by j9robinson | Jul 10, 2015
For more than 20 years, the magazine Vanity Fair has collected provocative and memorable details from the most famous people on the planet using their version of what is called the Proust Questionnaire. The famous French writer didn’t actually pen these...
by j9robinson | Apr 1, 2015
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...
by j9robinson | Mar 31, 2015
The Five Prompts to Write your College Application Essay for The Common Application (Same prompts for 2016-17!) The folks at the Common Application announced the five essay prompts students will choose from to write their core essay for the coming college...
by j9robinson | Sep 28, 2013
I gave away 100 copies of my ebook guide last week. (If you missed the giveaway, I’m planning on doing another in October.) Even though I’ve always had visitors from all over the world, I was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic students from so many...
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 | Sep 18, 2013
I’m Giving Away 100 Copies of My Popular Writing Guide! 10 a Day for 10 Days Almost every day, I have students tell me they cannot afford to buy my ebook guide on writing college applications essays–Escape Essay Hell!–so I decided to...
by j9robinson | Sep 17, 2013
A student who I will call Ryan arrived for his tutoring session yesterday, and showed me what he had written for his English class. His essay started with how he worked with Habit for Humanity and a trip he took to work with Native Americans. Oh no. Not the old...
by j9robinson | Sep 16, 2013
How to Conclude Your College Admissions Essays Here’s an excerpt from my ebook guide on how to write a college application essay using a narrative, storytelling style. I pulled this from my chapter on writing conclusions. Some students find ending their essays...
by j9robinson | Sep 7, 2013
Many of the students I work with have finished their core essays for their college applications, and are now asking for help on the supplements. For most, writing their personal statement-type essays wasn’t that bad, searching for their stories and unique topics...