What We Can Teach Our Children During the Coronavirus Crisis

As a college application essay coach, I deal with many students each year. As a dad, I deal with two. My son is 28 and a career counselor at the University of Washington so my immediate impact on his life has become marginal, to put it mildly. My daughter, however, is a college junior so I still retain at least a modicum of influence on her. In fact, she is back at home now, taking

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A College Application Essay Tutor Reflects

During the ten years I’ve been a college application essay tutor, I have always focused my blogs on practical ways students could improve their essays, and their writing in general. I have written about how to start an essay, end it, deal with the word count, describe feelings rather than events, and much more. (https://collegeessaysolutions.com/how-to-make-your-college-application-essay-the-best-writing-youve-ever-done-1-of-25/) In the coming months, I will continue posting blogs about writing the application essay but this one, my first of

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Craig Heller

The 2017 Common Application Essay Prompts – #7

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] Along with number six, the other new Common Application essay prompt for 2017 (https://www.commonapp.org/whats-appening/application-updates/common-application-announces-2017-2018-essay-prompts) is number seven, “Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.” This is actually a repeat of a prompt from several years ago, that the folks at the CA decided to take off the

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Craig Heller

The 2017 Common Application Essay Prompts

There were several changes to the Common Application essay prompts (www.commonapp.org) this year and I thought it would be helpful to offer a strategy for responding to them. I’ll start with the two new prompts (one is actually a revival of an older prompt), then circle back and offer some tips for answering the holdovers, and revised ones. The first new prompt is number six. “Describe a topic, idea or concept you find so engaging that

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Craig Heller

Finding an UNCommon College Application Essay Topic

Finding an uncommon college application essay topic is one of the biggest challenges facing high school seniors applying to college. And understandably so. Most high school seniors have a scope of experiences that is markedly similar. Interactions with family, friends, school, sports, and enrichment activities fill up the majority of their days. Essay topics, therefore, unless you happen to have spent your formative years in a tree house in the Burmese jungle… tend to fall

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Craig Heller

Knowing Yourself = Writing a Better College Application Essay

Most college application essay prompts ask students to reveal, in one way or another, who they are and what is important to them. Yet “knowing yourself” (https://www.prolificliving.com/the-greatest-discovery-of-all-getting-to-know-yourself/) is not that easy, especially for a young adult who is still learning about the world and his or her place in it.So, for this blog, let’s put aside talking about writing university admission essays, and try to better understand that fascinating person that is “you.” Answering these

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Craig Heller

MORE! College Application Essay Writing Tips

Here are two more guidelines that will help you write the best college application essay you can possibly write. Answer the Prompt While this may seem obvious, many students veer away from fully answering the essay prompt, and wind up hurting their chances for acceptance. Admissions Directors are expecting all aspects of an essay prompt to be addressed and anything less will be considered an inability to follow directions. Even if your essay is perceptive

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admission essay help
Craig Heller

Write Your BEST College Application Essay (#1)

Last year, I did a series of blogs called, “Twenty Five Ways to Make Your College Application Essay the Best Writing You’ve Ever Done.” The blogs included conceptual guidelines for writing an effective essay, as well as many technical writing tips. Longish title notwithstanding, response to the series was extremely positive. For this year, and at this early stage of the college application “season,” I