How to Write the UC Transfer Essay: Why This Major?

The University of California CHANGED its prompts for transfer students this year (2106)! Read Strategies for the New University of California Transfer Essays for the updated information on the new prompts.   CLICK HERE FOR UPDATED POST ON NEW UC TRANSFER ESSAYS!...

2 Sample Outlines for “Why You?” Supplements

Oops. Not again! We are talking about supplements for college application essays. Not vitamin supplements. Geez! Even though supplemental essays usually are short—usually a paragraph or two—many students are stumped on how to structure them. Or on just how...

What’s Sup? 10 Hot Tips to Power Your Supplements

Oops. Wrong SUP. We are talking college application essay supplements here. Haha. I just gave a workshop on how to write college supplement essays to a group of college-bound students yesterday, and wanted to share some of the advice and tips on how to make them stand...

Marriage of Hell and Heaven in College Application Essays

Parke Muth, a veteran college admissions counselor and writer from Virginia, interviewed me recently about my opinions and advice regarding college application essays. I thought I would share the interview, which he featured on his own highly informative blog. ...

College Application Essay Grabber Trick: Show First!

  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...

Free College Application Essay Writing Guide Offer!

I watched this inspiring trailer video today about students from Stockton, California, who are learning to tell their stories using both poetry and investigative journalism (digging up facts.) Since the economic downfall starting in 2008, their city turned into a...

TMI in College Application Essays?

  For more than five years now, I’ve encouraged students to write their college application essays using a narrative style. Sharing true-life stories to reveal your personality, character, interests, dreams and goals is the best way to tell about yourself...

Score Sample College Application Essays for CHEAP CHEAP!

  To help kick off the college admissions “Season,” I’m offering my new collection of inspiring college application essays–Heavenly Essays–for under a buck. Yup, you can download an ebook copy from this blog, and start reading right...

A Sample College Application Essay from Heavenly Essays

  I thought you might like to read one of the 50 sample college application essays featured in my new book, Heavenly Essays. This is the first one in the book. Like most of the essays in this collection, it was written by a former tutoring student of mine. I will...

Why I Do This: The Essay Hell Manifesto

I thought it might be helpful to type up an explanation of why I write my blog, the source of my intentions, and what I think about the dreaded college application essay. You might find it boring, but I wanted to get it out and all in one place. Here’s what I...