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How to Make Your COVID-19 Statement Work for You
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Category: Essays
10 Jul
2022

How to Make Your COVID-19 Statement Work for You

  • July 10, 2022
  • Distinctive College Consulting
  • 516 views

By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. To say that a lot has changed since March 2020 would be an understatement. I’m sitting here typing away on a flight between San Diego and Washington, DC, wearing an N-95 mask, and holding a portable air purifier on my lap. I got to the airport in an Uber that..

14 Jan
2022

How to Bare Your Soul in 650 Words or Less

  • January 14, 2022
  • Distinctive College Consulting
  • 821 views

By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. One of my favorite writers is the master of the personal narrative, David Sedaris. He definitely knows how to open a story better than anyone else, but he also connects ideas in unexpected ways, touches on the right details, and makes you genuinely care about what he’s talking about –..

17 Oct
2021

How to Write A Social Justice Essay (Even If You’re Not Political)

  • October 17, 2021
  • Distinctive College Consulting
  • 2,160 views

By Nora Lessersohn, A.M. In the past few years, social, political, environmental, financial, and medical crises have made it abundantly clear that one’s race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or disability status directly affect/s their health, finances, work, education, and ability to live life itself. In response, colleges have started to ask their applicants to..

12 Apr
2021

How to Write The “Why This School” Essay – Part 1

  • April 12, 2021
  • Distinctive College Consulting
  • 1,373 views

By Nora Lessersohn, A.M. “It was a ____(adjective)____ and stormy night, and I was ____(adjective)____. My ____(noun)____ asked me if I wanted some ____(noun)____.” Remember MadLibs? The game where you fill in the blanks with adjectives, nouns, and verbs to make a funny story? Well, believe it or not, you can look to this childhood..

13 Jun
2020

Dear Future Seniors: Advice from the Class of 2020

  • June 13, 2020
  • Distinctive College Consulting
  • 1,330 views

By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. In June of every year, commencement speakers appear onstage to impart words of wisdom to excited and anxious graduates. Their messages are meant to fortify young people as they transition from childhood into adulthood.  While tradition holds that most students sit and listen, I thought it was important to allow..

05 Nov
2018

First Impress, Then Persuade

  • November 5, 2018
  • Distinctive College Consulting
  • 1,260 views

By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. A student recently asked me, “When are we getting to my essays?” She was clearly tired of discussing her activities. This wasn’t the first time I’ve heard this question, so I reassured her, “Soon.” She then raised a quizzical eyebrow. I realized I needed to explain further and continued, “Your..

10 Jul
2018

The Examined Life: Your Personal Statement (Part 2)

  • July 10, 2018
  • Distinctive College Consulting
  • 1,084 views

By Nora Lessersohn, Ph.D. In the first part of our two-part look at tackling the personal statement, we discussed the brainstorming process. If you haven’t read that yet, check it out here. In this post, we will talk about what to do once you’ve found a topic for your essay. Whether you’ve done some freewriting..

14 Apr
2018

The Examined Life: Your Personal Statement (Part 1)

  • April 14, 2018
  • Distinctive College Consulting
  • 1,129 views

By – Nora Lessersohn “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates While we probably shouldn’t take this statement as literally as Socrates did, it can help us think about how to tackle one of the most important parts of the college application: the personal statement. What is the personal statement? In simplest terms,..

20 Sep
2016

Here’s Your Mantra to Tackle the College Admissions Process: A.C.E. I.T.

  • September 20, 2016
  • Distinctive College Consulting
  • 1,308 views

By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. This article first appeared in The Huffington Post on September 18th, 2016. The college application process can bring out the worst in families, with its high stakes, countless unknowns, and a mountain of work to surmount. Kids procrastinate. Parents nag. Kids procrastinate some more. Parents nag some more – that..

05 Jul
2016

Want a Leg Up in Admissions? Think like Forrest Gump

  • July 5, 2016
  • Distinctive College Consulting
  • 1,163 views

By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. If you could channel any movie character as you prepare for college, choose Forrest Gump. “Forrest Gump?” you might wonder. “Why Forrest Gump? He certainly wasn’t ‘smart’ in the traditional sense of the word.” Well, apart from the fact that he’s infinitely interesting (who else has run across the U.S...