Episode 14: College Essay Guy, The Sequel

Ethan Sawyer, the College Essay Guy, returns to the show for Part 2 of his conversation with Ted. In this follow-up, they “get down to the nitty gritty” of writing an awesome college essay, detailing the four qualities that are essay must-haves. Ethan shares an example of an extremely well-written piece that has both guys saying “whooooaaaa.” (0:30) Ethan explains how to evaluate and improve a first draft of an essay using the four necessary qualities. He and Ted discuss how to delve deeper into the Big Four while keeping the composition concise. They talk about the importance of vulnerability in writing and Ethan describes three ways to tap into that vulnerability. (11:46) Astronomical terminology. Macroscopic verbiage. Elephantine language unit. Monolithic vocable…Big words. Whether they add to or detract from an essay depends a lot on how many are used and why they are chosen over their simpler counterparts. (26:00) Advice on how to evaluate and give feedback on a student’s draft of their essay; what to focus on first and what to leave until later in the process. (29:00) Have a question or comment for Ted and the show? Email and check out his website!