Who writes the essay? Doonesbury weighs in.

Rising high school seniors should begin thinking about writing their college essays. Brainstorming ideas and trying out different topics is always a good idea. Most importantly, the college essays belongs to the student. Colleges want to learn more about you and what you can bring to their school and campus community. Your words are important and your college essay should definitely reflect that they are your ideas and writing.

Dr. StrangeCollege or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Journey

In case you missed it in the Sunday papers, Garry Trudeau takes a look at college admissions essays and who is writing them.

“It was an epifany. (Note: check spelling)” See the full strip here.

Not that that really happens. Right?

If your high school student needs help, rather than sitting at the keyboard, you might point them to a couple of key  resources:

• Essay Hell — One of the few sites that our daughter, known here as Mod Squad Julie, dove into more deeply than I did, and then asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about this last summer?”
• College Admission — That link will send you to a series of posts on writing essays, including how to respond to common prompts.
• This post, from last summer when Julie was in the thick of it, provides a few more: How to write college essays.

Good luck (to…

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5 Reasons Every Student Should Volunteer

Community service teaches students many important lessons. Volunteering is something that colleges like to see on students’ college applications. It helps schools understand how a student might contribute to their college campus and can improve chances for college acceptance.

Unigo Blog

With summer officially here, you might be trying to find ways to fill your time with activities like sports, theater, music and just about any campus club you can join. It’s a great idea to immerse yourself in activities you love and know will look great on your college applications. But, don’t overlook one very important opportunity not only to help others, but also to help yourself ? volunteer work. Maybe it’s that second word (work) that scares you away. It can be hard to imagine giving away your precious time for free. What is important to understand is that volunteering pays you back in a myriad of ways, and many of those rewards are more valuable than currency. Here are five reasons why it’s worth the time and effort.

1. Work as a Team

In college, you will inevitably have to work on a group project. If you’re lucky…

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