New book available that gives Counselors the inside scoop on helping give tips to your students regarding writing their college essay

Over the years, many high school counselors have come to us, asking for tips to guide students through the college essay writing process. They want to help their students, but they’re not sure how to use their limited time most effectively. We have been talking to admissions officers and school counselors about essays for years, and we’ve developed a simple approach that really works.

In our newest book, released this month, How to Write an Effective College Application Essay, the Inside Scoop for Counselors, (just $9.99 on Amazon.com) we share our approach, plus strategies for helping your students, and we answer the questions we’ve been asked, including:

• What are the best topics for college essays?

• What do colleges look for in the essays?

• How to help average students write an essay that reveals something special about them?

• How should students structure their essays?

• How to help students brainstorm ideas?

• How much help is too much?

Whatever challenges you may face at your school, you might be surprised at how straightforward (and manageable) solutions can be. We know you have a lot to juggle – busy students, worried parents, English teachers who assign college essays but don’t always give students good guidance. We also know there are limits to what you can accomplish, whether you are at a private school with loads of resources or a public school with hundreds of students or an independent counselor with a heavy load of students.

In the high-stakes world of college admissions, you will meet countless people who can tell you what colleges want in an essay. However, most will not (or cannot) show your students how to write those essays. You’ll find outlines and templates for what the finished product should look like. Or books with sample essays, and videos with limited instructions.
Some will tell you to follow a template based on what type of experience or story the student wants to share. This much we know is true: Gimmicks and shortcuts won’t help because they don’t work.

At Wow, we teach an approach, not a cookie-cutter template.
We put our best resources together for you in. How to Write an Effective College Application Essay, the Inside Scoop for Counselors. It’s full of resources that speak directly to the needs of counselors who work with students from all sorts of schools – large and small, public and independent, well-funded and those struggling to make ends meet – from all across the US. It also speaks to similar needs of other professionals who work with students applying to college.

Our guide will prepare you to:

• Help students understand how to approach college essay writing.

• Teach students to read and break apart any essay prompt so they can understand and respond effectively.

• Help your students reflect on who they are and what they want readers to know about them.

• Quickly review student essays and provide meaningful feedback they can use on their own.

We’ll show you how to get your students to write for college admissions officers without a pre-designed structure, without reading sample essays and without so much added stress. We’ve been working with students for a long time, and we’ve learned everything in this guide from our experience — and from our students’ successes. With this book, you also get access to worksheets, tips and blogs to help you and your students navigate the college essay process.

Going to NACAC later this week?
If so, get Your Free Book at NACAC18
If you are NACAC18 in Salt Lake City this week, you can get a free paperback copy of this guide! We’re giving away books to the first 50 counselors who come to our session about handling sensitive topics. Please join us in Salt Lake City for:

Should Your Students Write About Depression in a College Essay?

Saturday, Sept. 29
11:30 – Noon
LEARN Booth – Hall C

NEW counselor book is FREE to the first 50 people!

Can’t make it? No problem
Text NACAC18 to 555-888 for tip sheets
and other resources from our session

The book is available on Amazon.com in a paperback or electronic version.

Kim Lifton is President of Wow Writing Workshop, a strategic communication company staffed by experts who understand the writing process inside and out. Since 2009, Wow has been leading the industry with our unique approach to communicating any message effectively. The Wow Method helps business and nonprofit leaders create better blogs, manage social media, develop websites and create other communication materials. It also helps students write college