Work First, Surf Second: A Lesson in Mundane Topics

A student who I will call Ryan arrived for his tutoring session yesterday, and showed me what he had written for his English class. His essay started with how he worked with Habit for Humanity and a trip he took to work with Native Americans. Oh no. Not the old...

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 college application essays. If you’re...

Four “Bold” Sample College Admissions Essays

College Application Essays “Meant to Inspire” All Students Showed an “Appetite for Risk”  Earlier this year, a business writer for The New York Times invited students to share their college admissions essays on the topic of money, class,...

Where’s Waldo? and Creativity in College Essays

  College Admissions Essays It’s Official: Get Creative! Colleges tell students that they want their essays to show them what sets them apart from the pack and what makes them unique. Yet most of the college application essay prompts do a poor job of...

Twilight as a Topic? No Way!

College Admissions Essays: Finding topics in unlikely places   I would never have believed that writing about the Twilight series could be a super essay topic–not in a million years. But below, I’m going to share how one of my brightest students...

The Top Student=Bad Essay Paradox

College Application Essays How to Stay On Top of the Heap For some reason, “top students”–aka high achievers, go-getters, A-types, test-takers, straight-A students, you know who you are!–often have the hardest time writing these essays. At...