Insights on the college process

Get research opportunities by emailing postdocs, not professors

Professors are old, tired, and bored. Postdocs need to give mentorship for their career progress. Their CVs get much stronger when they list “last author” publications, or publications where they advise the “first author,” the person driving the research. You can be that first author! Read scientific papers in your field, look for authors who are postdocs (usually, if you’re doing a search on Google Scholar for journal articles, postdocs are first or second authors), find their emails, and reach out! They’ll be much more responsive than professors.

Look at a college’s common data set to see what factors it considers

Google “[college] common data set” and you’ll see a table of what they look for, usually on page seven or eight. This information can help you focus your energy on what your top schools care about.

If you don’t have a top choice, apply to a target school EA

If the schools you’re most interested in don’t consider demonstrated interest as a factor, this will save you time. Why send your first application—your first attempt at something new and challenging—to one of your top choices if they won’t even give you preference for applying early? Get some practice writing essays first. Apply to a school in the upper-middle part of your list (with a generous fin. aid track record if that’s important to you). That way, if you get in, you won’t have to waste time applying to schools you’re less excited about.

Don’t waste your activities list

You only have 150 characters to talk about the ten things you spend the most time on. Minimize the space you spend writing anything that isn’t unique to you. Don’t waste it saying “organized, publicized, and ran club meetings” when your title of Club President already implies that. Focus on specific achievements that most other club presidents have not achieved and humanize your activities: don’t be afraid to share a personal touch. That’s a really insightful link—click it!

Be very careful talking about mental health in essays

The topic is not completely off limits, but it must be handled with extreme care. Here is the case against mental health in essays, read it first. Here is the case for writing about trauma and other sensitive topics, as well as mental health if you’re really feeling bold. If you do choose to write about difficult subjects, understand that the topic is not straightforward.

Two more rules of thumb

• Hedge risky bets.
• Don’t use crazy, essay-spanning metaphors, but do have a theme.