college essays Archives | IvyBoost Education

How to Write on a Social Issue

admin — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 18:15:00 +0000

by Kathleen M. You have selected your top ten schools to apply to and at least one of them has asked you to write a short essay about a social issue or community issue that is important to you. What happens if you don’t really have an activist cause? It is always a good idea to start with a list. What is important to you? Compare the list of what’s

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How to Revise Cliches in Essays

admin — Sat, 01 Feb 2025 18:30:00 +0000

by Kathleen M. You have heard the advice to avoid cliches and maybe you have even tried to rid yourself of the ones you employ most often. The reason to avoid cliches is that they are a shortcut – and when you are writing an application essay (or any important piece of writing), you don’t want the reader to think you are cutting corners. So instead of most cliches, you

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How Can I be more Reflective in Writing?

admin — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 19:15:00 +0000

by Kathleen M. One of the most difficult questions that students have to answer in essays is the question that asks you to think about how you know what you know – or what you learned from an experience. It is easy to describe what you know or the experience itself – but much harder to explain how you are different now that you have that knowledge. So as with

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UC #4 or #5 – About Challenges (Vlog)

admin — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 01:02:42 +0000

by Kathleen M. The UC essays 4 and 5 are really very closely related to one another. So think about selecting one of these. Prompt number 4 asks: Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced. And prompt five poses this question: Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to

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Other Examples of Creativity for UC Prompt #2

admin — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 19:48:19 +0000

by Kathleen M. When you first read the UC PIQ prompt #2: “Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side,” you may think, “this doesn’t apply to me because I am not an artist.” However, read it again. You will see the options that the

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What is an Example of Leadership for UC Prompt #1?

admin — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 22:32:41 +0000

by Kathleen M. The first prompt for the University of California Personal Insight Questions is “Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. After an initial read, you may decide not to pursue this question – you only have to choose four of eight – but I would recommend you read it again and

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How to Avoid a Bad Introduction

admin — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:33:56 +0000

by Kathleen M. “It was a Dark and Stormy Night…” Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote a novel that started with this phrase in 1830; now there is an annual contest to write an equally atrocious opening sentence each year. You are more likely to remember the phrase from Peanuts cartoons, as it was often the opening of a novel that Snoopy worked on. Writing a memorable opening for an essay is not

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In Conclusion: How to Wrap Up an Essay

admin — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 20:12:47 +0000

by Kathleen M. If you have to tell people that they have reached the end of your personal statement, you may have a problem with your personal statement. So my first piece of advice when writing your conclusion is to not open with “in conclusion.” My second piece of advice is to re-read your introduction and see what connections you may make to show you how to write your conclusion

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Supercharge Your Essay Paragraphs

admin — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 18:38:45 +0000

by Kathleen M. We all know what a paragraph is. But do we? We can agree that a paragraph has one main idea, has a topic sentence, evidence, and a link to the thesis. But when writing a personal essay, the thesis and topic sentence may not be as obvious as they are when you are writing an expository essay. So how do we know when to end one paragraph

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How to Avoid a Boring Essay

admin — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 22:34:39 +0000

by Kathleen M. One of the main challenges in writing a Common App Essay is writing something that isn’t boring or cliched or overused. How can you avoid writing a boring essay? Let’s go over some examples that may be more boring or expected. For example: My aunt was the one who always babysat me ever since I was five years old. I always remember her love for the outdoors,

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