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Brody's Guide to the College Admissions Essay
Brody's Guide to the College Admissions Essay is available at bookstores and at online retailers such as Amazon.com. The book was written by a college counselor and writer who has appeared on national television to discuss admissions-related issues, and a dean of law school admissions at a major university. It has been used in high schools and in after-school programs.
For those students who would benefit from professional help with their college admissions essays, we recommend EssayEdge.com, which has been praised by the Washington Post and the New York Times.
Introduction
The college essay is a strange, rare creature:
It’s a one-time thing. Most students write college essays just once in the fall of their senior year of high school, and then never again. That means applicants (and often parents) come into this project completely unaware of what the task entails or requires, having never done anything like it before.
The college essay is terribly important. In a world where students sometimes write dozens of pages for each graded class, it can be startling to imagine a 500-word piece holding such sway over something as monumental as college admissions. Yet next to grades and test scores, the essay is the most relevant part of the college application. When admissions officers read the essays, they not only evaluate them for quality, but also form unconscious impressions about the candidate: “Is this a likable person? Does he or she sound intelligent? Curious? Passionate?” Most important: “Do we want this person at our school?”
You can use all of the time and resources you need. Perhaps the best part about writing the college essay is this: despite all the stress and hubbub that surrounds the admissions process, students can write at their own pace. The essay isn’t timed, and it isn’t a pop quiz. Applicants have at least three months (and in reality much more time) to conceive, plan, and write a one to two-page paper. There’s also plenty of time for students to show their essay to parents and teachers, to rethink, to revise, and generally to make all of the improvements that good writing requires.
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