The problematic results of longitudinal studies on college writing indicate the need for multidimensional studies to be able to explore perceptible changes in students' writing. Accordingly a small pilot case study, to explore the promise and the limitations of doing a longitudinal multidimensional study, investigated whether impromptu essays written across the span of college showed change in critical thinking. Six upper level subjects had written in various contexts from the time they entered the University of Michigan as freshmen. Further holistic analysis of two impromptu essays written by one of the six students in his freshman and junior years, was undertaken and applied to three cognitive-developmental indices. Findings showed that the cognitive-developmental approaches can be beneficial but that there is a need for a scale of flexible measures, where content and form can be perceived in a flexible relationship instead of as a single entity. As datum the impromptu essay, despite some limitations, also has much to offer, and did, in this case, reveal that a student can think critically. Findings also suggest that multidimensional approaches do speak to the need in evaluating college writing. (The two student impromptu essays discussed in this paper as well as one chart are included, and four footnotes and 18 references are appended.) (MS)