During my webinar last week, students and parents asked how to write about painful life experiences—illness, poverty, trauma—in their college application essays. These questions come up a lot: Can I …

If you're applying to US colleges that require admission essays (aka "personal statement" or "personal essay"), you are in the right place! Story2 has helped more than a quarter million …

I was cleaning up my study recently, clearing the decks to write a new book about storytelling, and I found my notes from the road trip I took with my …

If you’re applying to Cornell, you’re in luck! While some of its Ivy peers require upwards of 10 supplemental essays, Cornell requires just one, with a maximum of 650 words …

Your personal essays play a unique role in the admissions process, revealing your unique character to colleges, as admissions officers build a community of diverse students who will make the …

Your grades, test scores, and list of extracurricular activities help admissions readers understand who you are as a student and college applicant, and your personal statement helps them understand who …

When I started the process of completing supplements for 12 colleges, a year ago, I found it really overwhelming! These are the steps I used to get my supplements organized, …

As we update these essay questions for the Class of 2022, it's hard to know what will happen with the Delta variant and the spread of COVID this fall. Here …

Supplemental essays are a great opportunity to give admissions officers more insight into why your unique character and life experiences make you a great fit for their school. Like many …

Hoping to head to a “public Ivy” next year? The University of Virginia might be the school for you! UVA requires two supplemental essays, each with a maximum of 250 …

Hoping to spend your college years in the bustling city of Austin? The University of Texas might be the school for you! But before you make your way to Texas, …

Hoping to spend your college years in sunny Southern California? USC might be the school for you! But before you make your way to LA, you’ll need to complete USC’s …

The University of Michigan, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is the flagship public university in the state of Michigan and has over 46,000 students. Though you might be most familiar …

The University of Chicago or “U Chicago” is a large research university located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. It is well-known for quirky essay questions, which should not …

Ideally, the admissions process is an opportunity for exploration and reflection (and not simply a year of stress and anxiety about “getting into” college). Students can learn a little more …

Before you begin, take some time to think about why you actually want to go to Stanford. Yes, it’s a fantastic, gorgeous campus near San Francisco and Silicon Valley, but …

If you’re applying to NYU, you’re in luck — there’s only one supplemental essay for you to write! And the question is simple enough: Why NYU? You have 400 words …

If you’re applying to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), you may be more focused on your math and science grades than your writing skills. But MIT admissions officers want …

Students applying to Emory University will need to respond to two prompts from two different categories of supplemental essays. One is a straightforward "What Major" essay of 200 words. Emory …

Hoping to become a Blue Devil next year? With its 6% acceptance rate, Duke University is among the most selective in the country. Your supplemental essays are your opportunity to …

When you’re applying to Columbia University, you’ll need to complete a series of shorter questions and four supplemental essays. The list questions must be answered in list form using commas …

Students who apply to Brown must respond to 3 supplemental essay questions, each with a maximum word count of 250 each. These essays are your chance to show admissions officers …

Writing a powerful essay is important not only for getting into college, but for winning scholarships. Scholarship essays come in many different forms as all scholarships are different. Some scholarship …

"So, can you start by telling me about your background?" the hiring manager asks. It's not the first time you've heard this question during your job search, and it won't …

The Common App essays are your chance to show admissions who you are and how you will make a difference in college and in life.. Admissions officers describe the essay …

The Common App's Additional Information Section is a helpful way to share more details about yourself. But for many students, it isn't clear what should go here, and they end …

There are more than 1000 Test-Optional and Test Flexible Colleges. Jessica walked into my office looking defeated. She sat down in a chair, her shoulders slumped. “My scores went down…” …

Most people see storytelling as rooted in the humanities. Writing, performance, but not science. So, you might be surprised to find out that disciplines from neuroscience to business to psychology …

One of the growing trends in admissions is the rise of asynchronous interviews or “video essays,” which are essentially interviews that you complete independently via video. These types of interviews …

We huddled in the alley, in the rain, by the emergency exit of The Comet. “Five minutes guys,” yelled the stage technician, peeking his head outside the door. We were …

There are many places students’ college admission essays get derailed. The first is the search for “the right topic.” A college admission essay is a completely different beast from the …

The first thing you need to understand is how to pick and answer one of the Common App personal essay questions (aka “prompts”). Your personal statement and supplements are important …

Here is the full set of essay prompts for 2021-2022 Common App with notes on how to approach each one (for more, download our Ultimate Guide to the Common App …

Summer is the perfect time to begin working on your college admission essays! But, during the summer, students usually have more questions about writing their Common App essay than answers …

The person who reads your application in a college admissions office might be a dedicated admissions officer, a faculty member, or a student or part-time essay reader. They are reading …

In the admissions process, most students will encounter the dreaded personal statement. Whether you are using the Common App, the Coalition Application, or a college-specific application, you’re bound to encounter …

When you’re starting to write a college essay, you might find yourself wondering about the word count. How long or short should it be? Are word count limits suggested, or …

What should you not write in a college essay? When I read college application essays as a faculty advisor to the admissions committee at Douglass College, Rutgers, the great essays …

Your college admission essays are an essential part of your applications. But how do you actually know when your Common App and other college application essays are ready to submit? …

I learned I realized I felt What? Isn't the idea to use your essays to show colleges how you've overcome challenges and are now ready, willing and able to succeed …

Want to write a personal statement that will really make your college applications stand out? Instead of veering into generalizations, which are boring and send your reader packing, take time …

College essays are a crucial piece of the admissions puzzle. They’re your best — and sometimes, only — chance to tell admissions officers in your own words who you are, …

The first sentence of anything you write is crucial, and that’s especially true of college admissions essays! The goal of your essay is to make the reader interested enough in …

Here's a 3-step process to write admission and scholarship essays that keep your readers (aka admissions officers) engaged from the first sentence to the very last word. 1) Begin with …

We often get questions like this from students in our Personal Statement bootcamps: "What should I write about to get into this college?" or "What are admissions officers at that …

When you tell a story, it ignites a process called mental mirroring, and three things happen all at once in your brain: Your story sparks the reader’s memories. Those memories …

Colleges say that after grades and test scores, personal essays are the most important factor in college admissions decisions. This was even more true last year, with more and more …