This summer Erin will focus on building skills that will help students in the present and are essential to transition to a functioning adult. Today’s focus is on decluttering.

Did you know that decluttering, organizing, and cleaning are three very separate tasks? Erin tackles the first of these with some of her best tips from her favorite declutterer.

Resource: A Slob Comes Clean – Dana K. White

The post 636: Summer of Skills: Decluttering Your Bedroom appeared first on The College Prep Podcast.

This summer Megan will focus on different college application essay topics, pinpointing common pitfalls and offering suggestions for strong responses. Today’s topic: discuss a “great” book.

— Not all colleges ask about books, but this question appears on a number of school’s supplemental essay lists.

— Don’t overthink your answer; be genuine. There isn’t a right or wrong answer. (Trying to sound impressive isn’t the goal.)

— Brainstorm the “why” part of your answer. Your thought process is a significant part of the essay.

— Look at your application essays as a whole and understand how this response fits into the bigger picture.

The post 637: College Essays: Discuss a Favorite Book appeared first on The College Prep Podcast.

This summer Megan will focus on different college application essay topics, pinpointing common pitfalls and offering suggestions for strong responses. Today’s topic: “how have your impacted your community?”

— No, you don’t need to cure cancer to impact your community.

— Impact is far more about what you DO than developing an activity with an impressive sounding title.

— There are a lot of misleading rumors every year that try to crack the code on what activities sound good to college.

— Community can be defined very broadly.

— This topic should prompt younger students to start evaluating their own activities.

The post 635: College Essays: How Have You Impacted Your Community? appeared first on The College Prep Podcast.