by j9robinson | Jun 8, 2013
College Application Essays In Search of an Anecdote Just yesterday, one of my tutoring students, a high school junior, wanted help on her English assignment: To write a practice college application essay. One tip from her teacher was to tell a story. (I first...
by j9robinson | Jun 7, 2013
College Application Essays: What They Mean When They Ask for a Story Most students have never written narrative essays, which are so different from most essays taught in English classes. The classic 5-paragraph essay has a formal style, uses the third person, includes...
by j9robinson | May 9, 2013
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...
by j9robinson | Feb 20, 2013
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...
by j9robinson | Nov 5, 2012
College Admissions Essays: How to make sure you come across as likable “Think of something you might boast about and turn it into an entertaining flaw.” College expert and blogger Jay Matthews on self-deprecation In the typical list of hot tips from...
by j9robinson | Jun 13, 2012
College Admissions Essays How to Write an Anecdote For Your College Application Essay, Personal Statement or other Essays If you can write an anecdote, you can write a powerful essay. But a lot of students don’t know what an anecdote is, let alone how to write one....
by j9robinson | Jan 19, 2012
What’s an Activity Sheet? Well, on The Common Application, you are given the opportunity to include “Additional Information” about yourself in the form of an Activity Sheet. This is in addition to the activity listing, where you have a dozen spaces...
by j9robinson | Jun 9, 2010
College Application Essays How to Tell a Story In journalism, writers often use “anecdotal leads,” that is, starting a news or feature story with a mini-story about a real-life event, one that puts the reader in the middle of the action. Usually, the anecdote only...
