A student's goal when filling out college applications is to present himself or herself to the colleges as fully as possible. Weekly meetings with students and college counselors in the fall of senior year are designed to help students meet that goal. (However, it should be noted that with many students we are still working on developing a list of schools to which to apply. This is an ongoing process.) We emphasize to students that the best application is the most complete, accurate, and honest portrayal of yourself possible. We work steadily with students on all parts of the application, including a college essay, an activities resume, and teacher recommendations.

College Essays — College essays are a student's chance to stand out by showing admissions officers something about himself or herself—a special talent, passion, conviction, humor, emotion or dream. The topic of the essay does not really matter; what matters is that the essay show something about the student. The essay should be between 300-500 words long; the goal is to write an essay that is powerful, revealing, and concise. The college counselors and English teachers help in this process.

Activities Résumé — In addition to filling out the extracurricular activities space on college applications, Waynflete students are also encouraged to submit an activities résumé. The activities résumé gives you the opportunity to show who you are outside of the classroom. It is a chance to become more than your academic record—it is a chance to highlight your interests and experience. We help students develop activities résumés in college meetings and in individual meetings.

Recommendations — Some colleges require two letters of recommendation—check the application carefully to be sure. (Some schools specifically ask that one recommendation be from an English teacher.) In general, it is a good idea to have one recommendation from a teacher in the Humanities, and one from Math or Science; however, this is not a hard and fast rule. It is most important for students to ask those teachers who know them well—as a student and as a person—to write on their behalf. We work with students to determine which teachers should be asked to write recommendations.

Again, individual meetings with students and their families are welcome at any time throughout the application process.