things not to write your college essay about

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College essay don’ts: 37 Things to Avoid In a college essay

Knowing what not to write about in a college essay is just as important as knowing what to write about!

This post is all about college essay don’ts , including college essay topics to avoid and how not to write your college application essays. 

It’s so important to know what NOT to write about in your college application essay. Whether you’re crafting your essay for the Common App or writing shorter college-specific essays, you need to know how not to write a college essay. 

Choosing the wrong topic for your college application essays could mean that you don’t get admitted to your dream school or you miss out on scholarship money. 

Since you really only have one chance to get it right, you need to know what topics to avoid in your college admissions essays, general college essay don’ts, and what other pitfalls to avoid when writing your college essays.

Essay writing may feel overwhelming and stressful, but knowing what not to do will help you write a great college essay!

What not to write in your college application essay

So you know exactly what not do in college admissions essays, here are 37 college essay tips about college essay don’ts. Follow this advice to know what not to write about in your college essay!

1. Don’t restate the Essay prompt

Start your essay with a hook. Start with dialogue. Start by setting the scene.

Don’t start by restating the essay topic! The reader knows the essay prompts, so just start telling your story. 

A great story will immediately grab the attention of the admission officers and make them want to keep reading!

2. Don’t try to be funny in your college admissions essay

There’s a good chance that what you think is funny may not be funny to the admissions officer. And even if your admissions officer thinks it’s funny, the dean of admissions may not agree.

Clever writing that naturally tells a funny story will get you further than trying too hard to make everyone laugh. 

3. Don’t swear

You might not mind vulgar language, but many people do. It will come off as tasteless and crass. Simply put, curse words should not be part of your college admissions essay. 

4. Don’t just tell the reader what you think

Tell the reader what you did, how you felt, how you changed—not just what you think. Admissions officers don’t want to read about what you think in the abstract.

They want to know what has happened to you in life, how that’s affected you, and what you did as a result. 

Write an engaging, interesting story that shows the reader how you’ve grown and what you’ve learned.

5. Don’t try to Appear perfect

It’s okay that your life is messy and you don’t have it all together. It’s okay that you’re not super organized and you don’t know what you want to be when you grow up.

Your college essay doesn’t need to be about how awesome you are (really, it shouldn’t be!). It just needs to be about the real you. Remember, your personal essay for college should be just that—personal! 

6. Don’t brag

Your achievements are all listed on your resume.

Writing about how great you are, how you saved the day, or how you’re a hero to others is not going to make a positive impression on the reader.

Leave the bragging to the people who wrote your letters of reference. 

7. Don’t emphasize status

Avoid topics that emphasize your financial privilege. Voluntourism trips to aid people living in poverty in far-flung areas of the world is a key example of this.

Don’t write about going on a mission trip to a third world country to volunteer to help the less fortunate and how you learned how privileged you are. Just don’t. 

8. Don’t lie

Don’t inflate your accomplishments. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not.

If you write something dishonest in your essay, it won’t match the other parts of your application. If you were found to have been dishonest when writing your essay, you will not be offered admission at that college. 

9. Don’t reveal too much

If you have faced personal challenges, like addiction, mental health struggles, or learning disabilities, those struggles are part of you. You should feel proud of overcoming them.

But your college admissions essay is not the place to share your most deeply personal experiences. 

Some college admissions officers may read about your challenges and want to welcome someone with your tenacity and spirit to their campus.

Unfortunately, most admissions officers will read about your challenges and worry that you will face similar issues at their university. 

Many colleges choose not accept applicants who have demonstrated past mental health issues. This might not seem fair, but it is reality. Don’t hide your true self or be dishonest, but carefully consider how much you want to reveal in your admissions essay about your private struggles. 

10. Don’t write about illegal activities

It’s a safe bet that most colleges do not want to admit students who have a history of participating in illegal activities.

Even if you plan to talk about drug use, alcohol use, jail time, or committing crimes as a way to show growth and discuss lessons learned, illegal activities show a lack of maturity and questionable judgement.

Writing about criminal behavior will not reflect well on you as a candidate for admission. Illegal activities make bad topics for college essays.

11. Don’t summarize your resume

This is one of the biggest college essay don’ts! Your college essay is your opportunity to tell the college admissions office who you really are and what really matters to you.

Your resume already lists your activities, and your transcript details your grades. Your college essay isn’t the place to review these facts; it’s your chance to stand out by telling your story. 

12. Don’t tell a general story

Be specific. In fact, be very specific. Focusing on the details of your story will help make your college essay unique so that it stands out.

A good college essay will tell a story that could only have been written by you—no one else. 

Instead of telling a biopic story of your life, focus on one aspect of your life—your beliefs, a meaningful experience, a key event—that explains who you are and what matters to you. 

13. Don’t write about cliché topics

Avoid writing about the sports victories and defeats. Winning a big game or losing a championship game might mean a lot to you, but sports are common topic and best avoided.

Don’t write about overcoming an academic setback or a romantic breakup.  

14. Don’t write about something controversial

You don’t know who will be reading your college admissions essay, and they might not agree with your views on controversial topics.

Moreover, your reader might not appreciate how you approach a sensitive topic. You might appear close-minded and unempathetic. 

The last thing you want to do is make the admissions officers reading your essay think you would bring discord to the campus community.

15. Don’t undervalue the small stuff

Great essays can be crafted from the small, personal details of daily life.

Don’t underestimate what interesting essays can be written about your morning routine, your favorite family recipe, your relationship with your sibling, or what you do on a snow day. 

In fact, some of the most memorable, best essays have been about a random item, food, or daily routine.

16. Don’t go negative

Criticizing other people, your current school, or anything else will probably just make a bad impression on your readers.

Don’t whine about your life. Negativity says more about you and how you perceive the world around you than it does about anything else. Certainly don’t criticize the college you’re applying to!

If you do want to write about negative experiences you’ve had, quickly move on to discussing what you’ve learned or how you’ve grown as a result of those experiences.

17. Don’t be pompous

Never assume that you know better than your readers or that your approach is the only way.

Don’t tell your reader what they should think. Avoid making generalized value judgements. 

18. Don’t go completely off topic

Don’t try to stand out by submitting a poem or creative writing sample.

Write a thoughtful, well-crafted essay about yourself, just like they asked for.

Show that you respect the school admissions committee’s request and can follow directions. 

19. Don’t ignore the prompt

College admission essay topics are designed to allow you a lot of freedom in how you answer. Craft a story that tells something about you, within the framework of the prompt. 

Just double check that your essay answers the prompt, to make sure you didn’t veer off topic as you wrote and edited the essay. 

Also know that you can write about whatever you’d like to . In your essay writing process, if you find that the first prompt you chose isn’t working out, choose a different one and start again.

20. Don’t get the tone wrong

Your college admissions essay is not an expository essay, formulaic and devoid of warmth. Nor is it the right time for you to use all the fancy words you’ve been studying for the SAT.  

Your college admissions essay should be engaging, show your personality, and sound like you—a teenager reflecting on your life thus far. 

21. Don’t write a trite conclusion

If your essay has done its job, you shouldn’t need to sum it all up for the reader in a neat little final sentence.  

If you have shown your reader what you’ve learned, how you’ve grown, or who you are, you don’t need to say it explicitly at the end of your essay. 

The conclusion is often the hardest part of the essay to get just right, so don’t worry if it’s hard to find the perfect words. Take a break from writing it and come back in a few days to get a fresh perspective on what you’re trying to say.

22. Don’t wait until the last minute to Write

Start writing your college admissions essay weeks, if not months, before its due. Senior year is an incredibly busy time, so it’s a great idea to get started on your college admission essays as early as possible.

Leave plenty of time to think about what you want to say, revise and edit, and finalize the essay. You’ll be amazed at how your essay can improve if you allow ample time to work on it.

If you’re going to apply early decision or early action, consider starting to work on your main essay the summer after junior year, before your senior year even starts, or early in the fall of senior year.

23. Don’t ignore the word count

You don’t want to write too much or too little. Aim to be within a few words of the word limit. Express yourself clearly and concisely.

24. Don’t repeat your resume

When you’re writing your personal statement essay, don’t just repeat your high school resume.

Your personal essay is your chance to talk about an aspect of your personality or life experiences that can’t be found anywhere else in your college application. 

The list of courses you’ve taken (and your grades) tell about your academic interests. So there’s no need to turn your essay into a list of your academic achievements!

Your extracurricular activities show what you’re interested in and how you use your time. If you want to discuss how your extracurricular activities have been formative experiences for you, focus on one particular example. Don’t re-list all your volunteer experiences!

Your personal statement essay should reveal something about you that doesn’t show up in the rest of your application. 

25. Don’t write about an “example” topic

If you have read some amazing examples of college essays, and you’re thinking that you could write on that same topic, don’t.

Chances are, if your English teacher pointed out those examples, or you found them via a Google search, every other high school senior (and every school admission officer) has seen those essays too! 

Instead, dig deep and write your own amazing personal statement !

26. Don’t copy and paste

It’s completely fine to use the Common App to submit your personal essay to every school on your list (as long as they accept the Common App, of course). 

But for each college’s specific essays, tailor your essay to each school. Include specific details about each college that make you want to go there. And make sure your responses are appropriate to the culture of each college. 

If you do copy and paste your essays, be sure the essay doesn’t refer to the wrong school!

27. Don’t overuse the thesaurus

Everyone gets stuck using the same words over and over again, and it’s fine to check a thesaurus when you’re writing. 

But don’t use big words just in an attempt to impress the college admissions officers. Don’t use words you don’t really understand to try to sound smart.

For a great college application essay, write naturally in your own voice and let your true personality show. 

28. Don’t plagiarize

If you’re submitting someone else’s college essay as your own, you’re giving up the chance to share your unique story with the admissions office.

You’re also risking an automatic rejection if you’re caught!

29. Don’t be fake

Use your essay to tell the admissions officers what you want them to know about you.

Don’t try to guess what the admissions officers would like for you to say or try to be someone you’re not. 

Don’t invent a tragic event in your past, claim to have done hours and hours of community service you haven’t done, or exaggerate any aspect of your life.

Be authentic, write with your own voice, and craft an essay that stands out from the other applicants.

Simply take your time to craft a thoughtful essay that tells your personal story. Talk about your unique perspective on one specific experience in your life, using your authentic voice.

30. Don’t write a school essay

Your college admissions essay is not a five-paragraph expository essay that you would write for English class.

A winning college essay should have a beginning and an end, but the part in the middle should tell a good story, not make an argument in three points. 

The expository essay style of writing might be what your English teacher wants, but it makes for bad college essays.

For a college application, a well-written essay will examine your personal growth, your unique experience in life, and the different perspectives through which you see the world. And you should do this by crafting an intriguing story about a specific moment or experience that was significant to you.

31. Don’t Avoid feedback 

If you’re feeling stuck, feel free to ask someone else—a teacher, parent, family member, or friend—to read your essay. Getting feedback on your entire essay is the best way to get a sense of how admissions officers will respond to reading it.

Feedback does not mean that they tell you what to write or how to write it.

Feedback should mean getting input from someone else can help you learn where your essay veers off point or where you need to dig deeper to tell a better story. 

32. Don’t skip editing

Please allow enough time to write AND edit your essay. Ideally, you will write a first draft of your essay, then edit it, then get feedback, then edit it again, then write a final draft (then proofread it—see below). 

Expect to write at least three or four, and maybe many more, drafts of your college application essay. Your essay will improve with each round of editing.

The essay writing process can be time consuming, but in the end you’ll have a strong essay to share with college admissions offices, so it will be worth it!

33. Don’t overedit

What? Didn’t I just tell you to edit?

Yes, absolutely. Just be sure that after you’ve shown your essay to trusted readers and you’ve made your edits, your story still remains.

The essay should still have your voice and should tell the story you want to tell. 

34. Don’t skip proofreading

After you make your edits and write a “final draft,” you might want to click send and submit your essay. But not so fast! 

Take time to do a final proofread of your essay.

Better yet, ask a teacher, college counselor, or someone with excellent grammar and spelling skills to proofread your essay. Having a fresh set of eyes on your essay will help ensure it is error-free. 

35. Don’t just rely on Spellcheck

It’s really important to have an actual person proofread your essay.

Spellcheck and other editing software won’t necessarily catch grammar errors, typos, or poorly structured arguments.

It’s always a good idea to trust the final proofread of your essay to a person, rather than technology. 

36. Don’t submit your essay at the last minute

You never know when a website will get glitchy!

Don’t take a chance that the Common Application or an individual university’s website won’t act up at a crucial moment. Do your best to upload your college essay at least a day before it’s due!

The admissions process is stressful enough without adding in technical errors. Don’t risk missing the deadline by procrastinating!

37. Don’t submit an incomplete essay

When you’re in the Common App website or a specific college’s application portal, and you attach your admission essay, scan it quickly before hitting the submit button.

Be sure you attached the correct file or that the complete essay transferred when you copied and pasted it into the online form.  

It won’t matter if you write a great essay if you don’t submit it correctly!

Final thoughts on college essay don’ts and what not to write in your college essay

Personal essays are a key part of the college application process. College admissions counselors, especially at smaller colleges, use college essays to learn more about the applicants applying for admission at their school. 

An amazing college essay might not make up for bad grades or a lack of extracurriculars, but a poorly written essay may push your application into the reject pile. This is especially true now that test scores are usually optional.

Successful essays allow admissions officers to learn about your personal qualities, your take on global issues, and how you might contribute to campus life.

Writing a great college admission essay is the most important thing you can do to make a great impression on the admissions team.

After looking at so many college applicants, test scores, GPAs, and awards all blend together. It’s the personal essays that stand out when admission counselors are deciding which high school seniors will be accepted.

So, it’s worth taking your time to write the best college admissions essays you can.

By avoiding all these college essay don’ts, you’ll know what not to write in your college essay. 

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Graduate of Brown University, higher ed professional, and mom of three. Sharing everything I’ve learned about college with you.

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9 College Essay Topics to Avoid at ALL COSTS

By Eric Eng

What makes a good college essay? It’s a question many high school seniors ask while going through the application process. A winning college essay engages admissions officers and shares with them the student’s identity and personality, painting a picture that goes beyond grades and test scores—compelling the reader to become an advocate for the student’s admission. Learn the college essay topics to avoid!

Essays are a critical part of the college admissions process. A fantastic essay can make your application much more likely to be accepted. Likewise, a bad college essay can spell disaster for your chances of getting into the university of your choice.

So, how can you make sure your college essays stand out? Sometimes talking about the mistakes you should avoid is the best way to answer this question. Here, we’ll take a deeper look at which college essay topics to avoid and some helpful suggestions to make sure your essays stand out amongst the competition.

College Admissions Essay Topics to Avoid

Summary of your academic and personal achievements..

As you transition into college, you become more and more familiar with resumes. They’re the preferred way of showing your qualifications, experience, and skills to employers and schools. Naturally, you might assume that this format is a great choice when writing college essays. However, there’s one major problem: resumes are incredibly dry and boring.

That’s why you’ll see most employers request a cover letter in addition to your resume. Similarly, admissions officers aren’t going to be interested in a regurgitation of what you’ve already outlined on your standard application. Not only is it repetitive, but it’s also very common when students don’t know what to write.

Instead of writing a summary of your personal and academic achievements, focus on the one that stands out above all the rest in terms of importance and impact. Talk about how it affected you, why it helped you become the person you are today, and how it changed your thinking. This type of essay topic is effective for  discussing  complicated experiences or ones with an incredibly interesting background. For instance, maybe you participated in an extracurricular club that most people don’t even know exists. Or maybe the way you developed a passion for science has a unique and unusual story behind it.

Although you’re not beholden to one topic, the goal is to be detailed and specific rather than briefly mentioning many different accomplishments. Admissions officers will prefer this, and your topics will have a better chance of sticking out from the flood of applications.

A sports-related obstacle or success.

Everybody’s been told by coaches, parents, and even fellow students that lessons learned through playing a sport are applicable to everyday life. While there is certainly some truth to this statement, it’s a topic that’s been covered countless times in pop culture. You can probably think of a dozen movies off the top of your head that had to do with a struggling student-athlete who learns important life lessons from overcoming obstacles. If you’re going to write an essay about sports, you’ll need to tiptoe around the clichéd landmines presented by the following topics:

• The camaraderie you felt with teammates (too obvious)
• Overcoming obstacles (too common)
• The excitement of winning (doesn’t show enough depth)
• The sadness of losing (doesn’t show enough depth)
• Never giving up (too common)

Sports essays are so common that admissions officers are able to anticipate what’s coming next. And there’s nothing worse than having a predictable essay. It comes off as unoriginal and forgettable. Instead of talking about how you overcame a leg injury by never giving up and continuing to fight until it got better, you could relate this challenge to something completely unassociated with sports.

Maybe you decided to take up a new hobby during your downtime and the injury was how you discovered a new passion. It’s all about being original and unexpected. Sports is a common topic that you should avoid unless you have something truly unique to say.

An immigration story

Out of any other country in the world, the United States has, by far, the largest immigrant population. While this is a wonderful statistic, it doesn’t bode well for immigration-related college essays. Why? Well, because there are tens of millions of other people with similar stories. In general, you want to avoid something college admissions officers have already read hundreds of times before, including topics related to:

• Adapting to a new culture
• Developing new and foreign habits
• Acquiring a second language
• Finding it difficult to fit in
• Missing home

In order to make immigration-related essays work while avoiding common topics, you’ll have to make them incredibly unique and personal. Similar to writing about your achievements, you should make an immigration story focused and specific. Times of struggle and conflict are always incredibly intriguing. As these are common themes within more mundane immigration-related essays, you can make them more interesting by giving details about one specific scenario or challenge.

For example, you could talk about how you were struggling to fit in at a new school because of the language barrier. But despite this, you were able to make friends by joining an obscure club or extracurricular activity. You can also write about a unique experience you had when coming to the United States. Either way, be sure to make it personal, unique, and detailed.

Tragedies you’ve experienced

Although tragedies are often very formative, they’re also universal. In other words, since everyone experiences difficult circumstances, it’s a common subject for college essays. Additionally, one of the greatest downfalls of these essays is the focus on the tragedy rather than the way the subject was affected. If you’ve experienced a difficult or tragic event in your life that’s played a major role in shaping who you are today and you want to include it in your college essays, you can.

But you need to do it with caution. When done incorrectly, this essay subject can come across as unoriginal and begging for sympathy. You need to highlight the parts of the story that are unique while not focusing too much on the tragedy itself. For example, if you recently lost a loved one due to a chronic illness, you shouldn’t spend too much time talking about the loss itself. Instead, you want to highlight how this experience impacted you. How have you had to grow and change as a result?

Maybe you decided to become an advocate for this illness, and you’ve been able to raise a lot of money to be put towards research. Start by thinking of what tragedies you’ve experienced but don’t stop there. Think about how you’ve been impacted and make this the subject of the essay.

Overcoming a challenging course.

There are a number of reasons why overcoming a challenging course doesn’t work well as a college essay topic. While it’s not the worst choice a student can make, it’s definitely a common choice. And if you’re applying to an Ivy League school or any high-level university, there’s a good chance most applicants faced challenges in their difficult high school courses but ended up succeeding anyway. Furthermore, the primary characteristics you’d likely introduce are already covered in your letters of recommendation. For example:

• Intellectual curiosity
• Determination
• Due diligence
• Organization

If your do want to mention how a difficult class impacted you, make sure to get as specific as possible. And don’t focus too much on the course. Keep in mind that college admissions experts are only interested in you when reading your essays. They already know everything about your high school curriculum and your overall academic performance.

Maybe a specific book in your AP English Course inspired you to start writing your own book. Or perhaps a difficult project in history class helped you develop a passion for a very specific and unique time in history. Maybe a class you thought would be easy, turned out to be very difficult. The classes you take are temporary, but the way they can impact you might be permanent. Focusing on these effects will take your essay much further.

Someone you look up to

One of the most popular college essay topics to avoid is writing about someone you look up to or admire. It’s not that this topic automatically results in a bad college essay. It’s simply that so many people rely on this topic because it’s common, well-rehearsed, and easy.

Everyone can think of someone who inspires them to be a better person, to work harder, and to dream bigger. Whether that’s a family member or someone famous, the answers are pretty mundane. Yes, it’s probably undoubtedly true that your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even your siblings inspired you in some way. But that’s true for most people.

When it comes to famous people, the answers become even more obvious. Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are just a few of the most popular names.

Although we encourage students to avoid this topic, you can make it work by focusing the vast majority of the essay by talking about how you’ve been influenced positively by the individual you look up to. Spending too much time on why you admire them will end up making your essay less interesting and, as a result, more forgettable.

A volunteer experience

College admissions officers love to see students who dedicate their free time to good causes. However, writing an essay about this can be difficult. Even worse, these topics can make applicants seem pretentious and full of themselves. The main problem with this topic is that students tend to talk too much about what they did, how they made a positive change, and how they were also positively impacted.

This series of events – student doing something charitable, the gesture having a positive impact, and the student feeling good about it – is a trap. It sounds great, looks great, and might even feel great. But it’s been done countless times before. If you really want to use this topic, we strongly advise you to switch it up and make it more interesting by talking about how it challenged you. Maybe you had some prejudices that were shattered as a result of the volunteer experience. You can talk about how you grew from the experience without making it come across as pretentious and self-serving.

Moving to a new home

Just like immigration-related topics, talking about moving across the country on your college essays can come across seem like a cliché because millions of people experience the same thing every year. While some people undoubtedly have a tougher time making the adjustment, the negative experiences associated with moving are common enough to make this a topic you should generally avoid. If you really think you’ve got something unique to say related to moving, make sure the moving aspect is just a background theme. Don’t focus too much on it.

Here are a few examples of essay topics within this vein that might actually work if executed properly.

• Maybe you were considered the unathletic nerd at your old school. And, when you transferred to a new school after moving, you made a concerted effort to shed this persona by trying out for various sports and becoming a well-rounded person overall.
• Perhaps you moved to a different environment where your personal views or beliefs were challenged. Whether you ended up learning more about views you once disagreed with or you reaffirmed what you previously thought, this experience is an interesting topic which places the move as an ancillary detail rather than the main topic.

Relationships and breakups

We’ve stressed the importance of writing college essays that are personal. Not only does this ensure they’re unique, but it’s also a surefire way to get admissions officers to take notice. However, there is such a thing as too personal.

Generally speaking, anything that falls into the romance department is a little too much information to be a suitable topic for college admissions essays. While we’ve been able to give you some solutions for taking the other questionable topics in a more unique direction, this subject is much harder to redeem. As a result, we recommend students avoid it altogether.

Additional tips for making your college essays stand out

We’ve provided you with some college essay topics to avoid. However, it’s not just about staying clear of these subjects or, at the very least, the characteristics that make them problematic. In order to make your college essays stand out, you’ll still need to leverage some other strategies. Here are a few do’s and don’ts to help get you started.

Don’t use vulgar language.

If you’re wondering if you can curse in a college essay, the answer is technical “yes.” However, we highly recommend against it. This can come off as abrasive and inappropriate. While it might fly with some admissions officers, the problem is that you can’t control who reads your essay. That’s why it’s best to avoid cursing altogether.

Avoid common essay topics (if you can).

We’ve dedicated this whole piece to help you avoid coming across as too common on your college essays. However, the best way to do this is to avoid these topics altogether. However, we understand why they’re popular. So, if you must rely on one of these topics, find ways to make it unique and personal – which brings us to our next point.

Focus on you, not the topic.

When writing a college essay, too many students focus on the topic rather than the most important subject: you! For example, if you fell in love with a subject because of a passionate teacher, you should spend your essay talking about how you changed and grew through the process rather than what’s so interesting about the subject. Never forget that you should be the most interesting subject in your essays.

We can help you nail your college essays

Your college essays are a critical part of determining whether or not you are accepted into the college of your choice. Knowing about the essay topics to avoid is an important part of nailing your college essays, but there’s more to it than that.

Fortunately, AdmissionSight offers personalized essay editing services to help you make the most of your college essays. We’ll show you the mistakes to avoid along with some strategies you can use to improve your writing. You’ll also learn what college admissions officers are looking for, specifically from the college to which you’re applying. C ontact us to schedule your free consultation.

Want to assess your chances of admission? Take our FREE chances calculator today!

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College Essay Don’ts: 20 Things to Avoid to Stand Out

• August 19, 2023

College admissions officers have their own preferences when it comes to essays, but they all tend to agree on what they dislike. It can be disheartening to think that you can’t guarantee a perfect essay, but avoiding certain mistakes will increase your chances of success. A blunder in your college essay could potentially cost you admission to your dream school. The good news is that many of these mistakes can be easily avoided if you understand what they are and why they matter. If you’re looking for guidance, here’s a closer look at what you should avoid writing in your college application essay.

#1 No need to show off your Academic Superhero Cape!

(aka – avoid repeating information) Your grades and awards already speak volumes. Let’s focus on the real YOU! Think about what the application already says about you and avoid repeating the information already present in your academic record, such as your grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities. Instead, focus on unique aspects of your personality and experiences.

# 2 Don’t Be a Topic Troublemaker:

(aka – avoid controversial topics) Stay away from controversial subjects that’ll make the admissions officer do a double take! No political hot buttons, please! Examples: Avoid writing about gun control, abortion, or immigration policies.

#3 Say No to Essay Monotony:

(aka – avoid a general topic) It’s not a robotic analysis; it’s a character-revealing adventure! Share specific moments that highlight your amazing self in action! For instance, write about a particular challenge you faced and how you overcame it, revealing your determination and resilience.

#4 Famous Quotes, Really?

( aka – avoid opening with a famous quotation) Unless it’s your life motto, let’s save the inspirational stuff for Pinterest boards. Your own words rock, buddy!

#5 Avoid Making Someone Else the Star:

(aka – avoid writing about someone else) Though it might be tempting to write extensively about a role model or someone else’s accomplishments, it’s a bad idea. Making them standout is not the goal. The essay should primarily focus on your own experiences, growth, and achievements.

#6 Don’t Dribble Away Your Essay on Sports:

(aka – avoid sports) Sports enthusiasts, listen up! Even if you’re the next LeBron or Serena, don’t dribble away your essay on sports. Show them your versatility! Everyone writes about sports. Even if sports are your strong suit, it’s advisable to avoid writing solely about them. Instead, explore other aspects of your life or personal interests to provide a well-rounded portrayal of yourself.

#7 Tragic Topics Need a Twist:

( aka – avoid tragic topics) Tragic tales need a twist! Only focus on personal growth through tough times. No tearjerker drama without redemption, please!. Here are some examples: Loss of a loved one: While it can be tempting to write about the profound impact of losing a family member or close friend, it’s important to shift the focus towards personal growth, strength, or lessons learned from the experience. Avoid dwelling solely on the sadness and grief associated with the loss. Serious illnesses or medical conditions: Writing about personal health struggles can be challenging, as it’s important to strike a balance between sharing the experience and highlighting one’s ability to overcome adversity. Focus on resilience, determination, or the insights gained from facing the challenge rather than just recounting the medical details. Natural disasters or tragic events: Discussing traumatic events like earthquakes, hurricanes, or acts of violence can be sensitive. If you choose to write about such events, it’s crucial to emphasize personal growth, community resilience, or efforts made to contribute positively towards recovery or prevention. Avoid sensationalizing or dwelling excessively on the tragedy itself. Personal accidents or injuries: If you’ve experienced a serious accident or injury, be cautious when writing about it. Instead of focusing solely on the negative aspects, highlight your determination, perseverance, or the lessons learned during the recovery process

#8 Start With a Bang, Not a Yawn!

(aka – avoid preludes) This is an essay about…” Snoozeville! Starting your essay with a generic introduction lacks creativity and engagement. Grab the reader’s attention with a compelling opening that sets the tone for your unique story.

#9 No Fairy Tale Ending:

(aka – avoid cliché endings) No happily ever afters, my friend! Show them your learning, don’t tell them. Leave ’em wanting more! Conclude your essay without resorting to a cliché ending. If you have effectively conveyed your growth and lessons learned throughout the essay, there’s no need to explicitly state it again in the conclusion.

#11 Don’t Play Professor Know-It-All:

( aka – avoid campaigning) Avoid pleading your case. Let your story speak for itself! Refrain from telling readers what they should think or advocating for a particular viewpoint. Instead, focus on expressing your own thoughts and experiences without trying to persuade or convince the reader.

#11 No Black Holes:

(aka – avoid being flawless) Don’t get lost in your own thoughts. Embrace your complexities, including your mistakes and imperfections, rather than presenting an idealized version of yourself. It’s more effective to embrace vulnerability and showcase personal growth. Admissions officers value authenticity and want to understand the real person behind the achievements. Sharing genuine experiences, including setbacks and lessons learned, allows the reader to connect with the applicant on a deeper level and fosters a more meaningful understanding of their character and potential contributions.

#12 Too Much Info Alert!

(aka – avoid oversharing) Be cautious about sharing too much information in your essay. While no stories are off-limits, present them in a way that captivates the reader and invites them into your experience, rather than traumatizing the reader and pushing them into a black-hole. Example: In an essay, one of our students delved into a traumatic event from his childhood where he witnessed a violent crime. Rather than approaching the topic with sensitivity and focusing on personal growth, he described every gruesome detail of the incident. He vividly recounted the blood-soaked scene, the screams echoing in his ears, and the fear that consumed Him. The essay became a graphic and unsettling account that could potentially disturb or traumatize the reader.While it’s important to share personal experiences authentically, it’s equally crucial to consider the emotional impact on the reader. Oversharing in this context involves providing excessive and distressing details without proper consideration for the potential impact on the audience. Instead, it would be more appropriate to focus on the emotional journey, resilience, and personal growth that stemmed from that traumatic event, while omitting explicit and potentially traumatizing elements.

#13 Leave the Fiction To the Novels:

(aka – avoid lying) No made-up stories about yourself, okay? Keep it real, authentic, and genuine! Never fabricate stories or exaggerate your experiences in your essay. Admissions officers value honesty and integrity, and it’s important to present genuine narratives that reflect your true character.

#14 Avoid The Ego Extravaganza!

(aka – avoid overconfidence) No need to shower yourself with endless praise. Instead, embrace humility and share a moment of doubt or setback. It’s all about growth, baby! Consider discussing a setback or moment of doubt that highlights your resilience and personal growth. Student Example:In my college essay, I proudly proclaimed, “I am simply exceptional in everything I do. From acing every exam to effortlessly leading multiple clubs and winning countless awards, my accomplishments speak for themselves. It’s clear that I am the epitome of greatness and a force to be reckoned with.”This example exudes an overconfident tone by emphasizing the author’s achievements without any humility or self-reflection. It lacks depth and fails to provide insight into the person behind the accomplishments. The essay solely focuses on accolades and fails to highlight personal growth, setbacks overcome, or lessons learned from challenges.

#15 Don’t Diss The Reader:

(aka – avoid belittling) Refrain from talking down to or demeaning the reader in your essay. They are not minions. Keep the tone respectful and inclusive!

#16 Dump Being Robotic-Like:

( aka – avoid being cold) Let your emotions flow like a river. Show them the real you, with heart and soul! Infuse the essay with your emotions, allowing your genuine feelings to shine through in your storytelling. Unlike the essays you’ve written for class, this essay provides an opportunity to showcase your unique voice and personality. Student Example: “Instead of writing a bland and emotionless account of my volunteering experience at a local animal shelter, I poured my heart into the essay. I vividly described the overwhelming joy I felt when I first met the abandoned puppy, with his timid eyes and wagging tail. I shared the genuine empathy and compassion that welled up inside me as I nurtured him back to health. Through my words, the admissions officers could feel the sense of purpose and fulfillment that I experienced, and they could connect with my passion for animal welfare. By infusing my essay with emotions and letting my genuine feelings guide my storytelling, I was able to showcase my authentic self and create a memorable and impactful essay.”

#17 Don’t Be a Broken Record:

(aka – avoid repeating the same words and sentences) Break the repetition cycle! Spice up your writing with varied words and sentence structures. Keep it fresh and exciting! Repetition can make your writing monotonous and dull.

#18 Look For Grammar Gremlins and Wonky Formatting:

(aka – avoid errors) Pay attention to typos, grammatical mistakes, punctuation errors, and formatting issues. These errors can distract the reader and undermine the overall quality of your essay. Proofread your work carefully and consider seeking feedback from others to ensure your writing is error-free.

#19 Chill Out On the Negativity!

(aka – avoid being negative about the college you’re applying to) Keep any negative thoughts about the college to yourself. Focus on why you’re excited to be part of their community. Positive vibes only! Focus on highlighting your fit with the institution, its values, and what you can contribute to the campus community.

#20 Don’t Waste Time:

(aka – avoid procrastinating) Get those admission officers smiling, not cringing. Make sure to give yourself enough time to write your essay. It’s best to start early and take your time to create a great piece of writing. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, try brainstorming with friends or making a list of potential topics. Don’t worry if your first attempt isn’t perfect, as the more time you have to work on it, the better it will become. Remember, good writing takes time, so start early and give yourself the time needed to produce a high-quality essay.

Ready to impress the college of your dreams with a standout essay?

Don’t stress! We got you covered. Our essay writing coach, Mrs. Miller, is here to guide you through the process and help you present the best version of yourself on paper. Don’t hesitate to reach out for the support you need to succeed. Contact us today.

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Frequently asked questions

What topics should i avoid in a college essay.

Most topics are acceptable for college essays if you can use them to demonstrate personal growth or a lesson learned. However, there are a few difficult topics for college essays that should be avoided. Avoid topics that are:

• Overly personal (e.g. graphic details of illness or injury, romantic or sexual relationships)
• Not personal enough (e.g. broad solutions to world problems, inspiring people or things)
• Too negative (e.g. an in-depth look at your flaws, put-downs of others, criticizing the need for a college essay)
• Too boring (e.g. a resume of your academic achievements and extracurriculars)
• Inappropriate for a college essay (e.g. illegal activities, offensive humor, false accounts of yourself, bragging about privilege)

Frequently asked questions: College admissions essays

When writing your Common App essay , choose a prompt that sparks your interest and that you can connect to a unique personal story.

No matter which prompt you choose, admissions officers are more interested in your ability to demonstrate personal development , insight, or motivation for a certain area of study.

The Common App essay is your primary writing sample within the Common Application, a college application portal accepted by more than 900 schools. All your prospective schools that accept the Common App will read this essay to understand your character, background, and value as a potential student.

Since this essay is read by many colleges, avoid mentioning any college names or programs; instead, save tailored answers for the supplementary school-specific essays within the Common App.

Most importantly, your essay should be about you , not another person or thing. An insightful college admissions essay requires deep self-reflection, authenticity, and a balance between confidence and vulnerability.

Your essay shouldn’t be a résumé of your experiences but instead should tell a story that demonstrates your most important values and qualities.

When revising your college essay , first check for big-picture issues regarding your message and content. Then, check for flow, tone, style , and clarity. Finally, focus on eliminating grammar and punctuation errors .

If your college essay goes over the word count limit , cut any sentences with tangents or irrelevant details. Delete unnecessary words that clutter your essay.

If you’re struggling to reach the word count for your college essay, add vivid personal stories or share your feelings and insight to give your essay more depth and authenticity.

If you’ve got to write your college essay fast , don’t panic. First, set yourself deadlines: you should spend about 10% of your remaining time on brainstorming, 10% on outlining, 40% writing, 30% revising, and 10% taking breaks in between stages.

Second, brainstorm stories and values based on your essay prompt.

Third, outline your essay based on the montage or narrative essay structure .

Fourth, write specific, personal, and unique stories that would be hard for other students to replicate.

Fifth, revise your essay and make sure it’s clearly written.

Last, if possible, get feedback from an essay coach . Scribbr essay editors can help you revise your essay in 12 hours or less.

Avoid swearing in a college essay , since admissions officers’ opinions of profanity will vary. In some cases, it might be okay to use a vulgar word, such as in dialogue or quotes that make an important point in your essay. However, it’s safest to try to make the same point without swearing.

If you have bad grades on your transcript, you may want to use your college admissions essay to explain the challenging circumstances that led to them. Make sure to avoid dwelling on the negative aspects and highlight how you overcame the situation or learned an important lesson.

However, some college applications offer an additional information section where you can explain your bad grades, allowing you to choose another meaningful topic for your college essay.

Here’s a brief list of college essay topics that may be considered cliché:

• Extracurriculars, especially sports
• Role models
• Dealing with a personal tragedy or death in the family
• Struggling with new life situations (immigrant stories, moving homes, parents’ divorce)
• Becoming a better person after community service, traveling, or summer camp
• Overcoming a difficult class
• Using a common object as an extended metaphor

It’s easier to write a standout essay with a unique topic. However, it’s possible to make a common topic compelling with interesting story arcs, uncommon connections, and an advanced writing style.

Yes. The college application essay is less formal than other academic writing —though of course it’s not mandatory to use contractions in your essay.

In a college essay , you can be creative with your language . When writing about the past, you can use the present tense to make the reader feel as if they were there in the moment with you. But make sure to maintain consistency and when in doubt, default to the correct verb tense according to the time you’re writing about.

The college admissions essay gives admissions officers a different perspective on you beyond your academic achievements, test scores, and extracurriculars. It’s your chance to stand out from other applicants with similar academic profiles by telling a unique, personal, and specific story.

Use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial to avoid distracting the reader from your college essay’s content.

A college application essay is less formal than most academic writing . Instead of citing sources formally with in-text citations and a reference list, you can cite them informally in your text.

For example, “In her research paper on genetics, Quinn Roberts explores …”

There is no set number of paragraphs in a college admissions essay . College admissions essays can diverge from the traditional five-paragraph essay structure that you learned in English class. Just make sure to stay under the specified word count .

To write an effective diversity essay , include vulnerable, authentic stories about your unique identity, background, or perspective. Provide insight into how your lived experience has influenced your outlook, activities, and goals. If relevant, you should also mention how your background has led you to apply for this university and why you’re a good fit.

Many universities believe a student body composed of different perspectives, beliefs, identities, and backgrounds will enhance the campus learning and community experience.

Admissions officers are interested in hearing about how your unique background, identity, beliefs, culture, or characteristics will enrich the campus community, which is why they assign a diversity essay .

In addition to your main college essay , some schools and scholarships may ask for a supplementary essay focused on an aspect of your identity or background. This is sometimes called a diversity essay .

You can use humor in a college essay , but carefully consider its purpose and use it wisely. An effective use of humor involves unexpected, keen observations of the everyday, or speaks to a deeper theme. Humor shouldn’t be the main focus of the essay, but rather a tool to improve your storytelling.

Get a second opinion from a teacher, counselor, or essay coach on whether your essay’s humor is appropriate.

Though admissions officers are interested in hearing your story, they’re also interested in how you tell it. An exceptionally written essay will differentiate you from other applicants, meaning that admissions officers will spend more time reading it.

You can use literary devices to catch your reader’s attention and enrich your storytelling; however, focus on using just a few devices well, rather than trying to use as many as possible.

To decide on a good college essay topic , spend time thoughtfully answering brainstorming questions. If you still have trouble identifying topics, try the following two strategies:

• Identify your qualities → Brainstorm stories that demonstrate these qualities
• Identify memorable stories → Connect your qualities to these stories

You can also ask family, friends, or mentors to help you brainstorm topics, give feedback on your potential essay topics, or recall key stories that showcase your qualities.

Yes—admissions officers don’t expect everyone to have a totally unique college essay topic . But you must differentiate your essay from others by having a surprising story arc, an interesting insight, and/or an advanced writing style .

There are no foolproof college essay topics —whatever your topic, the key is to write about it effectively. However, a good topic

• Is meaningful, specific, and personal to you
• Focuses on you and your experiences
• Reveals something beyond your test scores, grades, and extracurriculars
• Is creative and original

Unlike a five-paragraph essay, your admissions essay should not end by summarizing the points you’ve already made. It’s better to be creative and aim for a strong final impression.

You should also avoid stating the obvious (for example, saying that you hope to be accepted).

There are a few strategies you can use for a memorable ending to your college essay :

• Return to the beginning with a “full circle” structure
• Reveal the main point or insight in your story
• Look to the future
• End on an action

The best technique will depend on your topic choice, essay outline, and writing style. You can write several endings using different techniques to see which works best.

College deadlines vary depending on the schools you’re applying to and your application plan:

• For early action applications and the first round of early decision applications, the deadline is on November 1 or 15. Decisions are released by mid-December.
• For the second round of early decision applications, the deadline is January 1 or 15. Decisions are released in January or February.
• Regular decision deadlines usually fall between late November and mid-March, and decisions are released in March or April.
• Rolling admission deadlines run from July to April, and decisions are released around four to eight weeks after submission.

Depending on your prospective schools’ requirements, you may need to submit scores for the SAT or ACT as part of your college application .

Some schools now no longer require students to submit test scores; however, you should still take the SAT or ACT and aim to get a high score to strengthen your application package.

Aim to take the SAT or ACT in the spring of your junior year to give yourself enough time to retake it in the fall of your senior year if necessary.

Apply early for federal student aid and application fee waivers. You can also look for scholarships from schools, corporations, and charitable foundations.

To maximize your options, you should aim to apply to about eight schools:

• Two reach schools that might be difficult to get into
• Four match schools that you have a good chance of getting into
• Two safety schools that you feel confident you’ll get into

The college admissions essay accounts for roughly 25% of the weight of your application .

At highly selective schools, there are four qualified candidates for every spot. While your academic achievements are important, your college admissions essay can help you stand out from other applicants with similar profiles.

In general, for your college application you will need to submit all of the following:

• Your personal information
• List of extracurriculars and awards
• College application essays
• Transcripts
• Standardized test scores
• Recommendation letters.

Different colleges may have specific requirements, so make sure you check exactly what’s expected in the application guidance.

You should start thinking about your college applications the summer before your junior year to give you sufficient time for college visits, taking standardized tests, applying for financial aid , writing essays, and collecting application material.

Yes, but make sure your essay directly addresses the prompt, respects the word count , and demonstrates the organization’s values.

If you plan ahead, you can save time by writing one scholarship essay for multiple prompts with similar questions. In a scholarship tracker spreadsheet, you can group or color-code overlapping essay prompts; then, write a single essay for multiple scholarships. Sometimes, you can even reuse or adapt your main college essay .

You can start applying for scholarships as early as your junior year. Continue applying throughout your senior year.

Invest time in applying for various scholarships , especially local ones with small dollar amounts, which are likely easier to win and more reflective of your background and interests. It will be easier for you to write an authentic and compelling essay if the scholarship topic is meaningful to you.

You can find scholarships through your school counselor, community network, or an internet search.

A scholarship essay requires you to demonstrate your values and qualities while answering the prompt’s specific question.

After researching the scholarship organization, identify a personal experience that embodies its values and exemplifies how you will be a successful student.

A standout college essay has several key ingredients:

• A unique, personally meaningful topic
• A memorable introduction with vivid imagery or an intriguing hook
• Specific stories and language that show instead of telling
• Vulnerability that’s authentic but not aimed at soliciting sympathy
• Clear writing in an appropriate style and tone
• A conclusion that offers deep insight or a creative ending

While timelines will differ depending on the student, plan on spending at least 1–3 weeks brainstorming and writing the first draft of your college admissions essay , and at least 2–4 weeks revising across multiple drafts. Don’t forget to save enough time for breaks between each writing and editing stage.

You should already begin thinking about your essay the summer before your senior year so that you have plenty of time to try out different topics and get feedback on what works.

Your college essay accounts for about 25% of your application’s weight. It may be the deciding factor in whether you’re accepted, especially for competitive schools where most applicants have exceptional grades, test scores, and extracurricular track records.

In most cases, quoting other people isn’t a good way to start your college essay . Admissions officers want to hear your thoughts about yourself, and quotes often don’t achieve that. Unless a quote truly adds something important to your essay that it otherwise wouldn’t have, you probably shouldn’t include it.

Cliché openers in a college essay introduction are usually general and applicable to many students and situations. Most successful introductions are specific: they only work for the unique essay that follows.

The key to a strong college essay introduction is not to give too much away. Try to start with a surprising statement or image that raises questions and compels the reader to find out more.

The introduction of your college essay is the first thing admissions officers will read and therefore your most important opportunity to stand out. An excellent introduction will keep admissions officers reading, allowing you to tell them what you want them to know.

You can speed up this process by shortening and smoothing your writing with a paraphrasing tool . After that, you can use the summarizer to shorten it even more.

If you’re struggling to reach the word count for your college essay, add vivid personal stories or share your feelings and insight to give your essay more depth and authenticity.

Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit to write a developed and thoughtful essay.

You should aim to stay under the specified word count limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely. However, don’t write too little, as it may seem like you are unwilling or unable to write a detailed and insightful narrative about yourself.

If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words.

In your application essay , admissions officers are looking for particular features : they want to see context on your background, positive traits that you could bring to campus, and examples of you demonstrating those qualities.

Colleges want to be able to differentiate students who seem similar on paper. In the college application essay , they’re looking for a way to understand each applicant’s unique personality and experiences.

You don’t need a title for your college admissions essay , but you can include one if you think it adds something important.

Your college essay’s format should be as simple as possible:

• Use a standard, readable font
• Use 1.5 or double spacing
• If attaching a file, save it as a PDF
• Stick to the word count
• Avoid unusual formatting and unnecessary decorative touches

There are no set rules for how to structure a college application essay , but these are two common structures that work:

• A montage structure, a series of vignettes with a common theme.
• A narrative structure, a single story that shows your personal growth or how you overcame a challenge.

Avoid the five-paragraph essay structure that you learned in high school.

Campus visits are always helpful, but if you can’t make it in person, the college website will have plenty of information for you to explore. You should look through the course catalog and even reach out to current faculty with any questions about the school.

Colleges set a “Why this college?” essay because they want to see that you’ve done your research. You must prove that you know what makes the school unique and can connect that to your own personal goals and academic interests.

Depending on your writing, you may go through several rounds of revision . Make sure to put aside your essay for a little while after each editing stage to return with a fresh perspective.

Teachers and guidance counselors can help you check your language, tone, and content . Ask for their help at least one to two months before the submission deadline, as many other students will also want their help.

Friends and family are a good resource to check for authenticity. It’s best to seek help from family members with a strong writing or English educational background, or from older siblings and cousins who have been through the college admissions process.

If possible, get help from an essay coach or editor ; they’ll have specialized knowledge of college admissions essays and be able to give objective expert feedback.

When revising your college essay , first check for big-picture issues regarding message, flow, tone, style , and clarity. Then, focus on eliminating grammar and punctuation errors.

Include specific, personal details and use your authentic voice to shed a new perspective on a common human experience.

Through specific stories, you can weave your achievements and qualities into your essay so that it doesn’t seem like you’re bragging from a resume.

When writing about yourself , including difficult experiences or failures can be a great way to show vulnerability and authenticity, but be careful not to overshare, and focus on showing how you matured from the experience.

First, spend time reflecting on your core values and character . You can start with these questions:

• What are three words your friends or family would use to describe you, and why would they choose them?
• Whom do you admire most and why?
• What are you most proud of? Ashamed of?

However, you should do a comprehensive brainstorming session to fully understand your values. Also consider how your values and goals match your prospective university’s program and culture. Then, brainstorm stories that illustrate the fit between the two.

In a college application essay , you can occasionally bend grammatical rules if doing so adds value to the storytelling process and the essay maintains clarity.

However, use standard language rules if your stylistic choices would otherwise distract the reader from your overall narrative or could be easily interpreted as unintentional errors.

Write concisely and use the active voice to maintain a quick pace throughout your essay and make sure it’s the right length . Avoid adding definitions unless they provide necessary explanation.

Use first-person “I” statements to speak from your perspective . Use appropriate word choices that show off your vocabulary but don’t sound like you used a thesaurus. Avoid using idioms or cliché expressions by rewriting them in a creative, original way.

If you’re an international student applying to a US college and you’re comfortable using American idioms or cultural references , you can. But instead of potentially using them incorrectly, don’t be afraid to write in detail about yourself within your own culture.

Provide context for any words, customs, or places that an American admissions officer might be unfamiliar with.

College application essays are less formal than other kinds of academic writing . Use a conversational yet respectful tone , as if speaking with a teacher or mentor. Be vulnerable about your feelings, thoughts, and experiences to connect with the reader.

Aim to write in your authentic voice , with a style that sounds natural and genuine. You can be creative with your word choice, but don’t use elaborate vocabulary to impress admissions officers.

Admissions officers use college admissions essays to evaluate your character, writing skills , and ability to self-reflect . The essay is your chance to show what you will add to the academic community.

The college essay may be the deciding factor in your application , especially for competitive schools where most applicants have exceptional grades, test scores, and extracurriculars.

Some colleges also require supplemental essays about specific topics, such as why you chose that specific college . Scholarship essays are often required to obtain financial aid .

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10 topics to avoid in a college admission essay

By Lynn O'Shaughnessy

June 21, 2013 / 8:12 AM EDT / MoneyWatch

(MoneyWatch) For students who are applying for college, one of the scariest parts of the admission process is writing the dreaded essay.

A common mistake that students make when tackling their college essays is to pick the wrong topics. It's a huge turn off, for instance, when applicants write about their sports exploits or their pets. I asked Janine Robinson, who is the creator of a wonderful website called Essay Hell and the author of an excellent ebook entitled " Escape Essay Hell ," to identify those essay topics that teenagers should absolutely avoid.

• 5 tips for writing a winning college essay
• 5 myths about getting in and paying for college
• 10 great opening lines from Stanford admission essays

Here are Robinson's college essay no-no's:

1. Listing accomplishments. You might be the most amazing person on the planet, but nobody wants a recitation of the wonderful things you've done, the people you've encountered and the places you've visited.

2. Sports. Do you know how many millions of teens have written about scoring the winning goal, basket or run? You definitely don't want to write about your winning team. And nobody wants to read about your losing team, either.

3. Sharing how lucky you are. If you are one of the lucky teenagers who has grown up in an affluent household, with all the perks that goes with it, no need to share that with college admission officials. "The last thing anyone wants to read about is your ski trip to Aspen or your hot oil massage at a fancy resort," Robinson observed.

4. Writing an "un-essay." Many students, particularly some of the brightest ones, have a negative reaction to the strictures of the admission essay. In response, Robinson says, "They want to write in stream-of-consciousness or be sarcastic, and I totally understand this reaction. However, you must remember your goal with these essays -- to get accepted! Save the radical expression for after you get into college."

5. Inflammatory topics. It's unwise to write about politics or religion, two of the most polarizing topics. Avoid any topics that make people angry.

6. Illegal activity. Do not write about drug use, drinking and driving, arrests or jail time. Also leave your sexual activities out of the frame. Even if you have abandoned your reckless ways, don't bring it up.

7. Do-good experiences. Schools do not want to hear about your church or school trip to another country or region to help the disadvantaged. You may be able to write about a trip like this only if you focus on a specific experience within the broader trip.

8. The most important thing or person in my life. This topic is too broad and too loaded, whether you want to write about God, your mom or best friend. These essays are usually painfully boring. 

9. Death, divorce, tragedies. The problem with these topics is not that they are depressing, but that such powerful topics can be challenging to write about. Absolutely no pet stories -- admission officers hate them.

10. Humor. A story within a college essay can be amusing, but don't try to make the entire essay funny.

View all articles by Lynn O'Shaughnessy on CBS MoneyWatch» Lynn O'Shaughnessy is a best-selling author, consultant and speaker on issues that parents with college-bound teenagers face. She explains how families can make college more affordable through her website TheCollegeSolution.com ; her financial workbook, Shrinking the Cost of College ; and the new second edition of her Amazon best-selling book, The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price .

More from CBS News

The 10 Biggest Mistakes To Avoid On Your College Essay

The recording will load in a moment., about this livestream.

Learn about the top 10 most common college essay mistakes and how to spot and fix them.

Jordan Sanchez, current sophomore at Harvard University, will walk through the most common college essay mistakes she has encountered while editing her own and others’ work. She will also provide essay examples and several exercises you can use to review and adjust your own work before, during, and after writing your college essay.

Throughout the presentation, she will be open to answering questions about the topics she covered most recently and her own essay writing process.

Video Transcript

Okay, Hey, everyone. So I just made a big mistake.

I just realized I was live.

And I wasn't actually live. How embarrassing is that? You know what, it's fine. It's whatever.

So hey, people, it's eight o'clock on the dot, I guess that's life, you know it. But today we're gonna be talking about the top 10 most common college essay mistakes. And I will basically be doing this live over again, because I was live for a little bit, actually, like 20 minutes. Okay, let's get started and do that all over again. So, Hey, everyone, I'm Jordan. I'm a sophomore at Harvard, concentrating in physics, with secondaries in computer science, and education. I'm so excited to be talking to you guys. Today, I have been seriously editing essays, since I would say May or June of this year. So I have read a lot of them. I've left a lot of feedback. And I'm just really excited to share with you guys some common essay mistakes. So you guys don't make them in your essay.

I just can't believe I was streaming for 20 minutes, but I wasn't actually on air. I'm like, still not over that. Yeah. So we're going to get into it. Um, yeah, let's go.

So today, we're going to cover a whole bunch of different mistakes, essays can be or not the essays and mistakes can be sorted into three different categories. So once you make before writing, so planning, essay topics, doing research, while writing, so structure, writing strategies, drafts, and then after writing, so editing, revising, and submitting, and just so you guys know, I will be doing Q and A's actually, throughout this livestream instead of just at the end. So right after the before writing, and right before the wall writing Part, we'll have a q&a. And then we'll have one right after it while writing and we'll have another one after after writing. So you can leave your questions. Oh, hey, people, I'm like, my phone is right. And I see the chat. So Hey, everyone. So excited for you guys to join me. Leave your questions throughout the presentation, and I will answer them at those specific parts. So the first thing before we get anywhere, any further into this presentation, we need to discuss the purpose of the essay and why it actually matters. So the admissions profile is made up of a few things. First is your academics, your GPA, class rank, course bigger, things like that. The next thing is your extracurricular, so activities, household responsibilities, things like that. Then you have exams, so s AP, ACT, APs,IBs, and Subject Tests. And then you have essays, so personal statement supplements. And I just want to reaffirm or validate any kind of worries you have about the exams. I know that College Board has been canceling a lot of their SAT, ACT, APs and things like that. But do not worry, it's not the end of the world. A lot of schools are going tests optional this year, which is really good for you guys. But because the schools are going Test Options, and you're basically losing this entire exam section, your essay will mean a lot more. So just keep that in mind. You want to make sure you're doing the most with your essays that it's going to be really really solid. I'm sorry, I'm laughing. I just can't believe I went live for so long. Okay, anyway, purpose of the common FSA, there are like some key things that the common app essay should do. And it gets a little bit more details about its role in the admissions process. I see some questions. Because they're related. So I'll answer them now. Do you recommend taking this subject test? or Why do you recommend taking the subject test because I was planning just take the sap specially do condition. If you are applying this year, if you are a rising senior, don't worry about Subject Tests at all. Like you don't have to worry about them because they're just irrelevant. Now focus on the SEC AC t. So yeah, but if you are a rising Junior, say the Subject Tests in this, what like june of your junior year, I think is like the general like standard. Next thing, what kind of household responsibilities would be valid enough to put on a profile.

So if you are caring for like a sick, sick, older or younger family member and it takes up a significant portion of your time, they go ahead? If you have a pet and you have to like walk the dog? Probably not. Maybe you have that in your family's business. Yeah, so anything that takes a significant portion of your time you want to put on there.

So the essays are the only time admissions officers get to hear from you directly. Do you want to make sure you're making the most of this opportunity? So whether your essays are awesome. required, you should always complete them to your best ability unless it's like an additional information section or disciplinary history section. If you don't have any disciplinary history, don't write anything for that essay. Like, there's no point. But if your family is affected by COVID, or if you seriously struggled with something in your high school career, definitely put in the additional information section. But aside from that your essays like common app and supplements are worth 25 to 30% of your admissions profile under COVID. So as you can see, that is a lot. So in general, the common app essay should give the admissions officer a clear sense of who you are, this is the only chance to showcase your personality and how it fits with the campus culture. Because again, it's the only time they get to hear from you directly. Without this essay, the whole application would be about you with nothing actually from you, which kind of like sucks. So you also want to show how you've grown or remain especially consistent, or any major lessons you've learned and how you implement them throughout your life. Usually, students do this by focusing on a specific moment and how it affected them. And we'll talk a little bit more about essay structures later on. You want to make sure you're being really specific about yourself in your experiences. And always ask yourself the question, Could anyone else write this essay and we'll talk a little bit more about generating unique essay ideas later on. And as always, you want to complete the picture you paint with the rest of your application, because this is a pretty hefty part, and it kind of like seals the deal. So a quick recap, the personal statement essay, which is same thing as common app essay matters, because one, it's your voice, the admissions officers really get to hear from you for the first and only time ever, to individuality, it really helps you stand out because it's your specific story. And no one can take that from you. Three college fit, like that's what essays are usually about just how well you fit into a college campus. And then for holistic admissions, so your essays can make up for weaker part of your application. And this was true of me, like my grades, like my, my classes are really hard with my grades like weren't, like, I didn't have a 99 or anything like that. And I truly think that my strong essays really, like helped me stand out and like really sealed the deal for my application, especially at Harvard.

Um, someone's asking, do you recommend submitting the same essay to multiple schools, and I actually have a slide up about this, it's kind of towards the end. So if you hang tight, I do want to answer that question just really thoroughly. So hang tight till the end. So before writing, here are some SEO mistakes that you can make. And if you have any questions about this before writing section, drop them in the chat as I go through them. So like you won't be kind of like rushed and stuff like that. And I want to make sure I get to your questions. So the first mistake most obvious is writing about the wrong thing. So regardless of what you write about, you want to make sure your topic is unique, engaging and authentic to you.

Um, someone's asking, you just mentioned a personal statement. Does that mean the common application essay tips also work for personal statements? Since you're all applying to undergrad? Yeah, personal statement CommonApp are pretty much the same thing. When you're applying to like grad school or another program, it may be like personal statement is like what do you want to do at the school, but since you're applying to a four year bachelor's program, like personal statement and comment from same thing, Okay, back to the slide. So you don't want to write a four sob story, a lot of students think you have to write a sob story to get in. None of my essays were sob stories, because that's just not the kind of person I am.

And I got it. So it's completely fine. Don't worry about it. There are a whole bunch of essays that worked successful essays that are positive, so don't be afraid to use that to your advantage. The next thing is someone else's story.

A lot of students will talk about struggles their family member had, or some crazy experience their parents went through, which is great if it actually affected you and how you've grown up. And if it's led to some like significant change in your life. You don't want to write someone else's story in your essay, because we don't actually get to learn about you. The whole point of the essay is sort of AOs to learn (AO is short for admissions officer by the way,) like they want to learn who you are. And if you would belong on this campus, not about your mom or your grandma or your dad or anything like that.

Next thing, like some students just choose not to show growth. And I think it's important to show growth, even if your essay is not about a specific like, I experienced this and it changed my life forever. Like it's totally okay if your essay is not that, but you do want to make sure that you are growing as a person in your essay. Because think like a story. This essay is basically a story and you want to have a plot and you want to show character development, stuff like that without the essay just seems really flat. The next and most common mistake is that you choose and it says I can't hear you. Well, you keep going in and out. Okay, let me see if I could like, do something with my audio. I don't really know, to do much. But hopefully, hopefully the recording will capture this because I don't want you guys to not hear me good. Can you guys hear me good? Oh my god, I can't believe I did Nicki Minaj reference. I'm sorry about that. So the next last mistake is writing an essay topic that is way too common. So some essay topics are overdone, literally every single year. So I don't want to it's not impossible to get into a school with a common essay topic.

Yeah, y'all are laughing. Oops. Okay, anyway, it's not impossible to get into a school with a common essay topic. It just makes it a lot harder to stand out. And you want to stand out like that's your goal in the college admissions process. I'm going to talk a little louder. Hopefully my roommates won't hate me. So obviously, like the next natural slide is the most common essay topics. So basically admissions officers, as I said, they may read like up to thousands of essays in a given application season. So writing about a common topic might hurt you and may keep you from standing out. So it said a child anyway. So yeah, period, I'm sorry. So you're the most common essay topics, you have sports and sports related injuries, like, try not to do that everyone who plays a sport writes about sports, please do something else. I promise there is more to you than like a basketball, I promise. The next thing is death of a loved one. I'm like, we love your grandma, grandpa, like gender nonconforming grandparent. But we need to make sure that this essay is about you that we're learning about you and your strengths and who you are. Okay, the next thing is divorce or an absent parent. So, especially with absent parents, I feel like a lot of students with absent parents lose a parent early on in their childhood, like, obviously, which will affect your life, like going forward. But you want to make sure that essay is taking place more recently, and I'll talk a little bit more about like, the timing of the events in your essay later on. And then moving with immigration, I will talk a little bit more about that, like, I'll circle back to it. And then COVID-19, because like, we're all living through a pandemic, no one really wants to read about it. But if you really have a transformational story, if something really happened to you, like during quarantine, that wasn't just like, Oh, I was sad, and I lost all my friends, like definitely talk about it in the additional information section, there is an entire section where you could just write about COVID-19. So if you have a story to tell, tell it there, don't use your common app essay for it. Now, as I said earlier, it's not impossible to read a successful essay about one of these topics, but it does make it harder to stand out. And I personally wouldn't take the risk going back to moving and immigration. So obviously, or maybe not. So obviously, a lot of college applicants are most of them are like citizens or not immigrants like they're born in the United States. So it's not, it's not that this essay topic is like super common among the entire applicant pool. But it is very common for either international or immigrant students, just because usually they rehash the same themes. And it's not bad, like immigration immigrating as a child is a huge thing. But you want to make sure you don't just talk about that you want to talk about something else that makes you more unique. And that feeds into my next slide about generating unique essay ideas. So the best way to create a real unique essay. Oh, thanks for saying you can hear me good. Make sure Kenny has Yeah, I'm not going to make that reference. Again, come your questions, by the way, because I think we're getting somewhat close to the end of this section, you want to make sure you are making an intersection. Basically, what this means is talking about two aspects of your identity, and how they affect each other. Because you don't exist in isolation. It's not like I'm on the cheer team one day, and then I like do something else. The next like, it's the same person doing all of those things. And they are bound to affect each other, especially in a country as like diverse as United States. So you can pick a hobby, maybe your race and culture, community life events, etc. and talk about how they intersect and affect each other and doing this will decrease the likelihood of someone else having the exact same essay topic as you.

So for example, someone saying like "I want to write about sports," it's like okay, sports are common, give me something more. So here's an example: as a girl playing male dominated sports conflicted with the values of my culture.

So a lot of girls playing like basketball. I don't even know basketball football, like other male dominated sports may write an essay about being a girl in a male dominated sport. However, when you add in the aspect of Your culture and how it like conflicts with the values are something that will make it a whole lot more unique because you're talking about the specific things that are unique to you, your life and your experience. For example, my essay was about my experience as a black student at a predominantly like white and Asian High School. And how that affected what I did was my title of Miss New York. And as you can see this, like talks about my race community, and my hobbies all into one thing. So it really like prevents anyone from writing the same essay, even though students may have similar essays, like maybe they like compete in pageants, or maybe they went to a predominantly white or Asian High School, like I talked about how I started a blog, and like, no one, I'm pretty certain not many people started a blog as a result of these experiences, do you want to make sure you're being very, very unique and specific. So to force yourself to come up with these things, like aside from just listing all the things that you do, and like drawing connections, is by forcing yourself to come up with 30 essay ideas. So you're gonna in one sitting, you're going to list 10, you're going to take like a one minute break, you're going to list 10 more, and then 10 more. And by doing this, you force yourself to get past a really like surface level. Things you actually want to get to like, what the meat and potatoes really unique sad is that no one else can write. And once you come up with an essay, like topic that you think you're going to do, ask yourself, if anyone else could write the essay? And if so, try to modify the topic a little bit. So the next this is actually Oh, you're missing the work Nice. Yeah, I was I was I actually, I think I'm going to be missing work. Again, we're still waiting on the results. But yeah, so this is like the biggest, biggest, biggest feedback if you haven't, edit your essay, and we'll probably say it's unfocused. So 650 words is not a lot. So you want to make sure your essay is focused, and that you're able to be specific about everything you cover. unfocus essays try to talk about way too many things. And this really, like messes up the central idea, and no one actually knows that it is. So once you come up with their general essay topic, say you want to talk about sports, because you haven't like come up with something really specific.

You want to make a list of all the possible ways your essay could go. And then you want to choose the one that's most relevant to you, and stick to it. So here's my example, about sports, because sports is common.

So sports can teach you like determination, and like develop your drive to win. But it also could affect your relationship with your parents, maybe you learned a lot of things from sports, maybe you learn how to balance sports and other commitments. And maybe sports helped you overcome stage fright. So as you can see, all of these topics, although they are under the umbrella category of sports, are very, very different and could result in completely different essays. So you want to make sure you do this with your essay topic, really sit down and take the time to go through all of it. And then pick one because that will force you to be super specific. And we learn more about you, which is good. And you want to make sure like just so you know, if you're writing an essay about sports and any of these elements, you don't pick one of these, like do this, do this exercise for yourself and pick your own. Okay, because it's your essay, you want it to be unique and all about you. The next mistake is not planning enough, and I see some questions coming in. And I will answer that at the end of the section. But the next thing is just not planning enough. So to write an effective essay, you will need to plan a few things out beforehand.

Because unplanned essays may seem really rushed, disorganized and unfocused, as we said before, which isn't good. So before you write your first draft, you want to make sure you're asking yourself these questions and answering them with like solid in depth answers. So the first How will the essay start and ends? If you don't know how it's gonna end? Well, if you don't ask him to start, you can't start and if you don't know how it's gonna end, you're just going to be writing aimlessly, which isn't good. The next thing what do I want the admissions officers to know about me? Like, do you want them to know that you're resilient, that you're a doer that you're an achiever that you never give up? Most of those are like synonyms. But that's okay. Like, you want to make sure you know what you're trying to convey about yourself. The next what is the central idea of this essay without a central idea that you're just gonna be writing aimlessly, it's gonna be really unfocused. And then Am I answering the prompt? For CommonApp essays, I say don't write to the prompt, because the last prompt is right, whatever you want. But for supplements, you want to make sure you are answering the prompt. And specifically, if you're writing a why this school or why this major supplement, you want to you want to make sure you're doing a lot of research about the school ahead of time. So what is the culture on campus? What specific programs that? Would I be interested in? What makes a school different from the others? And what kinds of qualities are the admissions officers looking for? How can I reflect those qualities in my essays? So for all of these questions, you're gonna I have answers to them. You may not explicitly include these answers in the essay, you may not include all of them, but they're just going to be more apparent. And they're going to make sure you're on the right track when you are writing. So here is a simple like essay Planning Guide, if you're on your phone or computer, whatever, screenshot this because it's a nice like quick outline. So before you write, you want to make sure you know what the goals of the essay are, what you want to share, and what themes you're going to be focused on. So you won't have like a crazy mess. The first thing you want to do is start out with a story or a moment, this could be a challenge or time when you learn something about yourself, someone else or the world, it doesn't really have to be like a moment where you learn something, but it should be an important or impactful moment. And I'll give you an example of an essay that doesn't have that that's not about them learning, just you can see like what a first story or hook could look like, then you obviously want to have a transition about how the two stories are related.

And then you want to talk about the second story or moments. And in the transition, it could be like context or something, it could just be any information that would help the admissions officer really understand the story to the fullest extent. But then you want to go on to your second story or moment. So the time when you display this knowledge or quality, and applied it to your life, this will really help you like this second moment shows the admissions officers how you actually change, like saying you change this one thing, showing them is completely different, like a completely different thing. And we're going to talk more about showing and telling and things like that later on. And then you want to end with a wrap up. So how does that experience affect who you are today, and who you will be in the future. I'll talk more about how this differs from a traditional conclusion, and a five paragraph essay structure a little bit later. But make sure you are leaving your questions because now I'm going to hop into the chat and see what's going on.

Okay, so someone's asking, Can I or us was asking, Can I talk about two different cultures and how it's been hard because not only are my parents different generation, but they grew up in a different culture. This is not necessarily related to immigration. But I was wondering if this is a good idea is okay, if you say it's not, I'm really looking for honest feedback, I will always give honest feedback.

So, the first thing I'm going to be honest with you, I literally I was writing or not writing, I was reading an essay this morning about a student who has an American parent and a Finnish parent. And if that doesn't give you an idea of how common an essay topic about like two cultures merging is, and I don't know what well, it's not that it's a bad topic, it's just that it's a little common. So instead of if you really, really, really want to talk about your cultures and how like these intersect and affect you and like make you who you are, make sure that you add another thing, like maybe this, I'm completely making this up. But maybe you like your parents are two different cultures. And like they're kind of parenting you in two different ways. And you're at school, and you don't know which Culture Club to join. So you join a student government and you create a like all cultures day or United Nations day where everyone can like just sharing the love and not be so divided. Like that is an instance where I would say it's okay, because there is like the action part, the part that makes it really specific to you. If you don't have something that's super specific like that, then I am not sure I don't think I would encourage you to write about that. The next thing are a gap years cliche, gap years are cliche if you talk about how you went to Africa to volunteer for the children and build schools like one that's modern day colonialism. And two, you don't want to just come off as like, I'm a savior, I'm doing all this good. So you should reward me. Like, you want to make sure if you're talking about a gap year, that it's not just like "I went to these poor, unfortunate people and help them," you know

How many schools Did you apply to? And when did you start working on your college apps? I applied to 17 schools, three targets, like 10 reaches and then I guess four, I mean, three safeties so forth targets. And then I started on my essay in the summer, but I didn't write the draft that I submitted until I didn't finish it until mid October. I started it like about now early September. And then I roll all of my supplements from November 1 November 1 to December 31, I guess. And yeah, like because I applied to so many reaches, most of my schools did require supplements.

There's a lot of writing, but please start sooner rather than later.

Okay, let us see. What about my weight loss journey and how people treated me so differently. I think that could be an interesting essay, but you want to make sure it's not just that Like I wouldn't say do an intersection, or, um, or talk about like, maybe it was like your relationship with your parents as well. Maybe this inspired you to do something or go into a specific field. Like I would say, make sure you add an other thing. So it's not just that one topic. Is it a good idea to write my personal essay about an experience I had in a cult culture, volunteer organization, organized the event, and this organization will be on my activities list? But does it sound too cliche for an essay topic? Hmm. It depends on the experience, like on the actual like, what you actually did?

I think it could, it could be good. If the essay is not just I plan this and look at it do good. Like, what what can I learn about you from this essay? Besides like, the fact that you can, like put on, like an organization or event? You know, like, were there a lot of conflicts? Did you like really struggle to get it together? Like I'm, I would say, That's more of an interesting story than just like, oh, look at this thing I put together isn't it nice. Um, but also, I want you to kind of think, bigger picture. So a lot of students or not a lot of students, a lot of like highly selective and competitive schools have you write a supplement about an extracurricular so if this extracurricular takes up all of your time, just make sure you check the essay prompts of the schools that you're applying to, because that may be a good essay, like I would say, that is a good essay topic for a like, tell me about your extracurricular supplement, which is like, somewhat common. Okay, I feel like writing about how playing board games with my great grandmother first reinforced my strong drive to succeed. It's really common topic, but in supporting memory for me, I think, I think it's not that not that common, like, I've heard it something like that once or twice. But it's not like the most common thing ever. So if you want to write about it, go ahead. But I would say add another thing to it, like, so the first. So you know how I said, there are two moments, the first moment can be like, Okay, I'm doing board games, and I need to succeed. The second moment should be a time when you implement to that, if you can come up with a very specific time, say like, I don't know, wait, actually, I'm like trying to recall an example because another student was talking about how their grandmother taught them something like to stay calm during conflict. And then the second half of their essay was about how they got into a car crash, or a car accident, not like a huge one, but a minor car accident, and how like, their grandma's advice to stay calm, like was implemented there. So it come up with another moment that you would include in that essay. So it's not just about you and your grandma. Okay, moving is cliche, however, can you discuss if you moved alone for a better application and the culture shock, I think writing an essay about moving alone, like so now you're living alone is a very unique experience. Um, but a lot of like, obviously, I don't want to like generalize people, it's kind of like what I'm doing. I'm sorry. But like, I would just say, like, culture shock is just a very like common theme, especially with people who are moving or immigrating and stuff like that. So just be really careful. I'm talking about my goal, and always helping others and tie it back to my major. Make sure you include how you got that goal. And it's not just like, I want to help people talk about a time when you actually help people, you know, and not and more than just like I volunteered at a soup kitchen, you know, because you want to show like, this is actually something I'm really interested in. Okay, not writing related. A college advisor at my school says that colleges are wanting applications due by October 15. Would you agree? No, I would not agree. Obviously, like it's good to submit sooner rather than later. And they're probably talking about either early action, which is like November 1.

But I I have not. So I didn't submit any of my regular decision applications before December. So I think it's completely fine. I would say don't wait for the last day. If you can submit like a week in advance. Like that's pretty solid. Should I always mention my major in my essay, as well as this one applying to no and no, I didn't talk about my major in any of my essays. And you should only mention this specific school. If it's like, why do you want to do this major? Why do you want to go to this school? Or if you're setting it up, so that you're writing a nonfiction type thing, and it's a perfect fourth wall break, which is like very hard to execute, but I'll talk more about fourthwall breaks later. If I have original and interesting answers to prompts you think that'd be better than writing my own essay? What do you mean by that? I'm not sure what you mean. If you mean like, you're if you mean you have like good answers to like prompts one through six, which are actual questions, go ahead and write that like as long as it's like unique and whatever. Like, that's fine. You don't have to do this. Haven't prom. Like really the prompt to choose for common app really doesn't matter. Add an idea of writing my four years of high school as seasons, is it smart to talk about three years back or only talk about recent events? I think we've talked about three years back, as long as the majority of the essay talks about who you are now, because remember, they are accepting you now, not who you were, like, five, six years ago. But But what about being a black cheerleader in a predominately white sport? Um, I, I have, okay, again, to give you like an idea of how common it is, I've had about like three black students in my DMS saying they wanted to write about being black in a predominately white sports like golf, figure skating. So it's not the most unique thing ever. But if you can, like add something else to it, so it's not just like, and this is like a pitfall that I almost like, tripped and fell into when I was writing an essay about like, being a black student. Like you don't want the essay to just be, I am black, and I am alone. Like, obviously, that really sucks. But you like we need more, we need more. What did you do? Did you bring more like black and Hispanic cheer girl like, girls to the cheer team or something like that, like, give us an action that you specifically did? Okay, let's see, how do you these are the last two I will answer for now. And then I'll like talk about more later. How do you suggest I approach writing about a mindset or belief I developed from my childhood that I still use today, because it's not a story or specific pivotal moment. And so two things, the first thing you want to do is like start with a moment in your childhood when, like you learned or your mom or dad or non like your parents, like, taught it to you or doesn't have to be taught but just like implemented it. So for example, like my dad never wanted me to lie. I can't remember when he taught me that lying was bad. But I do remember a time when I was a kid crying because I lied and I thought I was gonna get arrested. Like that could be a specific moment. And then the second moment would be a time when you implemented it and use it for something like either it could be big or small, but you want to make sure you tie it into time when you've used it because I'm sure if it's guided your whole life, you can like find a time to use it. Okay, I was in a wheelchair with a rare spine problem and after two surgeries I stuck was bad. And not only am I walking Wow. But I'm a bandleader. Wow. Good for you. We've been leader at school marching band, we had the Grand National Champions. Is that a good topic? Yeah, period. I think it's great. I think it's very unique. Oh my god. What about right is writing about what I'm passionate about a good essay topic if you talk about how you came to that passion and what you're doing with it now, but an essay about how facing colorism for pants would maybe help other people who face the same problem. So you go into a field where you underrepresented to comment. Um, it's, it's not too common. The theme is a little common, but just make sure you add like specific, like moments and stuff. Oh my gosh, I'm this gonna be a long line. I'm so sorry. What are tips you have to get to a deeper self realization that you can convey your essay or story topic. I feel like my metaphors aren't deep enough. Don't use a metaphor. If you feel like you can't come up with a good one. Don't use it. I don't use metaphors. I do a lot of black students write about or their struggle with their hair. Yes, I've had like four students talking about that. I want I went to an extremely competitive and toxic high school I tried really hard to stay true to myself and because obviously bad no wouldn't be bad. Just make sure you include specific moments that highlight the difference between you and the general culture of your school. Next slide. So mistakes while drafting I'm wearing a one direction shirt. Okay, the same style drafting. So number four out of 10 is writing a bad hook. So the hook is the first paragraph of your essay and its job is to engage the reader and introduce yourself and the topic of your essay. A good hook is memorable and gets the attention of the admissions officer and get some really excited read your essay like remember I'm the admissions officers are just people they want to enjoy themselves they like they're reading all these essays, you should just be the like burst of sunshine and they must be so happy to read your essay.

So next thing just some examples of engaging and disengaging hooks so engaging hooks be dialogue imagery, other descriptive language bold statement, interesting and relevant information. And then disengaging hooks, unrelated quotes if you're going to start close, like I don't know, a dream is a wish your heart makes or never give up. Don't do that unjustified complaints because no one wants to wants to complain or whiner, and then just some word of advice. Don't worry about the first few lines when drafting it If you feel stuck, you could write the rest of the essay and then just come back to edit the hook later. But I would say make sure you edit the hook or come up with some ideas for the hook before you like send your essay to anything else, or anyone else.

Um, and by the way, there will be a live stream on September 4, which is this Friday at 7pm ET. About how to write the Harvard University supplement. So if you guys want to join me up in Cambridge, definitely check that out. I would love to see some of your familiar faces. I mean, I don't see your faces now. But I would love to see some of you guys up in Harvard land. I think that'd be really cute.

Okay, so next mistake, if you give me your essay to edit, I will, you will probably mess this up. And that's okay. Um, it's telling and not showing. So this may manifest as reading exactly how you talk what you should not do. When you tell a story to a friend, you probably skip over a lot of the details and just report bigger events. In this essay, you have the 650 words to slow down. Always use descriptive language not always use descriptive language when talking about the specific moments, you want to share details about the setting your feelings, thought processes and experiences. And this will just make for a more engaging and unique essay.

Okay, someone said please post on Tick Tock. As a reminder, I am not posting this live, or slides. I don't think maybe I'll post the slides. I'm not sure. But this recording will be available on collegevine.com. But thank you for the reminder. Thank you guys. Okay, um, how someone and just for like telling not showing just general advice and why you should show and not tell is that, like how someone reacts to the situation is much more telling about their character than them saying, I have this trait.

Like, I am much more likely to believe that you are a leader, if you like, give me an example of you displaying leadership, if you resolve some conflict or something like that, if you motivated people, then just you saying I'm a leader, you know.

And just like a quick exercise, write your essay as if you're writing a novel and you're the main character, like during quarantine. And though there is this Tick Tock trend, we're all trying to figure out who's the main character, and I'm here to tell them that you are the main character, at least in this essay. So going, the first one I wrote by myself and the second one was actually one of the students whose essays I edited and his second draft was just so much better. Gabriel, if you're watching this, I'm so proud of you. Okay, so here is a not great example, I have loved cooking ever since I was little, I grew up watching my mother cook the food of my culture, and I want to do the same. I'm a perfectionist. So sometimes, oops, is that someone's oops, sometimes, I spent five hours trying to make the perfect flatbread. Ooh, it says you glitched out for me. Hopefully I'm not I'm not glitched out on my phone. I'm watching this live on my phone, by the way, but I think, I don't know.

So from this hook, like, obviously, you see that the topic is about like cooking. So you introduce the topic and yourself, you're a perfectionist. It's like, okay, but it's really distant, like the reader feels disconnected from the events of the essay. And it's doing a lot of telling and not showing. There are other ways to communicate your passion for cooking without explicitly saying it. And a great example of this is the essay or like clip on the right and this is like literally his words I did not like do any of this. He's so smart and talented.

315 grams of flour, two spoons of yeast, a little bit of sugar and salt. And my secret ingredient, whole milk, Greek yogurt, the combination forms of rough Shaggy, flat bread dough, which will be rolled into eight inch rounds and sat on the stove with the dress of extra virgin olive oil. So as you can see, with the essay is about cooking, and we see that the student is like very precise, because they're giving us some measurements. And they must be passionate about cooking if they have like a secret ingredient.

So as you can see this, like this hook is closely engaged, the reader is right bear with the narrator they're doing a lot of showing and not telling, like we know they're cooking without them saying it. And it's very unique, like very few students will actually include a recipe in their essay, you know.

So that's pretty good. Next thing incorrect essay length. And by the way, I think we're getting close to the end of this section, so start leaving your questions about the writing process.

So the limit for the common app essay is 650 words. And most successful essays are above 600 words, my essays were usually at the at the word limit of 650. So try as hard as you can to get to the word limit. 400 words is definitely too short. How do I contact you to review one of my essays if you do that? My email is happy Jordan s At gmail.com, or Jordan [email protected] , they are at the end of this presentation on the slide, by the way. So 400 words is definitely too short, I would say anything that is less than 600 words is too short, you want to make sure using all the words you can. And if it's too short thing like, is your topic too specific and that you've ran out of things to say, Are you telling instead of showing or using enough descriptive language? Are you including specific moments or glossing over details, like you want to make sure that you're not doing any of these things you know, you want to, there's a nice balance between specific and then to to specific. You want to be specific enough that no one else can write the essay. But you also don't want to be too specific or that you can only write 300 words word. And then any essay that is over 650 words is too long. Like literally the common application will not let you paste or type more than 650 words. Don't include the title when you are sending your essay by the way. So just check Are any of your sentences or paragraphs redundant? Are they like repetitive? Are there any moments when you can simplify your wording? Is your essay focused? Or are you trying to cover too many topics? Is this essay about you someone else? Or both? Do a paragraph by paragraph breakdown and ask like where are you using the most words? And like does that align with your goals of the essay? Remember, this all goes back to planning ahead. So questions while drafting so hooks and writing strategies, I will check this. I say or not my essay my emails happy to Jordan [email protected] . So for several minutes, is it okay to be more telling than showing due to the word limit?

Yes. Especially if the supplement is like 300 words, I think 300 words you can do like a little showing moment. And then like telling, but when it comes to supplements, like why this major or like why the school if they're really really short, like 200 words, 175 words, go ahead and tell like you don't want to waste words and stuff like that. But leave your questions. Keep leaving your questions. Like for my for my extracurricular supplement that was 175 words. I don't think I did any showing besides like little personality lines, like besides lighting behind my favorite superhero, like things like that. But I didn't do any showing Actually, I'm going to take a sip of water all you guys type.

But yeah, any questions, I will pop them or any questions pop up, I will ask or answer them. And the next thing, but let's push on through towards the last section. So mistakes made while editing and submitting. So number seven is in cohesive writing. And this is something that is kind of like in writing 101. This These aren't like as common as mistakes. Oh, I see some questions. How do you show being shy? introverted is a positive by giving by providing specific moments when your introversion or shyness has helped you. So for example, like I don't know if it's actually true for you, I'm just making this up off the top of my head, like introverts may like they're not going to speak as much. So they may be a lot more careful about what they say and how they say things. This may be really advantageous in a debate, maybe you're not going to be the most like vocal person in the debate. But you're definitely going to have something that's like most worthwhile sharing. Or maybe you are really good at having these emotional heart to heart, like hearts hearts with your friends, because you thrive in a like, closer like one on one setting rather than the group setting. So if you can provide a specific example, I think that would really help in personal essays, when writing the hooks, is it necessary to provide context? No, not initially, you want to make sure you're providing enough context for the reader to understand what's going on. But you don't have to, like burden us with all these details, you know. So, for example, I was reading an essay about a student, a teacher was pronouncing a student's name, like all they said was like they gave the line of dialogue. They said, My teacher said, My classmates looked at me with just those simple phrases, we understand that they're in a classroom and that the teacher is about to mispronounce their name. And that's like all the information we need, you know, so you don't have to give us like, every little detail just enough for us to understand the story. So in cohesive writing, cohesive essays are easier and more enjoyable to read, because it could be as when you're reading, like, you may notice this when you're reading a book or another essay, if an essay is kind of jumping around, and you don't really see how things are connected. Instead of focusing on the actual content, you're going to be thinking, How in the world does this actually connect? How is this relevant? Why do I care about this? And that obviously takes attention away from what actually matters, which is your content. So in cohesive writing mainly shows up in two ways. The first one is no transitions. So transitions show the reader how different ideas or paragraphs are related. And without them, your reader will wonder why switch subjects, rather than focusing on the content of essay. Transitions can be as short as like one or two sentences, or as long as a whole paragraph. So it really just depends on how well or obvious the connection is between these two ideas. The second thing is inconsistency. your essay should be the same point of view and tense throughout first person past tense is like the safest most common choice. There's nothing wrong with that. Your writing style should also be consistent. So don't use extremely complicated vocabulary in one paragraph, and then very simple language in the next, just write in your natural style and voice and you will never go wrong. Do you have any tips for the why of supplements? Yes, research, research research, email professors. If you're like that, courageous.

Well, that was a bad hiccup, email admissions officers asking them like, what is what what traits are you looking for in a student. But something I always did was like, and I do this for preparing for my interviews as well, like, say, for Harvard, because obviously, that's when this was clear to me. Like I would look for their student organizations. And I would find the ones I really, really liked. And then I would look at who like was advising that. So for example, I'm a figure skater, I used to be a figure skater and I wants to figure skating club. And it turns out that both of the coaches was a figure skating team, or club team, whatever. were former team USA ice skaters, which is like a very, very high honor. And I could talk

about that in my interview. And that shows like, I'm really interested, like all this, all the great people at Harvard, but don't just focus on individuals, because individuals can come and go. So talk about classes, talk about specific programs that you'd be interested in. So just do a lot of research. And don't include anything that you can find on the brochure. So obviously, students may have the question, How do I know if my writing is in cohesive? So here's a quick exercise, not really quick, but here's the exercise you can do. Once you finish your first or second draft, go paragraph by paragraph and answer these questions in the margins. This is something that I actually do with the essays that I edit. So how does this relate to the previous paragraph? Do I illustrate the connection here? Or later in the essay? If it's later in the essay, that's okay. But just make sure your readers and going too long without knowing like, What's going up? What is the main idea of this paragraph? Does it align with the central theme of his essay? What point of view? Is this written? And what tense? What form? Is this paragraph are in it? Is it narrative or creative? is a distant or close and engaging? Is it informative or persuasive? Like just make sure it's somewhat consistent throughout? does this relate to the next paragraph? And are the ideas or themes in this paragraph mentioned somewhere else? That's probably the most important one. Just so you know, answers should be the same or very, very similar in each paragraph. Do you prefer simplicity or bigger vocabulary that I would not normally use in my everyday life? use simple words, don't use words that you would not use in your everyday life, because chances are, you will use them incorrectly. And ayoze can tell like if you're just forcing words in there, like they're not looking for. And I think this is this the next slide?

No, but I will talk about this a little bit more later. They're not looking for the most beautiful prose or most complicated language ever. They're just looking for a good story, you know? Are you willing to edit the common app essay for seniors? Yes, I do edit common app essays, email me at Happy Jordan [email protected] . Or Jordan sent Jordan dot [email protected] . My emails aren't the end of this presentation, which we're getting close to. So writing in the incorrect form. And I kind of mentioned this earlier with five paragraph essays and conclusions. So the common app essay is most similar to a narrative or memoir, which is a short personal story. And many students have little to no experience writing essays on this form. And that's completely okay. You're not alone. It's really just your teachers not giving you creative writing assignments, that's fine. But you should keep in mind that this is not a five paragraph essay, you will not have an introduction, nor will you have a conclusion in the traditional sense, sense. Your introduction will be the hook, whether that's like dialogue, descriptive language, imagery, whatever. And the conclusion will just be a nice short wrap up like literally a few sentences that may talk about where you're going in the future.

And remember, this is not a thought piece either, especially when it comes to the prompt that's like, oh, talk about like, an idea that you disagree with or a lesson you learn. Like, you shouldn't just be writing a speculative piece like you want to include specific moments of your life. This will ground the essay so it's not just feeling like up in the air and lofty and I'll also help the reader get to know you better.

So to help you get past this and make sure right In the correct form, before you write your first draft watch videos on YouTube, like literally Google like reading my common app essay.

To get an idea of how successful essays are written, I personally have a few of these essays on my YouTube channel. I think if you look like happy Jordan, or the Phoenix or Harvard, like, it'll come up.

But I read my essays, a whole bunch of students have read their essays, binge watch these, don't copy their essays don't copyright language, it's just for you to get an idea of how that essay should go. So then the next thing this kind of aligns with us this question about language, not sounding like yourself is a big, big issue. So the admissions officer is not expecting, nor do they want to read the most beautiful prose and most intelligent language, they want to read an essay by you and about you. So always write your essay. Like that should even be a question. So write the essay yourself and don't include words you don't use regularly, you may miss use a word, if you use the source, I have done that, too. You don't need big fancy words to impress the admissions officers, your character and your story will impress them for you. And along the same route of your essay should center a brown around who you are today. Like it's okay to write about something that happened in elementary middle school. But the bulk of the essay should should have happened between 10th and 12th grade ideally, like if you're talking about an event that happened in middle or elementary school, that can be your hook. That could be a really short moment, maybe you could talk about my parents have always done this growing up. But you don't want to make that the whole essay. Because the admissions team wants to accept who you are. Now, today, you're going on campus next fall, they don't want to know who you were like eight years ago, unless it's like relevant to who you are today. And then the last one, I actually have a little bonus, so don't hop off too fast. But what the 10th mistake I have is reusing the wrong essays.

So throughout the application process, you will write like several essays, you'll have personal statement supplements, and some but not all of these can be used. When I was applying, I applied to 17 schools by the way, like I wrote 10,000 words worth of supplements, which is a lot, but some of those are use. So admissions officers can tell when you're using an essay you shouldn't do like you should ever use. It shows carelessness lack of interest in the school and admissions officers want to accept students who are likely to attend, they want to accept students who want to go. So before writing any other supplements, copy and paste all the prompts you have to write in a single Google Doc. And then take inventory of how many essays you'll actually have to write and how many you can reuse. Well, Jordan, which essays Can I reuse? Well, I'm glad you asked. Because here's a slide explaining which ones you can reuse. If I were you, I would screenshot this slide because it's just so nice, like quick resource. So your common app or personal statement, yes, always reuse this, unless this is unless your essay talks about why you're interested in your major. And the college you're applying to has a supplement asking about your academic interest, because you don't want to repeat yourself throughout the application.

So in this case, I would say use a modified version of your original CommonApp essay as a supplement, and then write a new, completely unrelated combat essay. For me, I just chose not to write about my major in any of my essays, unless they explicitly asked me, because it's just not cute. How will admissions officers know an essay is reused. So this kind of goes to like, why this school? So if so, like, let's think about the Ivy's like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton specifically, all of those are liberal arts colleges in like college towns, and they have like specific campus cultures that are like kind of somewhat similar. They don't have Greek life. Like those are all very basic similarities. If you're writing an essay that's like it, say this is some kids essay. I want to go to Harvard because they have amazing professors. I love the housing system. I think it really fosters community amongst the students. The grass is always green, the campus is beautiful, and it's not too far from home. There isn't Greek life, they have all these other opportunities. They have great undergraduate research programs, like an admissions officer will know that you're reusing that essay, because that's true of Harvard and Yale and Princeton and Dartmouth and like all these other places, and essay that you cannot reuse an essay that they know is unique is like, I want to go to Brown University because Jim gates teaches there, Jim gates teaches a course or does research on supersymmetry, I'm really interested in physics.

Brown also has a specific program called stars that supports underrepresented minorities going into STEM. So both of those one of those is true Brown, the other one isn't, but that was just like random example. Um, you see, I'm mentioning some civic professors, it'd be even better if I mentioned a specific course like, say, K through 12. Equity and excellence like that's, of course here at Harvard. Like if I'm mentioning a specific course, a professor and a program, like that's something that you cannot reuse, and the admissions officer knows that. So why the school like always be careful with that, why this major, you can use some parts of it, but you should also include information about the specific program each college offers to support students in that major, elaborate on an extracurricular Yeah, you can always read that one, unique aspects about your background and contributions to campus. You can use some some parts of it, but not all. Just make sure being specific about the programs you participate in on campus. Make sure you start to comment your questions, by the way, because we're getting towards the end, and then extremely open ended prompts, you can reuse the essay, but change the college's name if you mention it. Like my you, Chicago and Harvard essay were the same, so I had to like change you Chicago to Harvard. And then bonus, always proofread your work like the essays are super important. Super important part of your application, as we said is 25 to 30%. And they are the last thing you can control so you should treat them as such, you should proofread and have your English teacher proofread your essay for punctuation and grammar mistakes, spelling incorrect or incomplete sentences, run on sentences, switching tenses, etc.

Incorporating dialogue into your essay, you should always start a new paragraph every time there's a new speaker. Um, I've noticed I've been editing a lot of essays I know. So that's something not a lot of students know. And just not proofreading your work shows a lack of effort and care. So you want to start and finish your essays early to avoid feeling rushed. So Oscar was asking how do I submit supplemental essays and you can do this. Also amaze you pronounce my name. I actually have a friend at Barnard Her name is awsa. So that's how I pronounce it. But yeah, also is really cool. I love her. But you submit it through the common application, if they are a school on the common app. Or if you're applying through their specific portal, like the UCS have their own portal. They like they'll have a like box. It's like, pick a prompt or like, here's our prompt, and then they'll have a text box. Let us see what questions Is it important to have demonstrated interest in the essay? When it comes to a Why us? Yes, but I wouldn't say demonstrate it interest. Like I went to all of your info sessions.

And I'm going to switch to the next slide. So you can see my emails, like demonstrated interest isn't just like, oh, like I went to your info sessions, you can see demonstrated interest to all the research a student has done. What are the most unique college essays you have read about? Hmm. So the most unique ones. I think one of them was an essay, I was reading and reading essay as editing this summer. And as I student named dates or data, if you're watching this, I love your essay, it was about how their relationship with their grandmother strengthened over lottery tickets, which I thought was like really cute. Another one that I read and really liked was, oh my gosh, is actually my favorite one of all time. So a student actually talked about how they had a crush on someone. And how because they had this crush on this boy, they joined all the activities he was in like they joined the sports team like soccer. I think it was a joint student government because he was in student government. And he ran for student president. So she ran for student president too. And then eventually he dropped out because he was like, Oh, she's gonna be a really great student President, I support her. And I thought that was such an interesting essay. Because usually I would say don't talk about romance because you're a teenager who wants to read about teenage romance. But I just thought that was a very interesting and unique essay.

Another one that I really liked is how someone playing Legos with their little brother led to them wanting to be an engineer, which I thought was really cute. Um, I haven't read the Costco or pizza essay. Oh my gosh, one of my other favorites. And this the last year I haven't mentioned is, um, someone was applying. So for my high school's applying to you Chicago edu and they got in. And their essay was written in the style of Dr. Seuss. And they talked about how language is classes. And I just thought that was like, mind blowing. Like, obviously, it's not like the traditional like, here's my comment essay.

And this is a challenge I've overcome, but I thought it was a really unique essay. Okay, let's see what other questions we got. How important are stats like receiving receiving awards elected leadership, so stats like grades, that's like a third or less like 27.5 I think under COVID. But course rigor like means more than like GPA now. And then awards, I would say aren't that important because like, not every school has an NHS and not every school awards. Not every school distributes awards before senior year like I do, I had an award for my PSAT score, or si p one of those two and I was an NHS, but I didn't have any other words because my school gave awards at graduation, is it and then for leadership, I think it's important to have a leadership position that kind of goes in extracurriculars. extracurriculars is also like 25 to 27.5% of your profile. I think being involved like seriously involved is more important than leadership per se, but if you're seriously involved you probably have a leadership position.

Is it dumb to include one of the reasons you want to attend is because your dad did we have a legacy student? Um, maybe you could mention that as a quick thing.

Okay. actually talking about my friend asked them who goes to Barnard. So my essay Barnard's like, why do you want to come here? Why should we accept you?

And I basically went over this topic of like, awesome, I said, I was like a Barnard woman. And I didn't really know what that was. Now, I understand that Barnard women are strong, empowered, curious, like all these things.

If you wanted to spin it like that, I think jack was your name. Um, a friend named jack was also like a sea suit. But if you want to submit your essay like that, I think that's completely okay. But you can't just say, Oh, my dad was so I want to go because fantasy family legacy. Like, you want to make sure you're saying other things, revealing more information about yourself? Can I incorporate a short quote in Spanish and then explain what it means in English? Yes, you can. I thank you so much for taking the time to do this for us. Um, the problem with submitting a poem layout or unconventional essay be unique or wrong. So for that, I would say just be careful. It really depends on the character of the school and just campus culture. So if you're applying to you, Chicago or Stanford,

I would say submit a poem, like submit a poem. I think that would be great. I think that's a genius. If you're submitting because like those, Stanford is like, ooh, we're cool and quirky. And so as you Chicago so they want like, weird, quirky people, and they want students to take a risk. And that's a complete, like, great example of that. If you're applying to say like Cornell, like just regular Princeton regular, like not to say that you're going to get rejected, I don't think you will be. But I just think you just have to be careful. You know, I'm not a question. Just want to say your hair is, thank you. It's Krishna is writing that how I helped a church in Mexico or how I'm an overachiever, a good essay topic, as long as it's not like, "Oh, I went to Mexico to help the poor children. I am so good. Please, like give me a gold star" because that's never that's never good. You know? Which high school did you go to? In which state so I went to the Bronx High School of Science in New York City. It's a specialized High School. very engaging and informative. Thank you. Thank you. How do you know if there's a college search tool for IB or Dino's are cautious to for IB students, I saw that acceptances considered differently for IB students, I actually do not know. But, um, if you go on big future.collegeboard.org I think it is.

You can like filter through like different things. And there may be like a filter for IB. And then like, if not just like look at the school's list of schools you're interested in and then do research for those specific ones. Like just to see but yeah, I'm sorry I didn't have a specific answer that but thank you guys so much for listening. It's nine o'clock my bedtime is 930 so I'm about to hop off. The recording for this will be uploaded within 24 hours of this ending. But yeah, thank you guys so much for joining me. I will see you guys follow me on whatever on Tick tock, I guess if you're here, like that's how you know me from but yeah, so nice talking to you guys.

And I will see you guys eventually later.

Undergrad College: Harvard '23

Major: Computer Science and Physics

Work Experience: I am a current student at Harvard University where I am pursuing my degree in physics and computer science.

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10 College Application Essay Dos and Don’ts

Check out our Just Admit It! Podcast

IvyWise counselors Rachel  and Zach share their top tips on how to brainstorm and write college application essays, and what admissions officers are looking for when they read them on the Just Admit It! college admissions podcast , giving listeners expert insight from former admissions officers.

Writing college application essays is often the most stressful part of the admissions process for students, and as a result many tend to put them off until the last minute.

Delaying your work on college application essays isn’t the best move, particularly because the National Association for College Admission Counseling classifies application essays as the most important “soft” factor, or non-quantitative elements, that colleges consider when making admissions decisions, right behind “hard” factors, or quantitative components, like grades, curriculum, and test scores. And in a year where more colleges than ever are test-optional , soft factors like the essay will carry even more weight in the admissions process this fall.

However, if you’re behind on your college admissions essays, don’t panic. There are a number of steps that students can take to put together the most accurate and compelling personal statements  and school-specific supplements that will help their chances of gaining admission to their top-choice colleges.

Here are some college application essay dos and don’ts for students to keep in mind as they complete their applications before Jan. 1 deadlines.

DON’T use the personal statement essay to repeat your activities list.

This can’t be stressed enough. The personal statement is your opportunity to reveal something about yourself that can’t be found anywhere else in your application — use it! Many students use this essay to expound upon activities or interests that are already heavily demonstrated in their application through courses, the activity list, and more. Instead of reinforcing a top activity or interest, write about something that reveals another dimension of your life or personality. If your top activity is swimming, don’t write about the big championship meet. Find something else that reveals something new and that shows you put a lot of thought into your essay. If your study of AP biology conflicts with your religious views, write about that and how you reconciled the two. Dig deep to find a topic that’s meaningful.

DO show a slice of your life.

When developing a topic that reveals something new, find a way to frame the story or idea that shows a slice of your life or the event. Be descriptive and give details that appeal to the senses – taste, touch, smell, etc. When writing about a meaningful experience or event, you don’t have to give a long timeline of events. Instead, give the reader the piece of the puzzle that conveys your message. Particularly when you’re feeling stressed for time, it can be helpful to remember that your job isn’t necessarily to tell a full-length story; it’s to focus on something smaller that demonstrates who you are and what you stand for.

DON’T copy and paste.

With upwards of 25 or more essays to write for a balanced college list of 10-12 schools, it’s tempting for students to repurpose essays across applications if the prompts are similar, especially when working down to the wire. While students can use the same main essay on the Common App for multiple schools, we always recommend that students tailor their supplemental essays to the individual colleges. Telling Caltech why you want to attend MIT is a quick way to end up in the “no” pile.

At the end of the day, attempting to repurpose essays isn’t the time-efficient solution either. While it might seem like a quick-fix, you’ll likely spend more time trying to rework an existing piece than you would if you started from scratch. Instead, give each essay a fresh start and set aside time to give every prompt your all.

DO show your knowledge of the college.

When tailoring responses to individual college prompts, it’s important to use specific details you’ve learned through visiting and research. Not only does this show colleges that you’ve have done your homework, but it also demonstrates your interest in the college – and colleges want to admit students who are likely to enroll. Show your knowledge of the college by mentioning specific courses, professors, places of interest, and more. Show how you fit into the campus culture and how you will impact the community through specific examples.

DON’T say what you think the admissions office wants to hear.

So many students think that they “know” what colleges want from an applicant , and this can have a big influence over their essays. Students will overuse the thesaurus and write about strange topics in an effort to impress and stand out. Instead of writing what you think the admissions office wants to read, write about what you want them to know.

Again, the essay is a great space to reveal something new about you, so stand out by being authentic and showing another side of yourself. For students who feel like they’re pressed for time, being genuine is likely also your most efficient strategy. Forget about trying to concoct a version of yourself that you think the admissions office wants to see and let your authentic personality shine through.

DO use your voice.

Using lofty language and complex sentence structure can make you sound sophisticated, but is that really how you speak? Don’t let your voice get lost in the pursuit to impress readers. Instead, write like you speak – keeping in mind that proper grammar and spelling is still important.

DON’T rely only on spellcheck.

Spellcheck won’t catch every spelling or grammatical error! Take the time to read over all your essays carefully and keep an eye out for things like “out” when you meant to say “our” and other common typos. Especially when you’re short on time, it can be easy to overlook spelling and grammar, but it’s always worth the few extra minutes to make sure you have error-free content. To be extra safe, have a parent or counselor read over the essay, too, to catch any errors you might have missed. Spelling and grammar errors can take away from an otherwise stellar essay – so be mindful.

DO double check that you’ve addressed the prompt.

This is one of the most common mistakes that students make . In the pursuit to write the perfect essay, many forget to connect it to the original prompt. While the Common Application prompts for the main essay are general enough to allow students to write about whatever they choose, it still needs to be clear how that essay addresses the prompt. The same applies to school-specific essays. Check and double check that a clear connection is made between the topic of your essay and the question the prompt is asking.

DON’T panic.

Working down to the wire can undoubtedly be stressful. Instead of beating yourself up for not starting sooner or worrying that you won’t be able to finish everything on time, focus on what you can control. Put all of your energy toward your application essays and devote as much time to writing and editing as possible. Keep tabs on every admissions deadline and prioritize what you will work on first accordingly. Create a strategy for completing every essay and stay accountable to the timeline you’ve created.

DO seek feedback when you can.

While it’s imperative that students write their own essays and use their authentic voice, every writer can benefit from a second set of eyes. Your college counselor can provide valuable insight into how to improve your college application essays, so seek feedback on your drafts as soon as possible.  School-based counselors  have a lot of students to advise and are very busy, so don’t wait!

Essays are an important component in the college application process. While the essay alone won’t gain you admission to your top-choice college, a poorly written one can send you to the “no” pile pretty quickly. Consequently, it’s important to give every essay your all and seek guidance when you need it – especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed leading up to critical deadlines.

If you need additional help with your college application essays, IvyWise offers a number of services designed to help high school seniors with their college applications . Contact us today for more information on our programs for seniors!

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Finding a great college essay topic is one of the most stressful parts of the essay writing process. How is it possible to accurately represent your life and personality in one essay? How can you tell if a topic will do your story justice, or if it’ll end up hurting your application?

While a good essay topic varies from one person to another, there are some general guidelines you should follow when picking a topic. In this post, we’ll go over the commonalities of a good college essay topic, and we’ll share five original topics and sample essays to inspire your writing.

College essays are meant to provide admissions officers with a better idea of who you are beyond your quantitative achievements. It’s your chance to share your voice, personality, and story.

A good essay topic will do the following:

Answers the 4 core questions. These questions are:

• “Who Am I?”
• “Why Am I Here?”
• “What is Unique About Me?”
• “What Matters to Me?”

At its core, your essay should show who you are, how you got there, and where you’re going. 

Is deeply personal. The best essay topics allow you to be raw and vulnerable. You don’t need to bare your soul and tell your deepest secrets, but you should share your thoughts and emotions in your essay. A good essay should make the reader feel something—whether that’s your joy, embarrassment, panic, defeat, confidence, or determination.

Is original, or approaches a common topic in an original way. Admissions officers read a lot of essays about the same old topics. Some of those cliches include: a sports injury, person you admire, tragedy, or working hard in a challenging class. While it’s possible to write a good essay on a common topic, it’s much harder to do so, and you may lose the admissions officer’s attention early on. 

Try to find a topic that goes beyond traditional archetypes to make yourself truly stand out. You could also take a cliche topic but develop it in a different way. For example, the standard storyline of the sports injury essay is that you got hurt, were upset you couldn’t participate, but then worked hard and overcame that injury. Instead, you could write about how you got injured, and used that time off to develop a new interest, such as coding. 

The truth is that a “good” college essay topic varies by individual, as it really depends on your life experiences. That being said, there are some topics that should work well for most people, and they are:

1. A unique extracurricular activity or passion 

Writing about an extracurricular activity is not a unique essay topic, and it’s actually a common supplemental essay prompt. If you have an unconventional activity, however, the essay is the perfect opportunity to showcase and elaborate upon that interest. Less common activities are less familiar to admissions officers, so some extra context can be helpful in understanding how that activity worked, and how much it meant to you.

For example, here’s a sample essay about a student who played competitive bridge, and what the activity taught them:

The room was silent except for the thoughts racing through my head. I led a spade from my hand and my opponent paused for a second, then played a heart. The numbers ran through my mind as I tried to consider every combination, calculating my next move. Finally, I played the ace of spades from the dummy and the rest of my clubs, securing the contract and 620 points when my partner ruffed at trick five. Next board.

It was the final of the 2015 United States Bridge Federation Under-26 Women’s Championship. The winning team would be selected to represent the United States in the world championship and my team was still in the running.

Contract bridge is a strategic and stochastic card game. Players from around the world gather at local clubs, regional events, and, in this case, national tournaments.

Going into the tournament, my team was excited; all the hours we had put into the game, from the lengthy midnight Skype sessions spent discussing boards to the coffee shop meetings spent memorizing conventions together, were about to pay off.

Halfway through, our spirits were still high, as we were only down by fourteen international match points which, out of the final total of about four hundred points, was virtually nothing and it was very feasible to catch up. Our excitement was short-lived, however, as sixty boards later, we found that we had lost the match and would not be chosen as the national team.

Initially, we were devastated. We had come so close and it seemed as if all the hours we had devoted to training had been utterly wasted. Yet as our team spent some time together reflecting upon the results, we gradually realized that the true value that we had gained wasn’t only the prospect of winning the national title, but also the time we had spent together exploring our shared passion. I chatted with the winning team and even befriended a few of them who offered us encouragement and advice.

Throughout my bridge career, although I’ve gained a respectable amount of masterpoints and awards, I’ve realized that the real reward comes from the extraordinary people I have met. I don’t need to travel cross-country to learn; every time I sit down at a table whether it be during a simple club game, a regional tournament or a national event, I find I’m always learning. 

I nod at the pair that’s always yelling at each other. They teach me the importance of sportsmanship and forgiveness.

I greet the legally blind man who can defeat most of the seeing players. He reminds me not to make excuses.

I chat with the friendly, elderly couple who, at ages ninety and ninety-two, have just gotten married two weeks ago. They teach me that it’s never too late to start anything.

I talk to the boy who’s attending Harvard and the girl who forewent college to start her own company. They show me that there is more than one path to success.

I congratulate the little kid running to his dad, excited to have won his very first masterpoints. He reminds me of the thrill of every first time and to never stop trying new things.

Just as much as I have benefitted from these life lessons, I aspire to give back to my bridge community as much as it has given me. I aspire to teach people how to play this complicated yet equally as exciting game. I aspire to never stop improving myself, both at and away from the bridge table.

Bridge has given me my roots and dared me to dream. What started as merely a hobby has become a community, a passion, a part of my identity. I aspire to live selflessly and help others reach their goals. I seek to take risks, embrace all results, even failure, and live unfettered from my own doubt .

2. An activity or interest that contrasts heavily with your profile

The essays are also a great way to highlight different aspects of who you are, and also explain any aspects of your profile that might not “make sense.” For instance, if your extracurriculars are heavily STEM-focused, but you have one theatre-related activity you care a lot about, you might want to write an essay on theatre to add an extra dimension to your application. Admissions officers actually love when students have a “contrast profile,” or well-developed interests in two disparate fields. This is because they see a lot of well-rounded and specialized students, so students with contrast profiles offer something refreshingly unique.

Here’s a sample essay written by an athlete who is also an accomplished poet. The piece focuses upon the student’s contrasting identities, and how they eventually come to feel proud of both identities.

When I was younger, I was adamant that no two foods on my plate touch. As a result, I often used a second plate to prevent such an atrocity. In many ways, I learned to separate different things this way from my older brothers, Nate and Rob. Growing up, I idolized both of them. Nate was a performer, and I insisted on arriving early to his shows to secure front row seats, refusing to budge during intermission for fear of missing anything. Rob was a three-sport athlete, and I attended his games religiously, waving worn-out foam cougar paws and cheering until my voice was hoarse. My brothers were my role models. However, while each was talented, neither was interested in the other’s passion. To me, they represented two contrasting ideals of what I could become: artist or athlete. I believed I had to choose.

And for a long time, I chose athlete. I played soccer, basketball, and lacrosse and viewed myself exclusively as an athlete, believing the arts were not for me. I conveniently overlooked that since the age of five, I had been composing stories for my family for Christmas, gifts that were as much for me as them, as I loved writing. So when in tenth grade, I had the option of taking a creative writing class, I was faced with a question: could I be an athlete and a writer? After much debate, I enrolled in the class, feeling both apprehensive and excited. When I arrived on the first day of school, my teacher, Ms. Jenkins, asked us to write down our expectations for the class. After a few minutes, eraser shavings stubbornly sunbathing on my now-smudged paper, I finally wrote, “I do not expect to become a published writer from this class. I just want this to be a place where I can write freely.”

Although the purpose of the class never changed for me, on the third “submission day,” – our time to submit writing to upcoming contests and literary magazines – I faced a predicament. For the first two submission days, I had passed the time editing earlier pieces, eventually (pretty quickly) resorting to screen snake when hopelessness made the words look like hieroglyphics. I must not have been as subtle as I thought, as on the third of these days, Ms. Jenkins approached me. After shifting from excuse to excuse as to why I did not submit my writing, I finally recognized the real reason I had withheld my work: I was scared. I did not want to be different, and I did not want to challenge not only others’ perceptions of me, but also my own. I yielded to Ms. Jenkin’s pleas and sent one of my pieces to an upcoming contest.

By the time the letter came, I had already forgotten about the contest. When the flimsy white envelope arrived in the mail, I was shocked and ecstatic to learn that I had received 2nd place in a nationwide writing competition. The next morning, however, I discovered Ms. Jenkins would make an announcement to the whole school exposing me as a poet. I decided to own this identity and embrace my friends’ jokes and playful digs, and over time, they have learned to accept and respect this part of me. I have since seen more boys at my school identifying themselves as writers or artists.

I no longer see myself as an athlete and a poet independently, but rather I see these two aspects forming a single inseparable identity – me. Despite their apparent differences, these two disciplines are quite similar, as each requires creativity and devotion. I am still a poet when I am lacing up my cleats for soccer practice and still an athlete when I am building metaphors in the back of my mind – and I have realized ice cream and gummy bears taste pretty good together.

3. A seemingly insignificant moment that speaks to larger themes within your life 

Writing an essay on a seemingly mundane moment is unexpected, so that should grab the attention of the reader in almost a backwards way. You’ll make them wonder where the essay is going, and why you chose to write about that moment. From there, you can use that moment as an avenue to discuss important elements of your identity. 

In this sample essay, a student details her experience failing to make a fire from sticks, and how it leads her to reflect on how her former passion (or “fire”) for the outdoors is now reflected in her current interests. 

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the garb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire. 

Furiously I rubbed the twigs together—rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers. No smoke. The twigs were too young, too sticky-green; I tossed them away with a shower of curses, and began tearing through the underbrush in search of a more flammable collection. My efforts were fruitless. Livid, I bit a rejected twig, determined to prove that the forest had spurned me, offering only young, wet bones that would never burn. But the wood cracked like carrots between my teeth—old, brittle, and bitter. Roaring and nursing my aching palms, I retreated to the tent, where I sulked and awaited the jeers of my family. 

Rattling their empty worm cans and reeking of fat fish, my brother and cousins swaggered into the campsite. Immediately, they noticed the minor stick massacre by the fire pit and called to me, their deep voices already sharp with contempt. 

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame. 

In the tent, I pondered my failure. Was I so dainty? Was I that incapable? I thought of my hands, how calloused and capable they had been, how tender and smooth they had become. It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive. And I’d gotten glasses, having grown horrifically nearsighted; long nights of dim lighting and thick books had done this. I couldn’t remember the last time I had lain down on a hill, barefaced, and seen the stars without having to squint. Crawling along the edge of the tent, a spider confirmed my transformation—he disgusted me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to squash him. 

Yet, I realized I hadn’t really changed—I had only shifted perspective. I still eagerly explored new worlds, but through poems and prose rather than pastures and puddles. I’d grown to prefer the boom of a bass over that of a bullfrog, learned to coax a different kind of fire from wood, having developed a burn for writing rhymes and scrawling hypotheses. 

That night, I stayed up late with my journal and wrote about the spider I had decided not to kill. I had tolerated him just barely, only shrieking when he jumped—it helped to watch him decorate the corners of the tent with his delicate webs, knowing that he couldn’t start fires, either. When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.

4. Using an everyday experience or object as a metaphor to explore your life and personality 

Using an everyday experience as a vehicle to explore your identity is also intriguing in an unexpected way. You’d be surprised at how many everyday routines and objects naturally lend themselves to a unique glance into your life. Some of those things might be: a familiar drive, your running shoes, a recipe from your grandmother, walking to your guitar lesson.

This topic also is a strong choice if you have a descriptive, artful writing style. It allows you to get creative with the transitions from the everyday experience to larger reflections on your life.

Here’s an example of a student who chose to write about showers, all while showcasing their personality and unique aspects of their life. 

Scalding hot water cascades over me, crashing to the ground in a familiar, soothing rhythm. Steam rises to the ceiling as dried sweat and soap suds swirl down the drain. The water hisses as it hits my skin, far above the safe temperature for a shower. The pressure is perfect on my tired muscles, easing the aches and bruises from a rough bout of sparring and the tension from a long, stressful day. The noise from my overactive mind dies away, fading into music, lyrics floating through my head. Black streaks stripe the inside of my left arm, remnants of the penned reminders of homework, money owed and forms due. 

It lacks the same dynamism and controlled intensity of sparring on the mat at taekwondo or the warm tenderness of a tight hug from my father, but it’s still a cocoon of safety as the water washes away the day’s burdens. As long as the hot water is running, the rest of the world ceases to exist, shrinking to me, myself and I. The shower curtain closes me off from the hectic world spinning around me. 

Much like the baths of Blanche DuBois, my hot showers are a means of cleansing and purifying (though I’m mostly just ridding myself of the germs from children at work sneezing on me). In the midst of a hot shower, there is no impending exam to study for, no newspaper deadline to meet, no paycheck to deposit. It is simply complete and utter peace, a safe haven. The steam clears my mind even as it clouds my mirror. 

Creativity thrives in the tub, breathing life into tales of dragons and warrior princesses that evolve only in my head, never making their way to paper but appeasing the childlike dreamer and wannabe author in me all the same. That one calculus problem that has seemed unsolvable since second period clicks into place as I realize the obvious solution. The perfect concluding sentence to my literary analysis essay writes itself (causing me to abruptly end my shower in a mad dash to the computer before I forget it entirely).  

Ever since I was old enough to start taking showers unaided, I began hogging all the hot water in the house, a source of great frustration to my parents. Many of my early showers were rudely cut short by an unholy banging on the bathroom door and an order to “stop wasting water and come eat dinner before it gets cold.” After a decade of trudging up the stairs every evening to put an end to my water-wasting, my parents finally gave in, leaving me to my (expensive) showers. I imagine someday, when paying the water bill is in my hands, my showers will be shorter, but today is not that day (nor, hopefully, will the next four years be that day). 

Showers are better than any ibuprofen, the perfect panacea for life’s daily ailments. Headaches magically disappear as long as the water runs, though they typically return in full force afterward. The runny nose and itchy eyes courtesy of summertime allergies recede. Showers alleviate even the stomachache from a guacamole-induced lack of self-control. 

Honestly though, the best part about a hot shower is neither its medicinal abilities nor its blissful temporary isolation or even the heavenly warmth seeped deep into my bones. The best part is that these little moments of pure, uninhibited contentedness are a daily occurrence. No matter how stressful the day, showers ensure I always have something to look forward to. They are small moments, true, but important nonetheless, because it is the little things in life that matter; the big moments are too rare, too fleeting to make anyone truly happy. Wherever I am in the world, whatever fate chooses to throw at me, I know I can always find my peace at the end of the day behind the shower curtain. 

5. An in the moment narrative that tells the story of a important moment in your life

In the moment narrative is a powerful essay format, as your reader experiences the events, your thoughts, and your emotions with you . Students assume that your chosen moment needs to be extremely dramatic or life-altering, but the truth is that you can use this method to write about all kinds of events, from the everyday to the unexpected to the monumental. It doesn’t matter, as long as that moment was important to your development.

For example, this student wrote about a Model UN conference where they were asked to switch stances last minute. This might not seem like a huge moment, but this experience was meaningful to them because it showed them the importance of adaptability. 

The morning of the Model United Nation conference, I walked into Committee feeling confident about my research. We were simulating the Nuremberg Trials – a series of post-World War II proceedings for war crimes – and my portfolio was of the Soviet Judge Major General Iona Nikitchenko. Until that day, the infamous Nazi regime had only been a chapter in my history textbook; however, the conference’s unveiling of each defendant’s crimes brought those horrors to life. The previous night, I had organized my research, proofread my position paper and gone over Judge Nikitchenko’s pertinent statements. I aimed to find the perfect balance between his stance and my own.

As I walked into committee anticipating a battle of wits, my director abruptly called out to me. “I’m afraid we’ve received a late confirmation from another delegate who will be representing Judge Nikitchenko. You, on the other hand, are now the defense attorney, Otto Stahmer.” Everyone around me buzzed around the room in excitement, coordinating with their allies and developing strategies against their enemies, oblivious to the bomb that had just dropped on me. I felt frozen in my tracks, and it seemed that only rage against the careless delegate who had confirmed her presence so late could pull me out of my trance. After having spent a month painstakingly crafting my verdicts and gathering evidence against the Nazis, I now needed to reverse my stance only three hours before the first session.

Gradually, anger gave way to utter panic. My research was fundamental to my performance, and without it, I knew I could add little to the Trials. But confident in my ability, my director optimistically recommended constructing an impromptu defense. Nervously, I began my research anew. Despite feeling hopeless, as I read through the prosecution’s arguments, I uncovered substantial loopholes. I noticed a lack of conclusive evidence against the defendants and certain inconsistencies in testimonies. My discovery energized me, inspiring me to revisit the historical overview in my conference “Background Guide” and to search the web for other relevant articles. Some Nazi prisoners had been treated as “guilty” before their court dates. While I had brushed this information under the carpet while developing my position as a judge, it now became the focus of my defense. I began scratching out a new argument, centered on the premise that the allied countries had violated the fundamental rule that, a defendant was “not guilty” until proven otherwise.

At the end of the three hours, I felt better prepared. The first session began, and with bravado, I raised my placard to speak. Microphone in hand, I turned to face my audience. “Greetings delegates. I, Otto Stahmer would like to…….” I suddenly blanked. Utter dread permeated my body as I tried to recall my thoughts in vain. “Defence Attorney, Stahmer we’ll come back to you,” my Committee Director broke the silence as I tottered back to my seat, flushed with embarrassment. Despite my shame, I was undeterred. I needed to vindicate my director’s faith in me. I pulled out my notes, refocused, and began outlining my arguments in a more clear and direct manner. Thereafter, I spoke articulately, confidently putting forth my points. I was overjoyed when Secretariat members congratulated me on my fine performance.

Going into the conference, I believed that preparation was the key to success. I wouldn’t say I disagree with that statement now, but I believe adaptability is equally important. My ability to problem-solve in the face of an unforeseen challenge proved advantageous in the art of diplomacy. Not only did this experience transform me into a confident and eloquent delegate at that conference, but it also helped me become a more flexible and creative thinker in a variety of other capacities. Now that I know I can adapt under pressure, I look forward to engaging in activities that will push me to be even quicker on my feet.

At selective schools, your essays account for around 25% of your admissions decision. That’s more than grades (20%) and test scores (15%), and almost as much as extracurriculars (30%). Why is this? Most students applying to top schools will have stellar academics and extracurriculars. Your essays are your chance to stand out and humanize your application.

That’s why it’s vital that your essays are engaging, and present you as someone who would enrich the campus community.

Before submitting your application, you should have someone else review your essays. It’s even better if that person doesn’t know you personally, as they can best tell whether your personality shines through your essay. 

That’s why we created our Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. We highly recommend giving this tool a try!

Final Thoughts

We hope this gives you a better idea of what good essay topic looks like, and that you’re feeling inspired to write your own essay—maybe one of these topics can even apply to your own life!

For more guidance on your essays, see these posts:

How to Write the Common App Essay

What If I Don ’t Have Anything Interesting to Write About in My College Essay?

Wh ere to Begin? 6 Personal Essay Brainstorming Exercises

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 53 stellar college essay topics to inspire you.

College Essays

Most colleges and universities in the United States require applicants to submit at least one essay as part of their application. But trying to figure out what college essay topics you should choose is a tricky process. There are so many potential things you could write about!

In this guide, we go over the essential qualities that make for a great college essay topic and give you 50+ college essay topics you can use for your own statement . In addition, we provide you with helpful tips for turning your college essay topic into a stellar college essay.

What Qualities Make for a Good College Essay Topic?

Regardless of what you write about in your personal statement for college , there are key features that will always make for a stand-out college essay topic.

#1: It’s Specific

First off, good college essay topics are extremely specific : you should know all the pertinent facts that have to do with the topic and be able to see how the entire essay comes together.

Specificity is essential because it’ll not only make your essay stand out from other statements, but it'll also recreate the experience for admissions officers through its realism, detail, and raw power. You want to tell a story after all, and specificity is the way to do so. Nobody wants to read a vague, bland, or boring story — not even admissions officers!

For example, an OK topic would be your experience volunteering at a cat shelter over the summer. But a better, more specific college essay topic would be how you deeply connected with an elderly cat there named Marty, and how your bond with him made you realize that you want to work with animals in the future.

Remember that specificity in your topic is what will make your essay unique and memorable . It truly is the key to making a strong statement (pun intended)!

#2: It Shows Who You Are

In addition to being specific, good college essay topics reveal to admissions officers who you are: your passions and interests, what is important to you, your best (or possibly even worst) qualities, what drives you, and so on.

The personal statement is critical because it gives schools more insight into who you are as a person and not just who you are as a student in terms of grades and classes.

By coming up with a real, honest topic, you’ll leave an unforgettable mark on admissions officers.

#3: It’s Meaningful to You

The very best college essay topics are those that hold deep meaning to their writers and have truly influenced them in some significant way.

For instance, maybe you plan to write about the first time you played Skyrim to explain how this video game revealed to you the potentially limitless worlds you could create, thereby furthering your interest in game design.

Even if the topic seems trivial, it’s OK to use it — just as long as you can effectively go into detail about why this experience or idea had such an impact on you .

Don’t give in to the temptation to choose a topic that sounds impressive but doesn’t actually hold any deep meaning for you. Admissions officers will see right through this!

Similarly, don’t try to exaggerate some event or experience from your life if it’s not all that important to you or didn’t have a substantial influence on your sense of self.

#4: It’s Unique

College essay topics that are unique are also typically the most memorable, and if there’s anything you want to be during the college application process, it’s that! Admissions officers have to sift through thousands of applications, and the essay is one of the only parts that allows them to really get a sense of who you are and what you value in life.

If your essay is trite or boring, it won’t leave much of an impression , and your application will likely get immediately tossed to the side with little chance of seeing admission.

But if your essay topic is very original and different, you’re more likely to earn that coveted second glance at your application.

What does being unique mean exactly, though? Many students assume that they must choose an extremely rare or crazy experience to talk about in their essays —but that's not necessarily what I mean by "unique." Good college essay topics can be unusual and different, yes, but they can also be unique takes on more mundane or common activities and experiences .

For instance, say you want to write an essay about the first time you went snowboarding. Instead of just describing the details of the experience and how you felt during it, you could juxtapose your emotions with a creative and humorous perspective from the snowboard itself. Or you could compare your first attempt at snowboarding with your most recent experience in a snowboarding competition. The possibilities are endless!

#5: It Clearly Answers the Question

Finally, good college essay topics will clearly and fully answer the question(s) in the prompt.

You might fail to directly answer a prompt by misinterpreting what it’s asking you to do, or by answering only part of it (e.g., answering just one out of three questions).

Therefore, make sure you take the time to come up with an essay topic that is in direct response to every question in the prompt .

Take this Coalition Application prompt as an example:

What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What's the best part? What advice would you give a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)?

For this prompt, you’d need to answer all three questions (though it’s totally fine to focus more on one or two of them) to write a compelling and appropriate essay.

This is why we recommend reading and rereading the essay prompt ; you should know exactly what it’s asking you to do, well before you start brainstorming possible college application essay topics.

53 College Essay Topics to Get Your Brain Moving

In this section, we give you a list of 53 examples of college essay topics. Use these as jumping-off points to help you get started on your college essay and to ensure that you’re on track to coming up with a relevant and effective topic.

All college application essay topics below are categorized by essay prompt type. We’ve identified six general types of college essay prompts:

Why This College?

Change and personal growth, passions, interests, and goals, overcoming a challenge, diversity and community, solving a problem.

Note that these prompt types could overlap with one another, so you’re not necessarily limited to just one college essay topic in a single personal statement.

• How a particular major or program will help you achieve your academic or professional goals
• A memorable and positive interaction you had with a professor or student at the school
• Something good that happened to you while visiting the campus or while on a campus tour
• A certain class you want to take or a certain professor you’re excited to work with
• Some piece of on-campus equipment or facility that you’re looking forward to using
• Your plans to start a club at the school, possibly to raise awareness of a major issue
• A study abroad or other unique program that you can’t wait to participate in
• How and where you plan to volunteer in the community around the school
• An incredible teacher you studied under and the positive impact they had on you
• How you went from really liking something, such as a particular movie star or TV show, to not liking it at all (or vice versa)
• How yours or someone else’s (change in) socioeconomic status made you more aware of poverty
• A time someone said something to you that made you realize you were wrong
• How your opinion on a controversial topic, such as gay marriage or DACA, has shifted over time
• A documentary that made you aware of a particular social, economic, or political issue going on in the country or world
• Advice you would give to your younger self about friendship, motivation, school, etc.
• The steps you took in order to kick a bad or self-sabotaging habit
• A juxtaposition of the first and most recent time you did something, such as dance onstage
• A book you read that you credit with sparking your love of literature and/or writing
• A school assignment or project that introduced you to your chosen major
• A glimpse of your everyday routine and how your biggest hobby or interest fits into it
• The career and (positive) impact you envision yourself having as a college graduate
• A teacher or mentor who encouraged you to pursue a specific interest you had
• How moving around a lot helped you develop a love of international exchange or learning languages
• A special skill or talent you’ve had since you were young and that relates to your chosen major in some way, such as designing buildings with LEGO bricks
• Where you see yourself in 10 or 20 years
• Your biggest accomplishment so far relating to your passion (e.g., winning a gold medal for your invention at a national science competition)
• A time you lost a game or competition that was really important to you
• How you dealt with the loss or death of someone close to you
• A time you did poorly in a class that you expected to do well in
• How moving to a new school impacted your self-esteem and social life
• A chronic illness you battled or are still battling
• Your healing process after having your heart broken for the first time
• A time you caved under peer pressure and the steps you took so that it won't happen again
• How you almost gave up on learning a foreign language but stuck with it
• Why you decided to become a vegetarian or vegan, and how you navigate living with a meat-eating family
• What you did to overcome a particular anxiety or phobia you had (e.g., stage fright)
• A history of a failed experiment you did over and over, and how you finally found a way to make it work successfully
• Someone within your community whom you aspire to emulate
• A family tradition you used to be embarrassed about but are now proud of
• Your experience with learning English upon moving to the United States
• A close friend in the LGBTQ+ community who supported you when you came out
• A time you were discriminated against, how you reacted, and what you would do differently if faced with the same situation again
• How you navigate your identity as a multiracial, multiethnic, and/or multilingual person
• A project or volunteer effort you led to help or improve your community
• A particular celebrity or role model who inspired you to come out as LGBTQ+
• Your biggest challenge (and how you plan to tackle it) as a female in a male-dominated field
• How you used to discriminate against your own community, and what made you change your mind and eventually take pride in who you are and/or where you come from
• A program you implemented at your school in response to a known problem, such as a lack of recycling cans in the cafeteria
• A time you stepped in to mediate an argument or fight between two people
• An app or other tool you developed to make people’s lives easier in some way
• A time you proposed a solution that worked to an ongoing problem at school, an internship, or a part-time job
• The steps you took to identify and fix an error in coding for a website or program
• An important social or political issue that you would fix if you had the means

How to Build a College Essay in 6 Easy Steps

Once you’ve decided on a college essay topic you want to use, it’s time to buckle down and start fleshing out your essay. These six steps will help you transform a simple college essay topic into a full-fledged personal statement.

Step 1: Write Down All the Details

Once you’ve chosen a general topic to write about, get out a piece of paper and get to work on creating a list of all the key details you could include in your essay . These could be things such as the following:

• Emotions you felt at the time
• Names, places, and/or numbers
• Dialogue, or what you or someone else said
• A specific anecdote, example, or experience
• Descriptions of how things looked, felt, or seemed

If you can only come up with a few details, then it’s probably best to revisit the list of college essay topics above and choose a different one that you can write more extensively on.

Good college essay topics are typically those that:

• You remember well (so nothing that happened when you were really young)
• You're excited to write about
• You're not embarrassed or uncomfortable to share with others
• You believe will make you positively stand out from other applicants

Step 2: Figure Out Your Focus and Approach

Once you have all your major details laid out, start to figure out how you could arrange them in a way that makes sense and will be most effective.

It’s important here to really narrow your focus: you don’t need to (and shouldn’t!) discuss every single aspect of your trip to visit family in Indonesia when you were 16. Rather, zero in on a particular anecdote or experience and explain why and how it impacted you.

Alternatively, you could write about multiple experiences while weaving them together with a clear, meaningful theme or concept , such as how your math teacher helped you overcome your struggle with geometry over the course of an entire school year. In this case, you could mention a few specific times she tutored you and most strongly supported you in your studies.

There’s no one right way to approach your college essay, so play around to see what approaches might work well for the topic you’ve chosen.

If you’re really unsure about how to approach your essay, think about what part of your topic was or is most meaningful and memorable to you, and go from there.

Step 3: Structure Your Narrative

• Beginning: Don’t just spout off a ton of background information here—you want to hook your reader, so try to start in the middle of the action , such as with a meaningful conversation you had or a strong emotion you felt. It could also be a single anecdote if you plan to center your essay around a specific theme or idea.
• Middle: Here’s where you start to flesh out what you’ve established in the opening. Provide more details about the experience (if a single anecdote) or delve into the various times your theme or idea became most important to you. Use imagery and sensory details to put the reader in your shoes.
• End: It’s time to bring it all together. Finish describing the anecdote or theme your essay centers around and explain how it relates to you now , what you’ve learned or gained from it, and how it has influenced your goals.

Step 4: Write a Rough Draft

By now you should have all your major details and an outline for your essay written down; these two things will make it easy for you to convert your notes into a rough draft.

At this stage of the writing process, don’t worry too much about vocabulary or grammar and just focus on getting out all your ideas so that they form the general shape of an essay . It’s OK if you’re a little over the essay's word limit — as you edit, you’ll most likely make some cuts to irrelevant and ineffective parts anyway.

If at any point you get stuck and have no idea what to write, revisit steps 1-3 to see whether there are any important details or ideas you might be omitting or not elaborating on enough to get your overall point across to admissions officers.

Step 5: Edit, Revise, and Proofread

• Sections that are too wordy and don’t say anything important
• Irrelevant details that don’t enhance your essay or the point you're trying to make
• Parts that seem to drag or that feel incredibly boring or redundant
• Areas that are vague and unclear and would benefit from more detail
• Phrases or sections that are awkwardly placed and should be moved around
• Areas that feel unconvincing, inauthentic, or exaggerated

Start paying closer attention to your word choice/vocabulary and grammar at this time, too. It’s perfectly normal to edit and revise your college essay several times before asking for feedback, so keep working with it until you feel it’s pretty close to its final iteration.

This step will likely take the longest amount of time — at least several weeks, if not months — so really put effort into fixing up your essay. Once you’re satisfied, do a final proofread to ensure that it’s technically correct.

Step 6: Get Feedback and Tweak as Needed

After you’ve overhauled your rough draft and made it into a near-final draft, give your essay to somebody you trust , such as a teacher or parent, and have them look it over for technical errors and offer you feedback on its content and overall structure.

Use this feedback to make any last-minute changes or edits. If necessary, repeat steps 5 and 6. You want to be extra sure that your essay is perfect before you submit it to colleges!

Recap: From College Essay Topics to Great College Essays

Many different kinds of college application essay topics can get you into a great college. But this doesn’t make it any easier to choose the best topic for you .

In general, the best college essay topics have the following qualities :

• They’re specific
• They show who you are
• They’re meaningful to you
• They’re unique
• They clearly answer the question

If you ever need help coming up with an idea of what to write for your essay, just refer to the list of 53 examples of college essay topics above to get your brain juices flowing.

Once you’ve got an essay topic picked out, follow these six steps for turning your topic into an unforgettable personal statement :

• Write down all the details
• Figure out your focus and approach
• Structure your narrative
• Write a rough draft
• Edit, revise, and proofread
• Get feedback and tweak as needed

And with that, I wish you the best of luck on your college essays!

What’s Next?

Writing a college essay is no simple task. Get expert college essay tips with our guides on how to come up with great college essay ideas and how to write a college essay, step by step .

You can also check out this huge list of college essay prompts  to get a feel for what types of questions you'll be expected to answer on your applications.

Want to see examples of college essays that absolutely rocked? You're in luck because we've got a collection of 100+ real college essay examples right here on our blog!

Hannah received her MA in Japanese Studies from the University of Michigan and holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California. From 2013 to 2015, she taught English in Japan via the JET Program. She is passionate about education, writing, and travel.

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12 Strategies to Writing the Perfect College Essay

College admission committees sift through thousands of college essays each year. Here’s how to make yours stand out.

Pamela Reynolds

When it comes to deciding who they will admit into their programs, colleges consider many criteria, including high school grades, extracurricular activities, and ACT and SAT scores. But in recent years, more colleges are no longer considering test scores.

Instead, many (including Harvard through 2026) are opting for “test-blind” admission policies that give more weight to other elements in a college application. This policy change is seen as fairer to students who don’t have the means or access to testing, or who suffer from test anxiety.

So, what does this mean for you?

Simply that your college essay, traditionally a requirement of any college application, is more important than ever.

A college essay is your unique opportunity to introduce yourself to admissions committees who must comb through thousands of applications each year. It is your chance to stand out as someone worthy of a seat in that classroom.

A well-written and thoughtful essay—reflecting who you are and what you believe—can go a long way to separating your application from the slew of forgettable ones that admissions officers read. Indeed, officers may rely on them even more now that many colleges are not considering test scores.

Below we’ll discuss a few strategies you can use to help your essay stand out from the pack. We’ll touch on how to start your essay, what you should write for your college essay, and elements that make for a great college essay.

Be Authentic

More than any other consideration, you should choose a topic or point of view that is consistent with who you truly are.

Readers can sense when writers are inauthentic.

Inauthenticity could mean the use of overly flowery language that no one would ever use in conversation, or it could mean choosing an inconsequential topic that reveals very little about who you are.

Use your own voice, sense of humor, and a natural way of speaking.

Whatever subject you choose, make sure it’s something that’s genuinely important to you and not a subject you’ve chosen just to impress. You can write about a specific experience, hobby, or personality quirk that illustrates your strengths, but also feel free to write about your weaknesses.

Honesty about traits, situations, or a childhood background that you are working to improve may resonate with the reader more strongly than a glib victory speech.

Grab the Reader From the Start

You’ll be competing with so many other applicants for an admission officer’s attention.

Therefore, start your essay with an opening sentence or paragraph that immediately seizes the imagination. This might be a bold statement, a thoughtful quote, a question you pose, or a descriptive scene.

Starting your essay in a powerful way with a clear thesis statement can often help you along in the writing process. If your task is to tell a good story, a bold beginning can be a natural prelude to getting there, serving as a roadmap, engaging the reader from the start, and presenting the purpose of your writing.

Focus on Deeper Themes

Some essay writers think they will impress committees by loading an essay with facts, figures, and descriptions of activities, like wins in sports or descriptions of volunteer work. But that’s not the point.

College admissions officers are interested in learning more about who you are as a person and what makes you tick.

They want to know what has brought you to this stage in life. They want to read about realizations you may have come to through adversity as well as your successes, not just about how many games you won while on the soccer team or how many people you served at a soup kitchen.

Let the reader know how winning the soccer game helped you develop as a person, friend, family member, or leader. Make a connection with your soup kitchen volunteerism and how it may have inspired your educational journey and future aspirations. What did you discover about yourself?

Show Don’t Tell

As you expand on whatever theme you’ve decided to explore in your essay, remember to show, don’t tell.

The most engaging writing “shows” by setting scenes and providing anecdotes, rather than just providing a list of accomplishments and activities.

Reciting a list of activities is also boring. An admissions officer will want to know about the arc of your emotional journey too.

Try Doing Something Different

If you want your essay to stand out, think about approaching your subject from an entirely new perspective. While many students might choose to write about their wins, for instance, what if you wrote an essay about what you learned from all your losses?

If you are an especially talented writer, you might play with the element of surprise by crafting an essay that leaves the response to a question to the very last sentence.

You may want to stay away from well-worn themes entirely, like a sports-related obstacle or success, volunteer stories, immigration stories, moving, a summary of personal achievements or overcoming obstacles.

However, such themes are popular for a reason. They represent the totality of most people’s lives coming out of high school. Therefore, it may be less important to stay away from these topics than to take a fresh approach.

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Write With the Reader in Mind

Writing for the reader means building a clear and logical argument in which one thought flows naturally from another.

Use transitions between paragraphs.

Think about any information you may have left out that the reader may need to know. Are there ideas you have included that do not help illustrate your theme?

Be sure you can answer questions such as: Does what you have written make sense? Is the essay organized? Does the opening grab the reader? Is there a strong ending? Have you given enough background information? Is it wordy?

Write Several Drafts

Set your essay aside for a few days and come back to it after you’ve had some time to forget what you’ve written. Often, you’ll discover you have a whole new perspective that enhances your ability to make revisions.

Start writing months before your essay is due to give yourself enough time to write multiple drafts. A good time to start could be as early as the summer before your senior year when homework and extracurricular activities take up less time.

Read It Aloud

Writer’s tip : Reading your essay aloud can instantly uncover passages that sound clumsy, long-winded, or false.

Don’t Repeat

If you’ve mentioned an activity, story, or anecdote in some other part of your application, don’t repeat it again in your essay.

Your essay should tell college admissions officers something new. Whatever you write in your essay should be in philosophical alignment with the rest of your application.

Also, be sure you’ve answered whatever question or prompt may have been posed to you at the outset.

Ask Others to Read Your Essay

Be sure the people you ask to read your essay represent different demographic groups—a teacher, a parent, even a younger sister or brother.

Ask each reader what they took from the essay and listen closely to what they have to say. If anyone expresses confusion, revise until the confusion is cleared up.

Pay Attention to Form

Although there are often no strict word limits for college essays, most essays are shorter rather than longer. Common App, which students can use to submit to multiple colleges, suggests that essays stay at about 650 words.

“While we won’t as a rule stop reading after 650 words, we cannot promise that an overly wordy essay will hold our attention for as long as you’d hoped it would,” the Common App website states.

In reviewing other technical aspects of your essay, be sure that the font is readable, that the margins are properly spaced, that any dialogue is set off properly, and that there is enough spacing at the top. Your essay should look clean and inviting to readers.

End Your Essay With a “Kicker”

In journalism, a kicker is the last punchy line, paragraph, or section that brings everything together.

It provides a lasting impression that leaves the reader satisfied and impressed by the points you have artfully woven throughout your piece.

So, here’s our kicker: Be concise and coherent, engage in honest self-reflection, and include vivid details and anecdotes that deftly illustrate your point.

While writing a fantastic essay may not guarantee you get selected, it can tip the balance in your favor if admissions officers are considering a candidate with a similar GPA and background.

Write, revise, revise again, and good luck!

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About the Author

Pamela Reynolds is a Boston-area feature writer and editor whose work appears in numerous publications. She is the author of “Revamp: A Memoir of Travel and Obsessive Renovation.”

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Recent High School Grads: Tell Us Why You Decided to Go to College or Not

Students across America are asking whether college is worth it. We want to know why you decided that it was — or wasn’t — a good choice to attend.

By Jeanna Smialek

Jeanna Smialek is an economics reporter who is working on an article about the shifting U.S. labor market.

Polls, enrollment statistics, social media posts and education economists agree: We are seeing a growing skepticism of college among many American teenagers and their parents.

Whether that is a short-term trend spurred by a strong job market with plentiful opportunities or a longer-term change will be important for the future of the work force. It could also shape economic mobility, inequality and other facets of the economy in the years ahead.

That is why we want to hear from people who have graduated high school in the past several years or who are graduating in 2025. How are you thinking about your decision to attend college? What factors mattered to you, what did you decide, and how will you determine whether you are happy with your decision?

I will read every response to this questionnaire as I’m researching my article, because I’m looking for a wide array of perspectives to inform my reporting. I will reach out to you if it makes sense to include your example, because I want to make sure to get the details right. I will not publish your response without following up with you first. I will not use your contact information for anything but my reporting, and I won’t share it outside our newsroom.

Please fill out this form only if you are 14 or older. If you are between the ages of 14 and 17, a reporter will ask to get in touch with your parent or guardian before talking with you further.

Tell us about your college decision.

Are you attending a college or university? Do you think higher education is worth it?

Jeanna Smialek covers the Federal Reserve and the economy for The Times from Washington. More about Jeanna Smialek

How To Apply For College: Forbes Advisor’s Application Checklist

Updated: Jan 2, 2024, 1:26pm

Applying for college can be a lengthy, stressful and complicated process, with lots of moving parts and deadlines. Filling out an undergraduate application typically involves gathering documentation, taking standardized tests, writing essays and asking for letters of recommendation, among other steps. It’s easy to get overwhelmed.

To help you stay organized, we’ve put together this college application checklist. Here, we round up all the materials you need and the dates by which you need them. We even provide a printable version of this checklist to guide you as you work through this process.

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Save This Checklist

Keep track of your most important application tasks and deadlines with the simplified PDF version of this checklist. Save it to your phone or print it out for easy reference. (If you print it, make sure to choose the “fit to paper” scale option!)

Forbes Advisor’s College Application Checklist 

Before you start.

You can’t begin the application process until you’ve made a plan. Start by narrowing down your prospective schools. Know where you’re applying, what each application entails and the due dates you need to meet.

Decide About Early Decision

It’s important to determine whether you plan to apply for early decision or early action at any school. As the name implies, early decision often involves an earlier due date for your application.

Early decision comes with perks—admission rates for early-decision applicants tend to be higher, for example, and you learn about your admission decision more quickly—but this method comes with strings attached, too. For example, if you are admitted on early decision, you may have to give your response before learning whether other colleges have also accepted your applications, and you may have to withdraw your applications to other schools.

Get a Jump Start on Standardized Tests

You should prepare for and take the SAT early on since many students take the SAT multiple times. If you plan to take the ACT more than once, consider taking the ACT early on as well. And make sure to sign up for the Common App , which allows you to use a single form to apply to multiple colleges.

Your Checklist

• Know which schools you’re interested in
• Take the SAT
• Know if you plan to apply for early decision
• Mark down all college application due dates
• Sign up for the Common App

Two Months Before College Applications Are Due

A couple of months before your deadlines, things are getting down to the wire. If you’re submitting standardized test scores, it’s time to make sure your results are up to snuff. If you plan to take the ACT , now is the time to do it. And if you weren’t satisfied with your earlier SAT scores , it’s time to retake that test as well.

• Take the ACT
• Retake the SAT (if applicable)

Four Weeks Before College Applications Are Due

Most undergraduate applications require letters of recommendation , at least one of which must come from an academic source. You could ask a teacher, a school counselor or another faculty member to write your recommendation letter.

Keep in mind that these individuals are busy professionals who may be writing multiple letters of recommendation for other students, so it’s important to give them at least a few weeks to complete this task.

• Ask for letters of recommendation

Several Weeks Before Applications Are Due

Not all universities ask applicants to submit essays, but this is a common requirement for many. If you’re applying to schools that require college essays , you’ve probably been working on yours for a while—potentially even as assignments in your English class.

In the weeks leading up to your application deadlines, it’s time to polish up those essays and get them ready for submission. Gather feedback from trusted peers, teachers and mentors, and make edits as necessary. Make sure your essays answer the prompts, comply with word count requirements and are free of grammatical errors.

• Complete college essays

The Week Before Applications Are Due

At this point in the application process, it’s time to gather all the materials required for your college application. These may include the application forms themselves, preliminary transcripts, test scores and essays. Make sure your letter-writers have finished your recommendation letters as well.

Once all your documents are in order, there’s no need to keep waiting—submit those applications.

• Gather letters of recommendation and required materials
• Submit all applications

Before, During and After Applying to College

Applying for college and applying for financial aid are separate processes. Before, during and after your college application process, you should be researching scholarships and grants to help you pay for your education.

Unlike student loans, scholarships and grants do not require repayment. These forms of aid may be need-based, merit-based or use other identifying characteristics, like ethnicity or religion. If you qualify for a scholarship or grant, make sure to apply—these awards can add up to make a big difference.

• Apply for scholarships and grants

During October

We recommend submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) regardless of whether you think you will qualify for financial aid. The factors determining aid eligibility are complex, so you may qualify for a federal student loan even if it seems unlikely to you. Many states use the FAFSA to determine eligibility for state-level student aid as well. Some aid is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, so submitting the application in a timely manner is wise.

Also by October, you should know whether you will be registering to take any AP exams. The College Board usually requires all AP test-takers to register for their exams by November 15, but your high school may impose an earlier deadline for registration. Make sure you know and are on track to meet those deadlines.

• Gather materials and submit the FAFSA
• Know when to register for AP exams

By May, you should have received responses for all your college applications. Of the schools that granted you admission, you should have narrowed down your options and decided where you’d like to attend. Now, it’s time to make it official.

Note that if you were accepted to a school on early decision, you will have to complete this step of the process much earlier in the year—usually by February.

• Accept an offer of admission
• Decline offers of admission from schools you will not attend

During June and July

By this point, you’ve accepted admission to a college and you’ve graduated from high school—but we’re still going. Now that you’ve officially wrapped up your high school career, it’s time to tackle these last remaining tasks: submitting AP scores and official transcripts.

Send these materials in June if possible, and check with your prospective college for its specific deadlines—they are usually in early or mid-July.

• Submit AP scores (if applicable)
• Submit final transcripts
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