"What's in a name?" Juliet asks Romeo, clearly pondering the title for her college essay.
   It's not hard to imagine -- well, maybe just a little -- that even back in the 1300s, picking the right title for your essay was highly important. But seriously . . . today, college consultant Allen Grove argues, having the right title at the top of your essay can go a long way in having that essay do the best job on your behalf when it lands on the admission counselor's desk.
   Titles serve three purposes, Grove writes on the College Admissions page of About.com: they grab your reader's attention, they make the reader actually want to read your essay and they provide a sense of what your essay is about.
   Grove warns: Be clever or play with words, but don't try to be too cute; be provocative and don't be afraid to push the limits a bit, such as "Puking on the President," "Romeo's Ripped Tights" and "The Wrong Goal"; and don't be afraid to be concise and straightforward, using direct language. "The Job I Should Have Quit" will make that counselor want to pick up your essay . . . and read it.
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   Five Common App prompts. Five sources of endless anxiety and stress. But better to begin tackling them now, before you face the rest of the stress of senior year, advises Susanna Cerasuolo, writing on the CollegeMapper Blog.
   Stay away from falling into the trap of chichéd subjects, advises Cerasuolo, founder of College Solutions LLC. Subjects such as sports injuries, mission trips, death, divorce and eating disorders, Carasulo says, are "nearly worthless."
   Instead, she urges students to delve into the time you took a risk, a time you took a stand or something that changed you.
   "Be sure not to be negative, or philosophical, or whiny, or come across as an angry kid that no one would want be roommates with," she warns. "If you can show yourself being intellectual and passionate about learning in any way, that’s bonus, points because colleges are schools and schools like students who like to learn."
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   Advice sometimes best from someone who's "been there . . . done that!"
   So is the case with Babson College junior Jeff Andrews, who recently offered advice on the college blog for rising seniors, especially about their college essays.
   First off, Andrews advises, "don’t think of the college essay as some major assignment that will forever decide the rest of your life. While the college essay is definitely an important part of your application, you should have fun with it (seriously).
   Further, he says, "Don’t think you need to write about what all your friends are writing about either. The college essay should really spotlight something that you’re proud of and think makes you stand out from other applicants."

Arnie Rosenberg is the founder of The Center for Essay Excellence. He writes regularly about college essays and their importance to the college-admission process. Contact him at [email protected].

                                                                                                                      
                                                         © 2014  The Center for Essay Excellence

   Do you really want to go there?
   That's the question raised by New York Times Op-ed columnist Frank Bruni, who suggests that college essays today have entered the realm of "oversharing."
   "When it comes to college admissions, our society has tumbled way, way too far down the rabbit hole," Bruni wrote in in his column Sunday. "And in the warped wonderland where we’ve landed, too many kids attach such a crazy degree of importance to getting into the most selective schools that they do stagy, desperate, disturbing things to stand out. The essay portion of their applications can be an especially jolting illustration of that."
   Bruni cites examples -- shocking ones, actually -- offered by Michael Motto, a former Yale admissions officer. And he quotes Sally Rubenstone, one of the authors of the “Panicked Parents’ Guide to College Admissions,” who calls this oversharing by students, this trendy tendency "to tug readers into the most intimate corners of their lives and to use unfiltered frankness as a way to grab attention, the Jerry Springer-ization of the college-admissions essay.”
   I agree with other experts in the admissions-counseling field, quoted in Bruni's column: As you begin thinking about -- and writing -- your college essays, stay away from "excessively and awkwardly naked testimonials."
   “Admissions officers pay as much attention to students’ choice of essay topic as they do to the details in their essays,” Motto, the former Yale admissions officer, said.
   Your voice -- not the voice of your parents, your guidance counselors or your English teachers -- is the most important quality of your essay. The success of your essay, as well, hinges on your own ideas and no one else's.
   But don't go overboard trying to make your essay stand out. Shock value isn't likely to get you anywhere, especially not into the college of your choice. Opening a window on your real self will.
   "Runaway candor and uncensored revelation," as Bruni puts it, won't get the job done.
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   There's a single impediment to teenagers writing their college-admission essays: Most have never before written a personal narrative, according to Chelsea Averitt, a former English-literature teacher.
   "Writing in an unfamiliar genre inspires bad writing," Averitt writes in the "Hacking Education" blog in the Bangor (Maine) Daily News. "When we don’t know what to write, we turn to generalities, commonplaces and banalities."
   She offers three strategies to get ready to write your essay:
   1. Be active and involved:  "It’s especially important for college-admission essays because the Common Application essay questions ask about activities teenagers have been involved with . . . Students who are active in their schools and communities are more likely to have interesting stories that fit into such narrative categories."
   2. Model the examined life: "Writing a personal essay should be an activity of walking your reader through your thought process, of helping that reader to see why you believe what you believe."
   3.  Learn the larger context: "Reading essays can help (you) more clearly articulate (your) own positions because it helps . . . to see what others have already said and what makes (your) own approach unique."
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   You surely haven't forgotten Apple's catch phrase from the early days of the iPhone: "There's an app for that." Turns out the slogan works for writing college essays, too, according to Suzanne Shaffer.
   Shaffer -- writing on her blog, Parents Countdown to College Coach -- lists seven apps to investigate for college essay help: Essay Czar, EssayEdge, Essay Starter, Essay Writing Guide, iAWriter, Paper Helper and Essay Planner.
   Check them out out.

Arnie Rosenberg is the founder of The Center for Essay Excellence. He writes regularly about college essays and their importance to the college-admission process. Contact him at [email protected].

                                                                                                                      
                                                         © 2014  The Center for Essay Excellence

   "What's so odd about odd numbers?"   And what does that have to do with writing your college essay? It's because that question about odd number is one of this year's six optional essay topics for admission to the University of Chicago.
   "The University of Chicago has long been renowned for its provocative essay questions," the university seems to brag on its website. "We think of them as an opportunity for students to tell us about themselves, their tastes, and their ambitions."
   But UChicago -- granted, an exclusive school -- doesn't get all full of itself, either, for the well known quirkiness of its essay topics. Its essays "can be approached with utter seriousness, complete fancy, or something in between," the website explains.
   I won't give away all of this year's essay topics, but do you think you could wax eloquent following this prompt:
   "Little pigs, french hens, a family of bears. Blind mice, musketeers, the Fates. Parts of an atom, laws of thought, a guideline for composition. Omne trium perfectum? Create your own group of threes, and describe why and how they fit together."
   Yikes!
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   Who are you . . . really?
   That's a key question colleges will have. SAT scores and your GPA can only tell them so much. So they turn to your essay.
   "Numbers are easy to see and evaluate; however, measuring character is not quite as easy," according to college counselor Jeannie Borin. "Essay prompts are geared toward having students become self reflective and critically think about their personal experience(s)."
   Borin, founder and president of College Connections, makes another excellent point that's long been a concern of mine. Many students today are discouraged from ever writing about themselves in the first person.
   Summer, she writes in the Huffington Post, "should be a time of freedom, where students can find the space and quiet to just write." That's not easy, she writes, but "summertime is the best because there are few distractions and generally, is a more relaxed period of time."
   The pragmatist in me says, "Yes . . . but . . . "  Rising seniors need to at least think about their essays over the summer. But for many of them it's far from a time a "few distractions."
   You need to make a conscious effort, and make time to begin thinking through your essays.  If you're motivated enough, go for it. You'll have a jump on everyone else. But if you're like most of your classmates, summer will have come and gone and before you know it, it will be time to begin your senior year.
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   There's no shortage of gurus, including me, standing ready to tell you everything . . . well, most things . . .   you need to know about conceptualizing, drafting, polishing and finalizing your college essay. But who really knows better, at least from the inside, than a newly graduated high school senior who just a year ago was going through the same thing the Class of 2015 is facing now?
   "As a high school senior, there's a lot I wish I had known about college applications last year, when I was in the middle of applying to colleges," writes Sara Zhou, a recent graduate of the Winsor School in Boston. "While the process is no doubt hectic, it can be eased with these five steps," she blogged on the website TeenLife.
   Start early: "The summer before your senior year is a great time to start on the Common App essay. Even though the application deadlines are months in the future, you will not regret starting the process."
   Don't be afraid of your ideas: "Starting your essay ahead of time also leaves extra time for self-doubt. Remember that there is no such thing as a perfect essay. The best advice is not to be afraid of your ideas."
   Revise: "Revise, revise, and revise some more. After a while, you will become so sick of your essay that it may be better to take a short break from writing. After a week or so, come back to your essay."
   Write about yourself: "Every high school student wonders: What about my life is interesting enough to get me into college?" Don't let college counselors, advisers, parents and teachers dictate your tone and style.
   Relax: "Realize that writing applications can be a worthwhile and rewarding activity. Try to have fun while writing your essay, and you will undoubtedly interest your admissions reader. Don’t forget: It’s your essay; yours is the voice that should shine through."

Arnie Rosenberg is the founder of The Center for Essay Excellence. He writes regularly about college essays and their importance to the college-admission process. Contact him at [email protected].

                                                                                                                      
                                                         © 2014  The Center for Essay Excellence