Most college essay advice is true and too vague to use: be yourself, show don't tell, be specific. The tips below are the concrete versions, in the order you will need them, from the first idea to the moment you paste the essay into the Common App.
If you only read one: a reader should finish your essay knowing something about how you think that nothing else in your application shows. Every tip below serves that.
Before you write
- 1. Start with material, not with a prompt. List moments, objects, habits and decisions that say something true about you, then see which prompt each one fits.
- 2. Choose depth over drama. A close look at something ordinary beats a summary of something extraordinary.
- 3. Find the change. Good essays move from one way of thinking to another. If nothing changed, look for a different story.
- 4. Write one sentence that begins "This essay is really about" and finish it with something about you, not about the topic.
- 5. Check that the topic adds something your activities list and transcript do not already show.
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While you draft
- 6. Write the first draft long and fast. It is easier to cut 900 words to 650 than to stretch 400.
- 7. Start in the middle of a moment, not with background, a definition or a quotation.
- 8. Use real names, numbers, places and objects. "Forty rolls at 4 a.m." does more than "early mornings at the bakery".
- 9. Put reflection throughout, not only in the last paragraph. After each key moment, say what you thought or understood.
- 10. Keep yourself the main character, even when the story involves someone else.
- 11. Stay small. One afternoon, one conversation or one decision is enough for 650 words.
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Voice and style
- 12. Write the way you talk when you are explaining something you care about to a teacher you like.
- 13. Use plain words. A thesaurus makes essays sound like someone else wrote them.
- 14. Cut stock phrases: "ever since I was young", "step out of my comfort zone", "this experience taught me".
- 15. Let the reader draw the conclusion. Show the behavior and skip the virtue (resilience, hard work, compassion).
- 16. Humor is welcome if it is natural to you. Do not force it.
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When you revise
- 17. Revise in passes, from big to small: the center first, then structure, then specifics, then sentences.
- 18. Read it aloud. Wherever you stumble or get bored, the reader will too.
- 19. Cut the first paragraph and see if the essay is better. It often is.
- 20. Ask one or two trusted readers what they learned about you, not whether they liked it. If their answer is not what you intended, revise.
- 21. Never let anyone, or any tool, write sentences for you. Common App asks you to affirm the essay is your own work.
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Before you submit
- 22. Check the length: 250 to 650 words for the Common App essay, and most strong essays use most of that.
- 23. Paste it into the application and preview it. Check paragraph breaks, quotation marks and special characters.
- 24. Proofread on paper or in a different font. Errors hide in text you have read twenty times.
- 25. Make sure every supplement answers its own question and does not repeat your personal essay.
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Questions
A score out of 100, a note on every sentence, the paragraph costing you most and a 10-point draft check, in 5–10 minutes. We never write a word of your essay.
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