Odds are, you don't think you do. In fact, 87% of first-time visitors to our site don't think they need it either. However, 95% of schools, once they've actually used it, declare that College Essay Organizer was absolutely necessary. That's because like most parts of the college admissions experience, the essay process is way more complex, confusing, and stressful than students ever imagined.
Even if students are using the Common App, we promise that students' essay questions are not all clearly laid out (or even mentioned on the Common App for that matter). That's why the top students and schools throughout the world have successfully used our site to give themselves the competitive edge.
We know it's hard to change your protocol. But with College Essay Organizer, it's the difference between bumbling through an old, tedious, manual approach and enjoying a new, instant, automated one. You wouldn't go to the library each time to research something when you could easily Google it and see all the info in one place. Our site works on the same premise, and even takes it to the next level by showing students how to make sense of their info with a personal writing plan for each student.
Students should get started as early as possible so they can pace themselves and write their best essays without rushed anxiety. Most students get started in the spring of junior year to get a jump on the process.
The single-biggest misconception among students and parents is that the questions are easily found on the applications, especially if they're using the Common App. Ahh, that would be easy though, and when has anything involving the college admissions process been easy thus far? Colleges often have supplemental, department-specific, program-specific, optional, special applicant, and scholarship questions, many of which are not even mentioned on the Common App. Students sometimes don't find out about them until they're trying to submit their applications. Plus, some colleges do not show the essay questions until students have submitted part 1 of their applications, so when students inevitably procrastinate, they discover their essay questions right before the deadlines.
The reality is most students do not take the time to organize their essay requirements on their own, and as a result struggle through the process without clear direction. Students who decide to write their essays one application at a time inevitably end up doing more work and taking more time since they do not plan in advance—this classic tale highlights the perks of working smarter (if nothing else, the tale will make you smile).
The Common App is a free college admissions application that more than 600 top-ranked colleges and universities currently accept. College Essay Organizer has found the Common App to be a valuable tool for college applicants, but it does not do a very good job of helping students understand and manage their essay responsibilities. That's where College Essay Organizer comes in — think of us as an additional counselor helping students make the most of the Common App. So students can use our site along with the Common App and endure less confusion and enjoy more success. Plus, we'll show students how their Common App essays overlap with essays for colleges that don't take the Common App.
While the Common App has one required essay question and one optional one, many of the participating colleges also require their own supplemental essays, many of which are not listed or even mentioned on the Common App. College Essay Organizer provides all of students' questions for all of their colleges in one clear list — instantly!
If a college is not listed, click the missing college link on our Select Colleges page once you are logged in and just let us know. College Essay Organizer will add that college to our database within a few hours. We have nearly 1,000 colleges listed so you're likely already set.
Students shouldn't make the mistake of applying to one college early and waiting until they receive notification before dealing with their other applications and essays. If they don't get accepted early, they'll have only a few short weeks, including the December holidays, to finish everything. Plus, submitting their other applications in late December sends the wrong message that they applied elsewhere, didn't get in, and are now considering less desirable options. Nobody likes to feel second best, including colleges.
We encourage students to finish most of their essays and applications prior to hearing from their early decision college so they're in a good position to submit everything before the deadlines in case they're not accepted to their top choice. For those who do not get accepted early and have not yet addressed their other essays, College Essay Organizer will be their lifesaver.
Most colleges release their essay questions over the summer, but they do so at different times and it's frustrating to check each college's application daily. Even when the Common App goes live August 1, the different supplemental questions trickle in over several weeks. While the Common App always says the supplements will all go live on August 1, that has never been the case. In fact, the Common App has had well-publicized technical issues that prevented many Writing Supplements from being released for more than a month.
We know you're eager to get started so our updating process is an aggressive one. We typically post the new essay questions the day each application goes live, and we often get the official questions before then. This past year we updated more than 300 colleges' essay questions before August 1! You will get instant notification from us each time one of your colleges has been updated for the 2016-2017 season and those new essay questions will automatically appear in your account — the Common App doesn't do this.
Accuracy and thoroughness are our top priorities, and we pride ourselves on our exceptional record. College Essay Organizer takes the data directly from the applications themselves. Each college's data is cross-checked multiple times, and we make clear in your account which colleges' essay questions have been updated for the new application season. Leading private and public schools, hundreds of top educational consultants, and tens of thousands of students use College Essay Organizer each season with incredible success. College Essay Organizer is now partners with Sylvan Learning, the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), and the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), and is a member of NACAC. We've also been featured in leading publications—check out this NJ Bergen Record article and this NY Times piece.
No. Some colleges keep their essay questions the same from year to year, but the vast majority change them yearly, sometimes in small ways, but often to completely different prompts. The problem is that you can't know which ones will change and which ones won't—so you'd have to check them all individually. We've also observed that more colleges are adding questions to their applications each year, since essays are a great way to differentiate among applicants. College Essay Organizer provides the up-to-date questions as soon as they're available—all in one place, instantly.
Hundreds of leading School Counselors utilize our easy-to-use Master Account system to manage all their students' essay plans through one simple login. It's like an accountant using TurboTax. You can choose to use your Master Account privately or give your students access to their individual accounts.
If you're wondering if College Essay Organizer is right for your practice, read these FAQs for School Counselors.
College Essay Organizer is the only service that streamlines the college essay process, often the most time-consuming and challenging part of the application process for students and counselors alike. Naviance doesn't address this crucial part of the application experience in any way—that's like having a computer that doesn't give you internet access. College Essay Organizer is therefore a necessary supplement to Naviance or a similar system, and can even be used on its own. The beauty is you don't have to learn how to use College Essay Organizer. Simply select the colleges and our groundbreaking technology does the rest. That's why top high schools now use our site for all their seniors.
We have always been clear about our goal: Make the college essay process simple, stress-free, and successful.