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 | Mar 25, 2018
Let Lynda Barry Help You Find and Tell Your Best Stories! Try One of Her Awesome Brainstorming Exercises If you’re starting to brainstorm that perfect topic to craft your dreaded college application essay, I have a new writing technique you might find helpful....
by j9robinson | Sep 15, 2017
Don’t Even Think About Writing About the Eclipse And What to Write About Instead When I was invited to give one of my college application essay writing workshops to students at Colorado Academy in Denver, Colorado, I had no idea it would be on the day of...
by j9robinson | Jun 7, 2016
The first step to writing a winning college application essay is to find that perfect topic. This is the most important step, and often the hardest. Once you land on one, you are ready to roll. Things fall in place. You map out a simple outline, sit down and...
by j9robinson | Apr 15, 2016
How to Find Your Required Essays The first step to writing your college application essay is to figure out what applications you will use. Then you learn what essays they require and the prompts (essay questions) you need to write about. To start, check out...
by j9robinson | Sep 20, 2015
How to Find the Homeschooling Advantage in College Application Essays I received an email from a student named Hannah who told me she was homeschooled, and that she had been advised to write about that for her college application essay. Hannah said she was...
by j9robinson | Jul 25, 2015
The Best (and Worst) College Application Essay Topics Are Not What You Think! When I first started working with students on how to write college applications essays about eight years ago now, I put together a list of Do’s and Don’ts about picking...
by j9robinson | Nov 8, 2014
How to Focus Your College Application Essay! I love all the comments students make about my posts. The most common ones ask about topics for the Common App or other core college application essays, including the University of California prompts. Students want to know...
by j9robinson | Jun 2, 2013
College Application Essays How Anecdotes Make Them Work One of the best ways to learn what types of topics make the most interesting essays is to check out what other students wrote about. Especially if those students had the right guidance and came up with...
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...