Oprah and Prompt 2 of The Common Application

  Yesterday, I wrote about how you can answer Prompt #2 of The Common Application and write about recovering from a failure. Coincidentally, our favorite motivator Oprah Winfrey stood up in front of the graduating class at Harvard University just last weekend and...

Five Golden Writing Nuggets

College Application Essays: Best Writing Advice Five Hot Tips to Use on Your Essay   It’s hard to find good advice on writing. Here are five of my favorite tips from the best of the best:   1. If you are just starting to write your college application...

Essay Topics That Worked–And Why

College Application Essays How Anecdotes Make Them Work   One of the best ways to learn what types of topics make the most interesting essays is to check out what other students wrote about. Especially if those students had the right guidance and came up with...

The Perfect Topic: Right Under Your Nose

  College Application Essays: Search For the Perfect Topic It’s Closer Than You Think   I’ve learned a lot about what makes a great essay topic over the last six years I’ve helped students with their college application essays. If you’re...

Four “Bold” Sample College Admissions Essays

College Application Essays “Meant to Inspire” All Students Showed an “Appetite for Risk”  Earlier this year, a business writer for The New York Times invited students to share their college admissions essays on the topic of money, class,...

Why The Real Risk Is Playing It Safe

   College Admissions Essays Must Be Interesting  How To Stay Bold And Avoid the Trap of a Dull Essay   After six years working with students, parents and college counselors on writing college admissions essays, I’m more convinced than ever that...

College Essay Help from The Best: The New York Times

  Mentor Essays for The Common App And Other College Application Essays   If you are one of those students who understands how important these college admissions essays can be to landing in the school of your dreams, the New York Times just published a dream...

The New Common App Prompts: The Good, Bad and the Ugly

  College Application Essays How To Answer the New Common App Questions The best news about his year’s Common Application (2015-16) is that you can still write about almost any topic you want—these prompts are very open-ended. And they also added a...

Where’s Waldo? and Creativity in College Essays

  College Admissions Essays It’s Official: Get Creative! Colleges tell students that they want their essays to show them what sets them apart from the pack and what makes them unique. Yet most of the college application essay prompts do a poor job of...

Does Your CommonApp Essay Topic Fly?

  College Admissions Essays and Personal Statements: How to Make Your Topic Fly The New York Times sponsors a blog exclusively for college-bound students. It’s called The Choice. Just last month, a student shared the topic she chose for her Common...