We're here to help students applying to college write essays that will get the admission reviewers'
10/15/2022
I tell my students this all the time - the more specific writing is, the more universal it becomes...
Write Small for a Bigger Impact | Jane Friedman To write something that connects on a universal level, concentrate on specifics. Small truths are easier for readers to identify with.
08/25/2022
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/22/1118485445/keep-an-eye-on-your-students-mental-health-this-back-to-school-season I am seeing this in some of my students - the struggle for them is real
Keep an eye on your student's mental health this back-to-school season From kindergartners to college students, what should parents be doing to monitor their child's mental health?
01/21/2022
There is more than one way to tackle the application essay - focusing on joy is a good one... https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2021/12/23/22836968/college-essay-writing-trauma-joy?fbclid=IwAR1mE4KyxzBNjOmiyTK-dpTO65JIYzaFhWLRPvYCqwZRMuz5pwrShvHb7n0
There’s more than one way to write a college essay Trauma is not the only thing that defines me, and it’s not the only reason I deserve to go to college.
11/08/2021
Comedy Scholarship Application – Experiential Learning Resources • You must be an individual from 13 to 19 years old on December 31st, 2021 (12/31/21), the contest deadline. No group submissions will be accepted.
If those college application deadlines are looming large, I can help with the essays. :)
Good luck to all the high school seniors working hard to meet the early November deadlines. You've got this! Keep going!
09/22/2020
The college application essays are more important than ever... https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-admissions-in-a-covid-year-sats-are-out-personal-stories-are-in-11600315272?mod=e2fb&fbclid=IwAR0c0aM1a6BGLQX_r2S6HxL6PyETjQxDsEFKhrBZCRCsDPwO3tbfn9APZjo
College Admissions in a Covid Year: SATs Are Out, Personal Stories Are In The pandemic has dramatically changed what admissions officers are looking for.
07/14/2020
There are some great tips in here for the college application essay (even though it's talking about personal essays in general).... https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/nonfiction/essay-needs-to-succeed/3/
5 things a personal essay needs to succeed (and sell) - The Writer Here are the five components every personal essay needs to succeed (and sell).
With so many colleges going SAT/ACT optional, those application essays are more important than ever and, sadly, they won't write themselves! But I can help - July is pretty booked up but there's still time in August to snag an appointment. Give me a call at 571/224-8012 or email me at [email protected] to chat about how I can help you/your student find his/her voice and write a great essay.
03/18/2020
If you're working on your essay - this is worth reading.
How they wrote (and rewrote) their Harvard admissions essays Late nights. Discarded drafts. That one great idea. Harvard first-years reflect on the agony and the ecstasy of writing their admissions essay.
03/18/2020
03/17/2020
I'm going to periodically post writing exercises here for students who are stuck at home and feeling antsy. This is one of my favorite exercises to do with students in class (and even adults in workshop). Parents can jump in on this one too - it's a great exercise in communication...
Using any kind of building materials (blocks work really well but really you can use anything), have the kids go in pairs or alone to a separate space and build a structure out of the materials. The opposing team cannot watch or in anyway see what is being built. Then the building team writes specific instructions on what they built so that the structure can be recreated in exactly the same form. The building team should take several pictures of the structure from several viewpoints and then break it down. The second team must use the directions and materials to recreate the structure.
Now is a really great time to start working on those college application essays :)
10/05/2019
You've already written your personal essay for college apps, why not submit that bad boy to a contest? Personal Narrative Essay Contest for Students: Tell a Short Story About a Meaningful Life Experience
ImageRelated Contest
Related ContestCreditCreditDavid Cooper
By The Learning Network
Published Sept. 4, 2019
Updated Oct. 2, 2019
Contest Dates: Sept. 4, 2019 - Oct. 29, 2019
When you think of The New York Times, you probably think of front-page news, but The Times also has a long tradition of publishing personal essays, and you can find new ones online nearly every day if you know where to look.
In fact, over the years there have been columns dedicated to personal narratives on themes from love and family to life on campus, how we relate to animals, living with disabilities and navigating anxiety.
For this new contest, our main inspiration is the long-running New York Times Magazine Lives column. Like that feature, which ran from 1996 to 2017, and included essays on everything from eating ramen to experiencing an emergency plane landing to wearing a monkey suit to work, we’re looking for “short, powerful stories about meaningful life experiences.” We want to hear your story, told in your unique voice.
Beyond a caution to write no more than 600 words, our rules are fairly open-ended. We’re not asking you to write to a particular theme or to use a specific structure or style; instead, we hope you’ll experiment and tell a tale that matters to you, in a way you enjoy telling it.
Take a look at the full guidelines and related resources below. As always with a new contest, we expect there will be many questions. Please post them in the comments and we’ll answer you there, or write to us at [email protected].
Submission Form
Learning Network 2019 Personal Narrative Essay Contest
Tell a short story about a meaningful life experience.
What is your name?*
Full name preferred, please
What is your email?*
Please remember to check it, since this is how we will let you know if you are a finalist.
Where do you live?*
City, State, and Country, please
What school do you go to?*
What is the title of your personal narrative?*
Your personal narrative:*
Type or paste your work here.
600 words remaining
What is your parent/guardian's email address? *
You must have permission from a parent or legal guardian to enter this contest, but you DO NOT need to provide it in writing to submit. If you are selected as a finalist, however, we will notify you by email, and you must then submit your parent or legal guardian’s written consent. If you fail to provide it within three business days of the request then you may be disqualified. We will only contact a parent or guardian if you are a winner and have not responded to our email. By clicking the submit button, you agree that you (or, if you are under 18, your parent or guardian) have read, understand and accept the Reader Submission Terms.
What is your parent/guardian's phone number? *
By clicking the submit button, you agree that you have read, understand and accept the Reader Submission Terms in relation to all of the content and other information you send to us ('Your Content'). If you do not accept these terms, do not submit any content. Of note:
Your Content must not be false, defamatory, misleading or hateful or infringe any copyright or any other third party rights or otherwise be unlawful.
We will use the contact details that you provide to verify your identity and answers to the questionnaire, as well as to contact you for further information on this story. If we publish Your Content, we may include your name and location.
2019 Contest Rules and Guidelines
1. Tell us a short, powerful, true story.
• Remember: This is not an invitation to give us your opinion on a topic you’re passionate about — we have a contest for that later in the year. Instead, your challenge is to tell a meaningful and interesting story — something with a beginning, middle and end. Because you’re telling a story rather than, say, simply reflecting on your feelings about a topic, there should be a conflict of some kind — an obstacle, problem or tension — that is resolved in some way.
• Keep in mind, however, that any story can work. It doesn’t have to be the most dramatic, life-altering thing that ever happened to you; it can, instead, be about baking brownies with your brother, or a conversation you had on Tuesday’s bus ride to school. It’s all in how you tell it.
• Though the word “narrative” might make you think “fiction,” this story should be true. Tell us about a meaningful event from your real life.
Editors’ Picks
Columbia Silences Its Marching Band
Watch an Awkward and Funny Moment From ‘Downton Abbey’
What Does Having a Boyfriend Have to Do With Sleep?
• You’ll need to communicate not only what happened, but why it mattered to you. What is meaningful about this story? Why are you telling it?
2. Write it in your own real voice, with vivid descriptive language.
• This is an invitation to open up and write in a way that feels natural. We want your personality to come across.
• We also want your writing to be vivid and engaging, so that readers can imagine the scenes you describe, and feel what the narrator is feeling. We hope you’ll edit until you’re happy with every word.
• Please also remember, however, to keep your audience in mind. You’re writing for a family newspaper, so, for example, curse words are out.
3. Keep it to 600 words.
Your narrative must be 600 words or fewer, not including the title. But remember: personal narratives don’t have to be long to be compelling. (Our submission form uses a word counter, so be sure to use only a single space between words and after punctuation, otherwise the tool might count extra spaces as additional words.)
4. For inspiration, you can look at any entry in The Times Magazine’s long-running Lives column, as well as at our new Mentor Text series that suggests ways to practice with the elements of a good narrative essay.
The essays in Lives are all about 800 words long, and all tell a short, powerful story in an engaging voice. We have used many of them as mentor texts to help point out what we’re looking for in this contest.
Or, look through our list of “550 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing” that includes questions about childhood memories, friendship, travel, social media, food, sports, school and more. Try responding to a few that interest you. You might choose one that you enjoyed writing about to turn into your essay.
5. Write something original.
Please don’t submit anything you have already published at the time of submission, whether in a school newspaper, for another contest or anywhere else. You are welcome to get help revising your essay, of course, but the work you submit should be fundamentally your own.
6. Submit only one narrative per student.
Submissions will be disqualified if we discover you have sent in more than one entry. Many of our contests allow students to work in teams, but for this one you must work alone.
7. For this contest, students in the United States and the United Kingdom must be from 13 to 19 years old to participate. However, if you are submitting from anywhere else in the world, you must be between 16 and 19 years old. Please see The New York Times’s terms of service for more details.
8. All entries must be submitted by Oct. 29, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern using the contest form above.
If you have questions about the contest, feel free to write to us at [email protected].
9. We will use this rubric to judge entries, and the winning personal narratives will be featured on The Learning Network.
Your work will be judged by Times journalists as well as by Learning Network staff members and educators from around the United States.
10. What is the “prize”?
Having your work published on The Learning Network and being eligible to be chosen to have your work published in print.
11. The children and stepchildren of the New York Times employees, or teenagers who live in the same household as a Times employee, are not eligible to enter this contest.
12. Finally, follow these instructions if you need proof that you entered this contest.
Within an hour of submitting your editorial, you should receive an email from The New York Times with the subject heading “Thank you for your submission to our Personal Narrative Essay Contest.” If you don’t receive the email within an hour, even after checking your spam folder, then you can resubmit your entry. Be sure your settings allow emails from nytimes.com.
If, after two attempts and waiting over one full day, you still have not received a confirmation email, you can contact us at [email protected] with the email address you used in the contest form. Use the subject heading “Please send me an email confirmation for my personal narrative essay contest submission.” Be sure to include your name and essay title (or subject) in your email. You may have to wait up to a week for a reply.
Personal Narrative Essay Contest for Students: Tell a Short Story About a Meaningful Life Experience We invite students to submit 600-word personal narratives, and we have many resources to help. Deadline: Oct. 29, 2019.
09/06/2019
How they wrote (and rewrote) their Harvard admissions essays Late nights. Discarded drafts. That one great idea. Harvard first-years reflect on the agony and the ecstasy of writing their admissions essay.
08/24/2019
08/24/2019
https://makemyessaybetter.com/2019/08/24/small-things-can-make-a-big-difference/
Small things can make a big difference – Make My Essay Better Small things can make a big difference ellen August 24, 2019 college application / essay / tip 0 Comments Reading is not a purely conscious experience. There are subconscious ticks that get checked in the reader’s mind the moment she encounters your words on the page. And they can work in your fav...
When writing your essays, please use Times New Roman 12pt font. And a single pace after periods (not two). And please consider using paragraphs. :)
A lot of students don't realize that the way their essay "looks" matters. It's like wearing a tie to an interview - a polished essay looks like it was written by someone who knows what she's doing and is taking the task seriously.
First impressions matter - a lot - and they are made before a single word is read.
07/22/2019
Getting a Jump Start on the College Essays This 4-part workshop will focus on drafting an essay for college applications with the goal of creating an engaging, thoughtful composition to include with their college applications. Students who commit to wor...
07/11/2019
Registration for the free college application essay class I will be teaching at the Chantilly Library opens on July 22. Classes begin Aug 5th and go for 4 weeks (Monday afternoons from 4pm to 6pm). https://librarycalendar.fairfaxcounty.gov/event/5140159
Getting a Jump Start on the College Essays This 4-part workshop will focus on drafting an essay for college applications with the goal of creating an engaging, thoughtful composition to include with their college applications. Students who commit to wor...
07/06/2019
I've been working hard on completely recreating (don't ask :) ) my www.MakeMyEssayBetter.com website and thought I'd share another tip - how to get feedback on the college application essay. http://makemyessaybetter.com/2019/07/06/college-application-essay-writing-tips-1/
College Application Essay Writing Tips #1 – How to ask for feedback – Make My Essay Better College Application Essay Writing Tips #1 – How to ask for feedback July 6, 2019 ellen Leave a comment For the next few blog posts, I’ll be writing about the dreaded college application essay. Most students not only dread it, but actually fear it. No, really. It’s worse than monsters under the...
07/05/2019
It's that time of year again... https://makemyessaybetterblog.com/faqs-how-important-are-the-essays-anyway-no-really-do-they-matter/
FAQs – How Important Are the Essays Anyway? No, really? Do they matter? College application season can be an overwhelming time for students and their parents. It’s hard to know where to focus energy because there is just so much to do. With that in mind, I’…
06/10/2019
I will be teaching a free college application essay class at the Chantilly Library. Registration open on July 15. The link is here https://librarycalendar.fairfaxcounty.gov/event/5140158.
Of course you can do private tutoring also. The packages are listed here:
http://www.makemyessaybetter.com/services.html
01/16/2019
The Mega List of Scholarships You Should Apply For | Class of 2019-2020 - Colleges of Distinction A lot of companies and organizations want to help fund your education by offering grants and scholarship opportunities for students like you. Here is a mega list of scholarships you may be eligible to apply for.
06/28/2018
http://wp.me/p2OXcw-21T
Let go of the fear!
It's College Application Essay Writing Time. Fear NOT... This week I started meeting with students to help them with their college application essays. It's so interesting to see their different approaches to the essay. There seem to be two reasons that s...
I will be conducting a essay writing workshop at the Chantilly library again this summer.
Tuesday, August 7,
Thursday, August 9, 2018
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Time:
4:00pm - 6:00pm
Location:
Chantilly Conference Room
Campus:
Chantilly Regional Library
Categories:
Age: Teens Tutorial
FCPL Event Guidelines
Registrations open at 4:00pm Tuesday, July 24, 2018
https://librarycalendar.fairfaxcounty.gov/event/4040857
11/09/2017
Virginia colleges waive application fees for College Application Week All 15 of the state's public four-year colleges and universities, as well as the community colleges and seven private institutions, will be waiving their application fees for students next week.
08/14/2017
https://janefriedman.com/when-you-lose-desire-finish/ or your essay
Troubleshooting for Writers: 7 Questions to Ask When You Lose Desire to Finish Your Book | Jane Friedman Ideally, we’d have all the creativity and energy and desire we need to write amazing stories. However, sometimes we hit roadblocks while following through.
I'm so enjoying the workshop at the Chantilly Library. Today we are talking about structure, description, and stories. Can't wait!
07/10/2017
Registration opens on July 18th - it will likely fill up pretty quickly!
Getting a Jump Start on the College Essays This 5 week workshop will focus on drafting an essay for college applications with the goal of creating an engaging, thoughtful composition to include with their college applications. Students who commit to wor...
07/10/2017
I will be teaching "Getting a Jump Start on the College Essay" again this summer - registration opens July 18th http://librarycalendar.fairfaxcounty.gov/event/3310704
Getting a Jump Start on the College Essays This 5 week workshop will focus on drafting an essay for college applications with the goal of creating an engaging, thoughtful composition to include with their college applications. Students who commit to wor...
07/06/2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/fashion/fear-of-failure.html A story of failure (and learning from it) can be a wonderful topic for a college admissions essay.
On Campus, Failure Is on the Syllabus A Smith College initiative called “Failing Well” is one of a crop of university programs that aim to help high achievers cope with basic setbacks.
a great storytelling module from Pixar and Khan academy. Squeee. https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar/storytelling
The Art of Storytelling | Pixar in a Box | Partner content | Khan Academy This topic is an exploration of the storytelling process at Pixar.
02/08/2017
It's never too early to start thinking about college application essays. :) https://www.commonapp.org/whats-appening/application-updates/common-application-announces-2017-2018-essay-prompts
The Common Application Announces 2017-2018 Essay Prompts We are pleased to share the 2017-2018 Common Application essay prompts with you.
The parent of one of my essay students just shared this with me. I love it!
Ta-Nehisi Coates.
The challenge of writing
Is to see your horribleness on page.
To see your terribleness
And then to go to bed.
And wake up the next day,
And take that horribleness and that terribleness,
And refine it,
And make it not so terrible and not so horrible.
And then to go to bed again.
And come the next day,
And refine it a little bit more,
And make it not so bad.
And then to go to bed the next day.
And do it again,
And make it maybe average,
And then one more time,
If you’re lucky,
Maybe you get to good.
And if you’ve done that,
That’s a success.
The college application essay is not the typical 5-paragraph essay that you've been taught to write in school. It is your story. It's critical to capture your unique voice and your unique experiences. It should be an essay that only you could write. But where to begin? We can help you get past the intimidation of starting. We can also help you revise your story so that it is a standout among all the others.
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Well Chosen Words: Essay Coaching What are college admissions officers looking for in an essay? How do I choose a topic? College essay