the college app jungle
College Advising, Superb Application Essay Development
recent posts
- College App Jungle College Advising and Essay Editing is on Hiatus for 2025-26
- More Ivy League Schools Drop SAT/ACT Requirement; Princeton Drops Early Admissions
- How to Write the University of California Personal Insight Essays in 2020-2021
- How to Write the University of California Personal Insight Essays for 2021
- How to Write a Successful Cornell University Essay for 2020-2021
about
Category: personal statement
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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 Common App folks are set to release Version 4.0 for the 2013-2014 application year. They have promised to make things more user friendly, and they have changed the essay prompts. Most important, from my point of view, is the increase in essay length–you have up to 650 words; you need to write at least…
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Dear Readers: In 2012-13, the CollegeAppJungle will be moving into a new phase. In Free Access, I will continue to offer an open-access menu of articles on topics of general interest to college applicants at the graduate and undergraduate levels on The College App Jungle. In addition to this free, Level 1 content on…
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This post builds on the last two posts and offers a list of themes by which you can classify and discuss books. This includes a detailed discussion of books and particularly of some quality trilogies and series that have been popular in recent years. The post includes suggestions for mixing it up by developing a…
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Most university application essays or supplements present at least the possibility of writing about books. Several applications ask directly that you write about a book or a series of books. If that sounds like you, read on, after you have a look at my last post which opens up the conversation which I will continue below. After…
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College Advising and Essay Development for the College Class of 2024, from Singapore to Palo Alto. My Editing and College Advising Business is on Hiatus from 2025 on. I will not be editing or providing college advising services. However, this blog remains up as a public resource. Some posts will already be past their shelf…
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My last post introduced the essay on a personal influence, which was the focus of Prompt Three and Prompt Four of the Common Application in recent years, and I suggested some exercises to get you started. This post assumes that you have some material ready to work with. If you don’t, have a look at…
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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…
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