WRITING THE COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY: IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN COLLEGE

I was recently interviewed for an article in the Los Angeles Times “Mind and Body Section” (okay, the writer is a friend of mine) about writing as therapy. The writer wanted to know if I thought writing the college application essay could be therapeutic for high school seniors. My initial response: You have to remember, […]

Writing the College Admissions Essay – Six Tips for Choosing a Topic

Finding a suitable topic for your college application essay is one of the most challenging, and critical, aspects of the entire application process. Here are six tips that might make it easier. 1. Go small. By this, I mean, simple, clear, highly personal and revealing of your character. Your lifelong inability to tell a joke, […]

WRITING THE COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY: HOW TO “BARBARA WALTERS” YOURSELF, PART TWO

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 ADMISSIONS ESSAY – YOUR JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY

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 – GUIDELINES FOR CHOOSING A TOPIC

I have recently read a number of articles about subjects to avoid in writing your college admissions essay and have reached the following conclusion: There is no suitable subject for the college admissions essay. From legitimate family tragedy to your high school basketball team’s double overtime championship game, college application experts have put a strong […]

FIVE THINGS I LEARNED FROM THE 2012 COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SEASON The college admissions “season” runs generally from mid summer to the end of the year, although applications are certainly filed during other months. The 2012 season was a fantastic experience for me; here are five things I learned. 1. The students moving on to college […]

Diary of a College Admissions Essay

November 25, 2012 Sunday after Thanksgiving. More supplementals today, almost finished. Still trying to be “original,” without being totally bizarre. Like today, I wrote one where I said that when I toured Bucknell I was amazed to learn that I spoke their language. I was fluent in “Bucknell.” What was important to them, was important […]

Writing the College Application Essay: Guidelines for Writing Emotionally

Many of the best college application essays have a strong emotional content. They express and reveal the emotions of the writer – the applicant – and they stimulate emotion in the reader – the college Admissions Director. This fact is one reason many students find writing the essay so challenging. Throughout high school, students are […]

WRITING THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS ESSAY: HOW TO HANDLE THE WORD COUNT #2

Here are five more methods that will help you wrestle your college admissions essay to the appropriate word limit. 6. Cut adjectives. In the desire to write descriptively, students will sometimes load their essays up with too many adjectives. Faced with the need to cut, look for places where you might have used two adjectives […]

Writing the College Application Essay – The Common Application Prompts

Many colleges and universities (nearly 500) use the Common Application. I thought it might be helpful, therefore, to offer some input about the Application’s essay prompts. Short Answer: Please elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (150 words) One hundred fifty words doesn’t seem like much but if you give this essay […]