A Favorite Essay Tip From a College Application Veteran

I loved a recent post by my friend, Lynn O’Shaughessy, who is a fellow journalist and now the international guru for creative ways to pay for college. (If you’re losing sleep over the insane cost of college, make sure to check out The College Blog.) Lynn...

The Secret to a Killer College Application Essay

  A lot of pieces go into crafting a college application essay that will help you stand out from the competition, and quite possibly push you through the door to your dream school: It needs to be engaging, especially at the start. (Here’s how you do that.)...

Five Ways to Bump Up a Dull Essay

So you have a rough draft for one of your college essays. You answered the prompt, read it many times and believe it’s a solid piece of writing. And you may be right. But even a solid essay can have one fatal flaw–-it’s boring. The last thing you want is for the...

Jobs Can Make Excellent Topics for College Essays!

My students have discovered some of their best topic ideas for their college application essays from their job experiences. I’m not sure why they make great fodder for college essays, but I believe that simply working for others naturally reveals a complimentary set...