Reviewed By Chris H. To fulfill this dream, a student comes across many challenges. The first is writing a college application essay that plays a vital role in your admission. Apart from good grades, colleges require a document written by the students to analyze how they are the best choice. Moreover, this essay is the only way to impress the admissions committee. And make them believe that you deserve to be in the college the most among all the other applicants. Writing this essay perfectly is not optional but mandatory. You will not get admission if you fail to impress the admissions officers.

To give students an idea of how the essay is written correctly, this article is drafted. Continue reading the blog to get help from some amazing college application essay examples. To understand better how a college application essay is written and structured, analyzing college essay examples is essential. These college essay examples that worked for the admission officers will explain how you should write your document. Learning how to fulfill all the requirements is an art that is mandatory to learn as a student. Going through examples will help you in that area as well. Whether you are drafting your college essay on any topic, it is a good idea to surf through examples. Below are some excellent samples and examples to help our students impress the audience.

Some colleges require short essays of around to words. Writing these essays can be arduous as short essays need only important details about you, your objectives, and your accomplishments. Carefully examine the example provided. If you require to provide an essay of about words, it means you have to share details about yourself. Sticking to the word count is as important as any part of your college essay. For a word college application or supplemental essay, a student can write about:. However, it depends on the essay prompt and personal preference. Observe how a successful college application essay of words is written effectively through the example provided. A college application essay can be written using different prompts. One very common essay prompt is writing about yourself.

In this, an applicant is asked to shed light on his background identity, interest, or talent that is meaningful to them. Therefore, drafting an essay about yourself will be a good idea. Every university has its criteria for granting admission to students. For this purpose, the application essays vary as well. If you wish for admission to Harvard University, observe the college essay presented below. To understand how to answer the essay prompt for Johns Hopkins, an example is provided. Carefully observe the sample to draft your personal statement in an effective way. Apart from general personal statements, some colleges require application essays specific to the field.

For example, if you are to pursue your dream of doing engineering, you will be writing an essay related to that. This daunting element of the college application is something that can create angst for even the most accomplished students. Almost every standard college application requires first-year applicants to submit a personal essay. With so many colleges deciding to go test-optional, many do not require standardized tests and instead focus solely on your transcripts, essay, and recommendations , the essay is the one place in your application where you can illuminate your character in words and ideas, rather than in numbers and percentages.

It is your chance to show schools who you are, what makes you tick, and why you stand out from the crowd. Admissions counselors will read your essay and try to determine whether or not they want you at their school. Will they make our school a more valuable place? There are seven personal essay prompts in the Common Application. At the end of the day, if there is something you feel really passionate about, you can likely adapt it to fit a prompt. The essay should be words, which might sound like a lot at first, but you will be surprised by how quickly you reach that limit once you get going. Most of the students I work with end up making cuts to shorten their essays before submitting.

The word limit is non-negotiable. Your parents, teachers, and guidance counselors know what they are talking about when they tell you to get started on the essay during the summer before your senior year. Once senior year starts, life is a whirlwind. Aim to start in July or August before senior year. Starting can be as easy as creating a document where you generate an ongoing list of potential topics. You will want to draft your essay in a separate document anyway. You can copy and paste it over into the Common Application once you have a final, edited version. Talk about topic ideas out loud with anyone who will listen. Discuss ideas for topics with your family members over dinner or on car rides with friends. Think about ideas when you are out for a run or bike ride.

Reading through these may inspire you. Do not think too big. Your essay does not have to cover a massive, earth-shattering event. Some people have. Colleges want to read something different. The Common Application has added an optional question that gives all applicants a place to address the impact that Covid has had on them personally and educationally. If you feel you have a story you must tell connected to the pandemic, this is the place to share it. You can also ask people who know you best how they would describe you in a few words and why. Their responses can be great jumping off points for writing your essay. Some students choose to write about seemingly small, ordinary topics that illuminate their character beautifully, and are both poignant and thought-provoking.

One student I worked with wrote about growing up hiking with her parents from the time when she was a baby in a backpack carrier, to a grumpy middle schooler, to an appreciative, nature-loving young adult who found outdoor experiences were an essential part of who she was at her core. Other students choose to describe major life events, or especially challenging experiences that have impacted them deeply. An essay that comes to mind is one written by a student who battled loneliness and isolation due to anxiety and depression, and ultimately found invaluable reprieve in the arts, a passion that they hoped to continue to pursue at the college level.

Whether writing about a painful experience or a more simple experience, be sure the essay rises above a strict recounting of a story. Instead, use the narrative to reveal your true self. Admissions counselors will not judge you negatively for depicting moments of weakness or fear, or for having different politics than they might. More likely, they will be impressed by your level of self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and introspection. Admissions counselors want value-adders. What adds value to a college campus? Students who display energy, resilience, leadership, passion, inclusivity, unique outlooks, and people who can inspire others.

Your essay should tell a story that highlights traits like these. No one else has lived your life or experienced what you have in the way that you have; tell your unique story. This is not the time to experiment with overly formal academic nor romantic, flowery language. Use words you would normally use and show the reader what makes you, you. There is no need to over-inflate things. Trust your voice and the fact that your story is interesting enough in that no one else has lived it. The college essay is not like a typical English paper. The best essays typically do both. You can help your reader see and feel what you are describing by using some figurative language throughout your piece.

Describe sights, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and sounds as you write. That said, just because you are being creative does not mean your essay should lack structure. This is not the time to experiment with a completely outlandish form. You want them to be entirely absorbed in the story you are telling. The easiest way to do this is by making your essay easy to read. Think of the typical five paragraph structure for English papers. Just make sure it has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Your essay should not have any spelling, formatting, or grammatical errors.

Mistakes do not put your best foot forward to admissions counselors, and they are distracting. Be sure to read, re-read, and share your submission with others to prevent the possibility of mistakes.

One of the best ways to write a successful college essay for your college application is by learning from real college essay examples that worked. I've compiled a few of my favorite essay examples here that cover a variety of college essay topics. Need help writing your college essay? Click here for my ultimate guide. Or, check out my complete guide for answering the most popular college essay prompts on the Common App. though these are all great essays regardless of where or if students were admitted to their top choice school. Looking for more college admissions essay examples about yourself? Check out more personal statements here. Behold, some of the best college essays of in my humble opinion. Background Essay: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it.

If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Challenge Essay: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? Belief Essay: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? Gratitude Essay: Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Accomplishment Essay: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. Topic Essay: Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more? Create-Your-Own Essay: Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Many of these essays also demonstrate vulnerability. College admissions officers reading your college application will want to know how your values, qualities, and skills will flourish in college— and how good your writing skills are. We asked dozens of experts on essay writing and test scores for their take on what makes a great college essay. Check out five of our favorite college essay tips below. Imagine how the person reading your essay will feel. No one's idea of a good time is writing a college essay, I know. But if sitting down to write your essay feels like a chore, and you're bored by what you're saying, you can imagine how the person reading your essay will feel.

On the other hand, if you're writing about something you love, something that excites you, something that you've thought deeply about, chances are I'm going to set down your application feeling excited, too—and feeling like I've gotten to know you. Write like a journalist. Think about any article you've read—how do you decide to read it? You read the first few sentences and then decide. The same goes for college essays. A strong lede journalist parlance for "lead" will place your reader in the "accept" mindset from the beginning of the essay. A weak lede will have your reader thinking "reject"—a mindset from which it's nearly impossible to recover.

Don't read the Common Application prompts. If you already have, erase them from memory and write the story you want colleges to hear. The truth is, admission reviewers rarely know—or care—which prompt you are responding to. They are curious to discover what you choose to show them about who you are, what you value , and why. Even the most fluid writers are often stifled by fitting their narrative neatly into a category and the essay quickly loses authentic voice. Write freely and choose a prompt later. Spoiler alert one prompt is "Share an essay on any topic of your choice. This college essay tip is by Brennan Barnard, director of college counseling at the Derryfield School in Manchester, N. and contributor to the NYT, HuffPost, and Forbes on intentionally approaching college admissions.

Adding feelings to your essays can be much more powerful than just listing your achievements. It allows reviewers to connect with you and understand your personality and what drives you. In particular, be open to showing vulnerability. Nobody expects you to be perfect and acknowledging times in which you have felt nervous or scared shows maturity and self-awareness. This college essay tip is by Charles Maynard, Oxford and Stanford University Graduate and founder of Going Merry, which is a one-stop shop for applying to college scholarships. Revise often and early. Your admissions essay should go through several stages of revision. Ask your parents, teachers, high school counselors or friends for their eyes and edits. It should be people who know you best and want you to succeed. Take their constructive criticism in the spirit for which they intend—your benefit.

This college essay tip is by Dhivya Arumugham, Kaplan Test Prep's director of SAT and ACT programs. Written for the Common App college application essays "Tell us your story" prompt. This essay could work for prompts 1 and 7 for the Common App. They covered the precious mahogany coffin with a brown amalgam of rocks, decomposed organisms, and weeds. It was my turn to take the shovel, but I felt too ashamed to dutifully send her off when I had not properly said goodbye. I refused to throw dirt on her. I refused to let go of my grandmother, to accept a death I had not seen coming, to believe that an illness could not only interrupt, but steal a beloved life. When my parents finally revealed to me that my grandmother had been battling liver cancer, I was twelve and I was angry--mostly with myself.

They had wanted to protect me--only six years old at the time--from the complex and morose concept of death. Hurt that my parents had deceived me and resentful of my own oblivion, I committed myself to preventing such blindness from resurfacing. I became desperately devoted to my education because I saw knowledge as the key to freeing myself from the chains of ignorance. While learning about cancer in school I promised myself that I would memorize every fact and absorb every detail in textbooks and online medical journals. And as I began to consider my future, I realized that what I learned in school would allow me to silence that which had silenced my grandmother. However, I was focused not with learning itself, but with good grades and high test scores.

I started to believe that academic perfection would be the only way to redeem myself in her eyes--to make up for what I had not done as a granddaughter. However, a simple walk on a hiking trail behind my house made me open my own eyes to the truth. Over the years, everything--even honoring my grandmother--had become second to school and grades. As my shoes humbly tapped against the Earth, the towering trees blackened by the forest fire a few years ago, the faintly colorful pebbles embedded in the sidewalk, and the wispy white clouds hanging in the sky reminded me of my small though nonetheless significant part in a larger whole that is humankind and this Earth.

Before I could resolve my guilt, I had to broaden my perspective of the world as well as my responsibilities to my fellow humans. Volunteering at a cancer treatment center has helped me discover my path. When I see patients trapped in not only the hospital but also a moment in time by their diseases, I talk to them. For six hours a day, three times a week, Ivana is surrounded by IV stands, empty walls, and busy nurses that quietly yet constantly remind her of her breast cancer. I need only to smile and say hello to see her brighten up as life returns to her face.

Upon our first meeting, she opened up about her two sons, her hometown, and her knitting group--no mention of her disease. Without even standing up, the three of us—Ivana, me, and my grandmother--had taken a walk together. While I physically treat their cancer, I want to lend patients emotional support and mental strength to escape the interruption and continue living. Make Narrative structure work for you. For a more complete guide to using Narrative Structure to shape your personal statement, check out that link. Show insight and growth. This essay does so in a few different ways. understand how I had been able to abandon my sick grandmother in favor of playing with friends and watching TV or However, I was focused not with learning itself, but with good grades and high test scores.

Bring us into your world. You can do so through things like imagery e. My laptop is like a passport. It is plastered with stickers all over the outside, inside, and bottom. Each sticker is a stamp, representing a place I've been, a passion I've pursued, or community I've belonged to. These stickers make for an untraditional first impression at a meeting or presentation, but it's one I'm proud of. Let me take you on a quick tour:. Art has been a constant for me for as long as I can remember. Today my primary engagement with art is through design.

Our Team. Choose Your Own Adventure Essay Tool. It was inside a small abandoned church. The "Burying Grandma" Example College Essay. He also goes one step further.

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