Skip links

Get Started

Section Archive

College Essay Whiz

Acceptance is an essay away!

Main navigation

Archives for July 2016

2016 Dates to Remember

by Leave a Comment

The Common App goes offline soon!

The Common Application will be taken offline at 5 p.m. on July 21.  It will go live again on August 1. If you had started filling out the application previously, your account will be preserved and most information will roll over as soon as you follow a few simple directions.

FAFSA forms available in October!

The new FAFSA forms will be available as of October 1 and will be relying on the “Prior Priority” Year’s taxes.  This means that you can fill out all of the information based on 2015’s income instead of waiting until the conclusion of 2016.  This change will affect a wide range of admissions deadlines, notifications, etc.

Essential Deadlines in Standardized Test Registration:

Because of the change in FAFSA, it is essential that seniors who are planning to meat early deadlines and who need to send ACT or SAT scores MUST sign up for the early Fall tests.

  • The ACT will be given on September 10. Deadline for registration is August 5th!
  • The SAT will be given on October 1. Regular deadline for registration is September Late registration will be September 16th.

2017 Common App and Coalition Essays Are Ready!

by Leave a Comment

There will be some decision-making involved which application to use this year, now that the new application presented by the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success is available.  Some schools are members of the Coalition; others are exclusive users of the Common App; several offer both, and a number of schools (for instance, the University of California and the University of Texas) have their own.

College Essay Whiz recommends that this year’s high school seniors who are applying to schools that are on both Coalition and Common App should stick to the Common App unless there is a special and advantageous feature (like the opportunity afforded to students who wish to upload art, photos, etc.)  Otherwise, keep in mind that the Coalition’s bells and whistles are very new and may not run as smoothly as they hope during this first season.  There are many good reasons for underclassmen to explore the Coalition’s advantages for future use, however.

To be fully informed about your options:

More about the essays:

  • The Coalition has posted its essay prompts for the 2016 – 2017 year. Some of them are quite similar to those offered by Common App and others are very different!  The Common App word limit is 650.
  • The Coalition prompts suggested word limit is 550 words. The University of Maryland will be using the Coalition essay questions on its own application this year, and its word limit is 500.

More to come on which applications to choose!