Harry Bauld has been helping students write the college application essay for more than thirty years. For years, when I was Co-Director of College Counseling at Colorado Academy, we brought Harry in to lead an essay workshop for our seniors, and I watched him distill a lifetime of writing lessons into a couple of hours. Ironically enough, Harry Bauld is in fact bald. (And he wouldn't mind my joking about that!) His 1987 book, On Writing the College Application Essay, is still

There's a lot of talk about using ChatGPT, as it gets more sophisticated, as a constructive tool. I had a wild thought and asked ChatGPT to summarize the best college application essay advice. As I tweaked the prompt, I decided to specifically ask it to pull from the guidance of 3 people I know: Janine Robinson, whose now-dormant Essay Hell blog crystallizes some of my favorite tips, Rick Clark from Georgia Tech, who you should follow wherever you can, and Harry Bauld, an Eng

Reflection, personal growth and confidence through 650-word mini memoirs.

Post 3 of 3 (Read Pt 1 & Pt 2) Writing an Effective College Admissions Essay: Honesty is the Best Policy Anne Elrod Whitney, Ph.D. My advice to be bravely honest isn’t just about style; it’s also about the content. Portray yourself clearly, showing readers who you are claiming to be rather than just making the claim. Let them know what it would be like to work together on something or to walk together on a journey. Let them see you. Tell a story to show your commitment to a v

Post 2 of 3 (Read Part 1) Writing College Admissions Essays: Who Cares? You Do Anne Elrod Whitney, Ph.D. When you let your emotions tell you what makes the writing challenging, you can use your creative mind to alter the writing situation responsively to those emotions. You still won’t come away saying college admissions essays are easy to write. Almost no important writing is easy. Yet you just may find it more rewarding. Even the most experienced and successful writers won

Anne Elrod Whitney is a brilliant teacher of teachers of writing at Penn State. Anne and I were elementary school classmates from grades K-4 in Northwest Houston. Years later, we connected on social media, which at its best, can offer a platform for re-establishing and reinforcing connections that would probably otherwise be lost. Anne has written some great books on writing, and advised countless writers, and people who want to teach writers, on writing. We've discovered tha