I provided Lily with a rubric to evaluate a college application essay. We discussed approaches to the personal statement with an emphasis on "showing" not telling, and explored a number of possible subjects for Lily's college application essay. I drafted some model sentences and paragraphs on the board to demonstrate how to tie anecdotes first to broader observations, and last to some comment on how the experience makes a student a good fit or candidate for a particular college. In this regard, I mentioned the need to explore college catalogues to locate activities , mission statements, or courses that especially complement Lily's interests and strengths so that we can incorporate these specifics into the essay. We will look at specific prompts from the Common Application. or from specific colleges during our next session.