By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. In June of every year, commencement speakers appear onstage to impart words of wisdom to excited and anxious graduates. Their messages are meant to fortify young people as they transition from childhood into adulthood. While tradition holds that most students sit and listen, I thought it was important to allow..
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. A student recently asked me, “When are we getting to my essays?” She was clearly tired of discussing her activities. This wasn’t the first time I’ve heard this question, so I reassured her, “Soon.” She then raised a quizzical eyebrow. I realized I needed to explain further and continued, “Your..
By Nora Lessersohn, Ph.D. In the first part of our two-part look at tackling the personal statement, we discussed the brainstorming process. If you haven’t read that yet, check it out here. In this post, we will talk about what to do once you’ve found a topic for your essay. Whether you’ve done some freewriting..
By – Nora Lessersohn “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates While we probably shouldn’t take this statement as literally as Socrates did, it can help us think about how to tackle one of the most important parts of the college application: the personal statement. What is the personal statement? In simplest terms,..
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. This article first appeared in The Huffington Post on September 18th, 2016. The college application process can bring out the worst in families, with its high stakes, countless unknowns, and a mountain of work to surmount. Kids procrastinate. Parents nag. Kids procrastinate some more. Parents nag some more – that..
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. If you could channel any movie character as you prepare for college, choose Forrest Gump. “Forrest Gump?” you might wonder. “Why Forrest Gump? He certainly wasn’t ‘smart’ in the traditional sense of the word.” Well, apart from the fact that he’s infinitely interesting (who else has run across the U.S...
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. “The process is now out of my hands. I’m not going to bother checking in.” “My son is so lazy and stubborn. You’re going to have to work around that.” “Why even bother reaching out to colleges? Some of them don’t even track interest.” These are some of the statements..
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. “Nobody reads anymore.” This lament is heard round the world, and perhaps most loudly in college admissions. While doing well in school and leading in extracurricular activities will undeniably help you get into an amazing college, reading is the real secret to success. “How can that be?” you might ask...
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. This article first appeared on BuzzFeed on June 7, 2015. The sound of the ocean. The warmth of the sun. And… college applications? What? That can’t be what summer vacation is about. Yet, for rising high school seniors, that’s exactly what you need to be focusing on, that is, if..
By Jon Perkins of www.essaywise.com The question today is how to write a better “activity essay.” The prompt usually looks like this: “Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences.” Here’s what most first drafts look like: Activity X is really important to me. First I did this. Then I did..