The following was written by a student I worked with last year. I asked him to try to capture the experience of writing his essays in a way that would give hope to seniors who are currently working on their own. I think he did a wonderful job! LOOKING BACK ON WRITING MY COLLEGE APPLICATION …
LOOKING BACK ON WRITING MY COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAYS by Shane Patterson Read More »
There are several techniques that will help you end your college application essay effectively. Some of these are The Echo, The Buzz Lightyear, and the Head of the Class, which I have written about in earlier blogs. Another approach is called “Apply Here,” which I have also found a good way to close out an …
Writing the College Admissions Essay – Ending Your Essay Read More »
In my last blog, I mentioned outlining as one of the Writing Basics required to write an outstanding college application essay. But the subject is so important that it demands a blog of its own. Students will sometimes resist outlining their college application essay because they are eager to start writing and consider outlining a …
Writing the College Application Essay: More on Outlining Read More »
In writing the college application essay, the focus is often on hitting a home run. Yet before you can do that, you need to perfect the mechanics of your swing (You have my word, that will be the last baseball analogy of the year.). So let’s review a few writing basics. Brainstorming Everyone knows what …
WRITING THE COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY: START WITH THE BASICS Read More »
This blog is the second in a series called, “Ten Words That Will Improve Your College Application Essay.” In each of the blogs, I’ll examine a key word as it relates to writing the college application essay, and describe how it can help you. The word for today is “resist.” There are several ways this …
Writing the College Application Essay: Ten Words That Will Improve Your Essay , No. 2 Read More »
In choosing the topic for your college application essay, keep in mind that the first idea you have is often the same first idea that other applicants have as well. That’s why you need to keep digging, pushing hard to find a compelling and effective topic. To help with that excavation, here are ten more …
Writing the College Application Essay: How to “Barbara Walters” Yourself, Part 4 Read More »
The topic of your college application essay is as critical as the quality of the writing. That’s why you need to carefully mine your experiences to find a topic that is compelling, reasonably unique (I recently read an article about high school seniors who wrote college application essays about their genitals, urinating in their pants …
WRITING THE COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY: HOW TO “BARBARA WALTERS” YOURSELF, PART TWO Read More »
The queen of interviews has retired so now it’s your turn to step up. In discovering a topic for your college admissions essay, “interview yourself” by asking a series of questions designed to expose your feelings and passions, spotlight important events in your life and reveal, ideally, what you didn’t know you knew (read that …
Writing the College Admissions Essay: How to “Barbara Walters” Yourself Read More »
This blog is the first in a series called, “Ten Words That Will Improve Your College Admissions Essay.” In each of the blogs, I’ll examine a key word as it relates to writing the college admissions essay, and describe how it can help you. The word for today is “audacity.” In my experience, the best …
It’s May! Springtime! The birds are tweeting (the old fashioned way), flowers are blooming and high school juniors everywhere are staring out the window daydreaming about… their college admissions essays? Uhm… probably not. And yet, writing the essay does not have to be a dreaded chore, especially if you treat it as a journey of …
WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY – YOUR JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY Read More »
