by j9robinson | Oct 21, 2009
A new client, who I will call Sarah, met with me for the first time to talk about topic ideas. When I pressed her about her interests, her hobbies, her passions, she kept insisting that she was a well-rounded, strong student, but didn’t have any one thing that...
by j9robinson | Sep 26, 2009
Here’s a little book of essays written by graduates of Berkeley High School, which has a truly diverse student population and moves through about 700 seniors every year. (“As you will see from these stories, some live on their own, while others come from...
by j9robinson | May 20, 2009
3A. ESSAY: IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE...
by j9robinson | May 19, 2009
Here’s an interesting article by the Wall Street Journal about college presidents from 10 prominent colleges and universities (Reed, Carleton, Wesleyan, U of P, Barnard, etc.) who were asked by the newspaper to answer their own college admissions essay prompts....
by j9robinson | May 8, 2009
Roy Peter Clark was a famous writing coach when newspapers started directing their reporters to tell the news through a story-telling format in the late 70s and 80s, a genre called New Journalism and made famous by Tom Wolfe. (The main difference between New...
by j9robinson | Apr 25, 2009
How to Write a Killer Essay New York Times Upfront , Dec 13, 1999 by Glenn C. Altschuler An Ivy League dean offers six tips to steer your admission essay in the right direction: 1. Write about your world and your experiences. A 17-year-old inhabits a foreign country,...
by j9robinson | Mar 12, 2009
Mark Twain, one of the best prose stylists ever ever ever, wrote, “As to the Adjective: when in doubt, strike it out.” When we are writing narratives and striving for “descriptive” prose, many of us reach for those juicy adjectives....
by j9robinson | Feb 13, 2009
College Admissions Essays: How to Connect with Your Reader I’ve talked about this already, but here is more scoop about your college application essay “audience,” and it’s a tough crowd: college admissions officers read zillions of these...
by j9robinson | Oct 21, 2008
The person reading your fabulous college admissions essay most likely has already read about a dozen or more, and still has an equal number or more to go. By the 20th essay, they are having trouble focusing. Their heads are nodding off. They need more coffee. So how...
by j9robinson | Oct 20, 2008
This is a super helpful link to specific ideas and tips on each of the six prompts (questions/options) on The Common Application. It also includes sample essays under each prompt. My favorite is Felicity’s essay answering Prompt #4 on how she used Lisa Simpson...
