This issue is addressed in a recent article in Forbes The resounding answer: “yes”. Some key points: “But could their skepticism about college be right? Not based on earnings. The national arbiter of the data on the value of college degrees is Anthony Carnevale, director of the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown […]
Read MoreBroadly speaking, college admission is based on: (1) objective factors: the academic index (2) subjective factors: “hooks” (such as athletics/diversity/connections) and activities/defined interest/essay/application Unless one of those hooks is exceptionally strong, the objective factors dominate the initial screening of candidates. If students do not reach a certain number within the school’s academic index, then the […]
Read MoreSix-pages, full sentences, “narrative” format. These could be the requirements of a middle school writing assignment. But, they’re actually Jeff Bezos’s guidelines for “pitching” plans at Amazon. According to Franklin Foer in “What Jeff Bezos Wants” (The Atlantic, November 2019), Bezos insists that his employees explain their ideas in lengthy narratives, because he knows that […]
Read MoreAlthough not scored, the SSAT Essay matters! Schools receive the essay along with the scored results. And admissions boards read the essay to learn more about the way a student thinks and writes. So, students prepping for the SSAT should always include time to prepare for the essay–by learning about the format and strategies and […]
Read MoreMany parents find the college application process incredibly stressful–“nervewracking,” as one parent put it. Her son, a senior at Lyme-Old Lyme HS, had been laboring over his college essays for several weeks but had resisted her help. Although she had tried giving tactful feedback, this seemed to shut him down further and add tension to […]
Read More“I was told by our guidance office to wait until the in-school test administered in late Spring.” a parent from a Shoreline, CT high school. I love most of the guidance counselors that I have met in 20 years of providing educational counseling to my Connecticut neighbors. But the above is general advice that works […]
Read MoreAs a writing teacher, I talk about vocabulary a lot. After all, words are essential tools for writers. Even more important, words make thinking possible. They give shape to our thoughts, enabling us to identify and clarify what’s in our minds. So, the more words we know, the more “thinking” we can do, and the […]
Read More1) Give yourself plenty of time! Don’t wait until a week before the deadline to begin writing. Crafting a coherent, readable essay takes time and thought. Remember that writing–any kind of writing–is essentially thinking on paper. Your college app essay is no different. The essays you submit to your colleges will reflect the quality of […]
Read MoreGood writing isn’t just important for authors, English teachers, or technical writers. It tops the list of skills most prized by employers today. According to a 2018 survey by the NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers), employers placed written communication ahead of all other attributes they value in recent college graduates (“In the Salary […]
Read MoreWhy do students so often struggle with their college application essays? While some find writing in general daunting, others get stuck mainly because they’ve forgotten to think about their audience. All writers, no matter their purpose in writing, need to consider their audience. Who will be reading their writing? Knowing this from the start and […]
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