Conversations with Experts Giving Context to College Essay: Dr. Mae Sakharov I've spent time this winter interviewing my mentors and other smart folks-- like Dr. Mae Sakharov-- about the difficulties and pleasures of the college essay writing process and working with teens. I do as I tell my students: if you keep showing up in the world-as-classroom with your pencils sharpened, and a sincere wish to do better than BS, life will keep giving you material, and teaching you what you need to know. I always want to know more. That's also why I love teaching students to tell their stories well! Here are some highlights from my conversation with Dr. Mae Sakharov, Ed.D, College, Graduate School and Career Counselor. Technically, we're competitors, but I'd tell you to go see her in a heartbeat for full-spectrum counseling and a wise, good-humored perspective. We were introduced by a freak media relations fairy who connected us on impulse and then disappeared; both of us care deeply about teens, authentic learning, and no BS compassion. She has a great beat on the college counseling industry- be not fooled, it's an industry!-- and has the creds, sweat hours, and lived experience to see every life in context. In our conversation over Google Hangouts, , the frame cut out the lower half her face, so I spent most of the time with a view of just her classy glasses and warm eyes. She looked like a hibernant checking to see if Winter was over-- no, no it's not. Talking to Dr. Mae Sakharov EI: What is the college essay really...for? Sakharov: First, I call myself more of a writing psychologist than a writing teacher. I don’t teach writing-- My background is in theater and literature, children’s literature and storytelling, and years and years of improvisational theater. When I started working on personal statements with kids it was not in structural way-- like an English essay, but more about finding out who a person was-- and bringing that out. Writing the college Continue Reading …