College Rejection: 3 Lessons

college rejection

Don’t Despair over College Rejection

Sometimes You Discover a Better Path

 

It’s the time of year when high school seniors are learning where they got accepted to colleges or universities.

Yay! Good for you! Time to celebrate!

Many are also opening those dejecting rejection letters.

If they didn’t get into their dream school, that can be a bummer.

If they didn’t get into any of their schools, it can be a time of utter panic.

So I wanted to share a timely story about a young woman who recently sought my help after experiencing the wildly unpredictable and emotionally charged quest for the right school–and brutal college rejection. (more…)

Essay Writing Cheat Sheet for Stuck Students

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I’m always trying to find ways to help students quickly come up with topic ideas and a path to cranking out their college application essays.

Typically, I advise them to start with their defining qualities or characteristics, and then find real-life stories or moments to illustrate one of these, and go from there.

(Use How to Write Your Common Application Essay in 3 Steps for that approach. It’s also spelled out in greater detail in my popular writing guide, Escape Essay Hell!, available on Amazon.) (more…)

How to Write Your Transfer Essay for the Common App

When my son wanted to transfer from his small liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest into a larger university to pursue chemical engineering, I offered to help him with his college application transfer essay.

I thought it would be a good opportunity to share my approach to writing the main Transfer Essay required by schools that use The Common Application.

My son, though with great reluctance, agreed to be my guinea pig.

I wanted to walk through the steps and chronicled the brainstorming/planning process: (more…)