5 Steps to Writing Great College Essays
Navigate the Journey to College with More Success and Less Stress
Does brain fog creep in when you think about writing college essays?
College essays. Don't know where to start? Not sure how to brainstorm topics or choose prompts? Wondering how to keep them straight in the face of multiple college applications? Confused about how to respond to the "why us" college specific essays? Curious about what topics should be avoided? How concerned you should be about grammar?
Since the wake of COVID, college essays have gained the spotlight as a key element together with GPA to get into the college of your choice. Knowing the secrets to creating great essays can set you apart.
Tip the scales in your favor.
In the new world emerging in which standardized scores from the SAT and ACT are often optional, your essays are gaining significance in college admissions.
After GPA, essays are the one thing that you have complete influence over, and they are the ONLY thing admissions officers use to get to know you as a person.
Take the stress out of your essays
Let me guide you through my tried and tested system
Maybe you’ve taken an ACT or SAT prep course or have plans set for that. And maybe your high school counselor can help you with the general application process – either in a one-on-one appointment or in a group presentation. That’s great ... those things are super important.
You know what else could be a deal breaker or deal maker to get into the college of your choice? Your essays. Maybe your English teachers are helping as best they can with the essays. While that's good news, most English teachers are not trained in writing college essays. They are great at reviewing expository, analytical, and argumentative essays, but in your college essays, admissions officers want to know about you – who you are, how you think, and what makes you tick. Plus, many colleges have multiple essays as they seek to make sure you are the right fit for them.
Most likely, outside of your own journaling, you probably haven’t learned much about this in class. Many schools don’t teach how to write a personal statement that is self-reflective. Your college essays may well be your first essays that cast you as the central character and topic. And believe me, it's not a piece of cake ... especially with the added pressure of having so much at stake.
And about asking your school counselor for guidance ... the average student-to-school counselor ratio in the U.S. is 408 to 1, so personalized attention on essays is limited. Parents may want to help, but that can get – well – stressful for everyone involved. And if you're a parent reading this, consider the value of having a non-parent remind your student of meeting deadlines. (I'm speaking as a parent myself).
With specific objectives and tasks, this course provides a step-by-step roadmap to help you clear the fog, unlock writers block and share stories that may change your life. And it's offered at a price that won’t break the bank.
By the end of the course, having followed the 5-step process of the BEING Compass, you’ll be writing essays that answer the main question admissions officers want to know. Who is the person behind the grades, the activities, the SAT and ACT scores?
What's even better than learning to choose the right topic and share it in a powerful way is that when you finish this course, you will have completed a journey that has led you to a better understanding of yourself. You will have gained tools that help you have a stronger sense of self-confidence and a more determined sense of direction. The one-of-a-kind BEING Compass guides you to discover your inner true north, so you can be the best you. You’ll prepare yourself as a more self-aware, more confident, and more resilient student as you navigate the next major milestone in your life – the journey through college.
"A guide that holds your hand and guides your heart." ALANIS MORISSETTE
On Janet's book (My Diary Unlocked) that unveils The BEING Compass™
Tap into the Universal Storytelling Template Used Throughout Time
Learn to master the timeless and yet revolutionary art of storytelling using a unique roadmap of self-exploration and storytelling only offered here. This course infuses the trademarked inner guidance tool (BEING Compass) with the story arc secrets that Hollywood blockbusters have been using for decades ... and myths and legends have followed throughout time. The 5-step process outlined in the course aligns with this universal template in a way that allows you to instill the key elements that apply to a vast spectrum of college essay prompts. What's even better, by the time you're done, you will recognize this tool as a resource for life ... one that you can access anytime to gain perspective over the events, experiences, and challenges in your life.
What Students Say About the 5 Steps to Writing College Essays
Kudos
“After learning to integrate the five steps of the BEING Compass into my personal statement, I was able to connect more deeply with my story and share from a personal level and then tell about how I overcame my challenges in a way that truly revealed my inner strengths.”
“Before using the five-step method of the BEING Compass, the writing process was slow to start and difficult to realistically portray myself in the essays. But with the Compass, I was guided towards a clear understanding of how my essays would reflect me while highlighting my strengths and personality in a fun, personal way.”
“When I first started trying to write my essays, it was difficult for me to express my ideas and transmit my message, so learning the five-step process in the BEING Compass was very important in helping to give me a structure to shape my ideas into an essay in a way that admissions officers could relate to and have fun reading!”
“The Compass really gets you to write your best essays. It helped me to articulate and showcase my best qualities ... and express who I am and not mold my essays to what I thought somebody else wanted to hear, and if they liked it - they liked it.”
“When I started working with the structure of the 5-Step BEING Compass, I was able to make connections of things that were meaningful to me and to understand the fluidity of the past, present and future of my stories. Each step helped me to get to the core insights so I could write my essays in a more powerful and concise way.”
“Having the BEING Compass as a guide not only helped me understand how to write college essays effectively, it gave me a tool for self-exploration that I can use to identify how I feel about my experiences and what I can do to learn from them. In that sense, I think it will continue to help me in college.”
“Before I started writing, I was really overwhelmed, and I couldn't decide which prompts to choose or topics to write about, but the worksheets and the BEING Compass helped me brainstorm and outline different ideas that I could then focus on one-by-one. I could organize my thoughts and reflect about the events I was writing about from each relevant angle instead of worrying about the whole essay at the same time.”
“I appreciate the value of Janet’s system of starting with self-exploration worksheets. My answers helped me to articulate my passion for science while sharing about my volunteering background. Once I started drafting my common app personal statement, I saw how this work upfront came into play as I followed the BEING Compass to address my challenges and highlight my insights while sharing many facets about myself – all within the word limit.”
“For my personal statement, I wanted to write about a milestone in my life, but I didn’t know how to make it meaningful. By learning how to include the elements of the BEING Compass, the process became easier because each step felt like a very natural progression through my story. The more I got into it, it felt less like a task and more like creating a memoir. It became an opportunity to take the time for self-reflection and discovery of who I really am.”
What Makes This Course Stand Out
You won't just emerge with better essays, you'll be prepared to enter college as a more self-aware, more resilient, and more confident college student. Here's why:
Drawing from decades of work in the field of human potential, your instructor is an award-winning author in the field of personal development. Together with this background and her experience as a college essay editor, she is dedicated to help you not only learn to write great college essays, you will gain the resources to launch into your college experience with tools to be a more self-aware, more resilient, and more confident college student.
As the pioneer of the trademarked BEING Compass, she has taught the framework of the Compass to thought leaders and healing professionals in venues across the country, from international conferences on managing stress and trauma to hometown workshops for college-bound high school students.
Parents can rest assured that when their teens takes this course, they will learn the five steps that not only guides the process of writing essays, it also serves as a life-skill technique with a template that allows anyone who applies it to navigate through life’s challenges while guiding them in the direction of their fullest potential.
FAQ
-
Is this course right for me?
If you are applying to colleges this coming fall, there is no doubt you will need to respond to essay prompts in your applications. This course can give you an edge up on the possibility of getting into the college of your choice because you will learn how to choose the right topics and write compelling essays that connect with admissions officers in a meaningful and memorable way. The course is relevant for prompts on the Common App, Coalition App, UC personal insights, Apply Texas essays and most supplemental essays.
-
How long will I have access to the course?
You will have access for one year after the course has launched and you have purchased it.
-
Will I receive one-on-one editing / coaching?
This course has primarily group-based support. Discussions will occur online and Q&A will be addressed by your peers in the community setting, and once a week the instructor will create a live session to answer questions. The Private Coaching Course includes everything in this course plus additional hours of one-on-one time for an additional fee.
-
How will this course work once I've joined?
After the course has launched, you'll receive course log-in information and you'll have access to the whole course. You choose your own pace, and you can go through the course as many times as you want as needed during the one-year period you have access to it. You may want to review the material and start with fresh worksheets for different essays.
Janet Larson
About the Creator
Janet Larson, M.S.
Founder
Order Now and Save $50
Want to do away with essay stress?
Pre-enroll and save $50 off the regular price of $297. Upon registering, you'll gain access to all the worksheets you need to start choosing topics and prompts on your essay journey. Register now for only $247.