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 | Jun 7, 2012
College Admissions Essays How to Find “The Unexpected” in Your College Application Essay or Personal Narrative One way to add snap, crackle and pop to your college application essay is to give it a little twist. What’s a twist? It can be many things,...
by j9robinson | Jun 6, 2012
The college admissions season never really ends. I’m not a big one for starting too early. Parents who start talking colleges with their kids in junior high and even the start of high school kind of bug me. I understand that it’s valuable for students to...
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 | Jan 6, 2012
Most of you will write one or two “core” essays for your college applications. These essays will focus on revealing who you are and why you are unique. But you will also write numerous supplemental (shorter) essays. The good news is that many of these “supps” ask...
by j9robinson | Nov 4, 2011
College Admissions Essays: Don’t Try to Impress! I just read an interesting article in the New York Times about how high school students are seeking out exotic trips, usually to foreign countries, mainly so they will have an intriguing topic for their college...
by j9robinson | Oct 14, 2011
College Admissions Essays: How to Answer the Supplemental “Short Answer” Prompt The Common Application requires one long college admissions essay. But it also has a short essay, a supplemental question that asks students to “briefly elaborate on one of...
by j9robinson | Aug 11, 2011
College Admissions Essays: How to Start Your Core College Application Essay If you are writing a college admissions essay that responds to a prompt that asks you to tell about yourself, or about “a time,” or describe a quality, background, interest,...
by j9robinson | Mar 27, 2011
I haven’t posted anything in recent weeks. My role as a college essay tutor wraps up in January and February. But if you are still working on an essay or personal statement, I would read through this blog for ideas and inspiration! This spring, I have also been...
by j9robinson | Jan 17, 2011
Yesterday, my son sent in the last of his college applications (just hours before many of the Common App Deadlines, might I add). YEA!!! I’m not sure which of us is more relieved. He is the youngest of my two children (my daughter is a sophomore in college), so...