HOW TO MAKE YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY THE BEST WRITING YOU’VE EVER DONE (#25 OF 25)
The final of my twenty five ways to make your college application essay the best writing you’ve ever done could just as well have been the first. That’s because it can not only improve the quality of your essay, it can elevate the experience of writing it. #25. Use the writing of your essays as […]
HOW TO MAKE YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY THE BEST WRITING YOU’VE EVER DONE (#24 OF 25)
In truth, there are probably a hundred ways to make your college application essay the best writing you’ve ever done. And perhaps next year I’ll add another seventy five. But for now, here’s the next to last one for 2015. #24. Avoid being too general, or too complicated. The too general essay speaks in broad […]
HOW TO MAKE YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY THE BEST WRITING YOU’VE EVER DONE (#23 OF 25)
An interesting fact about written material is that everyone has an opinion about it. After all, most people have at some time in their lives written something – anything – which they feel qualifies them to be the last word in literary criticism. But that shall remain a gripe for another blog series. Today we […]
HOW TO MAKE YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY THE BEST WRITING YOU’VE EVER DONE (#22 of 25)
There is an old show business adage (attributed at times to both P.T. Barnum and Walt Disney), “Always leave them wanting more.” As it relates to your college application essay, however, I would suggest a slight adjustment: “Always leave them wanting you.” Easier said than done, of course (what isn’t?), but Step Twenty Two of […]
HOW TO MAKE YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY THE BEST WRITING YOU’VE EVER DONE (#20 OF 25)
Number twenty of the twenty five ways to make your college application essay the best writing you’ve ever done is often a tough one for students to accept. Simply put it’s… #20. Don’t sell yourself (at least obviously) Everyone, including the Admissions Committee member who will be reading your essay, is fully aware that you […]
How to Make Your College Application Essay the Best Writing You’ve Ever Done (#14 of 25)
As both teacher and college application essay tutor, I have found that while nearly all students are familiar with the writing axiom “show, don’t tell,” many of them still don’t employ it. I thought it would be worthwhile, therefore, to include this concept in my twenty five ways to make your college application essay the […]
How to Make Your College Application Essay the Best Writing You’ve Ever Done (#13 of 25)
Editing is a specific, hard to master skill that students are rarely taught, but are still expected to know. Self-editing can be even harder, as writers of every level can struggle with objectivity. Add the built-in stress of trying to get accepted to your first choice college, and editing your college application essays can be nothing […]
How to Make Your College Application Essay the Best Writing You’ve Ever Done (#12 0f 25)
Here’s another of my twenty five ways to make your college application essay the best writing you’ve ever done. #12. Include Personal Details and Specifics Of course, this is a basic of good writing but it does bear repeating here. When writing your application essays, don’t speak in generalities. Make your descriptions – whether they […]
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 […]