College Essay Support

College Essay Support:

Don’t hesitate to reach out for support! Ms. Peña (opena@oakarts.org) is available to review brainstorms and drafts to help you get going with your essays.

Here are the recordings and links to the three different brainstorming sessions we held a few years ago, all based on College Essay Guy’s exercises. CEG has a ton of free resources for students and also parents.

Brainstorm #1: Feelings & Needs recording From College Essay Guy
This is great for coming up with a bank of stories about facing and overcoming small and large challenges.

Brainstorm #2 Essence Object & Values Exercises  From College Essay Guy
This exercise is more abstract but can help you think about very specific qualities and stories that reveal something about your character.

Brainstorm #3 Everything You Want College Admissions to Know About You From College Essay Guy
This exercise has the dual purpose of helping you come up with your list for the activities sections of the UC and Common App as well as providing a bank of potential stories.

Sample Essays
Some wonderful OSA alumni have given permission to share their essays:

1. Personal Insight Questions (4 PIQs @ 350 words each) from OSA Instrumental Music pianist Jiancheng Li who started at UCSC for Computer Science.

2. Common App essay from OSA dancer Beatrice Miller for Fordham University. 

Also, a helpful article from Oberlin about college essays, their purpose, and importance.