3 reasons college prestige is fake:
• What you accomplish in life & where you go to school are different
• Grads from prestigious & less prestigious schools have comparable incomes when abilities similar
• Prestige is marketing

Does college prestige matter to you?

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TL;DR:
The 3 common mistakes high school students writing college essays make:

1) Picking bad topic
2) Writing poorly
3) Starting late

Avoid these pitfalls:

1) Brainstorm a compelling topic
2) Write well via revisions
3) Start early (to brainstorm and write/revise)

3) Start late.

Write a compelling college essay takes longer than most think, especially for a high school student. One needs time to:
• Brainstorm a compelling topic
• Write
• Go through several rounds of editing and revisions

So students should start early.

2) Write poorly.

Many students produce ineffective essays by:
• Just writing statements without story, imagery, or insight
• Failing to capture authentic, professional voice or
• Having grammatical and structural writing errors

A proofreader (but not too many) can help!

1) Fail to pick a compelling topic.

Many newbie college essay writers mistakenly:
• Choose a bland, generic topic
• Resume dump
• Provide superficial insight or
• Fail to understand their audience - admissions officers

Students should get help brainstorming good topics.