A college application carries not the slightest fraction of the gravity of a life sentence. Even so, whenever I speak to students about college essays, I implore them to interrogate themselves, not as suspects but as witnesses. Witnesses to their own lives.

Analysis entails a discussion of reasons, consequences, processes, and connections to meaningful ideas.

The tailor’s great adage is, “measure twice, cut once.” That’s good advice when you’re working in silk, but irrelevant when ink and paper are in abundant supply. If a writer can’t get word counts out of his mind, I recommend one of two strategies…