Too many editors
An essay read by five people usually ends up sounding like none of them, and least of all like the student. How to take feedback without losing the voice.
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Notes on the college essay.
How to Answer UC PIQ 7: Making Your School or Community Better
UC PIQ 7 asks what you've done to improve your school or community. How to define "community," why scale doesn't matter, and how to show real impact.
ReadThe 150-word supplement is not a small essay
Short-answer supplements punish the habits of long essays. How to write 50, 100, and 150 words that a reader actually remembers.
ReadHow to Answer UC PIQ 6: An Academic Subject That Inspires You
UC PIQ 6 asks about a subject you love and how you've pursued it. Why "inspires" is a trap word, what to show instead, and a 350-word structure.
ReadFive checks to run before you hit submit
The week before a deadline is for checking, not rewriting. Five fast checks that catch what students miss, each one doable in under fifteen minutes.
ReadHow to Answer UC PIQ 5: The Most Significant Challenge
UC PIQ 5 asks for your hardest challenge and its effect on your schoolwork. How to choose one, keep it about action, and answer the half most students skip.
ReadCommon App Prompt 7: Topic of Your Choice
Prompt 7 lets you write on any topic, including an essay you already have. Here's when to use it, when it's a trap, and how to keep an open prompt from producing a shapeless essay.
ReadCommon App Prompt 6: A Topic, Idea, or Concept You Find Captivating
Prompt 6 asks what makes you lose track of time and who you turn to when you want to learn more. Here's how to write it without turning in a research paper.
ReadCommon App Prompt 5: An Accomplishment, Event, or Realization That Sparked Growth
Prompt 5 is about a change in you, not a trophy. Here's how to find the moment, avoid the false epiphany, and write growth that a reader believes.
ReadCommon App Prompt 4: Gratitude and Being Surprised by Kindness
The gratitude prompt asks what someone did for you and what you did with it. Here's how to keep it from becoming a thank-you note about someone else.
ReadCommon App Prompt 3: Questioning a Belief or Idea
The belief prompt rewards students who can show their mind changing in real time. Here's how to pick a subject that isn't political theater, and how to write it.
ReadCommon App Prompt 2: Obstacles, Challenges, and Failure
The failure prompt is the most misused of the seven. Here's what it actually rewards, how to pick a setback worth writing about, and how to avoid the redemption formula.
ReadCommon App Prompt 1: Background, Identity, Interest, or Talent
How to answer the Common App's first prompt without writing a generic identity essay. What it's really asking, how to pick a subject, and how to structure 650 words.
ReadHow to Answer UC PIQ 4: Educational Opportunity or Barrier
UC's opportunity-or-barrier prompt gives you two paths. Here's how to choose, what counts as a barrier, and how to write it without asking for sympathy.
ReadHow to Answer UC PIQ 3: Your Greatest Talent or Skill
UC's talent prompt asks what you're good at and how you got there. Here's how to pick the right skill, show development, and avoid the humble-brag draft.
ReadHow to Answer UC PIQ 2: The Creative Side Question
UC's creativity prompt is not only for artists. Here's what it's asking, how to answer it if you're a math kid, and how to keep it out of cliche.
ReadHow to Answer UC PIQ 1: The Leadership Question
UC's leadership prompt is not asking for a title. Here's what it's actually asking, how to find a real example, and how to fit it into 350 words.
ReadUC Personal Insight Questions: The Complete Guide
What the UC Personal Insight Questions are, how UC actually reads them, how to pick your four prompts, and a week-by-week plan to write all four without losing your mind.
ReadWhat Screenwriting Teaches You About College Essays
The whole method in one place. Admissions essays fail for the same reasons scripts fail, and screenwriting has precise language for every one of those failures: inciting incident, want, specificity, scene, theme, voice.
ReadYour essay is not a résumé in paragraphs
The most common draft I read is a list of accomplishments with feelings attached. Here is what to do instead.
ReadWhen to start, and what happens if you are late
Earlier means calmer, not better. What the timeline actually looks like at each point in the year.
ReadWhy I do not use AI on a student essay
Not for drafting, not for editing, not for ideas. The reason is practical, not moral.
ReadWhat an admissions reader actually does with your essay
A few minutes, a stack of applications, and one question they are trying to answer.
ReadWhat to write about when nothing has happened to you
The students who say this are usually sitting on the best material. They have just been taught to discount it.
ReadThe first sentence is doing one job
Not setting the scene, not announcing the theme. Making the second sentence necessary.
ReadStop arguing for yourself
Students are taught to make a case. Writers are taught to show and let the reader conclude.
ReadThe supplementals decide more than students think
Why this school, why this major, and the odd prompt nobody prepares for.
ReadWriting about something hard without turning it into a pitch
You are allowed to write about the difficult thing. You are not obligated to make it pay off.
ReadSix hundred and fifty words is plenty
The word count is not the constraint people think it is. Here is what usually goes.
ReadFor parents: how to help without taking it over
The most useful things a parent can do are smaller and less editorial than they expect.
ReadHumor is not decoration
Used carelessly it is the fastest way to lose a reader. Used precisely it is the fastest way to earn one.
ReadThe ending that does not explain itself
Most essays end twice. Cut the second one.
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