Hi friends, and welcome back to another lesson with college bound Caroline. Sorry it's been so
long! CBC has been incredibly busy and slightly overwhelmed. She's been working super hard, so
she's looking forward to taking a break with you. You may wonder what CBC has been up to. Well, we
are pleased to announce that our darling CBC has finally begun her college applications, and she's
right on what she considers to be the hardest step, the essays. But have no fear, because
superhero CBC has a master plan, and it begins with three simple steps. One, reviewers, two,
records, and three, revisions. So here we go! For the essays, for higher education, for the future!
And the first step in CBC's master plan is reviewers. Now, just like every superhero
needs a team, she also needs her CBC squad to help with college application essays.
The squad's job is to read through CBC's papers and provide feedback. They pick apart
her work and give constructive criticism. These reviewers don't have to be experts in inventing or
hacking, or whatever this guy does. But they should be qualified to review CBC's essays.
So who should she ask? Well first, always first, are CBC's mom and dad.
Parents or guardians are great people to ask because they know you so well.
They'll be able to provide feedback that relates to the authenticity of your essay. They can also
point out your unique traits and awards you may have forgotten about, that they still proudly keep
in a memory box. Another family member that CBC will ask is her aunt, who is the vice president
of academic and student affairs at a college in Idaho. As someone who works at a university, Aunt
Lulu will provide invaluable insight into what higher education institutions are looking for. So
if there is someone in your life who has been, or is currently employed at a college, they
could be a vital squad member. And other vital squad members include some of CBC's teachers.
Although CBC is homeschooled, she did take dual credit courses at a local community college,
several classes at a homeschool co-op, and some writing workshops. She plans on asking these
instructors because they are good academic writers. Because certified teachers have
attended a university before, they can provide knowledge from their application experiences.
But how to ask them? Well, there are several methods that CBC can employ.
In-person requests are always her preference, but she can also use emails and phone calls. She can
even reach out to her Aunt Lulu through social media. For people outside of her family, CBC
will draft a short request that sounds published and professional, without being too scripted.
And speaking of scripted, it's time to look at the second step of CBC's master plan,
records. Keeping records is essential to CBC's application essay timeline.
With her records, she can keep track of which schools she's applying for,
the requirements, the deadlines and more. At this point, she's got a running list of essays
including the common application essay, personal essays, supplemental essays, and short answers.
Now, how does she deal with such a long list? Well, CBC has created a detailed schedule.
To keep from getting too overwhelmed, she has sectioned out her writing workload.
Each day she has set aside a certain amount of time to complete specific tasks. For instance,
today CBC has one hour scheduled to outline a supplemental essay, and I know that all this
talk of records and schedules and writing tasks can sound super boring. But believe it or not,
CBC has actually found a way to make it fun for herself, and hopefully you! She created a reward
system for her schedule, so when she completes certain tasks she gets a prize such as TV time,
a new book, or her absolute favorite, chocolate. And the way to win that chocolate is by staying
on schedule. Now, every person has their own strategy but CBC's application scheduling
involves deadlines. Now, these are not the official college deadlines. These are CBC's
personal deadlines to keep herself on track. Each essay writing stage has its own time limit. Even
her deadline for turning in the final application with her essay is far before the official date,
and CBC will need plenty of time because it's important to let her draft breathe for a bit
before editing. No, CBC, not literal breathing. The same person reading the same paper with the
same words can sometimes become overly critical or underly critical. Underly? Is that a word?
Well, it is now! Scheduling time away from essays allows CBC to come back with fresh eyes.
She can then analyze and edit her work objectively after taking her scheduled breaks,
and those breaks are shown on CBC's visual representation, so she can physically see her
progress. CBC has created a schedule in the shape of a tape measure. When she meets a deadline, CBC
cuts off the bottom of the tape measure calendar. Other fun scheduling ideas that you could try
could be crossing off boxes, pulling off post-it notes, or even throwing darts. As her tape measure
gets shorter and shorter, CBC can be encouraged by the amount that she has accomplished.
And once she has accomplished a full essay draft and edited it - wow,
that's a tongue twister. It's time for CBC to move on to the final step in her master plan,
revision. With her detailed records and schedule, CBC has allotted plenty of time to send her essay
out to her reviewers. In her original request, CBC informed her reviewers when she would be sending
them a draft, and the requested date of their feedback. Usually CBC gives her reviewers several
weeks, in case they have plans, work or other engagements. Even if her reviewers aren't busy,
sometimes CBC's essays can just slip their minds. So if she doesn't hear back from them within a
certain amount of time, CBC has made sure to set a reminder, to remind herself, to remind
them to review her work. When she does receive their feedback, CBC has to revise again herself.
Remember what our superheroes always say. The most important part of a mission's plan is the
planning. All right, maybe not all superheroes say that. Okay, it might just be CBC. But it's true!
Revisions from other reviewers will help CBC create a well-rounded essay.
They can spot flaws that she might not see, or provide suggestions to enhance her work.
Like we said in a previous lesson in this unit, Essays Made Easy, one of the steps to crafting a
better writing approach is practice. The more CBC writes, the better she will become at it.
So she must continue to revise, read, and revise some more. And that's a signal that
CBC's scheduled break is over! She has a helpless essay to save, but she's got her squad to help her
out with her master plan of reviewers, records, and revisions. CBC is going to don her cape again,
while you check out the engaging games and activities and the supplemental materials
for this lesson to prepare you for our next unit, where we'll learn about Planning for
Pros. Until then, keep your fingers crossed for college-bound Caroline. To knowledge and college!