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Still Looking for That Magic Topic? Try a Sample!
College Admissions Essays: Samples Samples of College Admissions Essays and Personal Statements– and Why They Can Help You Write Yours!! I always tell my students that one of the best ways to find...
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The Ultimate Essay Checklist
College Admissions Essays Final Checklist So you think you are done with your college admission essay or personal statement. Wait! You have worked so hard on that essay; it’s worth an extra few...
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Want to be Likable? Here’s how.
College Admissions Essays: How to make sure you come across as likable “Think of something you might boast about and turn it into an entertaining flaw.” College expert and blogger Jay Matthews on...
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Great New Source of Sample College Essays!
Have Your College Admissions Essay Reviewed for Free! I have an account on Twitter and try to blast out some of my posts several times a week, but other than that I’m a Tweating dud. But today I...
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College Essay Help from The Best: The New York Times
Mentor Essays for The Common App And Other College Application Essays If you are one of those students who understands how important these college admissions essays can be to landing in the school...
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The Perfect Topic: Right Under Your Nose
College Application Essays: Search For the Perfect Topic It’s Closer Than You Think I’ve learned a lot about what makes a great essay topic over the last six years I’ve helped students with their...
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The Beauty of Failure: How to Answer Prompt 2 of The Common Application
College Application Essays: Tell a Story to Answer Prompt 2 When Messing Up is a Good Thing I almost like Prompt #2 as much as Prompt #1 of the new essay questions for The Common Application:...
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Oprah and Prompt 2 of The Common Application
Yesterday, I wrote about how you can answer Prompt #2 of The Common Application and write about recovering from a failure. Coincidentally, our favorite motivator Oprah Winfrey stood up in front of...
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Should You Take the Challenge of Prompt 3 of New Common App?
College Application Essays: How to Answer Prompt 3 of the Common App. Who Have You Confronted Lately? When you read the five options for your Common Application essay, one prompt probably will...
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Become a Storyteller in Under Five Minutes
College Application Essays A Mini-Lesson from a Storytelling Pro I found this brilliant little example of how to understand what makes up a good story today in a column written by the talented...
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CBS Digs Essay Hell’s Topic Tips!
College Application Essays Tips for Finding Topics That CBS Finds Worth Repeating A couple days ago, Lynn O’Shaughnessy, a journalist who covers college admissions issues for CBS, featured this blog...
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Go Green with Your College Application Essays: Recycle!
If you are applying to multiple colleges this fall, you will need to write multiple essays for the different applications. The Common Application helps you consolidate many of your applications and...
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Open Up: How to Connect with Emotion and Pathos
One of the best ways to connect with your reader in your college application essay is through emotion. In my new book, Escape Essay Hell!, I share writing techniques and devices you can use to bring...
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#YOLO and The 2013-14 Essay Supplements
Students must write one core college admissions essay if they are applying to a college or colleges that use The Common Application. But most schools also require additional essays, called...
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Grab Your Readers with An Anecdote
College Application Essays How to Write An Anecdote About Almost Anything Before one of my college application essay writing workshops yesterday, I skimmed over some of the rough drafts the students...
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English Teachers Don’t Always Get It Write
At our local public high school, the English teachers assign juniors to write college application essays at the end of the year–one for the Common App and one for the UCs. It’s a great idea. For many...
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Colleges Want More Creative Essays. Wonder Why?
The Colorful New World of College Application Essay Prompts But What Does It Really Mean? University of Chicago: “Tell us your favorite joke and try to explain the joke without ruining it.” Brandeis...
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Don’t Let Your Privilege Show
College Application Essays Humility Goes a Long Way Many of the students I work with are from privileged backgrounds. (Hey, it’s expensive to hire a tutor!) They live in affluent communities, go on...
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SHOW the World You Come From or are Perfectly Content
How to Describe a Place in a College App Essay If you are applying to the University of California, you need to write two college application essays. I wrote about how to Describe the World You Come...
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A Peek into the Many Worlds of Prompt 1 of the UC Essays
About three years ago, I wrote a post to try to help students applying to the University of California find topics to answer Prompt 1 for their college application essay: Describe the World You Come...
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