Juniors: Resources for Kickstarting Your Essays this Summer

We strongly urge you to have at least your Common Application essay in good shape before senior year begins. Fall of senior year is a busy time and writing your essays while attending school is like adding a class to your schedule. Summer provides the luxury of uninterrupted time to reflect and write. Here's some advice to kickstart your essays over the coming summer months -- from a suggested reading list that we hope will inspire to some excellent step-by-step guidance on the new Common Application essay prompts.

Finding Your Voice in the Essay:  A suggested reading list of first-person essays.

The Real Topic of your Essay is You: One strategy to help you find a topic.

What are colleges looking for in the essay?

Great essay advice from the deans at Vanderbilt, Chicago, University of Illinois and more.

Pushing the Right Brick for Diagon Alley  Writer and independent college consultant Irena Smith on getting started -- and getting personal -- in the college essay.

Advice for Students on Topics for the New Common App Essays  College advisor Alice Kleeman breaks down each of the new Common Application essay prompts, with guidance on academic, extracurricular, and personal topics that might fit neatly into a response for each prompt. And there's a bonus section on the essays that have been Ms. Kleeman's favorites in her more than twenty years advising students.

 

For more information about essays, including a step-by-step guide to developing a topic, see Chapter 13, "Essays," " in College Admission: From Application to Acceptance, Step by Step.

 

 

 

 

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