by j9robinson | Sep 26, 2013
A smart dad sent me an email recently asking how college-bound students could work in related achievements and accomplishments into their personal, narrative-style essay, without sounding like they were blowing their own horn. It’s definitely a fine line....
by j9robinson | Aug 31, 2013
I love anecdotes. Especially for starting narrative essays for college application essays. They can take a little practice to compose, but what a deceptively powerful writing tool. Actually, if you start almost any type of writing with an anecdote–from a college...
by j9robinson | Aug 7, 2013
College Application Essays Humility Goes a Long Way Many of the students I work with are from privileged backgrounds. (Hey, it’s expensive to hire a tutor!) They live in affluent communities, go on extravagant vacations and enjoy pricey hobbies and...
by j9robinson | Jul 27, 2013
Everyone is looking for that magic topic for their college application essay that will help them jump out from the essay pile, and shout, “Yes, that’s me!” I’ve written a lot about how you can go about landing on that unique topic. Here’s...
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...
by j9robinson | Jun 4, 2013
College Application Essays: Tell a Story to Answer Prompt 2 When Messing Up is a Good Thing I almost like Prompt #2 as much as Prompt #1 of the new essay questions for The Common Application: The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success....
by j9robinson | May 31, 2013
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...
by j9robinson | May 22, 2013
College Admissions Essays: The Common App. Prompt #1 My Favorite Out of the seven prompts you can chose from to write your application essay for The Common Application, I like the first one a lot. (UPDATE: As of 2017, you can now write about any topic you want. See...
by j9robinson | May 15, 2013
How to Answer Prompt 4 for the Common App for your College Application Essay Prompt 4: Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma—anything that is of personal...
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...
