There are still some colleges accepting applications in February! Check if your target colleges are listed here and get cracking on getting your application ready to submit.

(For transfers or other requirements, please check the college website for more details.)

Need some help reviewing and polishing up your essay? Meemli can help – get it reviewed by Stanford-trained educators!

Meemli wishes you all the best in your college applications!

Have you made your New Year’s resolutions yet? Or, are you still basking in the holiday glow and putting it off until you’re ready to be serious about tackling the year ahead? Either way, we recommend that you top your list with this perennial goal: reduce stress!

Of course, we don’t want to add to your stress by making you consider New Year’s resolutions and how to make them happen. So we’ll list a few simple, doable ways to make reducing stress well, less stressful.

Each one of these steps have been time and science-tested, and you can pick any or all.

Exercise

No surprise here. You already knew that exercise would be on this list. After all, it is one of the top recommended methods of stress relief, according to medical experts.

You’ve heard about the benefits of exercise on your physical well-being, but did you know that exercise helps your mental functioning, too? Regular exercise can help you sleep better, meaning you can spend your hours being more alert and productive instead of nodding off during the day and feeling too tired in the evenings.

Find an activity you enjoy, and if at all possible, pick one that you can do anywhere, anytime convenient. Running is a widespread favorite, but it is more important that you pick something that you’ll actually do, rather than what others like to do!

Journal

Stress is unavoidable. Sometimes stress is good, for example, the stress of competing in a sport. And even emotional stress can ultimately strengthen you – as long as it is not chronic and you can manage it well.

Talking out your feelings to a trusted friend, family member, or therapist is helpful, but writing a journal noting your daily peeves and irritations, as well as the bigger hurts, makes a difference too. It reduces the sting (and sometimes makes you see it is not such a big deal after all) and it helps you process your feelings. Again, it’s a proven way to reduce stress that anyone can do without too much investment!

Music

Many people listen to music while they work or workout or are waiting for something. And of course, they do it to kill time while commuting somewhere. There’s no doubt that different types of music have specific effects on our minds and bodies – which is why most hard-charging athletes listen to music with fast beats to get revved up for games.

When you’re feeling stressed out , try turning on some slower tunes. They’ll help relax your muscles and put you at ease, allowing your body to take a break from high-pressure state and calm down. It may be particularly helpful when you need to relax enough to fall asleep.

Stress is universal and affects everyone, from little kids to elders, to varying degrees. But learning how to manage and tamp down the pressure helps you enjoy life at school, college, work or anywhere else. We hope these simple tips get you going on taking care of yourself and feeling better on the road ahead.

And one final tip, remember to breathe!

It is the last day of the year, and most of us probably do not plan to spend a lot of time reading “how to” blog posts! But, there is one activity we all tend to do at the end of the year – make resolutions and plans, or at least have thoughts, as we prepare for the new year ahead.

So, before deciding on what you want your next year to be like, take a minute for this very short post (a 1 minute read?) which will help you get started – and succeed – in your new year planning!

These steps do not have to take much time, unless you want them to!

Reflect

Think about the year that is just ending:

What did you like about it?

What made you happy?

What made you sad, or angry or worried?

What accomplishments made you feel proud?

Review

Now, see what you can learn from those events.

Is there a pattern or common thread?

Can the things you like be repeated through your efforts?

And can the things you don’t want to experience again, be avoided through your efforts?

What aspects of who you are would you like to see more of next year?

Renew

Now that you know what worked and didn’t work for you last year, you can look ahead to the next year.

Renew your commitment to focus on the people and things you care about– and then you can think about the details, whether it is doing a trip with your friends or running a marathon.

Narrowing your focus on what is really important to you (and reflecting on the previous year helps you in figuring that out) makes it more likely that you will succeed in your efforts.

And or course, take a minute or two to feel thankful about all the good things that came your way the past year. Gratitude makes you happy and gets you off on a great start for the new year!

Meemli team wishes you all the best in the new year!

The list of colleges with January deadlines for applications is long! Check if your target colleges are listed here and get cracking on getting your application ready to submit.

(For transfers or other requirements, please check the college website for more details.)

Need some help reviewing and polishing up your essay? Meemli can help – get it reviewed by Stanford-trained educators!.

Meemli wishes you all the best in your college applications!

There are quite a few colleges with a December 1 deadline! Check if your target colleges are listed here and get cracking on getting your application ready to submit.

(For transfers or other requirements, please check the college website for more details.)

December 1 Deadline

Cleveland Institute of Music
Manhattan School of Music
Marquette University
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
The Juilliard School
The University of Tennessee
The University of Texas at Austin
University of South Carolina Columbia
University of Washington Seattle Campus

December 31 Deadline

United States Air Force Academy
Yale University

In our last post, we outlined the reasons why it is perfectly okay to get some help when writing your personal statement. But the help should fit your requirements and make you satisfied that you got what you needed, so let’s talk about how to get the right help for your college application essay.

As you start your search for help with your personal statement, you may find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available (about 284 million search results for “personal statement help”!). But choice in this case can be a good thing, as long as you know how to go about making it right.

Just as you want to get to the right college, there are steps you can take to make sure you get the right kind of help for writing your essay – and we’ve compiled the key ones here to help you get started.

Figure Out What You Need

You make choices all the time, and the first thing you do, often subconsciously, is to figure out what you want, before you decide to choose something. When you go up to the lunch counter to order a cheese pizza, you’ve quickly determined that (a) you want a pizza, not a sandwich or salad  because pizza is hot and you’re craving something warm (b) you want just cheese because it is always good and (c) you have enough money for it. You have made a choice that suits you and fits your needs.

That is pretty much what you should do before looking for help with your college essay – figure out what you need. Here are questions you should ask yourself:

– Do you need help writing the essay or just reviewing it?

– How much time do you have? Do you need someone who responds quickly?

– Are you comfortable working online or do you want to meet in person?

– How much are you (and your parents) willing to spend?

Once you’ve identified your needs, it will be easier to go to the next step. Make a list, or, if you’re into that kind of thing, create a spreadsheet !

Ask People You Know

You could ask a friend, but typically your friends who are in your grade are in the same state that you are in and may not be able to make suggestions. But if you have friends, or older siblings/relatives, who have recently graduated and successfully got into college, they could be a great source.

Your teacher and your high school counselor may have recommendations too. Ask them to provide information on any services they have heard about, as well as those that they specifically recommend – the more options you have to research, the better off you are in finding the right fit.

Search Online

You already knew about this one, right? Of course, pretty much anything we want to know about, it is worth starting with an online search. Most college essay guidance coaches know that it is critical to have an online presence of some sort, and it is a good way to find out what’s available.

But take care to do the search right! If you want to work with someone in person, look for options near you.  And search for specifics, something more than “essay help” which might give you hundreds of questionable results.

Research-Match-Choose

First , mark your requirements as “must-have'” and “nice-to-have”. For example, you may have “Meeting in person” as a “nice-to-have” (which allows you to work with coaches remotely), but may mark “Help writing the essay” as a “must-have” as you’re stuck and unable to get started.

Now that you have a bunch of options to choose from, start finding out more about them, particularly in relation to every item in your list of requirements . For each option, match their description of what they offer, and how, against your requirements and you will probably end up with only a few that satisfy all your needs. At this point, you may want to check if you can contact any of these coaches/agencies and get more info.

Trust is important, so if it is not through a personal referral, make sure the agency is run by reputable people, has a clear refund policy, and a solid web presence. By the way, Meemli might give you just what you want – take a look at our college essay guidance offerings (there’s a free one to get you started)!

You can enlist your parents help in making a choice – and paying for it! – but it is helpful to do as much of the research as possible on your own. It is time to start building critical life skills as someone who’ll be heading off to college soon!

Have more ideas on how to find the right kind of help with your college essay? Tell us about them!