How to Improve Your Mediocre Extracurricular Essay in 30 Minutes
Related Reads: Ira Glass, in his very excellent four-part video series on YouTube (which is 20 minutes well spent) says a great story must have two basic parts: a great story and a great “so what.” I have to agree. Below are examples from a…
What to Do If You’re Lost
Don’t panic. If you’ve tried all these things and still haven’t decided what to write about in your essay, don’t worry. There’s a great story inside you waiting to be told. Consider these questions: What’s the toughest lesson you’ve ever had to learn? What’s the hardest…
How to Choose a College: A Step-By-Step Guide
How do you choose a college that’s right for you? What a daunting question! The good news: there are more than 4,500 colleges and universities in the US. Even better news: most schools accept most students, with the national average at 65.8% in 2014 (source)….
How Your Parents Can Help You Write Your College Essay
2. For some parents, it feels like nothing is good enough. This is death to the creative process. We’re our own worst critics. Having a second voice telling us that the intro is flat or that the essay doesn’t really reveal who you are–particularly while…
How to Write Your College Essay in Just One Night
(a.k.a.: The “Break in case of emergency” essay) This is for those of you who are experiencing extreme writer’s block, have procrastinated ‘til the last minute, or are feeling just plain lazy. I love you and I have been you. Oh, and this is for…
Revising Your Essay in 5 Steps
So I figured something out recently. I was looking back at a couple of my favorite student essays and I realized that the structure of a couple of those essays is ridiculously sound. Rock solid. And not only is it rock solid, it’s teachable. Take…
5 Resources That Will Save You $3,480
Any favorite sites for researching schools? For the pro perspective, go where for $20 you can get online access to the Fiske Guide to Colleges, which is pretty much the go-to guide for college research (#1 on Amazon). This $20 is optional but totally worth…
5 Ways to Make Your Activities List Awesome
You only get 150 characters to list activity on your college app: how do you make the most of them? Like this: 1. To fit in more info: use lists, don’t use complete sentences, cut extra words. Instead of: I raised money to donate to…
Done With Applications? Now Set Your Facebook to Private
Turns out college reps aren’t the only ones FB-stalking you. “We check the Facebook page of not only potential hires, but volunteers as well,” says Yvonne Sawyer, COO at the non-profit Hope for Miami (and, full disclosure, my mother in-law). I asked Mrs. Sawyer what…
Working With Me on Personal Statements
I was curious to know what it was like working with me on college essays, so I asked some of my students: What was it like working with me? Here’s what a few of them said: Isabel writes: Working on college essays with you made…