FREE College Application Essay Webinars!

FREE Summer Essay Writing Webinars! First one: Wednesday, July 8! I know this is a hard time for many students and families. To do my small part to try to ease the financial strain due to the current pandemic, I will be offering FREE webinars this summer to help...

Start a Coronavirus Diary NOW!

It’s Not Too Late to Capture Your Unique COVID-19 Experience in a Journal I know most of your are busy with online schooling. If you find extra time on your hands, and want a great way to practice narrative writing to prepare for your college application essays,...

Looking for College Application Essays to Publish!

***Looking for help starting your essays? Check out my affordable Jumpstart Webinars! Adding more for July. Only $30. FREE if you can’t afford them. Have a College Admissions Essay You Love? Send It In! It been a little over five years since I published my...

How to Record Scratch Your College App Essay Stories

                       How to Background an Anecdote (Includes 5 writing examples at the bottom!) If you’ve done your homework on how to write an effective college application essay, you probably know the place to start is with your real-life stories. The...

Best College Application Essays Have Touch of Gray

Learn How to Avoid Black-and-White Thinking to Add Depth to Your Essays   It’s exciting to see that word is getting out to collegebound students, and those who support their admissions quests, that real-life stories power the most effective college...

Why I Do This: The Essay Hell Manifesto

I thought it might be helpful to type up an explanation of why I write my blog, the source of my intentions, and what I think about the dreaded college application essay. You might find it boring, but I wanted to get it out and all in one place. Here’s what I...

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...

It’s Official: Out with the Big Words!

  Big changes in the new SAT test announced recently caused quite a stir, especially that they were dropping the essay component. I was most excited, however, that they also were going to stop emphasizing “obscure” vocabulary words. Not only do I...

You Are Not Alone

  I gave away 100 copies of my ebook guide last week. (If you missed the giveaway, I’m planning on doing another in October.) Even though I’ve always had visitors from all over the world, I was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic students from so many...