We recently connected with Judith O’Donnell and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Judith thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

Creating “reader love”, by catching and keeping someone’s attention – in written form – is assuredly the most important lesson I learned in my prior professional life.

You see, my previous career was preceded by clerking for a Judge of New Jersey’s Superior Court. Every Friday was motion day. (A motion is an application by a party to a lawsuit for relief of some sort). It was my job to review the motion papers and offer a draft opinion. The motion papers would pile up. Wednesday would arrive and I’d hear, “Judith, where’s your draft on the Smith case?” “The “Jones’ case”?, and “…the others the Judge will decide on Friday?”, I would hear the secretary call out. Stacked high on the adjacent table, I’d have to review and give and give an opinion on perhaps a dozen cases that day. Sigh. The briefs in support of these motions were ponderous reading at best. And there were seemed to be so many of them.

Fast forward a few years. Now, I’m gainfully employed by a large City Law Department in the Northeast, charged with (among other matters) handling appeals from my colleagues’ lower court trials. Again, I’d hear, “Judith, where’s the brief in the Tax Abatement matter?” “What’s the status of the developer’s housing appeal?” Lots of pressure to review, write quickly and effectively, and win the appeal for the City.

Over the course of years, I learned that a legal brief is a winner when it tells a fascinating story (using provable facts, of course) or otherwise invokes human interest in a compelling way. The types of briefs I learned to write were complete with attention-grabbing details or simple metaphors, instead of lengthy arguments. It worked for me. I won all but one of my appeals over the years and my language was sometimes quoted in the judicial opinion. Perhaps my favorite line (paraphrased by the New Jersey Supreme Court) was “If you’re going to take a baseball bat away from (Major League Baseball player) Jose Conseco for using performance-enhancing drugs, surely the Chief of Police should be able to take away a deadly weapon (a gun) away from a policeman using steroids.” The analogy worked.

Today, I recommend this approach when teaching persuasive writing, particularly for college and graduate school application essays. “Engage the reader by telling your story in an anecdotal manner.” I advise. “Use your senses to describe the setting and your feelings, Quote conversations. Limit your topic to what you can describe in one intriguing piece of writing. Conclude with a promising ending – a conclusion attractive to the reader.”

Not incidentally, I learned from rifling through the mounds of paper on my desk as law clerk and lawyer, that my attention would be captured by those writings which were most riveting – they caught and kept my attention. In the competitive world of college admissions, I pass along this strategy. The winning applicants know that attention will be given to a captivating story. Not to a bare set of facts on a piece of paper.

Judith, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a college application consultant and I love it! I love working with students of all age, but particularly those seeking to explore their path(s) in life.

I told the tale of wandering into the world of writing and editing after a legal career in response to the previous question. A bit of an unusual path into college admissions acceptance, I admit but it worked.

To expand a bit, I’ll add that although writing effective (and thus helping students receive acceptances!) readily evolved out of writing appellate briefs, I first loved reading books – all books, all the time. I soon learned that reading great (and even corny) books, taught me to write. Post-college I taught writing, then worked at it professionally in a legal capacity. Afterward I tutored (all academic levels – elementary through law school), then gave time to two international corporations specializing in college admissions.

What’s the importance of writing, you might ask? Well, the answer lies in the Personal Statement (college essay) students must prepare (along with responses to Supplemental Essays for some schools). And so, I kept my ear to the ground and learned from the best from those that taught me, in essence, the following (a paraphrase from a student):

“As I began writing about my memories and best-loved experiences, it was apparent that I valued using my “voice” as a tool – not simply to gain admission, but also to impact others and effect change.” I’ve articulated this valued philosophy to emphasize to university applicants, the fact that writing about their genuine interests may be more valuable than simply trying to present something that will appeal to colleges.”

In preparation for a strong college application then, I emphasize the presentation of the applicant’s authentic self. I use my legal skills to elicit facts, my writing skills them in developing and articulating life-lesson themes, as well as my editing Personal Statements and supplemental essays (scholarship essays too!) and researching those schools and activities will best further a student’s goal.

Choice of AP subjects (a few!), great grades, and a self-development effort (whether it be a job, volunteering, team sports interaction or a special summer program) “round out” applicants out in demonstrating their genuine self.

I like to brand myself as someone who “Strives for Excellence” in the college, graduate and professional school and application process.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My most motivating mission is perhaps, engendering self-reflection. The students I work with are large young, with their eyes and minds attuned to the outside world. Helping them express themselves eloquently and effectively in a college essay requires introspection, memories, feelings they might not have felt in a while. Their world is generally their peers, their parents and their schools. Pressure from these sources may be mighty.

When first asked, “who are you?” a student will gave a name and descriptive an outside relationship, a status, a brand or a position. Rarely will the response be something akin to “I am a person who misses my Dad.” or “I am a person who expresses himself in art. You get the idea. By the time we complete questions which make him or her think deeply about values, self-fulfillment or internal growth, the response to “who are you?” becomes “I am an artist.” “I am a person who treasures the miracle of life.”

Eliciting the internal motivation and thought processes of young people is essential to identifying their further education choices as well as an expressive (and winning!) college application.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most outstanding aspect of being an artist is the creation of self (as well as reader) love in a student. Working with them, one-on-one and observing the gradual dawning of understanding that they are unique and can afford to be authentic without dismissal or criticism (in other words, with acceptance) is so satisfying. The joy, as they discover themselves, is the most rewarding gift I receive as each essay is completed.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/guidancegurucoaching
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judith-d-o-donnell/

Image Credits
Images were from IAWPE website (for credential); photo of me with student taken by Paula Boi (407-718-9877), I took the photo of the graduate in pink with her parent’s permission. and the remaining images are Pexels (free to use).