Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I like my mom's stuffing, getting together with family and friends for Thanksgiving dinner, and the theme of the day. Physically and philosophically, it's my kind of day.  For loosely analogous reasons, my all -time favorite blog post was last year's Thanksgiving post.  It combined beliefs I hold dear, a good story, AND admissions advice. Blogging nirvana. I received more compliments on that post than on any other post in 4.5 years of blogging.

This year, I intended to simply wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving whether you are in the United States, which is celebrating this uniquely American holiday, or not. The themes of appreciation and gratitude associated with Thanksgiving are universal -- even on days when the headlines scream terror attacks and recession. Or perhaps especially on days when the bad news outweighs the good we need to count our blessings. 

However, a few days ago I received an unusual thank-you from a former client and applicant. Our clients frequently thank us when we finish working with them and/or when accepted, but this woman wrote roughly four years after working with us. Consequently this Thanksgiving I want to share one of the nicest notes of appreciation Accepted has ever received.

"I am writing to you today because I want to give you a testimonial for use on your website for the law school essay [editing] services. I know your service must receive testimonials from people who have just received their admissions. I, however, am now an attorney and can see the long-term value of using your service, which is why I share this with you now.

"I worked with, if I recall correctly, Linda Abraham in the Fall of 2004 in writing essays that would help explain that I left law school [earlier] for family reasons, and why law schools should have taken a chance on me a second time. Linda really helped me distill my reasons for wanting to return to law school into clear, achievable goals. This process not only helped me write a terrific personal statement, but also helped me once I got into law school in keeping a clear focus on my long-term goals. This, in turn, truly made me very successful in law school, which allowed me to procure the most exciting and meaningful professional experience of my life, my current position as an associate with a wonderful law firm.

"In short, the money I spent to work with Linda was the best $1,000 I ever spent in my life. That $1K turned into over $75,000 in scholarships over my three years in law school, and, more importantly, got me into a school that really worked for me, which turned into a job that now pays me market rate. Talk about a return on investment!

"Thank you."

JS

While I would like to take credit for the work that so helped this applicant, I can't. She worked with an editor who has since left Accepted to pursue other professional interests, but any one of our staff would provide the dedicated support that this client received.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your dreams and aspirations with us, for letting us into your lives. Wishing you a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!

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For scholarship application information, including requirements, instructions, and the essay question, please click here.

To contact Ameriglide directly regarding the scholarship, please email scholarship@ameriglide.com.

My assistant Deborah is helping me with a new ebook -- a compilation of Accepted Admissions Almanac tips from the last 3-4 years. She came upon "Personal Statement Tip: Topic Choice" and felt that I needed to be more specific.  I'm going to write this tip as an addendum to that one from two years ago. Besides, given the flood of deadlines in the next several months, now is a great time to discuss personal topic choice.

So what should you write about? What's most important to you and distinctive about you.

For all applications, the schools are attempting to get to know you through your essays. For general personal statements, like those law schools and colleges typically request, focus on past activities and achievements that reflect your values. The admissions readers also seek to uncover how you will contribute to their class, their program, and the diversity of their schools. By telling your story -- not what you think they want to hear and not what you share with 50% of other applicants -- you will reveal how you can uniquely add to their class.

For applications asking you to respond to specific questions and requesting statements of purpose, you first and foremost have to answer the question. If the essay is a statement of purpose, you need to discuss your post-degree goal and the way in which your studies will help you achieve it considering your previous education and experience. Again specifics are key. Which past accomplishments reveal the traits necessary to succeed both in gradate school and in your chosen field? Those experiences, clothed in analysis detailing their significance, should comprise your statement of purpose or goals essay.

It is with great pleasure that I welcome Natalie Grinblatt to Accepted's staff. Natalie previously served as:

• Assistant Dean at Arizona State University's W P Carey School of Management.
• Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Cornell's Johnson School
• Director of MBA Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at the University of Michigan (where she also earned her MBA).

Every August for the past six years, I have gone online and pre-ordered my black and tan executive desk diary planner, which is delivered to my doorstep every September. I find it a little annoying that I have to wait that long, but that’s the first date that it becomes available. I plan my vacations a year (sometimes two) in advance, settle on Halloween costumes in June, and buy holiday gifts year round. I am the consummate planner and have been my whole life. So it came as a surprise to no one when I mapped out a college tour for my two sons when they were entering their freshman and junior years of high school. For me, waiting until the summer before my oldest son’s senior year was out of the question. My friends and family laughed at me, but when it was all said and done, I wouldn’t have done it any other way. Here’s why.

Narrowing your scope

At last count, there were over 3,000 accredited colleges and universities in the United States alone. How will you ever come up with “The List?” You want to narrow your scope by helping your child figure out both what they do and do not want in a school. Some of these decisions will come easily and be readily apparent. Others will present themselves along the way, and the things that are important to them may surprise you both. And while you are obviously looking at specific schools, you are also getting ideas about specific kinds of schools – large/small, city/suburbs, school spirit/community, size of classes, faculty availability and the list goes on. Everett, my oldest son, came away from our tour with a pretty definitive list. No schools in rural settings (“I can’t see myself going to college in the middle of cornfields”), no schools without a decent Greek life, and no schools without big time sports, both competitive and intramural. In addition to the obvious black and white choices, watch for the little things along the way that capture your children’s interest. For Anderson, my younger son, the mere existence of the pirate acapella group “Argh!, ” which devotes itself entirely to singing sea shanties, sold him on Brown. On another tour, our student guide mentioned that she knows people who drink 8-10 beers on any given Wednesday night. That statement alone made Anderson cross the school off his list. You may think that he is judging too hastily, but your child will have an intuition about the school’s environment that you might not recognize. And at this point, it is just as important to figure out which schools to eliminate as it is to figure out which ones will make the cut.

Motivation

Perhaps your child is already motivated, knows they want to go to Harvard, knows what they have to do to get in and believes everything that you are telling them about the importance of their GPA, SAT scores, extracurricular activities, and leadership positions. Or maybe you have a teenager like 99% of the rest of us. You need someone and something else to get him or her motivated and buying into the program. You need college admissions officers. They will tell him or her in no uncertain terms what they are looking for in their applicant pool and student body. You will no longer be the nagging, overbearing, and decidedly ignorant source of college information. Your child will have heard it straight from the horse’s mouth. In addition, visiting college campuses and meeting with admissions officers and current students makes the whole idea of college come to life. No longer is it something that is going to happen at some distant point in the future, but they finally realize that it is right around the corner. They may or may not fall in love with one of the colleges, but if they do, they will have that image in their mind as they go through their high school years. My 16 year old stood in awe of the dome at Syracuse. Between that and the video at the Newhouse School of Communications, Syracuse had him at hello. Interested in broadcast journalism and sports management, he honed right in on the percentage of graduates who end up with jobs in their field within four months of graduation. The number? 94%. He is on a bullet train to a career in sports broadcasting. For him, the idea of studying American history in an Ivory Tower is far less appealing than getting hands on experience at a studio in Syracuse. Would he get that from reading the college brochure? I don’t think so.

Do you really want to wait until six months before the applications are due to start thinking about the best place for your child’s higher education? Going to college is expensive, time consuming, and arguably one of the most important decisions that you and your child will make in your young adult’s life. Should you rush it or leave it to chance? It is almost never too early to start thinking about where your child would do best, be happiest, and get the most out of college. In addition to the college tour, there are lots of other ways to expose your children to a variety of college campuses. Many colleges offer summer academic programs and athletic camps. If the camps are overnight, often the participants will stay in the dorms, eat in the school’s dining hall, and use the college’s playing fields and athletic facilities. One of my earliest memories of “college” is when I attended my dad’s 25^th college reunion. Not everyone brought their kids, but what a great introduction to the magic of college for an elementary school child. Take advantage of these opportunities, and when your child is entering his or her senior year of high school, their list will be ready and you will have the confidence that you have done your due diligence.

(P.S. - I have a daughter who was ten when I took my two boys on the weeklong college tour. She stayed home – even I can’t plan THAT far in advance.)

By Catherine Cook, Accepted.com editor.