the college app jungle

College Advising, Superb Application Essay Development

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  • Consider This: The Problem Essay (Common Application Prompt 2)

    This post was originally written in the summer of 2011, but developments over the last year simply reinforce  my message about thinking critically and avoiding simplistic, bumper-sticker solutions to complex problems in this kind of essay.   In this post, I will briefly discuss a couple of potential topics which address prompt two of the…

  • The Issue Of Concern Essay; Also Known As The Problem Solution Essay

    2013-2014 update: A common approach on application essays is the Problem question, which asks you to discuss some issue of importance.  Because it sets up a discussion of a problem it also begs for a solution.  Here is how it was worded in recent years in the Common Application, Prompt Two: Discuss some issue of personal,…

  • The Common Application for 2012

    The big news for the Common Application of 2012 is:  no news.  The application itself is essentially the same application used last year.  The essay prompts are identical. For those of you eager to get started, the Common Application site will be closed from July 15, 2011 to August 1st, 2011, for maintenance.  Currently a…

  • Evading the Cliche Step Two

    In recent posts I discussed college essay cliches, focusing on  a set of common essay types defined by former admissions officer and current admissions and college app essay guru Harry Bauld. I concluded that series of posts with a suggestion for an exercise with one of the so-called cliche essays, The Trip Essay.  I asked…

  • How to Evade the Cliche in Your College Essay

    In my previous post, I discussed one of the gurus of college admissions and the college essay, Harry Bauld.  Mr. Bauld described a set of essay types which he believes are “a noose” with which a college applicant can “hang” herself.  Scary. What Bauld is after is a set of essay types which are commonly…

  • College Essay No-No’s: What Not To Do in Your Personal Statement

    Before I get to the gist, a short preface:  I hope that you followed my advice in the last prompt and did a considerable amount of writing before you arrived at this post.  I say this because I think that it is important to write without having that inner, critical voice whispering negative asides to…

  • So You Want To Write a College Essay

    Long ago, a man born in a peninsular region of far northeastern Greece left his provincial home to head for Athens, the New York of his day. Any young man who wanted to hit the big time went to Athens in this era, and if he were particularly bright and lucky, he would enter Plato’s…

  • Starting Your College Essay Step 1

    Step 1 is to get something–anything–on paper.   For those high school juniors—or parents of juniors–who are facing the final push to college admission, now is the time to start thinking about the college essay. Most students who plan to apply to a university will be facing a heavy workload come September, so putting off…

  • College Application Tips Part 1

    While it’s a truth widely acknowledged that many institutions game the U.S. News and World Report rankings by inflating their app rates (among other things) A quick look at the admissions statistics tells the tale. For 2010, U.C. Berkeley had 50,312 applicants and admitted 12,914—a 26% rate of admission; U.C.L.A. upped that by admitting only…

  • Early College Admissions Data for 2011 and What This Means for You

    Some early data is rolling in on this year’s college admissions, and all the news is up for those institutions known as “selective” universities–up meaning turned down for even more applicants this year. To wit: Stanford saw the number of applicants rise from 32,022 for 2010 to 34,000 in 2011, an increase of over 6%;…