Getting Past ‘Personal Growth’ in College Essays
Many college applicants strive to describe “personal growth” in their application essays. Here’s why they shouldn’t.
Latest
Writing Is Not Writing Unless It’s Revising
Every theater production goes through weeks of rehearsal. Football teams practice formations and plays dozens of times before running them in games. Chefs create tasting menus, militaries run drills, surgeons do internships, and pilots fly simulations. No one is expected to get it right — whatever “it” may be — on the
What Engineers Can Learn from Authors
Google X’s self-congratulatory embrace of “failure” ignores lessons that have served writers and artists well for millennia.
Today’s Applicants, Tomorrow’s Reputations
As admission rates have plummeted, the esteem of many “second-choice” colleges has skyrocketed. This is good news for today’s applicants.
Overcoming Affluence: How Students of Modest Means Can Defy the Odds
Wealthy high school students enjoy an astonishing array of advantages, from private schooling to tutoring to vacation homes. But they do not have a monopoly on intellect.
On Seismology and the Humanities
Contrary to the emerging trendiness of STEM, the humanities offer tremendous intellectual and vocational value for college students.
College Essays and the Misuse of 'Voice'
College counselors and English teachers exhort students to use "voice." It's a reasonable goal. But it's nearly useless advise for inexperienced writers. Josh Stephens offers some alternatives
College Choice
Freedom Returns to Common Application Essays
High school juniors get atwitter this time of year when the Common Application releases its essay prompts. This year’s prompts, released last week, mean less than ever before. That’s a good thing.
High School
Geographic Illiteracy and the Rise of Trump
The typical high school curriculum renders Americans geographically illiterate. Our ignorance about the world and about each other has finally taken its toll, in the unlikely form of Donald Trump.
College Choice
College Essay Prompt Pet Peeves
Students should always take expansive, creative views of their prompts. They should think critically. If that means that they acknowledge a prompt's stupidity, so be it.
The Hidden Perils of Applying to ‘Reach’ Colleges
Students who are serious about applying to ultra-selective schools need to affirmatively articulate — first to themselves, then to the colleges—reasons why schools should want to welcome them.
Essays & Applications
Insight into New University of California Application Essays
A few weeks ago, the University of California announced the retirement of its venerable set of application prompts, to be replaced by eight new "personal insight questions." Before I get to those questions, let's take a moment to mourn their predecessors. A Brief Lament Between the