20% Off How to Write Amazing Supplemental Essays
A six-part course on writing the supplemental essays that most highly selective schools require.
THE COURSE WORKBOOK INCLUDES
A DOZEN BRAINSTORMING ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING:
- My Favorite Supplemental Essay Brainstorming Exercises
- Everything I Want Colleges to Know About Me
- The Feelings and Needs Exercise
- The Best Extracurricular Brainstorming Exercise
- The Elon Musk Exercise
- The “Why us” Research Chart
- How to Develop Your Preliminary College List
- How to Organize All Your Essay Topics For Free
- List of Potential “Super” Topics from Past Students
- How to Write an Awesome Activities List
- Activities You May Not Have Considered Including—But That Count!
- How to Write the Additional Info Section
PLUS: 36 SAMPLE ESSAYS:
- (4) Great “Extracurricular” Essays
- (2) Great Community Service Essays
- (2) Great “Community” Essays
- (2) Great “Intellectual Idea” Essays
- (2) Great “Roommate” Essays
- (2) Great “What Matters” Essays
- (2) Great “Quotation” Essays
- (2) Great “Create Your Own Class” Essays
- (4) Great U of Chicago Extended Essays
- (8) Great 150-Word Extracurricular Essays
- (3) Great sets of short answers
- (3) Great “How I Spent My Summer” Examples
BONUS:
- College Essay Guy’s Complete Guide to the “Why us” Essay (20 pages)
- College Essay Guy’s Epic Activities Verbs List
SESSION 1: PRELIMINARY SORT + THE SUPER ESSAY
- Sample Application: How Doing a Thorough Job on the Brainstorming Activities Can Set You Up for a Great Application
- A Relatively Quick and Totally Free Way to Figure Out Which of Your Essay Topics Overlap
- The Overlapping Game (or) How Doubling--or Tripling, or Quadrupling!--Your Essays for Multiple Prompts Can Yield a “Super Essay”
- Sample Super Essay
- How You Can Write a Super Essay
SESSION 2: THE ACTIVITIES & AWARDS LIST, ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SECTION, THE "WHY US" ESSAY
- 5 Tips for Your Activities & Awards List
- The Difference Between an Amazing Activities and Awards List and a Really Good One
- Activities You May Not Have Considered Including—But That Count!
- “Stretching the Truth” on your Activities List: A Cautionary Tale
- How to Up-Level Your Activities and Awards List in Three Steps
- What You Should (and Shouldn’t) Include in Your Add’l Info Section
- How an Add’l Info Section Could Make the Difference in the Application
- Quick Review of the Complete Guide to the "Why us" Essay
- 3 Great "Why Us" Essays You've Never Read
- Reviewing your "Why Us" Essays
- Q&A: Anything you want to discuss
SESSION 3: THE EXTRACURRICULAR ESSAY
- The Difference Between a Regular and a “Super” Extracurricular Essay
- Four Qualities of a Mediocre Extracurricular Essay
- Four Qualities of an Amazing Extracurricular Essay
- Eight Mistakes Students Make on Their Extracurricular Essays
- A Three-Step Process to Help You Avoid All Those Mistakes
- BEABIES: Are You on Board Yet or What?
- How to Write an Amazing Narrative Extracurricular Essay: The Elon Musk Exercise
- How to Write an Amazing Montage Extracurricular Essay: The UC Exercise
- Zooming Back and Re-Examine the Big Picture
- Upgrading Your Overlapping Game… Game
- How You Can Apply This Approach to Almost Any Supplemental Essay
- How to Write a Great "Community" Essay
- Three Great Sample “Community” Essays
SESSION 4: THE STANFORD, U OF CHICAGO, CREATE YOUR OWN CLASS AND QUOTATION ESSAYS
- How to Write the Stanford “Intellectual Idea” Essay
- Where to Find a Bazillion Intellectual Ideas
- The One Question the “Intellectual Idea” Essay Must (Must) Answer
- How to Write the Stanford “Roommate” Essay
- Finding the Right Balance Between Chaos and Order in 250 Words
- How to Write the Stanford “What Matters” Essay
- Three Ways to Increase the Impact of Your “What Matters” Essay
- How to Write the "Create Your Own Class" Essay
- Four Tips for the Quotation Essay
- Why This Essay Isn't Really About the Quote At All
- The U Chicago Extended Essay: How to pick a topic
- The three qualities U of Chicago is looking for IMHO
SESSION 5: THE 150-WORD EXTRACURRICULAR ESSAY & SHORT ANSWERS
- Six Techniques for Writing the 150-Word Extracurricular Essay
- Three More 150-Word Extracurricular Essays I Love, and Why
- The High-Flyer Method: How to Write a Next-Level 150-Word Extracurricular Essay If You Have a Perfect GPA, Test Scores, Ridiculous Extracurriculars and Have Nothing to Prove
- How to Make Your Short Answers Awesome: 11 Dos and Don’ts
- A Stanford-Worthy Set of Short Answers And What Makes Them So
- A Creative Take on the “Where Have You Lived” Essay
- Quick Tips for Creating a Great Video
- How to Make Sure Your Application Is Doing Its Job
SESSION 6: ASK ME ANYTHING YOU WANT
Get answers to some of the most frequently asked questions, such as:
- Student Version:
- How do I answer the (insert topic) essay?
- I'm applying as an X major. How do I address that in my supplemental essays?
- What if I'm writing about Z in my main statement. Should I also talk about it in my supplemental essays?
- Lots of other questions.
- Counselor Version:
- How do I help my students with X?
- My student struggles with Y. What do you suggest?
- How much help is too much help on a student's essay?
- My student's "Why Us" essay still isn't there. What would you suggest?
- Dozens of other questions.
- Plus, I give feedback on a few sample essays to help you figure out how you might revise your own essay.
FAQ
WAIT, WHY IS THIS GUIDE CALLED “INCOMPLETE”?
Because, with hundreds of essay prompts each year--many of which exist for a year and then disappear--no guide could be complete. (Well, I suppose it could, but can you imagine…?)
HAVING SAID THAT: this guide tackles the essays you’re most likely to encounter.
What if I can’t afford it?
As with all my webinars and resources, just fill out a pay-what-you-can request from the registration page.
