The NEW Common Application Prompt 4: What’s Your Problem?
How to Answer Prompt 4 for the Common App for your College Application Essay Prompt 4: Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma—anything that is...Read more“If you want to ‘show’ something, ask, ‘Can you prove it with an example?'”
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The middle of August is when I first notice a dramatic spike in visitors to Essay Hell. A few students get that early start on their college application essays at the beginning of summer, but the majority seem to wait until now through fall. I thought I would try to...A Q&A With Me!
One of my favorite student-run blogs on college admissions, The Prospect, featured this interview with me last week. I thought the writer, Oriana Halverson, did a terrific job, and flushed out some helpful information: Essay Hell’s Janine Robinson: Everything...Believe in the Right Fit
The winter flurry of letters is landing in mail boxes around the globe this time of year. I just heard from three ecstatic students who learned last week they were accepted into their dream schools–one was Harvard, another Wellesley, and a third...The BIG Difference Between a Story and an Anecdote
College Application Essays: What They Mean When They Ask for a Story Most students have never written narrative essays, which are so different from most essays taught in English classes. The classic 5-paragraph essay has a formal style, uses the third person, includes...The Beauty of Failure: How to Answer Prompt 2 of The Common Application
College Application Essays: Tell a Story to Answer Prompt 2 When Messing Up is a Good Thing I almost like Prompt #2 as much as Prompt #1 of the new essay questions for The Common Application: The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success....Why The Real Risk Is Playing It Safe
College Admissions Essays Must Be Interesting How To Stay Bold And Avoid the Trap of a Dull Essay After six years working with students, parents and college counselors on writing college admissions essays, I’m more convinced than ever that...How to Land in the “Yes” Pile
College Application Essays Five Places to Start After helping students discover their own unique topics over the last five or so years, I can spot a great topic the minute a student mentions one. And I suspect it’s no different for the college admissions people...Click logo to visit Home Page!
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