This is a trick question. Of course college application essays matter, whether you’re writing your Common App essay or supplementals! And they are one piece of a much larger mosaic of considerations as colleges consider you. Essays make you come alive on the page/screen, they reveal your academic and other interests, and indicate what you Continue Reading »
Students I work with on college application essays gain admission to first, second and third choice colleges. They range from the University of Tennessee to West Point, UPenn, Brown and Harvard. From Wake Forest to Barnard and U Michigan, and from Carnegie Mellon to Vanderbilt, Northeastern and Fordham. Someone asked whether I was happier when Continue Reading »
Your personal statement and supplements are critically important these days. For MIT applicants and University of California applicants, with their unique sets of essays, they are just as important. Essays matter whether you’re a top student with outstanding ECs or an uneven student who needs to demonstrate academic seriousness. As an essay coach-tutor for 17 Continue Reading »
A big week for college acceptances and your college app essays. My stomach is in knots, waiting to hear news from all the students I advised on their Common App essays and applications. This is the first of the high anxiety weeks! Fingers X’d for all of you (& your families). — You’ll get 1 Continue Reading »
As an essay coach, I’m often asked, “What’s the Common App essay timetable? When should my kid start writing The Essay?” I’m so glad you asked! It’s not as easy an answer as “the 4th of July”– though that CAN be a good time to start. The Common App Essay, AKA the Personal Statement, is Continue Reading »
In this winter of so much change and unsettling news, the Common App essay prompts will stay the same — great news for students and families grappling with college admissions. That’s because they are such good sources of inspiration. These Common Application prompts consistently generate interesting personal statements from students across the country and around Continue Reading »
You: “What makes a great Common App essay?” Me: “It’s wide open. Colleges want to know who you are. What drives you, makes you tick, gets you revved up.” Striving for the excellent Common App essay — or the Best Common App essay — has become a national pursuit. So when parents and students get Continue Reading »
Merit aid may be the answer for you. Today’s New York Times has a fascinating article about merit aid for college applicants. All but the most selective colleges entice students to attend with financial help based on grades, NOT family income. Need-based aid is determined by income and assets. Merit aid is different. As we Continue Reading »
I was recently asked what a mother should tell her very sensitive son if he’s rejected at his first choice college when decisions come out next week. She was talking about one of the most selective colleges in the country, where only about 7% of the applicants are admitted. Aside from offering your child tea Continue Reading »
As a seasoned college essay consultant, I was recently asked to contribute to “7 Expert Tips for the Common App Essay,” published by BestColleges.com. It’s a beginner’s look at the personal statement. Once you read it, please come back and delve into my many posts on the subject. My strategies are based on decades as Continue Reading »
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