Write Your Way In: Crafting an Unforgettable College Admissions Essay

by Rachel Toor

Writing, for most of us, is bound up with anxiety. It’s even worse when it feels like your whole future—or at least where you’ll spend the next four years in college—is on the line. It’s easy to understand why so many high school seniors put off working on their applications until the last minute or end up with a generic and clichéd essay.


The good news? You already have the “secret sauce” for crafting a compelling personal your own experiences and your unique voice.
 

The best essays rarely catalog how students have succeeded or achieved. Good writing shows the reader how you’ve struggled and describes mistakes you’ve made. Excellent essays express what you’re fired up about, illustrate how you think, and illuminate the ways you’ve grown.


More than twenty million students apply to college every year; many of them look similar in terms of test scores, grades, courses taken, extracurricular activities. Admissions officers wade through piles of files. As an applicant, you need to think about what will interest an exhausted reader. What can you write that will make her argue to admit you instead of the thousands of other applicants?


A good essay will be conversational and rich in vivid details, and it could only be written by one person—you. This book will help you figure out how to find and present the best in yourself. You’ll acquire some useful tools for writing well—and may even have fun—in the process.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Education, Teaching, College

164 pages, Paperback

Published August 3, 2017

Reviews

[Raina · Rating 5 out of 5]

In full transparency: I skimmed this book. But from what I skimmed, I loved. If you want a book that tells you exactly what to write and how long it should be and how many syllables your words need to have, that's great and those books exist; but this isn't one of them.

What I love most about Write Your Way In is that Toor doesn't just teach how to write a college admissions essay. She teaches how to write/learn about who you are. It's very much a creative writing professor technique (which Toor now is), and I love her honesty and style. I will definitely be recommending this to any students applying for schools!

[Limeminearia · Rating 5 out of 5]

School Library Journal review

Gr 9 Up—Most high school libraries can use more books on how to tackle the college admissions essay—this book should be a first purchase to fill that need. Toor's style is friendly, funny, and genuinely compelling, exhorting students to go deeper with their writing even (and especially) when the stakes are high. Toor doesn't just tell readers to do better, she lays out useful tricks for how to get it done, interspersing her practical advice with well-selected supporting quotes from various writers including George Orwell and Amy Poehler, and examples from the many students she's coached at essay writing over the years. The format is perfectly suited to the content, short enough that even the most avoidant student might consider checking this out. Chapters are composed of manageable chunks and build nicely on each other; by the end readers will feel more confident and know more about the personal essay form. Hand this to English teachers and newspaper advisors who will be grateful for a tool for general classroom writing instruction. The author talks to readers like the adults they will soon be, with chapter titles like "Shitty First Drafts" and "Sex Drugs and Palestinian Statehood." Toor, currently a creative writing professor in Washington and a former admissions officer at Duke, previously wrote about the admissions process from the other side in Admissions Confidential: An Insider's Account of the Elite College Selection Process. Here, she adds value by telling students what admissions teams are excited by and what they simply can't stand to read one more time. Extra attention is paid to that most daunting of steps in the admissions essay writing process: choosing a topic. VERDICT A highly recommended work for upper teens considering college or wanting to improve their writing skills.—Miriam DesHarnais, Towson University, MD

[Norman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apart from some obscene content, this book is OK, since it provides some very useful tips that can be applied while writing an essay for application. However, the thing that disturbs me the most while reading is how the author repeats many different tips in the book and how the author defeats the purpose of telling the reader of how you don't need to follow the rules while writing. This is true because in the book, she literally invented new rules in the book while in the beginning, she says that you DO NOT follow rules while writing a first person perspective essay.

[Elias Lawler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I read it for guidance on writing application essays, but the lessons apply to any personal writing. Part I was the most useful for me, as it provides tips for approaching the writing process that made starting feel possible. Part II is also fun.

[Anh Phuong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personally and professionally, I love the book. It is a resounding echo of my experience as a college essay coach, and my journey as a writer.

I'd say that most of the advice mentioned is not new to me, but I thoroughly enjoy the way Toor puts them down on the pages. Her writing is hilarious, informative, and inspiring, making this book a must-read for high school students who are in dire need of both guidance and motivation.

It might sound boring for experienced writers, but hey, it's intended for clueless teenagers! I'm sure it helps with the demystification of college essays and can be a great starting point for the whole ordeal called writing. It also features a lot of poignant quotes on writing (my favorite parts) and lays out some cool materials I can steal for my own coaching work (thank you a zillion times).

Then again, finishing the book alone is not enough to craft memorable writing. You have to sit at the table and actually get down to work; that's why I am writing this review even though it's painful as hell.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Admissions Confidential, Rachel Toor drew on her experiences as an admissions officer at Duke to offer a critical perspective on how students are selected (or rejected) by elite colleges. It was a smart book that pointed to some important and troubling connections between higher education and class stratification in the US.

In this book Toor turns that critical perspective into a how-to volume for kids hoping to write a personal essay that will allow them to become one of the chosen few. It's not very interesting. Her tone is cheerleaderly, and her advice on writing is familiar, at times simply recycling Strunk and White. And there's not much evidence offered that following these maxims will actually affect the overall chances of an applicant getting into their dream school. This ends up feeling like just another industry product—the industry in this case being higher ed.

[Julia Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book from the library, read a couple of chapters somewhere near the end, and immediately went online to buy a copy. Today, I read the whole thing in one sitting. I have taught college essay writing every year to HS students, and many of the things I’ve told students are in Toor’s book, but I also still learned some things. Having such a succinct, insightful book would (should!) make any college applicant feel equipped to write their best essay. Sadly, my 17-year old did not have this book sooner; alas, we have waited too long for comfort and are now scrapping to get a good essay done in a little under a month. Eek.

[Blu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book because it focuses on really going in step by step how other students she helped approached the essay and the emotion the writer feels as we cut things out and talk about things that we don't always approach. She is really good at outlining the steps, and if you have a problem with word count, which I did, she gives some really good tips at the end. Overall, this is a good book for college essay writing, but also for personal essay writing in general. Also a pretty quick read.

[Maria Dudley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book, and thought it was full of great advice, but I'm not sure I understood her decision about not including a couple of sample essays. I know that there are many different ways to write an effective college essay, but I have always found in my writing classes that I like using "mentor texts" to show students some good examples.

[Sondra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t give a lot of 5 stars to books. Usually only when it’s a book that I think is essential for everyone to read. This is one of those books. I wish I had read this book in before college. And again in college. And again before I became an ELA teacher. Even though this book is about writing college essays there are so many valuable tips for writing in general. This book is a great resource.

[J.J. Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I’ve found on writing a good college application essay. Writing is hard and scary for everyone - even profesh writers (can confirm). Be yourself; write a shitty first draft; don’t try to sound like someone you aren’t; tell us something we can’t see from the rest of your app; heed Strunk & White.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic!! Doesn’t just offer some really great advice, but presents it in a way that isn’t mind-numbingly boring to read. It’s funny and insightful and offers useful tips not just for college application essays, but for writing in general. Definitely recommend!

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is The Shizz for college admissions essays. Toor doesn't pull any punches, and this book is going to be quite helpful for my kiddo.

[Mary George · Rating 3 out of 5]

An admission officer at a reputable school was disagreeing with aspects in this book.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read and excellent advice and writing strategies.

[Wikignometry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was beautifully written. This was a great guide for just writing in general. The advice made sense and forced me to think harder about my essay. Great book.

[Valerie Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breaks down essay writing for high school juniors / rising seniors.

[Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful. Made me want to write well.

[Larahelena_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives you hope and affirmation for your own application through witty sarcasm, yet she still manages to stay informative. I liked it and it was an easy read.

[Pearl · Rating 5 out of 5]

It gave me an outlook on how to approach essays! And, I feel like it will help me be a better writer in general.

[Eva Stover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely changed the way I approached admissions essays and helped me write a really strong supplementary essay for honors college application.

[serena]

dnf at like 20 pages in

1. im tired of all this college stuff.

[Rose S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book - Enjoyable and informative

[Elliott Strand-Hawkins]

This book was a lifesaver when I was stuck on what and how to write for my essay. I wish every high school senior knew about this book so they could lean on it for guidance. Toor covered everything from creating ideas to drafting techniques to specific polishing tips.