Don’t Let Your College Application Essay Topic Get Too Cute!

college application essay topic

A GREAT IDEA FOR AN ESSAY, OR IS IT? Cyrus had a great idea for his college application essay. In answer to Common App Essay Prompt #4 – about an intellectual challenge he’d like to solve – he would write a question mark. That’s it, one giant question mark. For the entire essay. The more […]

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 […]

Writing the College Admissions Essay – Ending Your Essay

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: SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS: Why That School?

Many colleges request supplemental essays, in addition to the Common Application or other required essays. Subjects range from one word responses to page and a half philosophical explorations but one of the most common is the simple question, “Why (Your School Here)?” In answering this prompt, one of the keys to a good essay is […]