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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Figure out how to effectively recycle supplementals from one school to the next. Operative word is effectively. This both takes and saves time. [/quote]

I agree. This is especially important if your kid is applying to 10+ schools, each with multiple supplemental essays.

This part of the process was MUCH more difficult than DD (and then we, her parents) expected!!

Next time (with DC2), we will help him up front in ways that should not be necessary, but I think are . . . by creating a chart of some sort showin EVERY supplemental essay for the schools on his list, and helping him strategically figure out which ones line up and which ones are truly unique.

It seems absolutely ridiculous, which is why it never crossed our mind to consider this with DC1. They applied to 12 schools, each with at least 2 supplemental essays, some with as many as 5. The idea of STARTING the process in August with a chart that included 40 essays to be written would have caused DD's head to explode. But I do think it would have helped save time and effort in the long run . . . .

More details for those who are interested:

While it seems at first that there are only a few types of supplementals (Why X college, Tell us about a community you're a part of, Describe a life experience that impacted you and will influence your involvement at X college) every school finds a way to put their own spin on it. And schools mix and match their questions in different ways such that straight cut-and-paste from other applications doesn't really work.

Sometimes the topic is almost exactly the same but the word limit is 200 instead of 500 (or the reverse), which means a ton of editing to the point that it becomes an entirely different essay.

Sometimes the topic seems to be the same on the surface, but is actually asking for something different. (I'm thinking of one supplement that asked about community, but on closer read it actually focused on CONVERSATION - something about how the kid learned to engage with others in conversation etc. So the straight-up community essay from School X was not at all a fit because the examples were completely off topic.)

And sometimes a school has two supplements are similar to those your kid wrote for other schools, but they overlap in weird ways, so your kid needs to deconstruct and rearrange parts from multiple essays to make it all work as a whole. Again, complete pain in the butt.

Bottom line: If your kid is applying to 10+ schools, each with multiple supplements, ENCOURAGE THEM TO START EARLY!!

And consider having them create blocks of ideas/examples that can be moved around independently to serve different purposes. It involves a level of forethought and planning that is truly ridiculous, IMHO.

(The other option is to apply to fewer schools . . . or to seek out schools with fewer or no supplemental essays. There are some great schools that fall into this category. A quick Google search will bring up lists of supplement-free applications. Just double-check (ALWAYS) on the school's website AND the Common App to be 100% certain. Sometimes schools "hide" a supplement in a weird place - DC almost missed a few because they didn't show up in the same section of the common app as the others. Again, ridiculous.)[/quote]

Or ask AI to adapt the 3-4 supplements you write to match other schools prompts, then sit down and spend 1 hour humanizing it back to your voice. Saved days. You can also pay someone to write them for you after you meet with them for 1-2 hours and sketch out your answers to each “type” of prompt. Cost is about $1200 an essay. [/quote]

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