u/WaveScholarApp

Hi Everyone,

I am a college counselor who works with about 100 kids a year, and I just wanted to share some tips as we move into application season!

Here are a few common mistakes I point out to my seniors all the time:

1. **Going for cliche topics because it is low hanging fruit:** many of my seniors as they start brainstorming go for big sports moments, talk about being the "eldest daughter" or "forgotten middle child" without connecting it to their own personal growth and how that realization helped them achieve or experience something tangible. It is okay to talk about things others experience but you need to be able to specifically connect it to something about yourself and weave it into a narrative which has a background, body, and conclusion- paired with a strong hook.

**2. Not answering all of the prompt.** Many students will focus on one part of a multi-part prompt and ignore the rest. If a prompt asks what you did AND what you learned, you need both. I see so many essays that are 90% story and then a rushed, generic sentence at the end trying to cram in the "lesson." Colleges can tell when the reflection was an afterthought.

**3. Writing the "resume in paragraph form" essay.** This is where a student lists every achievement, award, and leadership title instead of picking one moment and going deep. Admissions officers already have your activities list. The essay is your chance to show them how you think, not what you have done. One specific scene beats five accomplishments every time.

**4. Starting with a quote or a dictionary definition.** I know it feels like a safe way to open, but readers have seen "Merriam-Webster defines resilience as..." more times than you can imagine. Start in the middle of the moment instead. Drop the reader right into the scene.

**5. Making the essay about someone else.** This comes up a lot with essays about a grandparent, a coach, or a sibling. It is fine to be inspired by someone, but if that person is doing more of the "acting" in the essay than you are, admissions has no idea who they are actually admitting. Keep the camera on you.

**6. Playing it too safe.** Some students are so worried about sounding arrogant that they undersell real accomplishments, or they are so worried about being too vulnerable that the essay stays surface level. The best essays sit in that uncomfortable middle where you are honest about a struggle or a flaw without turning it into a pity party.

A good check before submitting: if you swapped your name for a classmate's, would the essay still make sense? If yes, it is too generic and needs a more specific, personal moment.

Happy to answer questions if anyone wants a second set of eyes on their brainstorming process!

Hi Everyone,

I am a college counselor who works with about 100 kids a year, and I just wanted to share some tips as we move into application season!

Here are a few common mistakes I point out to my seniors all the time:

1. Going for cliche topics because it is low hanging fruit: many of my seniors as they start brainstorming go for big sports moments, talk about being the "eldest daughter" or "forgotten middle child" without connecting it to their own personal growth and how that realization helped them achieve or experience something tangible. It is okay to talk about things others experience but you need to be able to specifically connect it to something about yourself and weave it into a narrative which has a background, body, and conclusion- paired with a strong hook.

2. Not answering all of the prompt. Many students will focus on one part of a multi-part prompt and ignore the rest. If a prompt asks what you did AND what you learned, you need both. I see so many essays that are 90% story and then a rushed, generic sentence at the end trying to cram in the "lesson." Colleges can tell when the reflection was an afterthought.

3. Writing the "resume in paragraph form" essay. This is where a student lists every achievement, award, and leadership title instead of picking one moment and going deep. Admissions officers already have your activities list. The essay is your chance to show them how you think, not what you have done. One specific scene beats five accomplishments every time.

4. Starting with a quote or a dictionary definition. I know it feels like a safe way to open, but readers have seen "Merriam-Webster defines resilience as..." more times than you can imagine. Start in the middle of the moment instead. Drop the reader right into the scene.

5. Making the essay about someone else. This comes up a lot with essays about a grandparent, a coach, or a sibling. It is fine to be inspired by someone, but if that person is doing more of the "acting" in the essay than you are, admissions has no idea who they are actually admitting. Keep the camera on you.

6. Playing it too safe. Some students are so worried about sounding arrogant that they undersell real accomplishments, or they are so worried about being too vulnerable that the essay stays surface level. The best essays sit in that uncomfortable middle where you are honest about a struggle or a flaw without turning it into a pity party.

A good check before submitting: if you swapped your name for a classmate's, would the essay still make sense? If yes, it is too generic and needs a more specific, personal moment.

Happy to answer questions if anyone wants a second set of eyes on their brainstorming process!

the thing that got me building: a decent private college counselor runs $6,000 to $10,000 for a full cycle. the alternative for most kids is a school counselor stretched across a 372:1 ratio, which works out to roughly 38 minutes per student per year. that's not counseling, that's a hallway conversation.

so i've been building WaveScholar, an app that tries to package the structure of a private counselor into something that costs a few dollars a month. the core pieces so far:

- college list building that ranks schools into safety / target / reach so you end up with a balanced list instead of a wish list

- essay brainstorming and feedback that's meant to keep the student's own voice, not ghostwrite for them

- deadline tracking for ED/EA/RD so nothing slips (the classic failure is a critical early decision date living on a sticky note)

- scholarship matching and a parent view so families can see progress without hovering

what i'm still figuring out:

1. the free-vs-paid line. the students who benefit most (first-gen, public school) are the least able to pay, so a lot of the useful stuff sits on the free tier and i'm not sure how sustainable that is yet.

2. trust for a minors-facing product. data privacy matters more here than in most apps and i'm working through how to communicate that concretely rather than just saying 'we keep it private.'

3. whether to lean student-direct or sell to independent counselors who juggle 20-60 students on spreadsheets. very different products.

if you've shipped anything in the education or 'trust-heavy / minors' space, i'd genuinely like to hear how you handled the privacy + credibility side early on. that's the part i keep second-guessing.