The Personal Essay Episodes

#103 – On this episode, we conclude our 7-part series on the personal essay. Today, Jankel and I begin by introducing the importance of seeking feedback on your 4th draft. We talk about the people in your life who would be great participants in this feedback-seeking exercise. We go over 7 questions to ask those individuals and present ways to gather even more information from them. The resulting 5th draft will undergo an additional adjustment, and the results will be the 6th draft. T...

#102 – Today, we reach the next step in crafting the personal essay. Jankel and I uncover the process of calibrating the 3rd draft in such a way that it becomes a message that communicates the intended message. We go over the questions to ask to guide that calibration. In the first half of the episode we talk about a mistake some students make when writing their personal essay. Unfortunately for them, that mistake garners them negative attention from college admission officers. The good ne...

#101 – On this episode we give you 12 questions and pieces of advice that will help you turn the information you created on your second draft into a workable third draft. Jankel and I talk about what to do to grab the attention of the college admission representatives reading your essay, and how to get them to become immersed in your story. As we share those steps you should take and things you should do, we also share plenty of what you should not do as a writer. Some of what you will ...

#100 – Today, we uncover the process of turning the first draft of your personal essay into your second draft. Jankel and I go over eight questions to ask about the information on your first draft, so that at the end, you are left with the building blocks you will use to write the body of your personal essay. At the beginning of the episode, we talk about two pieces of advice I often share with parents about some of the ways they could best support their kids in high school. We also let...

#099 – Today, Jankel and I continue giving you insights on how to write your personal essay. We begin by going over the importance of the essay as an integral part of your college application, review the prompts that you will find in the Common App, and highlight the beauty of the essay as the only part of the application in which you control 100% of the narrative. We also present 10 different topics you should stay away from, or at the very least, be very careful with, when writing your e...

#097 – On this episode, we continue talking about the personal essay or the personal statement. We begin by reminding you of a few very important facts to keep in mind about the essay, and analyze precisely what it is that you will be asked to do as you tackle this very important component of your college application. Jankel and I continue our conversation by going over the steps to follow when choosing the prompt from the Common App that you will use to write your own personal statement. ...

#096 - Today, we begin a multi-episode series focused on the personal essay, that is the part of the application where you will have a chance to present yourself in a way that makes a positive and direct impact in your chances for admission into a college or university. That is especially true for the more selective ones, who historically have given more weight to the importance of the personal essay. The episode begins by highlighting the fact that the entirety of the college application ...