make a cogent plan the next time around so plan on taking it two times. As a plus thinking that you can take it twice can ease your stress and help you perform better too.

If you are a sophomore in high school reading this, you can also plan ahead and take your first SAT in December of your junior year, so that it can give you more time for improvement the second time around, which you could do in June of that same year, giving you the whole summer for other components of the college application. But again, this is just an example of a timetable to get you to start thinking about it; you can change it to whatever fits with your schedule. But please going into the application process, plan to take TWO of the SAME standardized test.

You should also strive to develop good relationships with your teachers. Start thinking about good recommenders you can make use of when the college application season rolls around, especially if you are a junior in high school since teacher recommenders are usually taken from 11th and 12th grade. Don't forget about your counselor as they are also going to write a recommendation on your behalf. Your involvement in school clubs can come in handy when you approach your counselor.

Another crucial thing is to start thinking about your college application essays. Most people claim this is the most important part of your application. Start looking at the prompts for the college application essay. Sometimes the common app changes the prompts from year to year, but it doesn't make major changes so you can rest assured the prompts are going to look similar when you are finally going to apply. Strive to think about ideas that can't be associated with other people but you and you only. The essence of a good application essay is it's ability to be your story, which can't be applied to any other one. After you come up with an idea or write a draft of your essay, give it to one of your friends or person you know, and ask them who this belongs to or who it describes, if there is no one it could be about but you, then that's a good unique essay.

The above tips are just ways to get started in thinking about the college applications process.  So, as a sophomore or junior, there is no need to feel helpless or sit idly by as the seniors around you scramble to finish what you’ll be working on in but a year or two.  By the time your own senior year rolls around, you’ll be ready to tackle whatever comes your way–and with sleep to spare.

On a final note, we wish all of you that are awaiting college application decisions good luck.

Selam fam,

If you haven’t already, check out Qananii as she shows us around Washington University in St. Louis. You can find the entire takeover on the saved stories on our insta page: https://www.instagram.com/ctpethiopia/

Cheers!

Selam selam everyone! Since rolling decisions’ results are "rolling" in, this week’s post will be about waitlists and gap years! If you’ve applied to a bunch of colleges before, chances are you’ve been waitlisted to a couple of them. Being waitlisted for a college means you’ve been put on a list of applicants whom a school might or might not offer admission to. Now if this happens don’t be bummed at all since there are certain things you can do to increase your chances of getting off the waitlist. You can raise your grades, you can take part in an extracurriculars or internships, and participate in other aspects of the college application. Then you can write a letter to the school’s dean of admissions to talk about the new things you have done since your initial application. Also, it’s important to inform the school that you’re eager to join the college even if you’re on the waitlist since there’s this hidden thinking that you might have went to another school during regular decisions.