College Essay Resources for Young Men’s Service League Seattle
College Essay Resources for Young Men's Service League SeattleThanks to coronavirus, college essays matter more than ever. With the challenges around standardized testing, many colleges have said they won't be requiring, or even considering, SAT and ACT scores for...
February 2020 Resources for Seniors and Juniors
You may be in the middle of dealing with your senior’s college prep list, looking ahead to all the stuff you and your junior will have to handle sooner than you think, or maybe you’re busy putting these (or similar) things off. We know it can be overwhelming—that’s...
How to Tell a Story
Yesterday an article in the New York Times, How to Tell a Story, caught my attention. I'm always interested in that and thought you may be too. The article gave me a new way to think about what we tell our students and parents: know the relationship...
It Doesn’t Matter Where You Go To College
A student's mother sent me a Time Magazine article, It’s Time to Tell Your Kids It Doesn’t Matter Where They Go To College. Her son had a dilemma. He could go to one of the “more prestigious” colleges that accepted him or go to a “less prestigious”...
College Rankings and Access to Higher Education
Expanding access to a college education has been part of our mission from day one. That’s the case for most people in the college admissions field, whether on the counseling side or in the admissions office. A crucial aspect to this is helping students...
Have You Written Your Best College Essay?
Final deadlines are fast approaching. It's time to ask yourself—have you written your best college essay yet? And, how would you know if you have or haven't? Odds are, you haven’t. Now, we don’t mean anything personal. You've probably done a great job, worked hard....
A Bad Week at Camp (Sample Common App Essay)
Jacob applied to eleven schools and was accepted by all of them. Two schools offered him scholarships awarded in part to the quality of his essay. His first draft, which he wrote on his own, was pretty dull. His second draft, taking his English teacher’s advice to...
Boxing with Aristotle (Sample Common Application Essay/Union College)
You may be surprised that this could be a college essay. There's no obvious structure, it jumps around, it's not even clear what it's about. Yet, it does exactly what it should do. Why? Because you see the author's mind at play, and see fascinating slivers of his...
With a Cup and a Spoon (Common App Essay–Middlebury College)
The topic doesn't matter. What you do with it, does. This is a simple story that captures the writer's personality, intellect and voice. It's a thoughtful meditation on values, culture, learning and community written as simply as can be. It was one of...
That’s Puzzling (Common App Essay–Williams College)
Audrey struggled for a couple of weeks to find her topic. Sometimes the little things you do can reveal the most about who you are. Audrey started in the early summer, and spent countless hours over five months perfecting this essay. I hit a boy with a bat in the...