by j9robinson | Apr 5, 2016
UPDATE as of July 13, 2017:
ApplyTexas CHANGED prompt requirements for incoming freshmen for Fall 2018!!
Click to see new requirements: Learn about changes.
To sum them up: Students must write one core, personal-statement type essay about their background (Same Prompt A as before), and three short answers about their Career Plans, Academics and Leadership (under 300 words each.)
*Below is the original post I wrote about UT essay requirements in 2016. All advice on how to strategize for Prompt A still applies perfectly. Incoming freshmen no longer need to write essays for Prompts B and C; instead they need to write the new 3 short answer essays (refer to ApplyTexas web site for details).
ORIGINAL POST BELOW:
*(Only the advice for Prompt A is still relevant!)
ApplyTexas, which handles the applications for the public universities in Texas, as well as many private colleges, has announced on its web site that they have all-new essay prompts for Fall 2017.
These new ApplyTexas essays apply to students who would be starting as freshman in Fall 2017, and applying to schools such as the University of Texas at Austin, or its other locations, as well as other Texas colleges.
They replaced the three main prompts, called Topic A, Topic B and Topic C, with new questions. (more…)
by j9robinson | Apr 2, 2016
Viral Costco Essay Writer Thanks Essay Hell!
Read Brittany Stinson’s College Application Essay
That Landed Her in Four Ivies—plus Stanford!
I can’t resist the news stories that break this time of year announcing students who get into multiple ivy league colleges.
What I find interesting is that these articles tout the student’s college application essay as the reason they got them into these insanely competitive schools.
It’s never that simple. (more…)
by j9robinson | Mar 31, 2016
Learn the Secret to Nailing a Short Essay
for Your College Applications
Students applying to college often spend most of their energy on their core essay for The Common Application or larger universities.
They will soon learn, however, that they need to master the art of writing shorter essays.
Lots of short essays. (more…)
by j9robinson | Mar 30, 2016
University of California Essay Prompts for Fall 2017
(Ideas for Answering Personal Insight Question No. 2)
2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.
If this prompt jumped out when you first read through the eight essay prompts for the University of California application, good chance you have a creative side.
And you should seriously consider writing about it.
Even if this prompt didn’t initially appeal to you, consider it anyway.
It’s not just intended for aspiring artists! (more…)
by j9robinson | Mar 29, 2016
HEAVENLY ESSAYS: 50 Narrative College Application Essays That Worked
(Click on Book Cover above to go to its sales page on Amazon)
The best way to learn how to write a narrative-style college app essay is to read what others have written. This is a collection of 50 sample college app essay written mainly by my former students.
Most followed the steps outlines in my writing guide, Escape Essay Hell!. (If you leave a review for Heavenly Essays on Amazon, I’m happy to send this to you as well for FREE! Email me: EssayHell@gmail.com)
And they all got into amazing schools—including the most competitive, such as Harvard, UCLA, Northwestern, Cornell, Penn, Berkeley, Brown, Williams, etc.
By reading Heavenly Essays, students can get a sense of what a narrative essay is all about, and also find ideas for their own topics.
It’s available at Amazon here. (You can download a FREE Kindle version during a promotion running June 19-23, 2017!)
Check out some of the essays in Heavenly Essays HERE!
by j9robinson | Mar 29, 2016
ESCAPE ESSAY HELL
Escape Essay Hell! is a short and simple guide to help students write their dreaded college application essays.
Featuring Essay Hell’s best advice and tips, Escape Essay Hell takes students step-by-step through brainstorming unique topics and the narrative writing process. It’s really a crash course in writing a personal statement!
College admissions experts advise students to “Be Yourself” and write essays that are help them “Stand Out” from other applicants. But no one shows them exactly how to do that. In this simple to follow guide, Escape Essay Hell teaches them how to write essays that are engaging, meaningful and memorable—which naturally help them stand out from the competition and land in their dream schools.
Escape Essay Hell! is ideal for any essay prompt that asks the student to write about himself or herself, called a personal statement. It can be used for the following prompts:
- All the Common Application prompts.
- Most prompts for major public universities around the country (including UC, Texas and others).
- Most prompts for transfer and scholarship essays.
- Prompts for applications to post-graduate programs, including medical, law and business schools
Escape Essay Hell! is available in paperback and Kindle ebook at
Amazon here.
Don’t have a Kindle? To purchase and download a pdf version of Escape Essay Hell! for instant access, click the Buy Now button below. Cost: $9.98.
READ MOST RECENT OF 70+ REVIEWS ON ESCAPE ESSAY HELL! FROM AMAZON:
I just purchased this book for my son to use. I read it today and love it. It is clear and engaging. I particularly like the way Ms. Robinson bolded the important parts–my son is much more likely to use it knowing he can just read the bolded than if he is faced with a long book to read. I love that she includes humor and plenty of examples.
Wow. Why is this book not used more often? It’s simple and light to read, but actually gives concrete steps to follow in writing a college admission essay. My friend and I used this book and both got into universities with 4% acceptance rates; and we certainly didn’t get in due to our marks. This book is amazing.
This guide made the daunting task of writing college essays so much easier for my son! We are so pleased we found this amazing resource!
I treasure this useful resource and have recommended it to all of my high school students. Most essay books will dance around the subject of essay writing. They can tell you how to recognize a good essay from a bad one and might even feature a few samples of general essay topics, but they don’t help the reader to get inspired about writing or how to show emotion. I have yet to find a great resource that goes right to the heart of essay writing until I found this book. Janine gives you a step by step approach for how to write a great essay. Her techniques can help students get right to the heart of essay writing in a fast, easy way. Students need to find their core characteristics and include this information in their essay in order to be noticed by collges. They also need to include details. I find that this book is a personal writing guide. Janine will coach you towards writing your personal story. If you are a high school senior,parent,teacher or college counselor, I urge you to purchase this book. This is the ultimate how to guide. Once you have this one, you will want all of the others in the series.
Absolutely one of the most comprehensive, helpful and effective essay-writing guide – that is easy to follow whether you are a student, a parent, or a counselor or consultant working with students to help them find their unique voice and express that in the most impactful way! Definitely recommend purchasing it along with Janine’s book “Heavenly Essays”, as it will crystallize what you learn by providing real examples of student-written essays that follow the process. You will see how her step-by-step guide provides a formula for students to follow that produces unique and impactful results! I am so excited to add this to my platform to guide my students throughout their college planning and in completing their applications. Coach Mira – Pathway to College. […]
by j9robinson | Mar 29, 2016
University of California Essay Prompts for Fall 2017
(Ideas for Answering Personal Insight Question No. 1)
Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
UC Essay Prompt 1 is the first of eight essay prompts for the University of California application that you can choose to answer if you are an incoming freshman.
Of the eight Personal Insight Questions, you only need to answer four.
If you consider leadership one of your defining qualities, or have had an interesting experience as a leader in some capacity, you might want to consider this essay. (more…)
by j9robinson | Feb 9, 2016
Prove You Deserve to Win in Your Scholarship Essays
Scholarship essays are critical if you want to go to college, but can’t afford it. To win them, you usually need to write powerful and personal scholarship essays.
(Yes, QuestBridge applicants, this includes you!)
Scholarship essays are similar to the personal essays you write for college applications. They need to give schools (or sponsors) a sense of who you are, what makes you tick and what you value.
Scholarship essays, however, usually need to go one step further. Applicants need to also show and explain why they deserve to win the scholarship. (more…)
by j9robinson | Jan 9, 2016
URGENT! ApplyTexas changed their essay prompts in 2017-18.
Click HERE for the current essay prompts!
Photo Via Texas Lutheran University
(THIS POST IS OUTDATED!)
How to Link Your Life Goals to Current and Future Activities
In the previous post, I wrote about ideas on how to answer Topics A and B in the ApplyTexas college application.
Students who want to apply to most public colleges and universities and some private colleges in Texas must use the ApplyTexas application.
Depending on the school(s) in Texas that you are applying to, there’s a good chance you will need to answer any combination of Topics A, B or C. (more…)
by j9robinson | Nov 24, 2015
UPDATE: as of March 23, 2016
The University of California announced NEW essay prompts for 2016-17.
Read about how to answer them HERE.
It’s Not Too Late to Write Your College App Essays
Before the Nov. 30 Deadline
Yes, you have waited until the last minute. But don’t despair!
There’s still time to pound out two awesome essays!
If you’re working on your two college application essays for the University of California freshman application, I’ve put together a short list of my most helpful posts.
Read through them, watch the videos, and get crankin!!
Prompt 1: Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations. (more…)
