Not sure how to go about writing your college essays? Take a look at the guide below so you know what to do (and not do!) when writing your personal and supplemental college admissions essays.
The post below contains an excerpt from Unlocking College Admissions: Your Step-By-Step Workbook For Finding The Right College And Getting In. Interested in learning more? The book will be available for pre-order soon. Click here to receive updates and discounts!
There isn’t enough room in one blog post to go into all the intricate detail of college essays (there's literally entire books written on the subject), but here’s the basics of what you need to know. Almost every college in the country uses the Common App and requires a student to submit one main college essay of between 250 and 650 words in length. The essay asks the student to talk about themselves in a way that they may have never done before. It’s not like a typical research paper or English essay, and for that reason alone it can be challenging. You can find this year’s essay questions on the Common App or any number of other college and education websites.
The key to a good college essay is that it sounds authentic, is written well and shows the personality, achievements, goals and/or other important aspects of the student that a college can’t see by just looking at the student’s grades, extracurriculars, teacher recommendations, etc. A great college essay can be about almost anything, a sport a student plays, a leadership role they’ve had, an important moment in their life, a hobby of theirs, a realization they had, etc. Think about it this way, you’re trying to show a college admissions officer – someone you’ve never met and who has never heard of you – something important or interesting about yourself in 650 words or less.
Some colleges also require supplemental essays. These can take many forms, but generally they are short (under 250 words) and ask something more specific about the student. The most common question is some form of “Why do you want to attend this school?” Some students dismiss these questions as not as important as the main essay, but this is NOT true. Most colleges get thousands of applications a year, if they are asking you a question like this it’s probably because they want to know how serious you are about attending. Simply put, you are much more likely to be accepted if the school thinks you really want to attend. When answering a question like this, be honest about your reasons for wanting to go and prove to them you’ve done your research and know their school well (they love that). If you’ve visited, mention that. If there’s a particular program, club, class, professor, etc. that is of interest to you mention that too!
*A very important note. College essay readers know how a Senior in high school writes, they read literally hundreds or thousands of these essays a year. If you use AI, or a parent or someone else helps you write it, or it doesn’t sound like it’s authentically you, it is VERY likely the reader will know and throw out your application. Do NOT do this!.
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