“If you want to ‘show’ something, ask, ‘Can you prove it with an example?'”

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College Application Essay Grabber Trick: Show First!

by | Jun 30, 2014

  When you write a college application essay, you want to “grab” the attention of your reader from the start. My favorite writing technique to hook readers is to engage them with an anecdote, which is a real-life moment or incident. You might have...

SHOW the World You Come From

by | Oct 4, 2013

URGENT UPDATE! The University of California CHANGED its essay prompts for 2016-17. Learn about the all-new requirements by clicking HERE!   THIS POST IS OUTDATED! How to Describe a Place in a College App Essay If you are applying to the University of California,...

Essay Rocket Fuel: The Anecdote

by | Jun 13, 2012

College Admissions Essays How to Write an Anecdote For Your College Application Essay, Personal Statement or other Essays If you can write an anecdote, you can write a powerful essay. But a lot of students don’t know what an anecdote is, let alone how to write one....

The Catch-22 of College Admissions Essays

by | Sep 9, 2010

It feels like a set-up. First, you are supposed to reveal how wonderful you are in 500 words–about the number you can cram onto a postcard in your teensiest handwriting. Second, you must sell yourself to the college of your dreams—setting yourself apart from the...

Revenge of a Tortured English Professor

by | Sep 6, 2010

If you have time, this essay (How to Say Nothing in 500 Words) is packed with invaluable advice that will help you make your college essay sing–and NOT bore those college admissions folks. An English professor wrote it in the 1960s after reading probably a...