Beat the holiday rush (and the application stress)
Half a school morning doesn’t sound like much when you say it out loud.
But time can be sneaky — deceptive, even — because we seriously underestimate how much magic can happen inside such a small slice of time.
It’s enough time to:
board a plane from Charlotte to Chicago, eat the pretzels, and land
drive to High Point and back while belting early-90s throwbacks like you’re headlining a reunion tour
or wander into HomeGoods for “just a candle” and mysteriously emerge with a lamp, throw blanket, and $187 worth of journaling supplies and snacks.
Three hours looks unassuming on paper — just an inch-long block on Google Calendar you could cover with your thumb — and yet somehow it’s so powerful that inside that little sliver you can fit an entire transformation.
Every fall, I have dozens of teens join my essay editing sessions, believing they’re about to get a quick grammar once-over — sprinkle a comma here, adjust an em dash there, maybe get the official “Yep, this isn’t AI” comment.
But within minutes, the truth pops out: the writing is strong, but it’s just the wrong story for the schools they’re applying to. And just like that, the commas fade into the background and in true lab-tech fashion, we drop that essay under the microscope, zoom past the surface sparkle, and start dissecting the deeper layers so we can fix the real issues.
So pull up your Home Goods basket, park yourself in one of those must-have armchairs, and let me tell you about three teens who started off thinking they were “almost done”… and walked out with essays and activities lists their colleges could actually feel.
Student #1:
The Club Kid Who Missed the Point
This young man came in with an essay polished enough to apply for a job at Grammarly.
Truly immaculate.
But. At the top of his activities list was his entire (and impressive!) athletic identity:
Eight years of Baseball.
Travel teams.
Tournaments.
The whole ESPN montage.
Except… he wasn’t going to play ball in college, wasn’t pursuing athletics, and — most importantly — the schools on his list weren’t looking for sports at all.
They were looking for self-driven thinkers who pursue interests — the kind that live outside organized, adult-directed things.
As perfect and impressive as his list was… it was like following GPS directions to the T — to the wrong address.
It focused on coachability and endurance, showing he could run the laps and follow the drills — but what his dream colleges wanted was proof he could chart his own course, not just stick to one. But because he was convinced this had to be the achievement colleges wanted, he honestly thought he had nothing else worth spotlighting.
So I asked him what he does when nobody is assigning anything.
And suddenly it turns out that he’d:
taught himself guitar and piano.
played golf five days a week for years…purely for joy.
and had a job buried so far down the activities list it was basically paying rent in the basement.
Colleges read those self-led pursuits and see drive, curiosity, emotional intelligence, problem-solving, and consistency.
Almost none of this was in his application.
None of this was what he thought “counted.”
Once we downgraded the adult-led activities and upgraded the student-led ones, everything snapped into alignment.
Turns out his activity list didn’t need more adjectives. It just needed the right angle.
Student #2:
The Teen Who ‘Forgot’ Their Best Accomplishments
Two days after working on his activities list with me, Toby slid onto my Zoom meeting room with that guilty look every mom recognizes.
“Um… I just remembered two things. Are they important?”
I braced myself for something tiny, like “I helped sell hot dogs at the school fundraiser.”
But instead, to my delight, he’d forgotten to mention that he:
Had a job at an independent living facility, and
He’d been asked to train younger new hires.
And here’s the kicker:
He had given the top spots on his activities list to the National Honor Society and a handful of monthly clubs.
Which is cute — but only in a nostalgic, pre-2012 sort of way. These days, his dream schools care about:
maturity
empathy
responsibility
community impact
leadership that has grown and evolved naturally
His “forgotten” experiences showed every single one of those qualities!
So we moved his job to the top. Reframed his leadership. And suddenly, the entire activities list came alive.
He didn’t just walk away with a better list — he also walked away understanding what colleges are hungry to see.
Student #3:
The Accidental Entrepreneur
This student’s Activities List was perfectly polished…
but painfully bland — the literary equivalent of a water cracker.
He’d listed his roles with textbook precision: time management, perseverance, leadership.
All admirable — but it read more like a job posting than a person.
And that’s the problem.
Admissions officers already know the “job descriptions” for 99% of high school activities.
They’ve read hundreds of versions of cashier, captain, volunteer, tutor.
What they don’t know — and what they’re actually looking for — is who that student was while doing whatever it is they've done.
Who is the teen behind the title? THAT is the question that needs answering.
Because that’s how admissions officers decide if a student will be a great match for their college — if who they are aligns with the mission, energy, and community of the school itself. (And at the more competitive colleges, the Activity List is the #1 factor in whether a student gets a yes, no, or maybe letter in the mail.)
Showing who the student is turns an Activities List from “competent” into “compelling.”
And his schools were looking for initiative, creativity, entrepreneurship, and grit.
And ohhh did this kid have it. He just wasn’t writing about it.
Within minutes, I learned he had:
been beekeeping since a science project in 5th grade,
turned it into a small honey business with raving fans,
AND rented his car out on Turo to cover his own expenses.
Sir.
This is not “time management.”
This is Shark Tank: Teen Edition.
Once we shifted his Activities List to highlight the inventive, entrepreneurial, self-driven parts of his life, his entire application transformed.
His list didn’t change much beyond a few more additions. But his angle did. And that angle changed everything.
🌟 What Those Editing and Lab Hours Really Are
When parents sign their teens up for the 3-Hour Essay Edit + 2-Hour Activities List Lab, they usually think they’re buying five hours of editing — commas, formatting, maybe a confidence boost.
And yes, at the bare minimum, they get that.
But what they’re really getting is a custom-fit clarity package tailored precisely to what their teen most needs.
Plus, those hours aren’t one giant block. We spread them out where it makes the biggest difference, and that's unique for each student.
Here’s what it looks like from the student’s seat:
⭐ 2-Hour Activities List Lab — Every student starts here.
We work side by side to:
Write every activity description, word by word, so it reflects them, not a job description.
Answering those “Does this count?” questions. (Spoiler: it almost always does.)
Import that copy straight into the Common App.
Fix formatting, spacing, or character count issues in real time.
So once this session is done, the Activities List portion of their application is ready to submit.
⭐ 3 Hours of Essay Editing + Strategy — Used wherever they’ll make the biggest impact:
Strengthening essay angles and tightening structure.
Elevating supplemental responses to be more strategic and targeted.
Highlighting what colleges actually care about (and skipping what they don’t).
By the end, the essays sound sharper, Activities Lists finally click, and everyone — parents included — can breathe again.
🎯 First, Let’s Make Sure We’re Aiming at the Right Schools
Before I ever edit a single essay, I talk with the students about their schools and majors.
Because here’s the thing: we don’t want to spend hours crafting essays for the wrong places.
Like the bright community-college transfer I worked with recently — passionate about interior design, but stuck on Google searches for “best design schools.” Her list looked solid, but it wasn’t strategic.
I mentioned a program that’s quietly one of the best in the country for her field.
She blinked. She’d never heard of it.
She wrote it down instantly — and that one conversation reshaped her entire transfer plan.
That’s why every family I work with starts with this kind of conversation. Because before we write or edit anything, we make sure it’s for the right schools — the ones that fit who your teen is and where they’ll thrive.
You know how the next month goes — travel, family, finals, holiday everything.
If your teen’s essays or Activities List aren’t done yet, let’s check that box now.
In five hours of strategy, crafting, and editing, I’ll make sure their essays sound like them, their Activities List clicks, and their schools actually fit — so your family heads into the holidays breathing easier.
With heart, highlighters, and the questions that unlock everything,
Christy Sharafinski
Your go-to college essay + admissions mentor
P.S. These fill fast. Like Black-Friday-Target fast. Grab a spot before the season gets even more wild.
👋 Hi, if we haven't met yet, I'm Christy. I help students craft standout essays so they can submit their best possible applications with confidence.
Wanna chat? www.calendly.com/easiercollegeessays/30min
