Welcome!
Thank you so much for your interest in being a writing mentor for one of our students! We are really excited for you to help a student with their U.S. Undergraduate application over the next few months.
EducationUSA students, including Competitive College Club members and individual advisees, come from all around Spain and are of different nationalities, ethnicities, and socio-economic backgrounds. But they all have one thing in common: they are passionate about gaining admission to a U.S. institution. For most of them, English is not their native language, so any advice and guidance you can offer them will be invaluable for helping to improve the essays they need to submit to their chosen universities.
In the past, the relationships formed between mentors and their mentees have made a huge difference in keeping students focused and determined, as well as helping them feel supported during a particularly stressful time in their life.
We hope that you enjoy working with your mentee as much as they will with you.
For any questions about the writing mentor program, please contact Michaela (mtucker@educationusa.org)
This Year’s Events
Writing Mentor Training
Tuesday, September 26, 6:30pm CET
Mentor Check-In Meeting
Tuesday, October 17, 5pm CET
Previous Writing Mentors’ Experiences
What is EducationUSA?
EducationUSA is a U.S. Department of State network of over 430 international student advising centers in more than 175 countries and territories. The network promotes U.S. higher education to students around the world by offering accurate, comprehensive, and current information about opportunities to study at accredited postsecondary institutions in the United States. EducationUSA also provides services to the U.S. higher education community to help institutional leaders meet their recruitment and campus internationalization goals.
In Spain, EducationUSA has centers located in Madrid and Barcelona.
What is Competitive College Club?
The EducationUSA Competitive College Club (CCC) supports Spain’s best and brightest students to have an improved chance at admissions to a U.S. college or university. Participation is free and open to all students residing in Spain of any nationality, ethnicity, and economic background. Students in 1º and 2º of Bachillerato (equivalent to 11th and 12th grade, respectively) who are in the top 10% of their class or have strong transcripts are eligible to apply, and applications to join the club are submitted when students are in the beginning of 1º of Bachillerato.
Accepted students attend bi-monthly meetings held during the school year, virtually or in-person in Madrid. Students who are just beginning the college application process in 1º of Bachillerato are known as the CCC Juniors cohort. The following year, these students begin 2º of Bachillerato and become the CCC Seniors cohort. Students enter CCC as Juniors; new students are not admitted to the Seniors cohort.
There are no guarantees that CCC students will be accepted to U.S. colleges or universities or that they will be awarded scholarships from U.S. universities, but CCC’s intensive group advising guarantees the best possible chance.
Competitive College Club Programming
Throughout Junior Year, CCC students work to increase their understanding of the U.S. education system and begin work on application components with the Cohort Adviser. In Senior Year, students work to refine their elements before submitting applications. Below are some of the topics covered in the CCC program. Please note that Writing Mentors are only responsible for essay editing. Advice for the other categories is handled by EducationUSA advisers.
Understanding the U.S. higher education system; learning about what a Liberal Arts curriculum entails and how this differs from the Spanish system.
Financial aid advice and scholarship opportunities.
The role of the school counselor and teacher recommendations in the application process.
Understanding standardized testing, including the SAT, ACT and English exams.
How to research and choose a U.S. university.
How to establish connections with U.S. universities as a way of demonstrating interest.
Writing competitive college essays—covering ‘personal statement’ type essays in response to prompts such as those included in the Common Application, shorter supplemental essays, and the extracurricular activities list.
IMPORTANT NOTE:The CCC is not a Fulbright grant program and participation in the CCC does not guarantee admission to scholarship awards from U.S. colleges or universities, nor does it give participants special consideration for future Fulbright grants.