Resume Magic
Yale podcast/blog: https://admissio
Michigan’s application instructions: http
Princeton’s helpful tips: https://admissio
Yale podcast/blog: https://admissio
Michigan’s application instructions: http
Princeton’s helpful tips: https://admissio
Students are invited to tell the NYT’s what they’re reading in The Times and why, this year in writing OR via a 90-second video.
Contest dates: June 6 to Aug. 15, 2025
Our Summer Reading Contest is our longest-running challenge — and our simplest.
All you have to do to participate is tell us what you’re reading, watching or listening to in The New York Times and why. Students can enter by submitting a short written response — or they can make a video up to 90 seconds long.
Don’t have a subscription? No problem! We’ll be providing dozens of free links to teen-friendly articles, essays, videos, podcasts and graphics every week from June through August.
Got questions? Everything you need is detailed below.
But if you’re a teacher who would like to have your students practice for this now, before the contest begins, note that the only rule around content is that a piece must have been published in 2025. Beyond that, we don’t care if your students pick something on sneakers, starlight, Syria or Saturday Night Live; TikTok, the tropics, Trump or Timothée Chalamet.
The announcement is available as a one-page PDF to download!
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Writer’s block is no joke! It happens to the best of us, so don’t get too frustrated if some days you just can’t get in the groove with your writing. When it strikes, try using these ideas to help jumpstart the process:
If you aren’t getting anything down in 20 concentrated minutes, it might be time to skip to 4 and 5.
Ultimately, the only way to get over writer’s block is… to write! You can do this!
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Often, the subject that makes for the best essay is the one you least want to talk about. So stay open as you begin the brainstorming process, even to your most sensitive relationships and memories, and notice if there’s a story you’re afraid to tell. Maybe that is your best topic. Most importantly, don’t hold back or self-censor: don’t be afraid to show your messiness and flaws, and know that no story from your life is too small or too silly to include (as long as it’s not from when you were a very small child!).
It takes courage to be vulnerable and imperfect, to admit to your mistakes and regrets. A tip? Be courageous as you brainstorm.
The following questions are some that we use in our 1:1 work, and that you might find helpful to answer as your brainstorm:
Try to identify 6-8 (or more!) of such turning point moments and write three or more sentences about each. Turning points tend to suggest scenes with dramatic potential in addition to being moments of change and growth, and nearly all the essays our students write revolve around them. Keep in mind that turning points can be minor, like an argument with a friend about who will take charge of an extracurricular project.
Think fast:
When we work with students one-on-one, we review the brainstorming document, noting the narratives, ideas, themes, and details that interest us the most. It can be easier for us, as outside readers, to notice recurring patterns (for example, how you constantly link your ideas back to collecting objects) or to make new connections between disparate experiences and interests (like between your love for puzzles and your brothers leaving for college). Since it will be harder for you to do this for yourself, you should: 1) wait a week between completing and evaluating your brainstorm, and 2) find an outside reader who can read your brainstorm and give you feedback.
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The school year is winding down, which means it’s time to start working on college admissions essays. This month, we’ll share some excerpts from our book, The Complete College Essay Handbook, starting with some personal statement tips!
First, what exactly is a personal statement like the Common Application essay?
A personal statement is a creative essay of 650 words or less that reads like a short story, memoir, or novel—not like an academic essay, textbook, or newspaper article. The best personal statements tell a story that culminates in a meaningful realization and offers the reader a glimpse of a mind in the process of thinking.
The personal statement is not the place to brag about accomplishments (student body president, team captain, founder of a schoolwide service project), or about how amazing you are (“I’m a world-changing revolutionary!”).
Although people you don’t know are going to read it, the personal statement is not a public form, like a school-wide speech. The personal statement is an intimate form, like a secret. It is the place to be honest, vulnerable, and raw, to reveal mistakes and weaknesses, to open up about an experience you’d only tell someone you were really close with, to explore what you struggle with and what scares you.
The personal statement is not “about” an event or achievement. It is about the psychological and emotional processes that occurred “behind the scenes.”
The same story, told from one angle, can be impersonal whereas, from another—told with a focus on the process rather than the outcome—can become deeply personal. Here are a few examples to help explain what I mean.
Notice how all of these negative examples focus on the superficial event: I was elected; I raised money; I tore my ACL. By contrast, the positive examples explore the story behind the event—what was going inside of the writer that either led to this event (the student body president and orphanage examples) or the internal change that resulted from it (the ACL example). They also explore intimate, potentially difficult topics.
Since the personal statement is a creative essay at its heart, there is no set formula for success—however, our process and essay samples will give you the tools and examples you need to write your own standout personal statement.
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The college process often amplifies anxiety among teens and their parents, yet stress is inevitable. The goal is to manage it healthily, according to Lisa Damour, a clinical psychologist, author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, and host of the Ask Lisa podcast.
Lisa joined Jeff Selingo on a special 30-minute edition of “Next Office Hour” last week. Let’s all give the episode a listen. Some top takeaways:
Accept discomfort. Parents should acknowledge emotional stress as normal. “We cannot prevent emotional pain in our teenagers. Rather, we should help them manage discomfort when it comes,” Damour said. The focus should be on helping teens cope constructively, like allowing space for healthy distractions or emotions rather than harmful habits
Encourage healthy coping. Crying, spending time with friends, physical activity, and mindful rest are all beneficial ways teens can process stress. Parents should be alert only when teens use costly coping mechanisms like substance use or self-criticism.
Reframe high school. Teens should focus on cultivating genuine interests and strengths rather than solely trying to impress admissions officers. Enjoying downtime without guilt is crucial for mental health.
Recognize parental roles. I loved Lisa’s analogy of the Pit Crew vs. the Tow Truck. Parents often feel pulled between supporting their kids (pit crew) and pushing them (tow truck). Constant towing suggests a teen may not be ready for college, highlighting the value of considering gap years or alternative pathways.
Dealing with rejection. College admissions isn’t always meritocratic. When teens face rejection, validate their feelings but emphasize they’ll thrive by focusing on what they can control.
The big picture? Parents and teens often overestimate how much college prestige matters.
If you don’t follow Jeff Selingo, you should. See past issues and subscribe to his newsletter. You can also find him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Threads if social is your thing!
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Congrats to all of our seniors! This post includes many of our students’ results released through the end of March:
Abilene Christian
American U*
Auburn*
Barnard
Baylor*
Boston College
Boston University
Brown
Cal Poly Pomona
California Institute of Technology
Catholic U.
Clemson*
College of Charleston*
Colorado State
Cornell* (A&S, Nolan, Human Ecology, CALs)
East Carolina*
Elon*
Emory
Florida Tech
FAU
Fordham*
Franklin & Marshall
Georgetown
Georgia Tech
Harvard*
Hamilton
Hunter College
Indiana U (Kelley)*
Ithaca College
Johns Hopkins*
Kenyon
Lehigh
Loyola Chicago
Loyola Maryland*
Michigan State*
Miami Ohio*
Northeastern*
Northwestern
Notre Dame
NYU
Ohio State*
Pace*
Penn State*
Pepperdine
Purdue*
Quinnipiac
Rhodes
RPI
Rutgers*
San Diego State
Seton Hall*
Steven’s Institute of Technology*
Skidmore
SMU*
St. Andrews*
St. Johns*
St. Joseph’s (Philadelphia)*
SUNY Albany, Binghamton*
Syracuse*
Tarleton State
TCU
Texas Tech
Tulane*
University of Arizona*
UC Berkeley
UC Davis*
UC Irvine*
UCLA
UC Santa Barbara*
UC San Diego
University of Chicago
University of Delaware*
University of Colorado, Boulder*
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign*
University of Georgia*
University of Maryland*
University of Massachusetts, Amherst*
University of Michigan*
University of Miami*
University of Minnesota*
University of Montana
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of Oregon*
University of Pittsburgh*
University of Rochester*
University of Southern California*
University of South Carolina*
University of South Florida
University of Texas, Austin*
University of Vermont*
University of Virginia*
University of Utah*
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin*
US Coast Guard Academy
Vanderbilt
Villanova*
Virginia Tech*
*multiple students admitted
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I haven’t fan-girled over Adam Grant in a while, so I’m excited to share this one:
I’m seeing a growing number of students complain: “My grade doesn’t reflect the effort I put into the course.”
Public service announcement: High marks are for mastery, not for motivation.
Working hard doesn’t guarantee doing a good job, that you are a good person…. or college admission.
Read more here.
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I can’t think of a better example of nerding out to post on a blog about college admissions than Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider and Louisa Zhang’s (Illinois ’27) “Trends in High School GPAs among Incoming Freshman Classes of Big Ten Schools.“
They analyzed 286 reports to source Questions C11 and C12 in the Common Data Sets. The reports accessed in this work are published publicly by each University.
Other data nerds can join in the fun through a MicroProject they built to spread the data love. Oh, and their work also highlights the need for near-perfect grades for some of the more selective Big 10 schools!
The main CA essay prompts are the same, but there’s an updated “challenges and circumstances” question, which replaces the old COVID-19 question. The post from the CA is below:
We are happy to announce that the Common App essay prompts will remain the same for 2025–2026. 🎉
Based on positive feedback from students, counselors, teachers, and colleges, we’ve decided to keep the essay prompts unchanged. We will continue to explore trends in prompt selection across different student populations and use those insights to inform future updates.
Students will see two changes to the optional “Additional information” questions as of August 1, 2025.
We are making these changes after conducting listening sessions and consulting with our member, counselor, and student advisory committees to ensure we gather diverse perspectives and input. Students in the first-year app who have text in their “Additional information” question that exceeds the reduced word count limit after August 1 will see an error message alert letting them know they have exceeded the new max. They will not lose anything they have written prior to August 1, but they will need to go back and adjust their response. In the transfer app, student responses to the “Additional information” question prior to August 1 will not roll over.
Here is the full set of essay prompts for 2025–2026.
This is the updated “Challenges and circumstances” question language students will see beginning August 1, 2025
Sometimes a student’s application and achievements may be impacted by challenges or other circumstances. This could involve:
If you’re comfortable sharing, this information can help colleges better understand the context of your application. Colleges may use this information to provide you and your fellow students with support and resources.
Would you like to share any details about challenges or other circumstances you’ve experienced?*
( ) Yes
( ) No
Please describe the challenges or circumstances and how they have impacted you.
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