How Brittany Stinson Wrote Her Costco Essay

A Q&A With The Author of the Viral Costco Essay Last month, Brittany Stinson learned she got into five Ivy League colleges, as well as Stanford and many other top schools. When a newspaper reporter asked her to share her college application essay, Brittany...

Congratulations to the First Essay Jumpstart Experts!

College Admissions Consultants Learn Essay Coaching A group of nine college admissions consultants from the San Diego area helped me kick off my College Application Essay Writing Bootcamp this week. After participating in my two-hour workshop at the beautiful home of...

Waitlist Essays and Letters: 12 Tips to Game Them

For the first time in the eight years I’ve been helping students with their college application essays, I’ve had a flurry of requests from students asking for help with waitlist essays and letters. What torture for them! Most have been waiting for months...

Sample College Application Essays to Inspire You!

  This is the time of year when my former students drop me emails letting me know where they have been accepted for the fall. I love hearing from them, and am emboldened by how many land in their dream schools. And I usually ask if I can share their essays with...

How to Write a College Application Essay: In 3 Easy Steps

  After working with thousands of students from all over the world on writing the dreaded college application essay for the last eight years, I’ve finally been able to boil down the process to three simple steps. Yes, just three steps. If you follow these...

Warning: 5 Ways to Blow Your College Application Essay

  How to Avoid College Application Essay Booby Traps No matter where you are with writing your college application essay, you should double check that you are on the right track. It’s way too easy to inadvertently torpedo your chances of writing an essay...

College Application Essays and the Admissions Puzzle

College Application Essays: One Piece Of the Admissions Puzzle   This is the time of year many high school juniors start to get serious about their college admissions strategy–including their college application essays. Some have been all over the...

Common Application Essay Prompts and Strategies for 2016-17

Stand Out in Your Common Application Essay   So you are ready to start writing your Common Application Essay? Congratulations! You have found the best source of specific tips and strategies on exactly how to brainstorm topics for each of the 5 prompts–and...

10 Insider Tips for Your University of Texas Essays

IMPORTANT: The UT has NEW prompts for 2017-18, so much of the information in this post is now outdated.  Here’s the link to the update-to-date information on UT prompts: New Essay Requirements for UT. Former Admissions Counselor at University of Texas-Austin...