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 […]
There are certain schools, like the University of Chicago, who have always taken special pride in developing craft questions for their applicants to answer. In recent years, more schools are jumping on the bandwagon, luring students to their applications with questions like “What does #YOLO mean to you” (Tufts, 2013). This is both fun and […]
The community essay is a standard supplemental rascal that mines for information about your social habits and favorite causes. Prompts that ask about a “community you belong to” often leave themselves open to interpretation: Are you part of a community of sports fans around the world who can connect with other strangers over the amazing […]
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 […]
If you’re on this page, then you have probably encountered a prompt or two on your supplemental essay safari that we at College Essay Advisors call “The Why Essay”. The school you’re applying to is essentially asking: Why do you really want to go here? What is the Why Essay? This shape-shifting question can come […]
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.
