The ultra competitive, classical, six-year college prep public high school I attended in Cincinnati embedded in me a permanent savvy sixth sense when it comes to “SATs, Stats and Forms.” There were 23 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists in my graduating class of 304. Still we had our share of nervous breakdowns and bulimia even then. I know, up close, the needless stress all that can engender.

Fortunately, growing up in the Midwest also taught me there were saner ways to choose a college. My own college-age “children” attend(ed) the University of Texas @ Austin and the University of Iowa. (Class of ‘01) I consider my “heartland” point of view to be my greatest asset.

In 1997, my Aristotelian training in English and American Lit, my talents as a creative writer, teacher, and editor, and my mavericky “take” coalesced, when the fresh, clear thinking editorial suggestions I gave to Anand Ahuja, the son of my former next-door neighbors, proved instrumental to his gaining admission to Princeton.

Hundreds of happy seniors later, I have also discovered a five-step method of rewriting no one in the traditional academic world seems to know exists.

Writing, it turns out, can be taught.

Click here to visit my Facebook profile.

"When I asked Maxene Mulford, my former next door neighbor, to take a look at the college essay my English teacher, guidance counselor, family and friends had said was great and set to go, she said, 'Your middle needs work.'

"First she showed me where, then she showed me why, and then she offered some simple but amazing technical suggestions for how to fix it. I fell in love with the rewriting process. When I got into Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Northwestern, Penn, and Michigan, we both knew the college essay was something we could teach together. Each spring, scores of happy seniors keep confirming we were right!"

"The faithful webmaster. He has been with UU since almost the very beginning and through countless revisions of the famed and acclaimed UUCEC website (excluding version 2.) He is quite proud of this latest iteration, Version 3.0, because of its clean look and CSS-only (no tables!) design. For more information on his Graphic Design talents, please visit his website at www.simonsite.com."