Get Your CommonApp DONE in 5 Days over the Summer and Maximize Your Chances of ACCEPTANCE
SUMMER 2024 Dates and Registration
16 CommonApp Boot Camps from which to choose running throughout the summer 2024!
All Boot Camps can be attended in person at 38 Maplewood Ave, West Hartford, and/or remotely via Zoom.
All major credit cards accepted via the PayPal links. You may also Venmo payments to @CPE-5.
BOOT CAMP | DATES/TIMES | WHERE | MATERIALS | PRICE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
| West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) |  |
2 |
| West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) | $1599 . |
3 | June 24-28 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) | |
4 | June 24-28 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop (WITH CHARGER!) | |
5 | July 8-12 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop (WITH CHARGER!) | $1599 |
16 | July 15-19 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop (WITH CHARGER!) | $1599 |
6 | July 15-19 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop (WITH CHARGER!) | |
7 | July 22-26 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop (WITH CHARGER!) | $1599 |
8 | July 29-August 2, 1:00-4:00pm ET | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) | $1599 |
9 | August 5-9 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) | |
10 | August 5-9 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) | $1599 |
11 | August 12-16 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) | $1599 |
12 | August 12-16 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) | $1599 |
13 | August 19-23 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) | $1599 |
LAST ONE OF THE SUMMER ~ | August 26-30 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) | $1599 |
15 | August 26-30 | West Hartford and Online | Required Laptop/Table (WITH CHARGER PLEASE!) | $1599 |
(See also CommonApp Getting it DONE! Workshop, a fall version of the more intense summertime Boot Camp)
Parents, stop nagging your kids about getting their applications done. Greatly reduce household tension by using a third-party approach: let US be the bad guy for YOU. (See clip at right!)
Students, stop worrying about WHEN you’re ever gonna find the time to do your applications and how best to do them; we’ll organize your time for you and SHOW you how!
Why Applications Themselves Are More Important in Today’s College Admissions Game than Ever Before
Because most U.S. colleges have seen an explosion in applicants for many years in a row now, each candidate’s actual application has become more important than ever: it serves as the key mechanism though which students can distinguish themselves from the growing multitude of college hopefuls, especially from those who have comparable high school records and are applying to the same schools. Moreover, not only do well planned and carefully written applications greatly increase candidates’ chances of acceptance to their “reasonable fit” choices, but they can also open doors to “reach” schools students previously thought had been firmly closed.
CommonApp Boot Camps' Primary Mission: To Help Get You in
We measures success by bottom-line acceptances to college, and while all our consulting, test prep, and academic services ultimately aim toward that goal, our Boot Camps are intensively and exclusively focused on it. In a single work week, Monday-Friday, three hours a day, Dr. Yo walks each participant through every component of the CommonApp and supporting activities (which can be easily adapted to other applications for colleges that don’t accept the CommonApp)
CommonApp Boot Camps' Key Features:
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- Brainstorming and candidate packaging
- Developing strategies for academic and testing narratives
- Filling out personal history forms to best highlight strengths
- Constructing a unique and compelling Activities list
- Writing an effective Personal Essay that complements the rest of the application
- Instruction on how to answer the most commonly asked Supplement and Interview questions
- Advice on how to woo your favorite school
- ENSURING A COMPLETE CommonApp, WRITTEN AT THE OPTIMAL TIME, READY TO SUBMIT BEFORE THE ONSLAUGHT OF SENIOR YEAR !
CommonApp Boot Camps
-
- Run June-August
- Accommodate both in-person and online students (via Zoom)
- Are limited to 8 total participants per Boot Camp
Feel free to choose the session you think will be best with the understanding you can always switch, space permitting, right up to the very last second! (Just send Dr. Yo an email or text (413-329-7540) to change your session)
What work do students need to do before Boot Camp starts?
None! While many students will have done SOME work on their CommonApps before Boot Camp starts (typically for a class or as part of their school’s guidance program), it is neither required nor expected (see Writing College Applications in the Sweet Spot). Each Boot Camp is designed to take students from ground zero (i.e., registering an account on CommonApp.org) on Monday to being prepared to submit all the CommonApp forms on Friday. (Note this does not include all the individual college Supplements, which vary with each student in terms of both both number and amount of additional work required; however, we DO address how to approach the Supplement sections and discuss in detail how to go about answering the most commonly asked questions).
For students who want to get a head start and prepare themselves mentally for the week, rather than writing parts of their CommonApp before we talk about how all the parts need to fit together, I recommend purchasing and reading The CommonApp Handbook, which actually began as the syllabus and set of handouts for these very Boot Camps. Reading it in advance will turbo charge the whole five-day experience.
Give us 5 days of your summer…
We’ll give you back your fall!
Aside from consistently producing better applications than those done during the busy fall of senior year (which is when the vast majority of applicants write them), writing your CommonApp over the summer, as every Boot Camp participant discovers at some point during the Friday class, creates a great feeling of accomplishment. It lifts from your shoulders perhaps the heaviest weight you have to bear in all of high school, paving the way for a much less stressful fall semester for you (and often the whole family, too).
Feel free to choose the session you think will be best with the understanding you can always switch, space permitting, right up to the very last second! (Just send Dr. Yo an email or text (413-329-7540) to change your session)
One of the key takeaway from the week is the discovery that a compelling application conveys a clear and consistent message on every form and sub-form of the CommonApp. Consequently, students are encouraged to think deeply about their academic (and sometimes professional) interests, talents, and track-record; their passion(s) and major activities outside of academics (largely as measured by their time commitment since ninth grade), from athletics to school clubs and organizations to community service to summer adventures and travel to work experience to hobbies; and any special circumstances that directly impact applying to and attending college.
The clearer students get about who, exactly, they are and where they are going as college-bound seniors, the better able they are to take advantage of Dr. Yo’s many years of experience with the CommonApp and his expertise in getting the most out of every detail on every page of the online form. Moreover, taking a summer Boot Camp means students GET IT DONE before school starts (right, parents?), easing household tension and paving the way for a more productive fall spent visiting schools, getting great grades, re-testing, pursuing sports and activities and community service, and ENJOYING SENIOR YEAR!
Notes:
- If a 1-4pm Boot Camp fills (max 8 students) in any given week, we will close registration for it and very likely open a 9AM-12PM Boot Camp that week, assuming there isn’t one already scheduled. Updates will appear on this page.
- Camps with fewer than 3 registrants are subject to cancellation (rarely happens, but it does, in which case you can choose another session or a full refund)
- Registrants can change sessions right up until the FIRST meeting any given week pending availability (MAX CLASS SIZE: 8)