118: Who is the College Essay Guy?

This is part three of my four-part series with Amie Dorsey (aka Tutor Ted). On the last two episodes I interviewed Amie, while on this episode (and on the next one), Amie turns the tables on and interviews me. On this episode Amie just wanted to give folks a chance to get to know me better, so we discussed: How I ended up as the College Essay Guy (Spoiler: that wasn’t the plan) What applying to college was like for me How I learned the importance of asking good questions Why I never tell students to “write in their voice” How I believe writing your essay can actually change your self-image What it’s like working with me one-on-one   PLAY-BY-PLAY How I came to be the College Essay Guy [1:44 ] Surprising similarities between Amie and my stories [4:58] My earlier days applying to college [5:12] If I had gotten admissions help at 17… [7:16] How I learned the importance of asking good questions [7:50] How I use the Essence Object Exercise [10:44] How writing your essay can change your self-image [11:40] “What is your story?” and other bad questions to ask students [13:47] Why telling students to “write in their voice” is bad writing advice [14:25] Two great stories about awesome students I worked with [15:54] My approach to working with students one-on-one [21:11] The importance of picking a great essay topic [27:28 LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Essence Object Exercise Ethan walks Amie through her personal statement exercises Ethan’s Pay-What-You-Can Courses and PDFs The Free Guide to the UC Personal Insight Questions