The Uncommon College Essay: An Approachable Guide to an Intimidating Process

(Paperback)

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Its no secret that the college application processespecially the personal statementcan feel overwhelming. Thats why Stacey Brook, renowned essay expert and the founder and chief advisor at College Essay Advisors (CEA), created The Uncommon College Essay: An Approachable Guide to an Intimidating Process. The book offers students and parents a clear understanding of the essays purpose and potential, along with a structured, step-by-step approach to help transform a daunting task into one that is not only manageable, but maybe even (dare she say) fun.

In this guide, Stacey walks readers through her signature Uncommon College Essay Approach, a four-step process designed to turn essay anxiety into essay success. She covers:

The Backwards Brainstorm
Freewriting Your Face Off
Story Sculpting
Polishing to Perfection

Step by step, Stacey breaks down her strategies and suggestions with detailed explanations, engaging exercises, real college essay examples, and (fair warning!) a generous dose of parenthetical asides. (She just cant help herself.)

Using this guide as a reference, readers will gain the tools and confidence to tackle everything from the Common App personal statement to those tricky (and seemingly endless!) school-specific supplemental essays.

But beyond mechanics, Stacey focuses on what really matters: helping students tell authentic, surprising, uncommon stories that show admissions officers who they are, not just as students, but as people. That is why Stacey and her Uncommon College Essay Approach have helped applicants gain acceptance to a wide variety of schoolsfrom the Ivy League to the Big Ten to liberal arts institutions and morefor over twenty years.

With Staceys guidance, students learn how to craft essays that rise above the ordinaryessays that reflect their strengths, passions, quirks, motivations, and the intangible qualities no transcript or rsum can capture.

Its time to get to work and transform your personal story into an essay no one else could write. The kind that gets you noticedand acceptedby the school of your dreams!

Author Bio

Stacey Brook is a writer and the founder and chief advisor at College Essay Advisors (CEA). Her work has been published in the New Yorker, Teen Vogue, Oprah, McSweeneys, Cond Nast Traveler, and more. Stacey and her team at CEA have been helping students tell their uncommon stories to admissions for over two decades. She resides in New York City, though she can often be spotted in Japan (face-deep in a bowl of noodles).