Past essays
Essays we made work.
These were written for real application cycles and they are here exactly as they were sent, with nothing trimmed and nothing tidied. If your son or daughter has been told to write about themselves and has no idea what that looks like, start here.
The Intellectual Essay
"How do we design a fair economy?" Simple on paper. But the best answer I found came from a floating, soon-to-be-born consciousness behind a veil of ignorance...
The Niche Obsession Essay
Diogenes wandered Athens with nothing but a cloak, starting the West's long obsession with anti-materialism. So why am I, of all people, not burning the dollar?
The Greatest Good Essay
"The most confident skydivers don't have the longest life expectancies." A Berkeley Haas professor on why overconfidence quietly makes us act immorally.
The Creative Essay
Logomancer: someone who summons magic through words. Every week I cycle to a weathered bench in the Diablo foothills to practice the ritual.
If you want somebody reading your student’s file with you this year, that is the work we do.