617: Inside the Personal Statement Process (Part 1): The Sand Essay with Alisha, HS Senior
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Release Date: 10/14/2025
715: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 12: The Translator) with Lavon Robinson
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling.” I’m Tom Campbell, former Pomona and Holy Cross admissions officer, and one of the CEG podcast co-hosts, alongside my lovely colleagues Tillie and Ethan. In this series, we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, we break down an essay that we’re calling The Translator. This student, who worked with one of our amazing essay coaches Lavon Robinson a few years...
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714: A Live Essay and Application Review with Anna, HS Senior
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi friends, and welcome back to the podcast. Today's episode is a special behind-the-scenes look at a live application review I did with Anna, a high school senior I met last year. We recorded this about ten days before her early deadlines, and she was kind enough to let me walk through her entire application in real time: her personal statement, her activities list, and all of her supplemental essays for Yale. Fun fact: Anna emailed me a couple months later to let me know she actually got into Yale (congrats again, Anna!). In this episode, we get into: What it was like for Anna to pivot away...
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713: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Storytelling (Ep 10: The Stomach Whisperer) with Tillie Gottlieb
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling.” In this series, we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, we break down an essay called "The Stomach Whisperer" about a student who used to lie on her grandmother's stomach and wonder if the echoing gurgle I’d just heard was caused by the molasses or by the cinnamon. I'm joined today by Tillie Gottlieb, a former admission officer turned Director of College...
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712: Empowering First-Generation Student Success: The Warren High School BUS program with David Cha
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Welcome back to the podcast! Today’s episode is hosted by Tom Campbell, a former admission officer and now a college counselor and content creator here at College Essay Guy. This show often reminds us that beneath the essays, the deadlines, and the color-coded college lists, this whole thing is really about people — and today's guest is exhibit A. Quick disclaimer: this is a feel-good episode. Very “This American Life.” If you've ever needed your faith in public education restored, cancel your other plans. In a content landscape where some of the loudest admissions "experts" run on...
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711: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 10: The Silent Assassin) with Amber Patterson
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, "On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling," where we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talk about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, I'm joined by Amber Patterson, Regional Director of Admission at Texas Christian University. This conversation does two things at once. We read a real student essay closely, line by line, and we get inside an admission reader's head to understand what's actually landing as she reads through it. We get into: What Amber hopes to...
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710: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 9: Where I Grew Up) with Hillary Dickman
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling.” where we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, I’m joined by Hillary Dickman, Senior Assistant Director of Admission at Colorado College. In past episodes, we've really broken down these essays and gotten into the nooks and crannies of what makes them work. But in this episode, I really wanted to get a sense of how Hillary sees essays from an admission reader's...
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709: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 8: Molding Clay) with Calvin Pickett
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling.” In this series, we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, we break down an essay that is one of my new favorites. It’s conceptually rich because even though it’s on molding clay, it could be considered any of these montage types: I love/I know, Essence Objects, Skills/Superpower, Identity, Home, or Uncommon extracurricular activity. That’s not a goal I’m...
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708: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 7: Robes) with Andrew Callery
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling.” In this series, we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, we share an essay that begins: “Robes are the textile version of comfort food; they’re my chicken noodle soup.” And it is indeed about the different robes the student wears and how each one reveals a different aspect of who the author is. I'm joined today by Andrew Callery, a college counselor...
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707: Inside the Personal Statement Process (Part 5): Making the Decision with Alisha, Class of 2026
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hey friends, and welcome back to the College Essay Guy podcast. Today’s episode is a special follow-up with Alisha, who you might remember from our series last season where we walked through her personal statement process step-by-step. Now that she has officially received her results, Alisha is back to share the final chapter of her journey and reflect on the experience of reaching the finish line. In this session, Alisha and I explore: The emotional ups and downs of receiving college acceptances and rejections Alisha’s advice for students currently navigating the application process What...
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706: On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling (Ep 6: Raspberry Sky) with Wendy Zheutlin
The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions
Hi, friends, and welcome back to our series, “On Becoming: The Art and Craft of Personal Storytelling” where we take a close look at personal essays written by real students, talking about why we love them, what makes them work, and how they came to be. In this episode, I had the honor of sitting down with Wendy Zheutlin, who is not only one of my essay coaches but has been a volunteer for the past four years with our Program. This is the program where we pair high-achieving, low-income students with amazing counselors for 10 hours of free one-on-one support. And if that sounds...
info_outlineIn our new series, Inside the Personal Statement Process, we’re taking you behind the scenes with Alisha, a current high school senior working through applications right now. If you've ever wondered what it's like working with Ethan in a session, this is the podcast for you!
You might remember a similar series last season with Cassidy, where we got to see her whole application process. Rather than focus on the whole application, I wanted to just dive specifically into working with Alisha through the personal statement process.
In Part 1, Alisha and I get into:
- How did Alisha approach brainstorming and outlining for her personal statement?
- What brainstorming activities helped Alisha to pick her topic?
- Reading through Alisha’s first draft of her personal statement
- Creating a reverse outline of Alisha’s first draft to set her up for writing the second draft
- And more!
Alisha is a current high school senior going through the application process who loves science, movies, and discovering new places. When she’s not studying the brain, she’s mentoring younger students through her program Running Start or planning her next adventure.
We hope you enjoy our session!
Play-by-Play:
- 1:40 – Getting to know Alisha through her brainstorming materials
- 2:12 – Values
- 3:10 – “I love, I know” exercise
- 5:32 – Superpowers
- 6:32 – Career interests
- 12:00 – “Roles and Identities” exercise
- 15:09 – “Essence Objects” exercise
- 17:37 – Alisha discusses her personal statement topic
- 19:00 – Alisha walks through her essay outline and examples
- 31:55 – Alisha reads the first draft of her personal statement
- 35:45 – Alisha shares her thoughts on her draft
- 38:50 – Ethan gives feedback
- 46:00 – Ethan walks through the process of creating a “reverse outline” for draft two
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