by j9robinson | May 20, 2009
3A. ESSAY: IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE...
by j9robinson | May 19, 2009
Here’s an interesting article by the Wall Street Journal about college presidents from 10 prominent colleges and universities (Reed, Carleton, Wesleyan, U of P, Barnard, etc.) who were asked by the newspaper to answer their own college admissions essay prompts....
by j9robinson | May 8, 2009
Roy Peter Clark was a famous writing coach when newspapers started directing their reporters to tell the news through a story-telling format in the late 70s and 80s, a genre called New Journalism and made famous by Tom Wolfe. (The main difference between New...
by j9robinson | Apr 25, 2009
How to Write a Killer Essay New York Times Upfront , Dec 13, 1999 by Glenn C. Altschuler An Ivy League dean offers six tips to steer your admission essay in the right direction: 1. Write about your world and your experiences. A 17-year-old inhabits a foreign country,...
by j9robinson | Mar 12, 2009
Mark Twain, one of the best prose stylists ever ever ever, wrote, “As to the Adjective: when in doubt, strike it out.” When we are writing narratives and striving for “descriptive” prose, many of us reach for those juicy adjectives....
by j9robinson | Feb 13, 2009
College Admissions Essays: How to Connect with Your Reader I’ve talked about this already, but here is more scoop about your college application essay “audience,” and it’s a tough crowd: college admissions officers read zillions of these...
by j9robinson | Oct 20, 2008
This is a super helpful link to specific ideas and tips on each of the six prompts (questions/options) on The Common Application. It also includes sample essays under each prompt. My favorite is Felicity’s essay answering Prompt #4 on how she used Lisa Simpson...
by j9robinson | Oct 9, 2008
“Try to write in a directly emotional way, instead of being too subtle or oblique. Don’t be afraid of your material or your past….If something inside you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must...
by j9robinson | Aug 24, 2008
So many students have trouble finding an essay topic. It is such a tough assignment to be asked to write a short essay that shows what you are about. The tendency is to try to include as many cool things as possible–their good works, their achievements, their...
by j9robinson | Jul 25, 2008
I remember wanting to improve my writing in high school, and feeling frustrated by all the “tips” in the popular how-to-write books: “Be concise,” “Use action verbs,” and the all-popular, “Show, don’t tell.” OK,...
