It’s time to start brainstorming for your college essay! If you find the prospect of brainstorming to be far less fun than a.) sleeping outside b.) tattooing your tongue or c.) bathing in hot chili oil, don’t despair. We have six stellar suggestions for how to make brainstorming not only effective, but even (gasp!) fun: […]
Listen, we get it. The waves are crashing, sun is beaming, and all you want to do is chill. You’ve been working all year long to make sure your grades are up to par and that you’ve put enough energy into your (nine-thousand?) activities to make a real impact on your community and make an […]
The whole point of writing a college essay is to differentiate yourself from other applicants and place yourself ahead of the pack. For this reason, many students shy away from writing about common college essay topics. CEA’s Founder and Chief Advisor, Stacey Brook, believes this doesn’t have to be the case. Stacey recently published an […]
Every year, The New York Times issues an open call for college application essays on the subject of money, work, and class. Money becomes a lens through which identity, family, and dreams, can be glimpsed. Out of the many submissions they received this year, The Times published the five best essays (four were published in […]
The Oddball Essay is a supplemental essay type that mines for information about not only who you are, but also how you think. Colleges are interested in the way your mind works so they can determine if you’d be a good fit for their campus community. Are you easily led down a rabbit hole of […]
The Community Essay is a standard supplemental essay type that mines for information about your social habits and favorite causes. Since you will become a member of whichever college community you choose to attend, it’s not surprising that admissions is curious to learn more about the communities you are already a part of and the […]
At one time, not so long ago, the Common App asked all applicants for a brief description of their most important extracurricular experiences. When that requirement became optional in 2013, many individual colleges took it upon themselves to issue a similar prompt as a replacement. The activity essay is an excellent opportunity to expand beyond […]
The famous Why Essay is one of the most common supplemental essay types, and it’s not difficult to ascertain why that is. When competitive colleges and universities are trying to carefully select applicants to admit to their institution, they want to find the ones who really want to be there. The “Why This College” Essay […]
Congratulations to the future class of 2020! Acceptances are starting to roll in and we couldn’t be more excited for you, or prouder to have been a part of your journey. As one final hurrah, we’re holding a college essay contest to honor this year’s best essays. So, submit your winning application essay to the […]
“Real college essay examples” is one of the most commonly searched phrases in the college application Googleverse. Cloaked in mystery, the personal statement is an assignment that students rarely encounter before senior year. And yet the college-applying hordes are required to tackle this beast every year. “Surely the successful essays of my predecessors will hold […]
We thought so.
