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College Advising, Superb Application Essay Development
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Category: Common Application Essay Prompts
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Learn how to start a winning Common Application Essay in 2020-2021
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The Common Application Prompts for 2019-2020 appear under the theme “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Yes, that’s right, the Common App folks are not changing their prompts this year. That does not mean, however, that it is a good idea to copy verbatim ideas in your older sibling/friend/ghost writer’s old essays, much less…
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Who should read this: anybody interested in writing a Princeton Application Essay, or the Harvard Application (that book/intellectual interest prompt, still going strong) or the Stanford Interest short essay or . . . you get the picture. The broad scope of writing an essay about a quote means some aspects of this post will work…
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Who should read this post: anybody writing the Princeton supplemental essays for 2017-2018. I discussed the short answers and listing responses in my last post–click here for that–Princeton Supplement 2017-18–then read on below for a complete, annotated discussion of this year’s Princeton essays. Let us begin with a quick look at the prompts for this…
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Greetings Ivy-Seekers: Below is the post for last year’s Princeton essays (I am writing this in July, 2018). I expect most of last year’s prompts to remain, but they can tinker, and sometimes pull a fast one by trotting out a whole new set of prompts. The confirmed prompts usually appear in the last week…
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Who should read this post: Anybody applying to a college in the Common Application portal next year. Here is a searchable list of members: Common App 2017-2018. I note with interest that the new members this year include some good international options, some regional big names and some universities that should be better known–like the…
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The post below contains information from last year’s admissions cycle–some of it still applies, some of it does not, depending on which prompt you will use. For posts on this year’s Princeton application prompts, check these out as well: Princeton Essay on a Quote (from an essay) The 2017-2018 Princeton Application Prompts Who should read…
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Oh, and what not to do. For starters, don’t try to imitate too closely (and definitely do not copy) your older sibling/friend/acquaintance/college essay guidebook’s foolproof example essay. Have a look at them, sure, but for true inspiration, we’ll go to the pros. More on that in a moment. Because, before I get to essay examples, I want…
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Or at least some of them are out early. This post will introduce some of the essay prompts for Ivy League and elite universities this year. We are off to an earlier than usual start for this year’s prompts, probably due to the increased number of early applicants; many of the important schools are…
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