by j9robinson | Jun 15, 2014
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...
by j9robinson | May 27, 2014
When my two kids were finishing their junior years of high school, they each received the assignment from their English teacher to write a college application essay. It sure sounded good—they could get a jump on these dreaded essays and receive professional...
by j9robinson | May 26, 2014
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...
by j9robinson | May 20, 2014
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...
by j9robinson | May 14, 2014
I’m very excited to announce that my new collection of sample college application essays–Heavenly Essays–is now available in paperback on Amazon. You also can buy ebook copies there and on this site as well. To celebrate–and help spread the...
by j9robinson | May 5, 2014
At the end of last year, I announced an essay writing contest. My goal was to find some quality examples of narrative writing by real students that I could include in my just-published collection of 50 sample college application essays, called Heavenly Essays. About a...
by j9robinson | Apr 27, 2014
I was watching the most recent episode of Modern Family the other night, and thought it was funny and telling that Alex Dunphy, the token brainiac of the family, was obsessing about her college application essay. The family was on a vacation in Australia, and Alex...
by j9robinson | Apr 24, 2014
If you are a Letterman fan, you know that I am supposed to list these college application essay tips backwards, and end with No. 1. But I prefer chronological order. You can watch the YouTube video, where he has the young man, Kwasi Enin, who was accepted to all...
by j9robinson | Apr 18, 2014
In my previous post, I featured a question and answer session with author Robert Cronk, who wrote a popular writing guide on how to write narrative-style college application essays. I found Concise Advise, which directs students on how to use movie-script writing...
by j9robinson | Apr 17, 2014
I’m always on the lookout for great writing guides—especially books on how to write narrative, slice-of-life essays (like mine). Only recently did I discover this book, Concise Advice, by Robert N. Cronk. What I loved was that his approach was different...
