College Essay Doctor

04/05/2025

Why did this impressive-sounding kid's essay lead to a flurry of rejections from top colleges? It sounds like a brag sheet, which is precisely what you want to steer clear of when crafting a personal statement.

The student said he has a 4.0 GPA and a high ACT score

03/23/2025

As college acceptances are rolling in for this latest crop of students (Northeastern, UCLA, Boston College, the Claremont Consortium, UNC, U Miami, UW Engineering...), I'm very proud of how they successfully used their personal statements to unspool their life stories.

"I’ve had this experience with reluctant writers again and again — when a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously."

The genre is often maligned for being formulaic and melodramatic, but it’s more important than you think.

03/08/2025

Last week, the Common App released the prompts for the upcoming 2025-26 application period. The prompts for the main essay are the same as last year's (which were the same as the year before and the year before that🤓). Here's what has changed — and what remains the same, directly from the Common App administrators:

Students will see two changes to the optional “Additional information” questions as of August 1, 2025.

The current “Community disruption” question will be updated to a “Challenges and circumstances” question. The new question language will expand to capture a broader range of impacts students may experience. The word/character limit will remain the same (first-year app 250 words max, transfer app 1250 characters max).

The “Additional information” question word/character limit will be reduced. The first-year app limit will be reduced from 650 to 300 words max. The transfer app limit will be reduced from 3500 to 1500 characters max.

You can read the essay prompts by clicking on the link.

The Common App essay prompts offer diverse topics, inviting students to share personal stories, challenges, growth, and meaningful experiences. Discover what has changed and remained the same for the 25–26 prompts.

05/21/2021

I love hearing where my students got accepted to college! In this challenging year with a record-high number of applicants, students I worked with got into highly selective schools including Ivies (Yale, Columbia, Brown, UPenn), Duke and UChicago, as well as small liberal arts schools including Whitman, Bates and Connecticut College and big state schools like UW and UW Honors, UC Berkeley and UCLA. Congratulations to all! 🎉

06/01/2020

As summer approaches, it's a great time to launch your Common App essay. Prompts haven't changed from last year and are available here:

With instant access to more than 800 colleges and universities around the world, the Common App is the most seamless way to manage the application process.

05/25/2020

Looking forward to sharing tips and strategies for how to write a compelling and effective college essay on June 2 at 7 pm. Email [email protected] to RSVP. I'll send out a Zoom link before the session.

05/25/2020

Wondering if there's a way to share with colleges how COVID-19 has impacted your life? The Common App has added an optional essay for the upcoming 2020-21 application season. https://www.commonapp.org/blog/COVID-19-question-common-app

10/26/2019

A little levity as college application deadlines loom:

College essays ask questions of our teens that assume a level of maturity and experience that most of them haven’t yet achieved.

10/07/2019

Some great advice here about what to highlight in a college essay. In short, "use people or experiences as launching pads to discuss yourself" and "go deep, not broad."

Each year, about half of our applicants submit their application in the last few days before the deadline. Even our ED early birds seem to know how to procrastinate. So as our November 1 ED deadline approaches, I thought I'd write to you, future applicants everywhere, and give you four easy tips fo...

09/21/2019

I attended a college information session last week where the University of Chicago's deputy director of admissions offered some advice about writing a college essay:

1. Remember that the essay is a narrative space for admissions officers to learn about you.

2. Focus on one or two things in the essay; don't make it into a laundry list of all your stellar accomplishments.

3. If you're stuck, think about three fun facts people should know about you or talk about an experience that has been central to your life.

4. Feel comfortable being creative. Your essay can be fun and/or funny. A great essay doesn't have to be super serious.

09/09/2019

Keep these pearls in mind as you start writing your college essays, especially this insight about the bigger picture: “A sense of perspective and self-awareness is what’s interesting."

You’ve taken the tests, requested the recommendations, completed the common app, and now it’s finally time to refocus on what you’ve been putting off: the essay. While most students spend days, sometimes weeks, perfecting their personal...

08/27/2019

With senior year starting, now is a good time to get to work on college essays. The essay is the only place in the application that allows students to authentically express themselves. Choose your topic wisely, heeding these tips about pitfalls to avoid:

Writing a winning essay can be key to getting into college -- that's why students should stay away from these topics