Early applications to college are in, and now many students are scrambling to finish personal statements and essay supplements for regular admissions, beginning Jan. 1. Whether your students are writing personal statements for the Common App, or supplements for an Ivy, private liberal arts college or public university, make sure they follow the directions and Read More

The first early deadlines for most schools have passed. Now your students are busily working on apps for other schools with November, December and January deadlines. There’s lots of work to be done to help those students get their apps wrapped up. And we don’t want the essays to ruin your Thanksgiving or winter breaks. Read More

Rachel Toor has recently written a great book, “Write Your Way In: Crafting an Unforgettable College Admissions Essay” that should be required reading for any Counselor that works with students in helping them write their College Admissions Essay. The book is not about admissions, but about the writing process. The title refers to the fact Read More

For the Class of 2018, it’s time to get those college essays done, and students all over the country seem to be falling behind. That’s what I’ve been reading in high school counselor groups on Facebook, LinkedIn and other online chat groups. I have been most intrigued by the many comments by counselors who are Read More

The New York Times recently published an article on how to conquer the Admissions Essay. The outlined 10 tips that your students should avoid when writing their essay: 1: REPEATING THE PROMPT Admissions officers know what’s on their applications. Don’t begin, “A time that I failed was when I tried to beat up my little Read More

Several few years ago, when my nephew was applying to college, my sister Tami asked me what she could do to help her son with this process. I gave her a long list of things she should not do: Don’t tell him what you think he should write; don’t write it for him; don’t edit Read More

Have you seen the two new essay prompts on the Common Application? Every few years, the Common App, a tool used by more than 700 colleges to help students apply seamlessly to multiple schools, updates its essay prompts. The changes are based on feedback from students, parents, high school counselors, educational consultants and member schools Read More

We talk to admissions officers all the time at large, small, public, and private colleges. Just in the last few months, we’ve checked in with Michigan, Barnard, Indiana, Northwestern, Cornell, Michigan State, Columbia and UC-Berkeley.  Their advice is worth listening to. Time and again, these and other admissions officers (who can decide a student’s fate) Read More

You probably already know that at its core, the college application essay is all about reflection. We tell our students time and again it’s as much a thinking task as a writing task. While we have many tools to help you guide your college-bound junior class on the essay, this time of year we focus Read More

With the first round of application deadlines on Nov. 1, we’ve been reviewing a lot of college entrance essays that have not been ready to submit to colleges. Most of them lack the insight colleges are looking for. And, at its core, a college entrance essay is all about reflection. If your students don’t reflect, Read More