College Essay Writing/Visits

A good article about 4 things to do to make the most of your college visit

The 2020-21 Common App Writing Prompts: The prompts themselves are available via this link, and here's the blog post the College Board wrote about the prompts

This article describes the inclusion of a new, optional 250-word essay prompt within Common App where students can describe the impact of COVID-19 on their lives should they choose to do so: https://hscw-counselorscorner.blogspot.com/2020/05/early-advice-for-juniors-applying-to.html. Here is another article that also goes into the new, optional question: https://www.commonapp.org/blog/COVID-19-question-common-app

CollegeVine: This blog gives detailed ideas of how to tackle the prompts, and how to decide which one might be right for you.

7 Tips for Writing an Amazing College Application Essay- exactly what it sounds like, this blog gives specific ideas for how to be write an essay that successfully showcases the essence of you.

Youtube Channel College Essay Advisors: This is a "one-stop shop for all of your college application essay needs."- they give expert tips for every step of the college essay writing process. There are videos breaking down the common app prompts, as well as advice on writing and what admissions offices are looking for. Each video is relatively brief, but packs a lot of information and knowledge. If you want an extra boost of advice, they have a step-by-step webseries, College Essay Academy

Do's And Don't of College Essay Writing- From Ivywise, this blog offers specific do's and don'ts for the college essay writing process.

How to Answer the "Why This College?" supplemental questions/essays: Excellent step-by-step advice on how to craft this type of answer. Uses detailed knowledge, suggested resources, and easy to follow equations, such as:

A (school-related detail) + B (how this connects back to you) = a great “Why us?” sentence

The College Essay Guy: handouts, videos, step-by-step instructions.

12 essays that work: https://www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/college-essay-examples - see some quality writing examples.

Values exercise YouTube video- created by the same College Essay Guy as the blog above, this video will help you tap into what matters to you, so you can create the best essay possible. Brainstorming before writing is a MAJOR key to finding successful topics and ideas for your college essay. Per the video's description, "with this Values exercise, students can connect to their core values and beliefs in a way that inspires authentic sharing (and a pretty darn good essay). "