How to Make Your College Application Essay the Best Writing You’ve Ever Done (#4 of 25)
Here’s the fourth of my twenty five ways to make your college application essay the best writing you’ve ever done. #4. 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 […]
How to Make Your College Application Essay the Best Writing You’ve Ever Done (#3 of 25)
Here’s the third of the “twenty five ways to make your college application essay the best writing you’ve ever done.” #3. Go Small Students sometimes feel that by associating themselves with a major societal issue – climate change, poverty, the cure for a horrible disease – they will be demonstrating their seriousness as a human […]
How to Make Your College Application Essay the Best Writing You’ve Ever Done (#1 of 25)
This is the first in a series of twenty five blogs I will be posting in the months ahead, all under the title, “How to Make Your College Application Essay the Best Writing You’ve Ever Done.” The blogs are based on a workshop I developed for high school and community presentations and represent a synthesis […]
THE THREE “RE’S” OF WRITING THE COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY
At the risk of oversimplifying, here are three “re’s” students need to keep in mind when writing their college application essays. Re-flect Unless a student was raised by wolves or comes from Pluto, it is rare that an outstanding essay topic instantly reveals itself. On the contrary, it takes time and serious self reflection to […]
LOOKING BACK ON WRITING MY COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAYS by Shane Patterson
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 […]
Writing the College Application Essay: Ten Words That Will Improve Your Essay , No. 2
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: 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 […]