On Writing the College Application Essay

On Writing the College Application Essay on Barry the Study Dog

I f you want to write good stuff but have no interest in the genre of college admissions essays, read Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande.

If college is in your family’s future, read On Writing the College Application Essay by Harry Bauld, even if you’re God’s gift to writing.

Both are available online from my local Capitol Hill bookstore, East City Book Shop, which also features an alcove full of Polaroids of dogs who like the smell of new books. You won’t find Barry the Study Dog there though, he’s all about the library.

The Harry Bauld book was recommended to me by the famous Nancy Levonian, who is probably the best college counselor in the world for advanced STEM students, not to mention a total force of nature. She’s so convincing, and the book so compelling, that I read it while working 70 hours per week teaching at her college application camp last summer.

I started reading it to get some fresh ideas to share with the students, but I was so captivated by its many layers that I quickly switched to reading it strictly to psych myself up to write a powerful and compact book about study skills on a 10-day house-sitting trip to Santa Barbara immediately following camp.

On Writing the College Application Essay is Dorothea Brande meets What You Don’t Know Can Keep You Out of College. It has everything you need to write a great college essay, grad school essay, or other sales pitch, and it will make you a better writer forever.

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