How to write the Princeton essays in senior fall

SSteve LeMenager, Princeton's director of admission for many years, held that by the fall of senior year most of an applicant's file is already settled, in remarks that have been relayed since. Grades are on the transcript, scores are what they are, and teachers have formed the views that will go into their letters. The essay is the one major piece still open, and he thought that was where a student's creative energy belonged.

Families often hear that and respond in a way the reader on the other side, who has read thousands of student essays, notices at once. He was specific about what that creative energy should produce, and about what it should not.