What Makes a College Application Essay “Great”?

Are you starting to think about writing your college application essay? If so, you need to know what makes a great essay to know how to start brainstorming and writing your own. You can often recognize a “great one” when you read or hear it—but...

Did You Write a Great Essay? Why Not Win Some $$$!

  If you have already written your college application essays, and either know where you are headed this fall or are still waiting, why not enter them into some contests? Why the heck not? Some offer some decent cashola prizes. Here’s the best one I found...

A Q&A With Me!

One of my favorite student-run blogs on college admissions, The Prospect, featured this interview with me last week. I thought the writer, Oriana Halverson, did a terrific job, and flushed out some helpful information:   Essay Hell’s Janine Robinson: Everything...

It’s Official: Out with the Big Words!

  Big changes in the new SAT test announced recently caused quite a stir, especially that they were dropping the essay component. I was most excited, however, that they also were going to stop emphasizing “obscure” vocabulary words. Not only do I...

Hot College App Essay Tips from a Harvard Sophomore

I recently received an email from a student named Daniel Ryu, who is a sophomore at Harvard University. Daniel said he was stressed out his senior year of high school during the application process and had found my blog helpful. He offered to share what worked for...

Dumpster Words for College Application Essays

  A couple weeks ago, I shared on LinkedIn a New York Times column about “annoying, overused and abused” words from 2013, and asked a group of college admissions experts for the most common offenders they found in college application essays. The idea...

Help for College Transfer Students

Unlike incoming freshman, transfer students typically are older, usually have a couple years of college and are expected to navigate this process largely on their own. But that doesn’t make it any easier—especially writing the college application transfer...

How to Find Your Essay Voice

  Many students have trouble finding their “voice” while writing college application essays. One of the biggest problems I see is that students want to sound smart and impressive, and they often lose their natural story-telling voice by forcing in big...

How to Write Your Transfer Essay for the Common App

When my son wanted to transfer from his small liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest into a larger university to pursue chemical engineering, I offered to help him with his college application transfer essay. I thought it would be a good opportunity to share my...