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These days, getting into college is harder than ever, with more students competing for precious spots at the top schools. Simply having a high GPA and strong test scores is often not enough to guarantee admission to your college or university of choice. Candidates must distinguish themselves from a large pool of hopeful applicants, many of whom have numbers that look as good or better than yours. This is where an excellent admission essay can really make the difference.

Many students mistakenly believe that the college admission essay is a less important aspect of a college application, secondary to those all-important statistics like grades and test scores. But this is not entirely true. Admissions officers at the top university are looking for students who can excel in college, who will make their institution look good through high achievement. Grades, standardized test scores and extra curricular activities can give them a sense of what kind of student you will be. But they are not perfect predictors. When choosing among many highly qualified applicants, the admissions people are looking for someone who stands out. They often turn to the college admission essay to learn more about those intangible qualities which make one student excel above the others.

So when writing an admission essay, keep in mind your primary goal. The purpose of the college application essay is to present yourself as someone who will contribute positively to the school. You must set yourself apart from the scores of other hopefuls. You must clearly outline in your application essay why you are unique, special and destined to succeed.

Be sure to include personal details in your admission essay. Tell a story about your life, one that will grab the attention of the reader and remain in his or her memory. The last thing you want is for your application essay to be forgettable.

One college applicant I know wrote an essay about a terrible car accident she suffered, which required her to undergo months of physical rehabilitation. Another great admission essay I read told about the student’s struggle to adapt after immigrating to the United States from Korea. You may not believe you have an interesting story to tell, but the truth is you probably do. Think of something challenging and character-building that happened to you, and use your application essay as an opportunity to tell the story and explain how it affected you.

Your college application essay should reflect who you are as an individual, not just as a student. Take the opportunity to write something personal and unique. Show the admissions officers that you are not just a set of information on a page; you are a multi-dimensional person who has real life experience and who will use that experience to excel for the rest of your life.
Most of us grew up playing one video game or another. First was Atari and Colecovision, then onto the Nintendo years, then Playstation, X-Box, PC games, and on and on. But no matter how far home gaming has gone, we all remember the action arcade games could proide for us. There’s nothing like an action arcade to get the blood flowing – the constant din, chatter and hordes of intense gamers was a culture unto itself.

The nice thing now is that you can download so many classic games for free if you just know where to look. Everything from Pitfall to Soul Caliber can be accessed online if you put in the time and effort to find them. So suddenly, your good old PC can be that same action arcade you grew up with, including the same title and gameplay.

My favorite growing up was Gauntlet. I would head down to the “OP Arcade”, as it was then called, with my roll of quarters and a Jolt Cola and spend hours in front of that screen. “Green Elf Needs Food Badly” – remember that? It’s a line that every gamer has heard more often than they can count, and it’s still good for a laugh when in the right company.

The action arcade there was a congregation point for all sorts of misfits. The true nerds and gamers, of course, were there in numbers. But so were the toughs, the greasers and, for lack of a better term, the “socs”. It was kind of like The Outsiders, except with less C. Thomas Howell. Pretty funny.

What surprises me is that no one has really been able to capture the action arcade mood and atmosphere in a film. Sure there was that terrible Fred Savage movie from the ’80s – and for the life of me I can’t remember the name of it – but other than that there’ve been pitifully few attempts at creating that world. You’d think a film about that subculture would have wide popularity given the pervasiveness of gamers and gaming in today’s culture.

One film that did try – successfully – to capture the culture of the action arcade is called “King of Kong – A Fistful of Quarters.” It’s a documentary film from 2007 about two gamers attempting to set the high score on Donkey Kong, and it’s definitely worth watching. I know it sounds like you’d be watching two nerds playing video games, but it’s actually insanely well done and the story arc is impossible to turn away from. Definitely one of my favorite documentaries of the past few years.

Of course, there are still real arcades in existance, but the advent of serious home gaming has largely eliminated the action arcade subcultre. Alas, to everything there is a season.
If you own a business, then you likely do some transactions. Alternatively, if you run an organization or some home-based program, you probably do a lot of correspondence with people and organizations. You have probably seen the need to have a personalized address stamp. In today’s busy world, an address stamp can save some seconds with every transaction or correspondence that you do and this can add up to a good amount of free time that you can use to either improve your business or focus on other important issues. So how can you go about getting a personalized address stamp?

A business priority is always to save up on expenses and increase sales. You can therefore decide to make a stamp yourself and save on those extra dollars. All you need is a few local supplies that you can get in a nearby office store. Ensure you have materials to make letters, numbers and an ink pad. Alternatively, you may decide that a do-it-yourself address stamp may not produce a professional address stamp. You can special order one with your own logo and get something more professional. A local printer or a large office supply store will usually have the skills and the necessary supplies to do this.

There are also a variety of online stores where you can shop online and order a personalized stamp for almost anything. All you have to do is to have your logo in digital form, preferably in .JPG format that you wish on your stamp. If you are not sure about how long you plan to stay in your current location, consider using labels. Personalized labels are a great alternative to address stamp for temporary personalized addresses and they can prove as effective as address stamps.

Some rubber stamps allow you to customize them and change the logo images, the residential addresses and other things. These address rubber stamps can save you money when there is a need to alter locations, logos or other things that might crop up along the way. To get a custom address stamp, it is good to make an order through the custom rubber stamp makers. Here, you can make an order of how you want your stamp to look, the features you want and other major and minor details. An address stamp will usually save you money, give your business an identity and add professionalism.