Writing the College Application Essay: How to “Barbara Walters” Yourself, Part 4
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 3
Continuing on the path toward discovering a unique and compelling topic for your college application essay, here are ten more “self-interview” questions. What’s the saddest thing that ever happened to you? What did you learn from it? What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you? What did you learn from it? What is the […]
WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY – RESIST THE URGE TO SELL YOURSELF
WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY – RESIST THE URGE TO SELL YOURSELF When writing your college admissions essay, keep in mind that you are not “selling yourself” in the traditional sense. Of course, that’s the underlying goal – “Can I interest you in an outstanding student for your freshman class?” But if you come on […]
WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY – OUTLINING IS CRITICAL
Would a builder build a house without blueprints? Would a traveler set out on a cross country trip without a map or GPS? Would a chef bake a cake for the first time without using a recipe? Okay… enough analogies! The point (finally!) is, outlining is essential to writing an effective college application essay. Here’s […]
WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY – DIARY OF A COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY #6
August 6th, 2013 First draft of my Common App essay…. Check! Finished it last night and feel really terrible about it, which is supposedly a good thing. Ms. Gaetano (AP English like I could ever forget) always said that whenever a student told her he thought he did a great job on a paper it […]
WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY – AVOID THE SUPER HERO ESSAY
An old joke about actors goes like this: An actor meets a man at a party and before the man can get a word in edgewise, or escape, goes on and on about every play, television show, movie and commercial the actor has ever appeared in. Finally, after about an hour, the actor winds down. […]
WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY – DIARY OF AN ADMISSIONS ESSAY #5
July 31th Am I weird? I love doing outlines! And not just bullet points which is not an official outline no matter what some people might say. Roman numerals, points A., B., C., then the subpoints 1,2,3, and if I’m really on a roll, sub subpoints, a, b, etc. Something about the way it looks […]
WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY: FINDING A TOPIC
It’s tough to write a strong essay on a weak topic. That’s why, when preparing to write your college admissions essay, you need to be absolutely exhaustive in exploring potential essay topics. Often, although there are exceptions, your first or second topic choice is the same one that many other students have chosen. So you […]
WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY: DIARY OF AN ADMISSIONS ESSAY #4
July 27th, 2013 I am so proud of myself! Starting my admissions essay early was pure genius because once I realized that my original topic was not what I wanted to say, there was no problem throwing it out. I still had plenty of time to come up with another one! Oh, first let me […]
WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY – DIARY OF AN ESSAY #3
July 8, 2013 Well, the first draft of my college admissions essay is done! It meant saying no to Dina and Bree about shoe shopping, and telling Michael to go to see The Lone Ranger with his friend Nick (no interest anyway, that story is from a million years ago) but it was definitely worth […]