Inquire about our Early Bird Packages for Juniors before they expire!

Resources & Tips

Ivy Divider
Ivy Divider

CEA Blog

6 Tips to Make Brainstorming for the College Admissions Essay Enjoyable

Topic: advice, Brainstorming, College Admissions, Essay Tips, Essay Writing, Quick Tips, Tips  |  Posted on June 23rd, 2017  |  Written by Nina Bailey

It’s time to start brainstorming for your college essay! If you find the prospect of brainstorming to be far less fun than a.) sleeping outside b.) tattooing your tongue or c.) bathing in hot chili oil, don’t despair. We have six stellar suggestions for how to make brainstorming not only effective, but even (gasp!) fun: […]

The 3 Most Common College Essay Topics: Why CEA’s Founder Thinks You Should Write About Them Anyway

Topic: Essay Tips, Essay Writing, From The Founder, Tips  |  Posted on June 8th, 2017  |  Written by Kat Stubing

The whole point of writing a college essay is to differentiate yourself from other applicants and place yourself ahead of the pack. For this reason, many students shy away from writing about common college essay topics. CEA’s Founder and Chief Advisor, Stacey Brook, believes this doesn’t have to be the case. Stacey recently published an […]

This High School Senior Wrote Her College Essay about Pizza and Got Into Yale

Topic: Admissions, College Admissions, Essay Writing, Inspiration, News  |  Posted on June 1st, 2017  |  Written by Kat Stubing

We at CEA love pizza. It is one of our greatest passions and our favorite fuel for advising brainpower. It is no surprise, then, that we were brimming with joy when we saw that a High School Senior scored acceptance to Yale with an essay about Papa John’s. With an acceptance rate of just 6.3%, […]

Guide to The NY Times’ Five Best College Essays on Work, Money and Class

Topic: advice, Essay Tips, Essay Writing, New York Times, Uncategorized  |  Posted on May 22nd, 2017  |  Written by Nina Bailey

Every year, The New York Times issues an open call for college application essays on the subject of money, work, and class. Money becomes a lens through which identity, family, and dreams, can be glimpsed. Out of the many submissions they received this year, The Times published the five best essays (four were published in […]

The Common Application’s 2017-18 Essay Prompts: What You Need To Know

Topic: College Admissions, Common App Prompts/Topics, Essay Tips, Most Popular, Uncategorized  |  Posted on February 7th, 2017  |  Written by CEA HQ

Class of 2022 – it’s about that time. The first milestone in your college application journey has officially arrived. Today the Common Application released their 2017-18 essay prompts. This reveal comes with a heaping helping of good news, most of which relates to the fact that the prompts have not changed all that much from last […]

A College Essay Crash Course for Super Procrastinators

Topic: Common App Prompts/Topics, Essay Tips, Supplemental Essays  |  Posted on December 22nd, 2016  |  Written by CEA HQ

How did it come to this? It’s the last week and you still have essays left to write. It happens every year and you are not alone. Bolt the doors. Throw your phone into the ocean. You are on college essay lock down. You still have time to walk yourself through the basic paces of […]

4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Submit Your College Applications

Topic: College Admissions, Essay Tips  |  Posted on December 15th, 2016  |  Written by CEA HQ

The day has come… almost. Regular decision deadlines are just a few weeks away, and soon it will be time to kiss those admissions essays goodbye and send them off into the wide world. They grow up so fast. After spending so many hours laboring over each individual application, it can be hard to let […]

The Short Answer

Topic: Admissions, College Admissions, Essay Tips, Essay Writing, Supplemental Essays  |  Posted on December 10th, 2016  |  Written by CEA HQ

A popular format for supplement questions is short answers. Don’t confuse these with the why, activity, community, or oddball essays. These are an entirely different beast. These little critters provide a different kind of creative challenge for aspiring college-goers. Take this set of short answer questions from the 2014 Yale application: “What excites you intellectually, […]

The Community Essay

Topic: Admissions, College Admissions, Essay Tips, Essay Writing, Supplemental Essays  |  Posted on December 10th, 2016  |  Written by CEA HQ

The community essay is a standard supplemental rascal that mines for information about your social habits and favorite causes. Prompts that ask about a “community you belong to” often leave themselves open to interpretation: Are you part of a community of sports fans around the world who can connect with other strangers over the amazing […]

The Why Essay

Topic: Admissions, Essay Resources, Essay Writing, Uncategorized  |  Posted on December 10th, 2016  |  Written by CEA HQ

If you’re on this page, then you have probably encountered a prompt or two on your supplemental essay safari that we at College Essay Advisors call “The Why Essay”. The school you’re applying to is essentially asking: Why do you really want to go here? This shape-shifting question can come in many forms as it […]

1 4 5 6 7 8 13