The personal essay is an essential component of your application. How compelling it is — or isn't — can make or break your acceptance.

Journalists chase, find and cover stories, and sometimes, they become one. From intriguing exposés to provocative thinkpieces and raw memoirs, the personal essay has long been a media staple, enjoying ...

ABOUT 25 MINUTES AS WELL. THE FIRST DEADLINE FOR COLLEGE APPLICATIONS IS NEXT MONTH. IT’S JUST DAYS AWAY AND HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS ARE WRITING PERSONAL STATEMENTS AND ESSAYS. KCRA 3 IS DEIRDRE ...

For reasons I will never entirely understand, one of the requirements to get into selective American colleges is a personal essay. A personal statement — something that declares “Here’s what I’m ...

A mark of a good writer, whether fiction, essay, or poetry, is the ability to unflinchingly illuminate the emotional issues that people often try to suppress. An exemplar is Phillip Lopate, long ...

Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter. The personal essay isn’t dead. It’s just found new life. Personal essays are alive and well today, just in a different form ...

Writing a personal essay can be a full-body activity, replete with tremors and tears and physical aches. Recollection is strenuous. Recreating a scene can be downright exhausting. In those instances, ...