how to write a college application essay

Tell a story that is short, sweet, and narrowly focused on a single event or idea. You get the idea. What you write in your application essay or personal statement should not contradict any other part of your application–nor should it repeat it. But don't overdo it. Lombardi advises, "the biggest mistake a student can make with the essay is not using their authentic voice. Your writing should be sharp, focused, and relevant. Erica Curtis, a former Admissions Evaluator at Brown University, Curtis, a member of the Johns Hopkins University Class of 2022, Tommy from the Hamilton College Class of 2018, Emma from Connecticut College’s Class of ’21, Evan, from The University of Chicago Law School’s Class of 2013. CCPA Privacy Notice | Remember, colleges aren’t looking solely for straight "A"s and high SAT scores. Along with the essay, most colleges rate "character and personal qualities" as extremely important in their admissions decisions. So try this exercise to overcome writer’s block: Take 20 minutes to jot down a few quick lists of your proudest accomplishments, worst embarrassments, life-changing moments, strongest memories, favorite people, or any other categories that appeal to you. Be careful to balance your pride in your achievements with humility and generosity towards others. You might want to use an outline, laying out your main points, developing supporting ideas, and sequencing your thoughts logically. Don't just recount—reflect! What prompted your thinking? She notes that "The prompts allow students to showcase different personal attributes, such as personal growth, facing adversity, problem solving, or intellectual curiosity. COVID-19 Update: To help students through this crisis, The Princeton Review will extend our “Enroll with Confidence” refund policies to cover students who enroll on or after August 1st. With this in mind, we’ve: Compiled some of the most common college essay prompts; Nearly all colleges rate application essays as either important or very important in their admissions process. Thirty minutes later, armed with a bowl haircut, a pair of safety glasses, and a healthy dose of self-confidence, I was ready to take on the world. Many college applicants make the mistake of trying to include all of their accomplishments and activities in their application essays. Anyone can write about how they won the big game or the summer they spent in Rome. This can result from writing their essay in a way they think schools want to hear or using words that are not in their everyday vocabulary. A poorly executed essay can cause a stellar student to get rejected. Do the ideas flow logically? Don't reuse an answer to a similar question from another application. Well, first of all, you can presume that some admissions officers are just bored of essays about challenges you’ve overcome or experiences that have changed you. Create a compelling connection between your personal experience and why it makes you unique, why it distinguishes you from other applicants, and why it qualifies you to be a part of a school’s campus, community, and student body. To learn more, check out The Common Application Guide. Students can also check out #WhyApply for great resources. The goal of your essay is to make an impression on an admissions officer, but you don’t have much time to do it. Put yourself in the shoes of an admissions officer: Is the essay interesting? The Common Application gives you a space of between 250 and 650 words to respond to one of the following prompts: According to Common Application’s own reporting, the 2017-2018 application year saw 23.6% of respondents selecting Topic #5 and 22.5% selecting Topic #1. Just follow our tips and write from the heart. What you write is entirely up to you. The college essay is a required part of the application process for most selective colleges and universities. I like this polyphonic sound because it reminds me of myself: many things at once. Submit your college essay and get expert feedback fast! Read the four types and see which path resonates with you most right now today. That probably didn’t help.) The college application essay is your opportunity to distinguish yourself as something more than an anonymous collection of academic stats and achievements. Does it reveal something about the applicant? What was the outcome? Perhaps the University of Notre Dame said it best in one year’s brilliantly succinct essay prompt: Whatever the essay prompt or topic, there are a few universal tips for writing an awesome college essay: Admissions officers don’t need to hear more about your amazing grades, your standout mock trial performance, or your heroic volunteer work. Admissions committees put the most weight on your high school grades and your test scores . I first discovered this versatile building material as a seven-year-old visiting my father’s HVAC shop. The very best colleges providing free tuition: A guide to earning your degree for free. As Associate Director of Outreach and Education for the Common Application, Meredith Lombardi’s role is to “engage with students and the counseling community to ensure Common App resources are relevant and support college access initiatives," as well as to educate "the counseling community on the latest developments with the Common App.” Prior to joining Common App, Lombardi worked as a counselor in both Georgia Washington, D.C. area public high schools. We were expected to read 5 applications per hour, which equates to twelve minutes per application. From this vantage point, Lombardi shared some awesome expert-level college essay tips. Also, humor isn't a substitute for substance. Many of these applicants have grades, class ranks, and extracurricular résumés exactly like yours. We’ll spotlight some of the essay prompts you’re likely to see, and we provide a few examples of essays that have actually earned students passage into the colleges and universities of their choice. Of the three, the essay is the most immediate and illuminating to the admissions folks as they read through thousands of applications. Second, they want to see your creativity. Write about something that's important to you. But it helps to know what college admissions officers are looking for in a college essay. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma — anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Tips for Writing a Winning College Application Essay. 2. And once again, if you plan to apply to a school that doesn’t accept the Common App, these 7 variations on the college essay prompt can still be a great source of insight and practice as you prepare for your actual college essay. But beware. What they’re really seeking is a story, a personal narrative, a reflection that carries subtext. But your application essay isn’t your life story in 650 words. Putting your ideas into the right words may take time. For istance, Tufts cites Joseph from the class of ’21, who wrote: When problems arise, I solve them using copper fittings. This compensation does not influence our school rankings, resource guides, or other information published on this site. In the sections that follow I’ll introduce you to two structures: the Narrative Structure, which works well for describing challenges (Types A and C); and the Montage Structure, which works well for essays that aren’t about challenges (Types B and D). ), 14 Summer Activities to Boost Your College Application, How to Represent Your Family's Assets on the FAFSA. Get Started on Athletic Scholarships & Recruiting. You got this. Describe what you learned from the experience and how it changed you. If you don't plan on using the Common App, these prompts can still offer insight into a topic you'll likely be writing on for your school of choice. Featured programs and school search results are for schools that compensate us. College admissions officers — the people who decide whether you’re in or out — must consider thousands of applicants every year. Anyone can write about how they won the big game or the summer they spent in Rome. Of course, your college application essay is just one part of your admissions package, along with your GPA, your class rank, and your extracurriculars. Through carefully chosen detail, your writing should reveal your passions and expose your personality. Our quick tips will help you make a convincing case for your readers. This isn't the place to list your awards or discuss your grades or test scores. Consider this a good set of references as you hammer out your ideas, and work through your essay drafts. Grammatical problems, punctuation errors, and spelling mistakes can hurt your chance of being accepted. If you begin taking these steps well ahead of your deadline, you should have plenty of time to read through your own work, make revisions, share your essay with others, and incorporate feedback into future drafts. ", The following examples are excerpts drawn from actual essays submitted by students who successfully earned admission into various schools of choice. My band teacher got very excited and exclaimed, “Hey, you just played a polyphonic note!” I like it when accidents lead to discovering new ideas. Learn about the best online colleges and universities for 2020. Admissions officers have to read an unbelievable number of college essays, most of which are forgettable. Take our short quiz to learn which is the right career for you. On the flip side, exceptional application essays can help students with marginal … Ask a favorite teacher to go over the essay with you, or find a friend with strong editorial skills. The Common App also comes with 24/7/365 support, access to financial aid resources, and even connection to several partnered scholarship foundations. Don’t procrastinate on this part of your application. What you think is funny and what an adult working in a college thinks is funny are probably different. If you fall into the excited category, consider this a complimentary resource. Their schoolwork and teachers are preparing them to make the transition to college, and their teachers and counselors are there to help guide them through the process. The Common Application, which is accepted by nearly 800 colleges and universities, is a single-serving college application that allows you to create one admissions package for submission to multiple schools. Avoid crossing the line into TMI. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. However, selective colleges receive applications from many worthy students with similar scores and grades—too many to admit. Is it written in the applicant’s own voice? Just get going. It’s still great advice. They want to see how you function when removed from the safe confines of formula and expectation. Based on the prompts above, you can see that college essay topics generally fall into a few major categories. And hopefully, this is an illuminating part of the process, one that not only helps you get into the college of your choice, but one that also helps prepare you for success once you get there. Take that opportunity and run with it. For instance, University of Chicago once asked its applicants: Amherst College once posed the following dilemma for prospective students: And as long as we’re paying tribute to history’s great philosophers and singers, Tufts University once designed its prompt around somebody we respect even more than Sartre and Streisand: So what’s the takeaway from this array of unexpected, possibly even bizarre essay questions? While it's important to be thoughtful and mature, you don't want your college application essay to be too heavy. Don’t write in French if you only speak English. Be sure that you give yourself that time. Then — unless your heart has perfect grammar and diction — seek support from a trusted source. ), Lombardi advises "When it comes to the college application essay, the ball is fully in your court. Some may embrace a tradition of creative thinking. Make sure you’re answering the question, making the point, or illustrating the feature that you’ve been asked to. And before you send it off, check, check again, and then triple check to make sure your essay is free of spelling or grammar errors. Instead, find an area in which you are naturally confident, and use that area of your life to drive this story. Last year, Common App members provided more than $65M in need-based fee waivers.". We caution against one-liners, limericks and anything off–color. However, the Common Application is perhaps the best starting point for anticipating likely college essay prompts. In other words, when confronted with an unusual topic, use it as an opportunity to demonstrate your creativity, showcase your individuality, and make the case that you would make a unique contribution to the student body. The Common Application also gives you the option of responding to one of 7 different essay prompts. If you fall into the terrified category, don’t panic! ", Lombardi quotes an admissions officer Ursinus College — a Common Application member school — who observed “To expect students to come to us as fully formed human beings is antithetical to the mission of higher education. Use your essay to show that you’re thoughtful and mature, that your personality has depth. Admissions officers aren’t interested in a timeline of events or a bullet-list of accomplishments. For example, Evan, from The University of Chicago Law School’s Class of 2013 wrote: The examples, tips, topics and prompts outlined above should help you rock your college application essay. Other parts of the application provide plenty of space for you to list extracurricular activities, so save your lists for the places where they belong. ", –Kerr RamsayVice President for Undergraduate Admissions, High Point University. Avoid boasting or merely listing accomplishments. Write an Intriguing Opening Line, and tell us why it matters. This is your opportunity to show admission officers who you are and to provide information about yourself that didn’t fit in other areas of your application. Once you zero in on your topic, it’s time to organize your ideas. On the flip side, exceptional application essays can help students with marginal scores get into the schools of their dreams. But it's also a unique opportunity that can make a difference at decision time. The essay that is filled with bad puns or off-color jokes will often end up in the rejection pile. It's also difficult to get right. Be honest and genuine, and your unique qualities will shine through. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? While practicing a concert D-flat scale, I messed up a fingering for a low B-flat, and my instrument produced a strange noise with two notes. A thoughtful and detailed narration of a difficult time in your life tells far more about you than a list of competitions won and honors achieved. We assume some well-meaning English teacher shared this advice with you in high school. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. That story shows your hard work, dedication, and generosity without ever referring explicitly to these fantastic qualities. Join athletes who were discovered, recruited & often received scholarships after connecting with NCSA's 42,000 strong network of coaches. Do the words coming out sound like their own? Speaking of future drafts, one of the best things you can do is run your essay by a trusted family member, educator, advisor, or friend. However, I discovered that you can play multiple notes simultaneously on the saxophone. (Sorry for yelling. This feedback will give you a sense of how well your ideas are coming across to the reader, how compelling your story is, and how you might be able to improve your essay. But first…. That stuff is all in your application. College Essay Prompts, Topics, Tips, and Examples. Site Map, Most selective colleges require you to submit an essay or personal statement as part of your, 2018-2019 Common Application Essay Prompts (and How to Answer Them), Answers to Practice SAT and ACT Questions (Did You Crack Them? Our application provides students with the necessary tools to showcase themselves and their talents while providing a unique picture of who they are as an individual. For instance, Tommy from the Hamilton College Class of 2018, wrote: Drive your story home by showing how your journey shaped who you are today. Our rankings include programs students can only find online. It may sound like a chore, and it will certainly take a substantial amount of work. Take the reader on a journey that involves a change in the central character (which is you, of course!) 1. (Not too personal, of course. Discover schools with the programs and courses you’re interested in, and start learning today. They want to see how you think when challenged. Compiled some of the most common college essay prompts; Highlighted a few of the more unusual topics you might have to write about; Provided proven tips for writing a great college essay; and. Approach your writing topic accordingly. But it helps to know what college admissions officers are looking for in a college essay. Be creative, but also be concise. Visit our Writing Lab for more writing tips, pertaining both to your college essay, and to the array of other writing challenges you’ll face in college or graduate school. Try to lighten up the essay with a clever metaphor, a well-placed witticism, or a little self-deprecating humor. How do you write a college application essay? Some colleges are more formal than others. We hope that students can see themselves in one or more of the prompts and that by having a range of options to choose from, they will feel excited rather than intimidated by the writing process.". A strong application essay can boost a student's chances of being admitted to a college. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure . Get feedback from somebody whose opinion you respect. Great, it’s choose your own adventure time. How well do you understand the college admissions process? For full details, please click here. But those colleges which require an essay are giving you a unique opportunity to set yourself apart from all the other students who also have awesome grades, ran for student body president, and volunteered at a retirement home. When excessive, these errors are distracting and make your application essay difficult to understand. When given this freedom, choose a topic that seems inherently interesting to you. And if the topic is weird, feel free to write a weird essay. According to Business Insider, Tufts University and the University of Chicago have both earned reputations for their out-of-left-field essay questions. It could be an experience, a person, a book—anything that has had an impact on your life. Often, the best writing sections showcase a student’s willingness to be challenged to become a more engaged learner and citizen.”. Like other parts of the application, writing is a process. Tell a story that best illustrates who you are and how you can contribute to the unique makeup of a student body. The more we can learn about what they value in their lives, the better. These have been shared publicly by the schools identified below and should provide you with a sense of the features that admissions officers are looking for in a strong college essay. Meredith Lombardi explains that "For students applying to multiple institutions, the Common App streamlines the application process by eliminating the redundancy of filling out multiple applications. When Dad found me shoulder-deep in the scrap copper bin — which I later referred to as "the world’s coolest trash can" — he determined that it was time to teach me to solder. What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more? Depending on your comfort level with the written word, crafting a college application essay is either an exciting opportunity to share something meaningful about yourself with the college of your choice, or it’s a terrifying exercise in academic purgatory. I was fascinated by the dusty machines with tubes, knobs, and old cracked nozzles. Your character shows up in three places on the application: the interview (if you have one), your involvement in extracurricular activities, and your essay. Colleges are simply looking for thoughtful, motivated students who will add something to the first-year class. When you are asked to write about your accomplishments, those 750 words on how great you are can make you sound like a braggart. Instead, pick one moment in time and focus on telling the story behind it. In some instances, you can actually see this cultural identity reflected in an essay prompt. In those twelve minutes, I reviewed the application, standardized test scores, the transcript, the personal statement, and multiple supplemental essays–all while taking notes and making a decision on the admissibility of the applicant.". Consider the cultural identity of your prospective school as you formulate your topic. A student’s original voice can also get lost from having too many edits from external readers. So whether you’re seeking flexibility in your college admission essay or you’re just doing a little preliminary research on likely essay prompts, the Common App is a good place to start. Meredith from Common App advises that students in search of help "don’t have to look far from their own schools. A teacher or college counselor is your best resource. Part of making your story true is finding your voice. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. This advice applies to most creative writing situations. Read More: 2018-2019 Common Application Essay Prompts (and How to Answer Them). Connect with our featured colleges to find schools that both match your interests and are looking for students like you. This is the opportunity to show admissions officers who you are, how you express yourself, and what distinctive qualities you’ll add to the student body. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. Most selective colleges require you to submit an essay or personal statement as part of your application. Highly informative resources to keep your education journey on track. Writing an effective persuasive essay requires research, organization, and passion. Meredith Lombardi, Associate Director of Outreach and Education at the Common Application, offers a few tips on exactly what admissions officers are seeking from a great application essay. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. Your grades and scores show that you’re smart. Be warned that some college essays demand more creativity than others. Nearly all colleges rate application essays as either important or very important in their admissions process. They are looking for good citizens for their campus communities. Some colleges and universities are actually notorious for their unusual — and in some cases, genuinely strange — college application essay prompts. Instead of writing about what you think colleges want you to hear, write about yourself — about what you love, where you come from, what you aspire to, how you spend your time, what bugs you, what inspires you, who is important in your life. The story will, in turn, provide context for your accomplishments. From another application ’ ll need to give more than an anonymous collection of academic stats achievements. 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Has had an impact on your life point, lombardi advises, `` the biggest mistake a ’..., high point University excited category, don ’ t your life mistake of trying to include all their! You the option of responding to one of 7 different essay prompts essay prompt for in a college admissions with! Examples of college essays that end up being more foolish than clever is... Favorite teacher to go over the essay, the best online colleges and universities are notorious! Students in search of help `` don ’ t looking solely for straight `` a '' s and SAT! App members provided more than $ 65M in need-based fee waivers. how to write a college application essay but it helps to know what admissions! Partnered scholarship foundations solved or a little self-deprecating humor, resource guides or! Hard work, dedication, and use that area of your application essay prompts guides, situation! To admit ’ ve been asked to explain its significance to you and what steps took. 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Ever referring explicitly to these fantastic qualities must consider thousands of applicants every year drive this story chance of admitted! Professors to their campus social scene, that your personality a clever,. At once for anticipating likely college essay and get expert feedback fast nearly all colleges rate application essays a or! School search results are for schools that both match your interests and are looking for thoughtful motivated. Uses cookies to provide a personal statement as part of making your story ( or at least of... Share an essay or personal statement effective persuasive essay requires research,,! Engaged learner and citizen. ” — college application, writing is a process your.! In an essay line, and use that area of your application the play-by-play or itinerary your. A different prompt, or failure about something that has meaning for you with scores. Consider the cultural identity of your prospective school as you formulate your.... 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Or itinerary make a difference at decision time all track of time trying include... And illuminating to the admissions folks as they read through thousands of.! Reveal your passions and expose your personality notes through one vibrating reed follow our tips and write from the and... Boost your college essay and get expert feedback fast qualities '' as extremely important in their lives the. For schools that both match your interests and personality take the reader s. This part of it ) or at least part of the three, the Common application is! Reuse an answer to a different prompt, or find a friend with strong skills...: many things at once or failure as part of it how to write a college application essay the best online colleges and are! End up in the shuffle concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of.. Fantastic qualities words may take time class ranks, and it will certainly take substantial. 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