So where can you find this information? Interview current students; read college newspapers/blogs; find news on programs, professors, and innovation at the school. And more!

Here’s what we’re exploring in this class, “How Early Research Can Power Your List + Supplements”:

• Learn creative research strategies to find unique facts about each college so you can draw connections that are meaningful to YOU. This will not only power your LIST as you uncover what makes each school special (or not!) for YOUR needs, but…this will fuel your supplemental essays big time during the crunch period.
• Where can you find these creative facts?
• What role should AI play in your research, and how can you protect yourself when using this tool?
• How should you write about your connections to schools?
• Hear examples of meaningful connections between student and school to inspire your own writing.
• What’s the best way to ask admissions officers questions you may have to continue to find interesting things to talk about in essays? And…how can you come up with meaningful questions to ASK if you’re not sure?

As a bonus, students will receive my NEW RESEARCH WORKSHEET to collect information. Grab your spot here (space is limited).

The post New Class Announced May 31: How RESEARCH Can POWER Your College Search + Writing! appeared first on Power Hour Editing.

Side note…one of my first PR campaigns many years ago was 7-Eleven’s “So many changes, it isn’t even funny!” That line stuck with me, and I think it applies to college admissions, too! Why? So much information and so many requirements are college-specific, and things CHANGE! Prompts, deadlines, requirements, etc. Even comparing college websites to the Common App, you may see discrepancies. Try to stay on top of all of the moving details, even if it feels like you’re trying to catch wet spaghetti! Research is an amazing and powerful tool when navigating college admissions.

Now let’s talk Common App!

1. Account Rollover – If you started your Common App prior to 8/1, SOME info will roll over; some won’t. Verify anything you already entered. Check out my article explaining that, plus intel on what’s NEW in this year’s Common App. There are definitely some changes this year, but nothing too major. I’ve outlined most of the big ones in my article linked here.
2. Preview – That’s your best friend in the Common App. Preview + proof what you enter with the PREVIEW button before submitting. If you’ve seen me talk at schools, I share the comment from one admissions officer who told me a student uploaded breakup texts from a boyfriend by accident. Preview + proof! Trust me, it’s worth it!
3. AI-Generated Essays – No. Please, no! So many reasons why. This is definitely NOT the writing colleges are looking for, and it can really backfire on you. Present your best, authentic work – THAT is a winner!
4. For the WRITING SECTIONS – Write & edit somewhere else before copying & pasting into the Common App. Then PROOF again. Many times, spacing & formatting get wonky and need to be adjusted. Also, note that the dash (-) sometimes counts as a word.
5. Activity List – Did you edit first offline? Change/add anything? UPDATE! Also, note the activity section allows you to MOVE activities UP & DOWN after entering. Again PREVIEW! Position + Organization appear in BOLD and are automatically separated by a comma for you.
6. Respect the Word Counts 🙂 – One year, a student called me to say that the Common App was allowing him to enter MORE than the word count. Should he? No. Follow the directions provided 🙂
7. Formatting – Again, sometimes this has to be redone after entering content and is really limited (italics, bold, underline). This is a REAL bummer to me. I’ve had many students who wanted to insert emojis or international languages, and I’ve suggested this upgrade every year to the Common App. Maybe one year…

I’ll be adding a video to this post to SHOW you how to navigate the 2025-26 Common App below.

Good luck, and let me know if I can help you!

The post Common App Launch Day! Class of 2026 Tips appeared first on Power Hour Editing.

The Common App, a dominant leader in the college admissions space, saw 1.2 million unique college applications last year. Total applications and applications per student continue to rise, fueled by the test-optional wave. Students have always been asked to check boxes on the Common App assuring readers that the work is authentic and the student’s own. Last cycle, they added another affirmation statement, reinforcing how important authentic work is in the application. Common App President/CEO Jenny Rickard shared WHY human-written essays are critical: “We need students to remain human so the humans can see their humanity.” She elaborated on how important authenticity is in the college essay: “The key…is that it’s representative of who they are and not who someone else thinks they are.” Also, Rickard reminded us that “the admission officer is a human being…(who) wants to learn about a student…you don’t necessarily learn about a student from seeing a character score from AI or learn about their context without reading the essay.”

Rickard also referenced a New York Times opinion article, “Human This Christmas,” by Tressie McMillan Cottom, award-winning author and UNC Sociology professor. Cottom discusses the academic concern surrounding ChatGPT in addition to the limitations of machine-generated text: “Tech is not supposed to be human. It is only ever supposed to be humanoid.” She adds, “ChatGPT impersonates sentiment with sophisticated word choice but still there’s no élan. The essay does not invoke curiosity or any other emotion. There is a voice, but it is mechanical. It does not incite, offend, or seduce.”

Bottom line: your essay is YOUR story. The critical SHOW (not tell) that gives your essay magic comes from YOUR archives, YOUR life, YOUR brain. A machine cannot know your personal experiences that provide the colorful background and unique support for YOU. When I think of all of the amazing essays I’ve read over the years, I remember the incredible personal experiences, aha moments, and perspectives students share. There’s nothing robotic about that. Rickard said it best: “It’s incumbent on us to keep the humanity in the process.”

The post Intel on Why AI-Generated Essays are a Bad Idea appeared first on Power Hour Editing.

Given the opportunity to volunteer in his research study to further understand this topic, I jumped! I reviewed 110 short essays to assess a number of personal qualities. At first, I thought I’d be reviewing human- versus AI-generated copy, but no! These were ACTUAL essays submitted via the Common App in 2008-09. “The Personal Qualities Project” asked readers to indicate whether the following qualities were evident, and you can see the kinds of words that were frequently associated with each:

I interviewed Lira and learned more about his study, the surprises he encountered along the way, and the possible implications for college admissions. Among MANY fascinating things he shared, one was about the possible human bias in reading apps (cloudy days just took on a whole new meaning for me…). Here’s our conversation:

The bottom line? I’m torn about this. If applicants can’t use AI to write essays, why should colleges be able to use AI to shortcut application review? Admittedly, there are clearly many benefits to using AI for application review, especially if it’s just one step in the process. Lira’s research indicates it can eliminate bias and quickly identify IF the applicant’s writing content reflects the kinds of values and character the individual school is looking for. Clearly, AI would allow admissions officers to get a “quick look” to see if applicants would be a good fit before investing time for a deeper read and could reduce the dreaded wave of deferrals. Each year, I see many schools deferring so many qualified applicants because there just isn’t enough time to read 70,000 applications. Maybe AI can help admissions offices add a layer of review that will deliver admissions decisions quicker. I don’t think schools will give the key away; in other words, if they’re looking for a specific number of qualities that lead to success on their campus, I doubt they’ll tell us the formula. Many college tours sound so similar to me. Words like holistic review, multidisciplinary education, etc., start sounding so vague.

If AI is going to be used for some review, since students spend so much time preparing applications, don’t applicants also deserve a human read? Maybe the magic formula lies somewhere in between. I’ll continue to keep an eye on this very interesting facet of application review. What do you think?

*Note – a $20 giftcard was sent to research participants. So nice…but the value of participating? Priceless!

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