by j9robinson | Sep 15, 2017
Don’t Even Think About Writing About the Eclipse And What to Write About Instead When I was invited to give one of my college application essay writing workshops to students at Colorado Academy in Denver, Colorado, I had no idea it would be on the day of...
by j9robinson | Aug 3, 2017
Students Stress Over College App Essays Because for the First Time They Want to Write But Realize They Don’t Know How The New York Times ran an article yesterday called “Why Kids Can’t Write.” Great piece, but I didn’t agree with the...
by j9robinson | Apr 13, 2017
Can a Risky College Application Essay Get You Into the Ivies? Maybe… This time of year, a flurry of stories hit the national media about students who get into all the Ivy League schools (plus Stanford). The stories always include scrutiny and speculation...
by j9robinson | Apr 6, 2017
Weekend Essay Writing Boot Camps in Laguna Beach I will be offering three, two-part essay workshops this summer in my hometown of Laguna Beach on how to write awesome college application essays. The workshops, which will be 90 minutes each on Saturday morning and...
by j9robinson | Feb 18, 2017
Big Red Flag on this New Common Application Prompt 6! The Common Application added two new prompts for 2017-18. Now students can choose from seven prompts (instead of five) to inspire their personal statement “Common App” essay. The seventh new...
by j9robinson | Dec 12, 2016
A friendly reporter from the popular daily tabloid newspaper, Metro, contacted me a couple weeks ago. She was writing a piece for the New York edition on college admissions, and wanted to feature some of my college application essay writing tips. (It’s actually...
by j9robinson | Oct 26, 2016
24 More Commonly Asked Questions about College Admissions Essays How far back should I go in tracing my background? When writing about experiences from your past, it’s best to stick to your high school years in general (for Common Application and incoming...
by j9robinson | Oct 25, 2016
FAQ | College Application Essays I’m sharing below 20 of the most common questions about college application essays that I have been asked over the years, along with links to longer explanations and related helpful information. This spring I published a book...
by j9robinson | Jul 15, 2016
Got a Burning Question About Your College Application Essay? (Leave it in the Comments!) After working with students like you for nearly a decade now, I’ve heard a lot of questions about these cursed essays. And you are so smart to ask them. How else can you...
by j9robinson | May 31, 2016
Learn How to Avoid Black-and-White Thinking to Add Depth to Your Essays It’s exciting to see that word is getting out to collegebound students, and those who support their admissions quests, that real-life stories power the most effective college...
