Personal Statement Weekend is coming soon

826 Valencia is proud to announce our tenth annual weekend-long personal statement tutoring event, The Great San Francisco Personal Statement Weekend, on October 20 and 21 at Mission High School. We’re inviting all high school seniors in SFUSD to register, attend, and get that extra boost of individual support, and all available adults in the community (registered 826 Valencia tutors or not!) to come out to support them as they write, revise, and edit these important essays.

Here’s how it works: Students and tutors can sign up for one or more tutoring sessions, which run from 1:00 to 3:00 and 3:00 to 5:00 each day of the weekend, with an additional drop-in hour from 5:00 to 6:00. 826 Valencia will pair trained tutors with students to provide individualized feedback on their college application essays. All personal statement and scholarship essay writers are welcome, whether they’re just starting, almost finished, or somewhere in between. We’ll have computers on hand for easy editing, as well as yummy snacks to keep everyone going!
 
Here are what some of last year’s students and tutors had to say about the event:
 
“My tutor was very interesting and understanding. Having spent time with someone as smart as my tutor motivated me to work harder on essay writing in general.”
 
“Because I had a tutor to talk to, I was able to move much further along in the writing process of my personal statements. I learned to break down my essay into specific points that can be more clearly stated and understood. This made the writing process easier for me as well.”
 
“It is always inspiring to hear the incredible stories of strength and resilience displayed by these amazing young people. They often do not perceive their own triumphs.”
 
Ready to jump in? Registering for the event as a student or a tutor is easy—just follow the links below:

Students: Click here to register!

Tutors: Click here to sign up for training sessions and tutoring shifts!
 
*Please note: In 2016, the UC made significant changes to the Personal Statement prompts. All tutors are required to attend a training on the new Personal Insight Questions. Some trainings are scheduled in advance of the weekend, while some are offered during the weekend. If you attended a training over the last two years (either at one of our centers or at the Personal Statement Weekend) you will not need to attend again this year.

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Now that you’re excited, please spread the word! Our current record is serving 191 students over the weekend, and this year we are aiming to serve even more.

If you have questions, please contact Programs Manager Ryan Young at ryan@826valencia.org.

Can’t make it to the event, but still want to get involved? Please consider sharing the opportunity with your network and making a donation to 826 Valencia. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we are able to offer our free writing programs to thousands of youth in San Francisco each year.