Two of my colleagues and I recently appeared on Good Morning America in a segment in response to the college admission scandal. The piece explored a different and more common way that students try to game the admission process: using an essay they didn’t write themselves. The segment entailed the three of us, plus one additional college counselor, reviewing personal statements and trying to spot the “fake” essay, which proved to be a more nuanced task than I think the GMA producers had expected. We at College Coach thought it might be useful to do a “behind the scenes” account of why spotting the fake was a challenge, and why you still shouldn’t use a fake essay!

Over the course of the past 16 years, I have read thousands of college applications and the personal statements that accompany them. Some essays have remained fresh in my mind – often because the topics were inspiring, powerful, humorous, or beautifully written – but other essays stand out for all of the wrong reasons. Below are four of my most noteworthy observations about college application essays, including blunders students should avoid at all costs.

One of the hardest things for students—for people!—to do is separate the quality of their process from the randomness or disappointment of challenging outcomes. This is why Deal or No Deal always drove me nuts: You didn’t make the right choice because the next case was worth $.01; it was either the right choice in the moment or it wasn’t! All we can ever do is the best we can with the information we have available to us; we can’t justify bad decisions by good outcomes, just as we can’t condemn good decisions that resulted in bad outcomes.

You need guidance on Brown’s four supplemental essays. We’ve got advice. You and this blog are a perfect fit!

Before you get started, remember that while these are all short responses, they’re still essays, and all the essay rules apply: develop engaging openings and strong conclusions, and provide examples and specifics so that you are showing rather than telling.

So you’re interested in applying to Wellesley College? And why wouldn’t you be. Very few other colleges have the student opportunities and impressive alumni of this women’s college.

Love Reed. It’s a phrase that is sprinkled throughout campus, adorning buttons you’ll find on student backpacks in the fall and senior laurels in the spring. In order to Love Reed, however, you must first get to know it. The experience at Reed is different from the experience elsewhere on measures of intellectual engagement, academic rigor, and closely held traditions of weirdness. As an applicant, this is something for you to make a serious effort to learn before you apply, both because it’ll make you a better informed applicant and because it’ll help you craft a thoughtful response to your essay.

Whether you’re just putting the finishing touches on your college essay, or you’ve yet to put pen to paper (alright, finger to keyboard…), if you’re college applicant, you need to check out the latest installment of our video series, We Can Explain.

The University of Maryland is one of the five colleges and universities that accepts only the Coalition Application. And while they require a student to upload a response to one of the five Coalition Application essay prompts, UMD also ask students to reply to five additional, or “supplemental,” fill-in-the-blank questions as well.

So you want to be a Duck!  What inspires you and motivates you to join the University of Oregon community, and what will you contribute to campus? Why is it a good fit for you? All things to consider as you dive into your University of Oregon application.

So you’ve decided you want to be a part of Nova Nation, but the only thing standing between you and your dreams of cheering on the Wildcats in Finneran Pavilion is the Common App and a supplemental essay.