The first thing to know about writing a winning private school application essay is that yes, you can do it! This application component might seem daunting, but considering two critical strategies can shift your student’s perspective and evade writer’s block.

With that said, grades and SSAT (or HSPT) test scores are important, but the personal essay is your student’s best opportunity to demonstrate maturity, intellectual curiosity, and a unique perspective. Here is where a strong voice and a vision make them memorable!

How does your student write this fantastic essay? They need to tell their own story with their own voice. Here’s how.

Being able to closely read a text is a skill that will serve you in high school, college, and beyond. It’s also one of the hardest abilities to master. In this post, we will explore what close reading is and how to improve your expertise.

Summer is finally here, which for most students means spending days by the pool, going on hikes, hanging out with friends, and maybe taking a drive out to the coast. For many students, it also means the beginning of something potentially anxiety-inducing and demanding: summer reading. Back in the good old days of elementary and middle school, summer reading meant spending a lot of time with Captain Underpants or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. You might still be logging some hours with those classics as a high school student, but you probably have some other classics on your plate now, too (Jane Eyre, anybody?). Not to worry! Summer reading is definitely not something you should dread. 

I’ve been teaching college undergraduates for about ten years now, reading thousands of pages of their writing. I also coach high school students to write better essays. As end-of-term essays from my undergraduates pile up, awaiting commentary, I’ve started wondering, how can high school writers “graduate” to college-level writing? 

NOTE: This is an updated post, originally published June 27, 2018.