by j9robinson | Jun 21, 2013
College Application Essays A Mini-Lesson from a Storytelling Pro I found this brilliant little example of how to understand what makes up a good story today in a column written by the talented sportswriter and journalist named Tommy Tomlinson. If you are...
by j9robinson | Jun 19, 2013
I don’t know how I missed this. In April, a batch of nearly 70 college application essays written by the incoming class of 2017 at Columbia University were made public. It was quite the scandal. Many of the students who shared their essays among their...
by j9robinson | Jun 18, 2013
College Application Essays Write Like You Talk The voice and tone of narrative essays usually is “looser” or more “casual” than the typical academic essay. To do that, however, you often have to break the rules. Bend them gently and stay consistent. But if it sounds...
by j9robinson | Jun 15, 2013
College Application Essays Hot Writing Tips from The Other Side! If you haven’t noticed, I have a lot of opinions about what makes a great college application essay. But who am I? I’ve never been an admissions officer, so how do I know what they...
by j9robinson | Jun 13, 2013
College Application Essays Which Prompt Will You Pick? UPDATE: Most of this information is still helpful and relevant. However, please see the changes in the NEW Common Application Prompts for 2015-16! If you are ready to brainstorm ideas for your Common...
by j9robinson | Jun 10, 2013
If you are working on your Common Application, you have five prompts (or essay questions) to choose from for your essay. The challenge is to pick the prompt that you can answer to write your best, most effective essay. In previous years, you had the option to...
by j9robinson | Jun 9, 2013
College Application Essays Fun Reads to Inspire your Storytelling Skills Nothing helps you channel the style and voice of narrative writing than reading it. Writers, like Cupcake Brown, are masters of telling true stories in a fictionalized style. This is what...
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 | Jun 5, 2013
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...
