HACK THE COLLEGE ESSAY turns conventional wisdom about the college essay on its head.
​In this 35-page manual John reveals tactics from hours and years helping students write the essays that get them into Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Penn, Georgetown, Cornell, Kenyon, Oberlin, Pomona, NYU, McGill, Boston University, Bard, UCLA, Occidental, you name it.  And then they come back to John when they want to get into grad school.

HOW TO
          HACK THE COLLEGE ESSAY
      WRITE THE ONE THAT GETS YOU IN                                            the introduction...

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I’m about to tell you how to write the college essay that gets you in.  I didn’t set out to be an expert.  But over the past sixteen years I’ve helped hundreds of students get into the colleges of their choice, including all the Ivies and all other top colleges in the United States.  I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t.  Recognizing good from bad in the college essay is one thing, and writing the one that gets you in is another.  If that’s your aim, this is your guide.  The essay is the most important part of your application.  First, because it is probably all you have left.  Lots of things used to be in your control: your SAT or ACT score, GPA, recommendations, extracurriculars, volunteer work, AP tests, SAT subject tests.  Those trains have left the station.  But you still have the essay.  Make it count!  Second, the essay is your chance to get beyond the numbers and show the real you.  Sometimes it feels like college admissions is rigged, and the real you never speaks.  Colleges sell themselves using statistics based on students they have and students they want.  It’s why you got brochures from some colleges but not others. Students fall into line and apply to colleges likely to take them.  This means colleges choose students who qualified before applying, and students choose colleges that confirmed it.  All this is not bad--but it means you look even more like the competition than you think.  This is why admissions committees rely more and more on the essay.  They want to look beyond the numbers and fill their freshman classes with fascinating flesh-and-blood people.  Otherwise admissions could be replaced by a robot— and so could you.  If colleges want to get beyond a sea of numbers, why is a sea of words any better?  Because these words belong to you.  All that other stuff belongs to a testing service, teacher, coach, boss, or fate.  Your college essay, however, is all yours, right now, take it or leave it.  You can tell your life story in Egyptian hieroglyphics, sign your own name a few hundred times, or sketch the face of the Devil in a sweatband.  You could even solve pi to whatever decimal place stretches it to the end of the page.  Sky’s the limit.  Is all that freedom a blessing or a curse?  The chance to speak for yourself is lucky, but what people usually end up saying is very unlucky, and doesn’t get them in.  Why?  The first thing a college admissions officer will tell you is most college essays are the same.  Some will confess the truth: they’re not just the same, they’re not good.  So, college essays fail to do the one thing they’re supposed to: set you apart from other applicants.  I can confirm this from experience.  When my students bring an essay to our first meeting, they almost always end up scrapping it and starting over.  Don’t despair—this is great news for you.  Since most essays are not good, a good one stands out.  The essay is the one place where your application can make up the most distance. I’ve seen it again and again: students with mediocre grades and mainstream accomplishments who get into a reach school thanks to a great essay.  Of course, you won’t know for sure why a college says yes or no.  But I’ve seen enough to know that getting in isn’t just hitting the numbers and crossing your fingers.  A good essay tips the scales.  Why is this guide better than others?  I know about the other books because students come to me after they’ve used them, and I have to rescue them from essays that don’t do the job.  This guide is better because my advice is very different.  There are two problems with most advice on the college essay.  First, it’s misleading.  You’ll see what I mean when I give tips that contradict what you’ve been taught.  For example, old favorites like “don’t be cliché,” “show don’t tell,” “use all five senses,” “use smart words,” and even “be deep” are not good tips.  Writing the college essay is not like writing an essay for English class.  Second, a lot of advice is unhelpful.  It gives you rules that shrink your mind instead of freeing it.  A lot of advice stresses you out with lots of things to avoid.  Telling you what not to do just shuts doors, until it’s too risky even to start.  That makes writing harder.  Writing the college essay that gets you in is easier than you think.  People sometimes ask if I’ve ever written essays for students.  No, I have not.  Writing an essay for someone else is dishonest--but it also doesn’t work.  The things I might say about you could never be as true, sincere, or compelling as what you can say about yourself.  That’s not just an ethical point, it’s the first piece of practical advice in this guide.  This books has two parts.  Part One lays out the rules, and Part Two puts them into practice with examples and conversations. I’ve quoted real essays that my students wrote and submitted, but I’ve also made changes to illustrate specific points in the most efficient way possible.  Seeing these essays is valuable, but you have to be careful not to mimic them.  Your own writing will be different because it will be yours, and that’s why it will work.  I’ve also quoted my discussions with students so you can see how we think and talk together.  You have to be relaxed enough to say what’s really on your mind.  A lot of the best work comes out perfectly formed, without any fuss, in your own clear voice.  Truth is, your essay is already in you and is about to tumble out.

Finally, a book that demystifies the college essay.  We also appreciated consulting with John directly as he is extremely thoughtful, highly skilled, and got to know my son.  As they spoke over Skype, the layers of the onion peeled away and my son's essay reflects his own personality, perspective, and character.
 
Cecilia Absher, President, Mamaroneck Schools Foundation, New York

John Dewis was incredibly helpful. His counterintuitive yet clear advice opened my eyes to a liberating way of writing. I had written about a dozen drafts and nothing worked. I set them all aside and, using John’s advice, I wrote my final college essay in about two hours. Instead of a grueling process, it was an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. I got into my first choice, U.C. Berkeley, and I still use his strategies in college today.

Miranda Landfield, U.C. Berkeley

Great advice delivered with flair. I wish I had this when I applied to college. All students will benefit from this. It reinvents the approach to the college essay.

David Treuer, Professor of English, University of Southern California

If anybody has a rising senior out there faced with writing college essays, my daughter and I highly recommend this book.  A super quick read with great advice.  This should reduce the stress considerably.  I credit your book with the great essays (and process of writing them) that helped my daughter get into her first choice.
 
Jan Ellison, Author, San Francisco