College Application Series

List of 1 items.

• Essay Writing Intensive Workshop

  The College Essay is one of the most significant and stressful parts of applying to college. This workshop helps students eliminate that stress and walk away with completed compositions, all before the senior year officially begins.
  
  

  In this course, students will identify, understand, and practice the essential skills of the college application essay, including storytelling through description, editing for impact and concision, and developing a reflective voice.  Students will learn how to read a prompt, develop a narrative with a clear line of reasoning, and read model essays to learn how to craft an essay that reveals important aspects of their character and social and emotional growth.  Students will write five different drafts over the course of the week and receive feedback on each essay both on an individual basis from the instructor and through workshop. All classes will be taught by current Berkeley faculty members of the UD English Department.  As an added bonus, participants will get individual feedback on their writing and leave with a thoughtful and authentic application essay.
  
  All participants must bring a laptop, tablet, or iPad to each session. Mobile devices will not suffice. 
  
  Weeks 5, 6, and 7 (rising seniors)
  
  About the Instructor

  A member of the Upper Division English Department for over 16-years, Danielle Marcantuono-Polstra is passionate about helping students maximize their potential as writers and thinkers. She has taught various courses from English 9 to AP English Literature and Composition. As the faculty coordinator of the Hoover Writing Center, she has helped Middle and Upper division students develop important study, organizational, and writing skills. She has a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and Performance Studies from Muhlenberg College and a MAT with a concentration in Instructional Design from the University of Southern California.
  
  Tom Brandt has been working with summer programs for the last twenty years, teaching various classes including SAT Prep and Bridge program and supervising the before and aftercare programs.  He has taught at Berkeley for the same twenty years, and he currently teaches AP Lang, Ninth Grade English, and serves as the Chair of the Honor Council and supervises the SAT/ACT Prep Program.  He has earned an MFA in Creative Writing, an MA in English Literature, and a BA in English Literature, and served on the board of several national and regional writing center associations, and he has participated in the AP Reading for the last ten years.