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...

Should You Humblebrag in Your Essay?

  A smart dad sent me an email recently asking how college-bound students could work in related achievements and accomplishments into their personal, narrative-style essay, without sounding like they were blowing their own horn. It’s definitely a fine line....

Book Giveaway for Escape Essay Hell! Guide

  I’m Giving Away 100 Copies of My Popular Writing Guide! 10 a Day for 10 Days   Almost every day, I have students tell me they cannot afford to buy my ebook guide on writing college applications essays–Escape Essay Hell!–so I decided to...

Work First, Surf Second: A Lesson in Mundane Topics

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...

Jumping to Conclusions: How to End Your Essay

How to Conclude Your College Admissions Essays   Here’s an excerpt from my ebook guide on how to write a college application essay using a narrative, storytelling style. I pulled this from my chapter on writing conclusions. Some students find ending their essays...

Some Supps Are Just Asking for BS

Many of the students I work with have finished their core essays for their college applications, and are now asking for help on the supplements. For most, writing their personal statement-type essays wasn’t that bad, searching for their stories and unique topics...

Hottest Guides for Writing Narrative Essays

  I already featured this list of my favorite books on how to write essays–narrative-style, “slice of life,” personal essays–at the end of an earlier post. These are exactly what you want to write for your college application essays....

Got Grit? Then Show It!

College Application Essays Underprivileged or Underrepresented Students: This Means You! Why You Must Share Stories That Show Your Grit As a writing coach, I work mainly with students I consider “privileged.” This means they can find support writing...

Just How Creative Should You Get?

College Application Essays Yes, You Can Go Too Far   Colleges are encouraging students to get creative with their essays. This is great. However, I think students should be careful of trying too hard to showcase their creative writing skills. Rather, I believe...