Ten Thousand Hours

Ten thousand hours -- fifty hours a week for four years -- is, according to Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, the key to success in any field.  In other words, you should expect to put in at least 10,000 hours in order to get really good at something.

What is your passion?  What do you care about enough that you are willing to invest ten thousand hours into it?

For some inspiration, listen to the Macklemore song, "Ten Thousand Hours."  The lyrics to the song are here.

College Admissions Essay Resources & Samples

The College Board has useful section on Essay Skills for the college admissions essay. Included are a section on how to choose a topic and tips on writing the essay itself.

Samples of successful essays can be found at quintcareers.com/ and at
college-admission-essay.com

The Common Application essay prompts are at https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2012/2012AppFY_download.pdf

A list, "Top Ten Common College Admissions Mistakes," is at
www.college-admission-essay.com/collegeadmissionessaymistakes.html

An extensive list of college admissions essay topics is at:
www.hpregional.org/departments/english/mhassenplug/100%20topics.html

True fact: You can pay as much as $1000.00 to have a professional essay editing service such as EssayEdge help you with your essay. (Or you can just ask me and get help for free).

The College Board suggests you compete the following as part of your brainstorming process:

• Discover Your Strengths: Do a little research about yourself: ask parents, friends, and teachers what your strengths are.
• Create a Self-Outline: Now, next to each trait, list five or six pieces of evidence from your life—things you've been or done—that prove your point.
• Find Patterns and Connections: Look for patterns in the material you've brainstormed. Group similar ideas and events together. For example, does your passion for numbers show up in your performance in the state math competition and your summer job at the computer store? Was basketball about sports or about friendships? When else have you stuck with the hard work to be with people who matter to you?

Sample College Admissions Essay #1

The sample essay is at:
http://www.conncoll.edu/admission/james-walsh.htm

Resources for Research

Locate & bookmark articles on your topic -- especially those that might have loaded words relating to your topic:

Google News Search:
https://news.google.com/

ProQuest News Search:
via Marvel -- scroll 2/3 down the list of links and click "ProQuest Newspapers"

Google Blog Search:
http://www.google.com/blogsearch

ProCon.org
http://www.procon.org/

Issues & Controversies
http://www.2facts.com/icof_home_feature.aspx