by j9robinson | Mar 10, 2015
A good selfie can define and shape your personal image that you blast out to the world. The same goes with your college application essay. Both selfies and personal statement essays are supposed to capture your essence on some level, and reveal what makes you...
by j9robinson | Feb 22, 2015
With all the hype and pressure surrounding college admissions, I don’t blame students and parents for looking for shortcuts or anything that can give them an edge in the selection process. While I believe students should take the helm of figuring out...
by j9robinson | Feb 13, 2015
Not many images are more daunting than a blank page. The horror! But starting next month (March), I’m launching a weekly Webinar series to assist more students and families with starting their college application essays. I write this blog, peddle my three...
by j9robinson | Mar 15, 2014
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...
by j9robinson | Jan 22, 2014
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...
by j9robinson | Jan 14, 2014
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...
by j9robinson | Dec 24, 2013
It’s almost Christmas Eve, just hours away in California. And we are coming upon another deadline–The Common Application–in January. If you are applying to colleges via the Common App, and you have yet to write your college application essays,...
by j9robinson | Dec 17, 2013
The winter flurry of letters is landing in mail boxes around the globe this time of year. I just heard from three ecstatic students who learned last week they were accepted into their dream schools–one was Harvard, another Wellesley, and a third...
by j9robinson | Oct 26, 2013
Tips for Writing Essays College Admissions Folks Want to Read While trying to think of topics for college essays, students often try to guess what the admissions officers are looking for, or what they want to read. It often feels like such a mystery. But in a...
by j9robinson | Oct 4, 2013
URGENT UPDATE! The University of California CHANGED its essay prompts for 2016-17. Learn about the all-new requirements by clicking HERE! THIS POST IS OUTDATED! How to Describe a Place in a College App Essay If you are applying to the University of California,...
