myUface Blog

For all readers who have subscribed to the blog, I wanted to let you know I had to do a complete overhaul of the feed because it wasn’t updating properly.  The problem is now fixed, but unfortunately you’ll need to resubscribe.

I’m sorry for the inconvenience!

Today we begin a new series entitled, “How to Write an Essay for University Applications.”  The goal of this series is to give you, international students, an idea of the kind of information you want to include in your application essays, and the style you want to use in conveying that information.

This series will not be about how to write.  Many guides on college essays focus on issues of how to write essays in general – how to make an outline, structure your arguments, use the active voice, etc., etc.  We will not be talking about these issues.  Instead, we’ll be talking about broader questions, such as:

• Why do U.S. universities ask you to write an essay in the first place?
• How are your essays read and evaluated?
• What information should you include in your essays?
• Who can you ask to proofread your essays?  What questions should you ask of them?

Now, this isn’t to say that information about essay writing in general isn’t useful.  To the contrary, you should make sure to check out all the information you can about the mechanics of writing an essay.  However, there is so much excellent information on the internet that it would be a waste of time to try to copy it here.  If you want some good sites for this kind of information, try here, here, here and here.  Or just Google “how to write a college admissions essay” and marvel at the results.

We want to provide you with something different, something unique:  a window into the college admissions process, through which you can see the part that essays play in selecting students.  Our hope is that once you understand how admissions officers use essays, you can write a better one yourself.

As always, as the series go on we encourage you to ask questions and make comments.

Tomorrow we’ll get started by asking how an actual admissions officer reads application essays.

Posts in this Series

1. Tell Us About Yourself: Final Advice for Essay Writing - 08 Oct
2. Should You Pay To Have Your Essay Edited? - 01 Oct
3. The Greatest Editing Trick For College Application Essays - 29 Sep
4. How To Edit Your Essay - 28 Sep
5. The "What They Want to Hear" Mistake - 17 Sep
6. Know Your Reader, Part Four - 16 Sep
7. Know Your Reader, Part Three - 15 Sep
8. Know Your Reader, Part Two - 14 Sep
9. Know Your Reader, Part One - 13 Sep
10. Listen to an Admissions Officer Discuss Essays - 11 Sep
11. How to Write an Essay for University Applications (This post)

Hello, most loyal blog readers.  I am back from a trip to the Pacific Northwest (a very, very cool place to live or study) and am re-energized.    I’m ready to fire out a long string of daily blog posts here, so I hope you’re ready for some advice.

A few quick notes:

• You may notice the new, sleek look of the blog.  This is the first part of a general redesign of the website, which will culminate in the official opening of the myUface application this Thursday at 09:00 A.M. Eastern Time.  We are really, really sorry it took so long, but we wanted to make sure we have all the technical capacities in place before we opened it up.  Actually, it’s open right now at www.myuface.com, but there are some kinks that are still being ironed out, so if you use it expect some rough patches.  Official opening this Thursday.
• Over the next three months, this blog will concentrate on the following five topics:  first, questions about how to use the myUface application. Second, advice for writing essays to universities. Third, advice about preparing your application – not only on myUface, but to universities.  Fourth, continued information on US states. And finally, advice about preparing for and taking standardized tests.
• It is that time of year – time to get serious about applying to universities.  We are going to be ready with our online application, and also with TONS of advice.  Our advice will NOT be only about myUface.  It will also be about preparing your applications for individual universities.  Why?  Because our main goal is to get students into U.S. universities. myUface is one powerful tool for students, but we want to help all students, regardless of whether or not they end up using myUface.  So please, visit us often.  Start taking the application process seriously.  Don’t put off for tomorrow what you could do today.  AND ASK US QUESTIONS.

Alright?  It’s time to get working, people! Ready, Set, GO!