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Why Begin with Ten Sentences?

Our Uncommon Essay Course, designed for college applicants, begins with our Ten Sentences Exercise, which teaches students how to collect experiences in sentences of specific detail — just one sentence per experience.

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On Choosing a Coach

We emphasize student ownership of the writing process, and choosing a coach is a great place to start! Our best advice is to have the student visit our coach profiles to learn more about us.

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The One Who Knows

Her email arrived thirty minutes before we were to meet. She wrote: "Attached is the same draft I sent you, but my parents had someone else look at it. The second version on the document was primarily written by my dad."

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Give Yourself Permission

Julie sits in my office, fidgeting with her notebook. She sighs, and it’s so exaggerated we both laugh. She seems ready to talk, so I lean forward at my desk. I’m listening. “I know the story I should write,” she says, almost conspiratorially.  “It’s just not the story I want to write.”

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Friendly Advice from Admissions Officers About Those “Extra” Essays

Writing supplement essays can feel daunting, but these questions really are a great opportunity to share more of your story with admissions officers. In the spirit of sharing, here are some of our favorite resources.

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Engineering the Sentence

In eighth grade, I took an elective to prep for a yearly STEM competition. I was eager to build rubber-band-powered airplanes and roller coasters, but as we filed in on Day One, there were no materials or tools to be found. Instead, the teacher divided us into pairs. One of us had to describe an object, the other had to draw it.

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Diving Deep

I once helped a college applicant who wrote beautifully about a terrible place to swim. It was a stretch of bay marked by strong currents, stinging sea lice, and a pungent smell when the tide stole the water altogether. 

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The Other Side of the Desk

I’ve always known how overwhelming the college application process can be, but this is the first time I’ve experienced it firsthand with my own child. I’m continually struck by the level of accompanying stress, but what I didn’t see coming? The stress I would feel as her parent.

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Your Story Is Already There

My grandmother immigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon and, for years, worked as a seamstress in a uniform factory. By the time I was born, she lived alone in the three-bedroom duplex. Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered an entire room dedicated to frivolities: a mannequin, a collection of yardsticks, and notebooks written in a cryptic hand.

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Writing as a “Math Person”

The lights of the theater dimmed and all I could think was, "Is this really a good idea?" From a young age, I’d believed I was destined for a different kind of performance. But here I was, at age twenty-seven, backstage at Improv Boston, about to perform a sketch comedy show. Three years later, I would quit my electrical engineering job to pursue writing and teaching full time.

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