Your college essays: Some easy tips to get off on the right foot

Christmas break has arrived, which I am a big fan of. Christmas break is a lengthy break from school, unless you have English homework (as I do). Then, we get back to school for a week before leaving again for a week, unless we have state-mandated exams.

Because of Helene, we have this odd schedule, but either way, I will be doing little schoolwork over the coming weeks, meaning I have a chance to knock out my last essays for college.

If you have not started your essays, or if you have just started on your essays, then you and my friends have something in common. I have been working on my essays for a few months, just whenever I have a free afternoon, and here is what I have learned about how to write essays for schools.

(1) The knowledge that essays are important is crucial to have in your mind. The more selective the school you apply to, the better your essays have to be. Pomona College, a small, prestigious liberal arts school in California has a 7% acceptance rate, but as their dean of admissions said, 80% of applicants are academically advanced enough to attend. Everybody has good test scores and took the hardest classes at their school, so you have to separate yourself via your writing, as that is unique and special. Your essays give the admissions officers a direct window into your personality, and you get the chance to show them things you can’t show through a transcript. Basically, I am saying that you need to try when you are writing these essays. You cannot give half effort through your essays and expect to beat out your peers who spent hours upon hours perfecting their writing.

(2) You just need to start. It can be very difficult to get over that hump and start working on your essays. You have the illusion of time, the prompts require you to think, and there are so many things in the world more fun than writing college essays. Nonetheless, you just have to start writing. Most of what you write will likely be pretty bad. I was looking back at my earliest rough drafts, and they were … not good, but you’re not submitting your first draft.

(3) You do not have to write about traumatic experiences to get into schools. If it makes sense for the prompt, and you think that writing about trauma in your life is the best way you can answer their question, then go for it, but you should not try and force it. If the prompt is something like “Reflect on a time when you had to overcome a significant obstacle” or “Discuss an event or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself,” then it makes sense to trauma dump a bit, but it is never necessarily better to just write a bunch about a traumatic event. You can get into great schools without some mega challenge you had to overcome, as long as you show genuine growth in some capacity. You can’t guilt trip admission officers into letting you in. Which is not to say that you cannot mention events in your life that are really sad, just that you have to show growth and development that makes an AO think “That’s really impressive. They would be a good fit here.”

(4) Avoid cliches. You do not want an AO to read your essay and think “I have read this essay 10 times so far.” Failing to make a sports team is a common failure or obstacle that is oft-mentioned in essays, but it is such a common topic that you risk being written-off before your AO gets past the first sentence. Just make sure that whatever you write about is about you.

(5) Be weird and funny but not quirky. Interjecting personality and humor into your essays allow the AO to obtain a connection with you, but if it seems like you are forcing it or like you are too strange, then your essay will fall a little flat.

(6) Try not to be too formal or informal. You are not writing a research paper, but you are also not texting your sibling. You can generally tell by the prompt how informal or formal you should make your answer. For example, one of Harvard’s prompts this year was “Top 3 things your roommates might like to know about you,” which you can obviously take in a very informal way. You need to strike a balance and show your personality without making your essay too conversational.

(7) Don’t use AI.

(8) Focus on what makes you unique, like your environment, home life, school, etc …

(9) Have someone else read over your essays.

(10) Give me credit if you get into all of your schools.