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Creating the First Draft of Your College Application Essay

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By the time senior year rolls around, you have already done most of what it takes to get into college. Years of grades, extracurricular activities, and test scores have already stacked up to give admissions officers a sense of your interests and talents. So then why should essays be a big deal, if all of this information about you already exists?

Essays are extremely important because they tie the whole application together. You aren’t just a list of accomplishments—you’re a person. Your essay is one of the few places in the application where you get to show your values and personality to the selection committee. And that takes a lot of careful planning. In this post, we’ll talk about how to write the first draft of a winning college application essay.

How Long Should the College Essay Drafting Process Take?

We recommend giving yourself at least a month to craft your personal statement . For most students, this is the main essay on the Common Application. To get advice on those specific prompts, see CollegeVine’s post on How to Write the Common Application Essays 2018-19 (With Examples) . Students using a different application portal can still follow these general drafting guidelines.

For school-specific essays, we recommend starting at least two weeks before the deadline. The drafting process requires a little less soul-searching and a bit more research. If you’re at the point where you’re writing “Why This School” essays, you can find drafting tips at CollegeVine’s Why This College’ Essays: Should You Focus on Yourself or the College?

We have students start essays early so that they have time to marinate. You will come up with great ideas between drafts, and words that sounded great at first will stick out if you read the essay several days or weeks later.

These timeline suggestions are on the low end. Starting even earlier never hurt a student.

I’m Smart. Can’t I Just Start the Essay the Night Before It’s Due?

Sure, it’s your essay. However, it’s our professional opinion that students who put this off are leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table.

How can that be? A lot of undergraduate scholarships are based on your college application only. These are “automatic consideration merit awards.” So even if you gain acceptance using a last-minute essay (which is not a guarantee), you could be missing out on serious financial aid.

In the rest of this article, we recommend one approach to building a first draft. This is not necessarily how you have to start. If you use this method, then you can be sure no important step is falling through the cracks.

CollegeVine’s 5 Steps to a First Draft

1. analyze the prompt.

First, read the prompt. In some cases, you have only one choice. In others, you will be given multiple questions from which to choose. If you have options, read them all before narrowing in on one prompt over another.

Once you have identified a prompt that speaks to you, annotate it. First, underline key words or phrases. Here you can see an example annotated prompt from this year’s Common Application prompt choices.

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?

By underlining the key parts of the passage, you get a sense of what kinds of answers go well with this essay prompt. For instance, students who annotated this prompt would know that they should be looking for obstacles, challenges, setbacks, or failures in their past.

Next, number the specific requests that the prompt makes. This avoids the common mistake of responding to some but not all of the questions posed. You can see how we break down the same example prompt below:

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later su ccess. (1) Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. (2) How did it affect you, and (3) what did you learn from the experience?

Student who annotated this prompt would know that the essay should accomplish three things:

• Let the reader know when they faced a challenge, setback, or failure.
• Describe how it affected them.
• Share what they learned from the experience.

This whole process only takes a few minutes, but it will help you stay on-topic when it actually comes time to write.

2. Free Write

Next, write without stopping for 30-60 minutes. This gets your creative juices flowing and helps you to uncover ideas you would not have considered otherwise. There are only two rules for a free write:

First, stay on topic.

Second, don’t stop writing!

3. Analyze Your Free Write

As soon as you’re done, read your free write over again. There will probably be something that surprises you. Put a star next to it. If you find a part that really resonates with you, star that as well. Eye-catching details and stories that grab your attention usually make for good essay material.

Next, look for a “growth” moment in the free write. Most successful essays follow this story arch:

• At first I was [A: trait].
• Then something important happened: [B: event].
• Because of [B: event], I am no longer [A: trait]. Now, I am [C: trait].

If you can fill in [A], [B], and [C] with your own story of how you grew, then you probably have a good essay topic on your hands. Whenever you find one of these growth moments, star it.

4. Pen Your First Draft

By now, you should have an annotated prompt and a free write with a bunch of stars on it. Does anything jump out at you? Is there one essay idea that is more appealing than the others? If no, try the same process with a different prompt.  If yes, then it’s time to write your first draft.

This draft doesn’t have to be pretty. All you have to do is tell a story that answers the questions you numbered in the prompt. Whenever possible, try to answer these questions with stories from your life. Give examples. Be specific.

5. Review Your First Draft

Once you’ve written your draft, read it over. All you have to do is answer one question: Are you the hero of your story?

Some essays show the author as the hero, but just as often a friend or family member actually winds up becoming the main focus of a student’s essay. At the end of the day, you need to be the main character. Otherwise, colleges and universities will not have enough information about you to make an informed admissions decision.

Read this draft a second time. This time, answer this question: Did you respond to all parts of the prompt?

Make sure you answer each question presented. For the example, this looks like:

(1) Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure.

(2) how did it affect you, (3) what did you learn from the experience.

If your essay addresses every question in the prompt, then you just completed a great first draft essay.

I’m Done with My First Draft. What Should I Do Next?

Congratulations! You have now officially completed a first draft of your essay. Rest assured that you are on your way to an application that lets your values and personality shine.

After getting to this point, set the essay aside for a few days or weeks. We recommend reading this over at least two more times before you declare that it is finished. Each time you read, you will likely catch something that needs improving.

Your next step will be to edit and proofread. For tips on how to perfect your essay, see our post of 11 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your College Essay . Good luck!

You can find additional help by reading these related articles:

• How to Craft the Perfect College Application Essay
• Find Your College’s Application Essay Prompts for 2018-19
• Essay Prompt Breakdowns
• What Is a Personal Statement?
• College Essay Structures & How to Approach Them
• ‘Why This College’ Essays: Should You Focus on Yourself or the College?

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.

Need help with your college applications?

We’ve helped thousands of students write amazing college essays and successfully apply to college! Learn more about how our Applications Program can help your chances of admission.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

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Admit-a-bull // official admissions blog, how to draft the college essay.

By Joe Emerson | Last Updated: Jul 15, 2022

A 2016 National Association for College Admission Counseling study of freshman admissions factors ranked the college essay No. 5 in importance. The top four factors involved grades, test scores, and curriculum choices. When good grades and academic choices position you to cross the finish line with the real contenders in a race for limited space in that dream school, knowing how to draft the college essay can make you a winner.

Steps in the Writing Process

In a perfectly organized world, you will have a list of target colleges before your senior year of high school begins. The essay writing process needs to start once you have those targets. The level of urgency for getting them written will depend on your application deadlines, from early action to rolling admissions .

Schools’ essay prompts can be found in that mountain of enrollment paperwork you’re moving, so knowing your topic options won’t be a problem. If you opt for an enrollment tool such as the Common Application, the essay prompts are easy to find , often remaining the same from year to year. The tough part is picking the one that’s a good fit .

Once you have your deadline and topic:

• Brainstorm your essay. Bounce ideas off friends, family, your college counselor (who knows what admissions offices want), or perhaps a favorite teacher. Discussing your ideas will help you visualize what you want to say.
• Once you know what to say, decide how to say it. Style, tone, and voice matter. Online technical help is free from respective schools’ writing centers , and there are for-hire services, too.
• Map your essay. The standard form is opening, body, conclusion. Detail the points you want to make, where you want to make them, and the rhetorical devices you intend to use. It helps to see how others tackle their essays .
• Knock off a first draft. The rewrite is the engine of the art of writing, so a first draft is just a more formal map of your essay. Relax and rev your engine.
• Revise. Then revise again. And again. And again.
• Set your essay aside for a bit once you can read through the essay without feeling the need to rewrite; then proofread.
• Get other sets of eyes on your work. Ideally, recruit someone with editing skills and admissions expertise, perhaps an English teacher or your college counselor. Have friends and family give it a read. Be sure they all read the essay prompt, too, then discuss whether your essay does what is requested. Edit accordingly. Proofread.
• Give your essay one last proofread before submitting it. Your final proofread should be done when you are ready to transmit or mail the essay.

Some Tips on the Writing Process

Some people have a head full of incredible life events to tap. You might be staring at a blank piece of paper because you don’t have a litany of adventures to relate, but you aren’t a blank slate. Experiences don’t have to have movie endings to be mined for shining thoughts and subtle epiphanies.

Serious works, but so does a touch of careful and thoughtful humor. Let the message drive the voice and the tone and the rhetorical flourishes. Above all, don’t sell yourself short, and don’t be too shy to ask others to help you see yourself or help you recall a telling moment or defining circumstances.

As for the writing process itself:

• Make each sentence count , especially the opening. That admissions officer needs reasons to keep reading and put you in the keeper file.
• Don’t say it. Show it. You are painting a picture of yourself with words. “I am a kind and curious person” doesn’t carry as much weight as an anecdote featuring you displaying kindness and curiosity.
• Know your target. You are trying to capture the heart and mind of an admissions officer you don’t know. What you do know is that expectations are different at a religious college compared with a fine arts school.
• Don’t be surprised if the writing process yields an evolution of thought that inspires a complete rewrite after the essay has been in the filing cabinet for weeks or months. Embrace it.
• Don’t strip your voice out of the essay as you rewrite, which can happen when your editors weigh in too heavily.

USF is among the many schools that don’t make essays part of the admissions process. If you want to know more about what it takes to become a Bull, the USF Office of Admissions is always ready with answers. You can  contact us online  or by phone at  813-974-3350 .

About Joe Emerson

Joe Emerson spent 30 years as a magazine and newspaper reporter, editor and copyeditor who turned to freelancing after 20 years with The Tampa Tribune, which closed in 2016 after 125 years of serving the Tampa Bay area. Writing and delivering valuable information remain his passion.

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College Essays That Worked: See Examples

Experts say a good college essay features a student's voice and personality.

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Students should know themselves and write authoritatively so they can share a sense of their lives with admissions officers.

Many college applications require a personal essay, which can be daunting for students to write.

But a few simple tips, some introspection and insight into what admissions officers are looking for can help ease the pressure. U.S. News has compiled several college essay examples that helped students get into school. Shared by admissions staff or referenced from admissions websites, these essays stand out, they say, because the student voices shine, helping the school get to know the applicants.

"Students can get caught in the trap of overthinking it and write the essay that's going to impress the admissions committee," says Andrew Strickler, dean of admission and financial aid at Connecticut College . "The best essays, the ones that really pop, are the ones that come across as authentic and you really hear the student's voice."

The essay gives schools a feel for how a student writes, but it's the content of the essay that matters most, admissions professionals say. In other words, while it's important to showcase sound grammar and writing, it's even more important to showcase your character and personality.

"I care more about their stories than if it is a perfect five paragraph essay," David Graves, interim director of admissions at the University of Georgia , wrote in an email.

Many schools give students a wide range of topics to choose from, which experts say can be beneficial in helping students find their voice.

While you want your voice to be apparent, it's wise to be aware of your tone, says Allen Koh, CEO of Cardinal Education, an admissions consulting company that works with students to craft and revise their college essays. The goal of the essay is to make a strong case for why you’re different from all the other applicants, not necessarily why you’re better, he adds.

"You have to pass the genuine likability test. Sometimes kids are so busy trying to brag or tell their story that they’re forgetting they have to sound like a likable person. That’s a very simple test, but it’s really important."

Good essays tend to be "positively emotional," he says. It's best to avoid using sarcasm because it tends to fail on college essays.

Any humor used "really has to be a very positive, witty humor, not sarcastic," which he says can be hard to pick up on in an essay.

The Perils of Using AI for Essays

Choosing the right tone can be a challenge for many students, but admissions pros encourage them not to take shortcuts to completing their essay.

Though some college professors have embraced artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT in their classrooms, Strickler says he's begun to stress in recent talks with high school audiences the importance of original work and avoiding the use of AI tools like ChatGPT to craft college essays. While it might produce a technically well-written essay and save time, your unique voice will be stripped away, and it may leave a bad impression on admissions offices as well as prevent them from truly getting to know you, he says.

Instead, Graves says, start early and take time to write it yourself, then "actually read it out loud to someone ... to listen to the rhythm and words as they are 'read.'"

Each spring on his admissions blog , Graves shares an enrolling student's essay and why it was strong. The essay excerpted below, shared with the permission of the University of Georgia, uses descriptive word choice and gives the admissions office deep insight into the student's life, their love for writing and their connection to their family, Graves says.

It was chosen as an example "to show our applicant pool how to express themselves through similes, sensory language (words that capture the senses of the reader), and emotion," Graves wrote on the blog.

Here's how the essay opened:

If you asked me what object I’d save in a burning fire, I’d save my notebook. My notebook isn’t just any notebook, it’s bubble gum pink with purple tie dye swirls, and has gold coil binding it together. But more importantly, it’s the key that unlocked my superpower, sending me soaring into the sky, flying high above any problems that could ever catch me. However, my notebook is simply the key. My real power rests in the depths of my mind, in my passion for writing. But to know how my powers came to be (not from a spider or a special rock), I must travel back to the first spark.

Four years ago, I wrote my first 6-word memoir in my eighth-grade rhetoric class. Inspired by my father’s recently diagnosed terminal illness, I wrote “Take his words, don’t take him”. It was as if all the energy of my powers surged into six meaningful words meant to honor the man that I would soon lose to a villain known as ALS. This was the first time I felt my writing. Three years ago, my dad’s disease severely progressed. The ALS seized his ability to speak and locked it in a tower with no key. The only way we could communicate was with an old spiral notebook. ...

The essay counted down each year ("three years ago," "two years ago," etc.) and concluded with this paragraph:

One month ago, I needed my powers more than ever before. I needed them to convey who I truly am for the chance at the future of my dreams as a writer. Except this time, I didn’t need the key because my powers grew into fruition. Instead, I opened my laptop only to type out one sentence… “If you asked me what object to save in a burning fire, I’d save my notebook.”

This style of storytelling, which shows not just the triumph at the end but also the conflict, struggle and evolution in between, makes for great essays, Koh says.

"The student also used an intriguing timeline (counting down years and month) to tell their story, and showed how she had grown," Graves says.

This next essay, by an anonymous writer and shared on Connecticut College 's admissions page , "manages to capture multiple aspects of the writer's personality, while not becoming overly cluttered or confusing," writes Susanna Matthews, associate director of admission at the school.

Every person who truly knows me believes that I was born in the wrong century. They call me "an old soul" because I'm a collector, attracted to books, antiques, vinyl records and anything from the 80's. But they also think I am unique in other ways. I believe it is because of the meaningful connections to my two languages and two cultures.

When we moved into our first American house, I was excited to decorate my new room. The first thing I knew I needed was a place to organize my most cherished possessions I have collected throughout my life. I searched and finally found a bookshelf with twenty-five thick sections that I could build and organize alphabetically ... Each shelf holds important objects from different parts of my life. ...

These books are a strong connection to my Brazilian heritage. They also remind me of the time when I was growing up in Brazil, as a member of a large Italian-Brazilian family.

The writer continues on, describing the types of books on each shelf, from Harry Potter to books used to learn English. They describe the bottom of the bookshelf housing some of their most prized possessions, like an old typewriter their grandfather gave them. They wonder about the words it has crafted and stories it has told.

As I grab my favorite Elvis vinyl to play, I can only wonder about the next chapter of my life. I look forward to adding new books, new friends, and a wide variety of experiences to my bookshelf.

"By placing one subject (the bookshelf) at the center of the piece, it lends some flexibility to layer in much more detail than if they had tried to discuss a few different interests in the essay," Matthews writes. "You learn a lot about the person, in a way that isn't in your face – a great thing when trying to write a personal essay."

Some colleges require a supplemental essay in addition to the personal statement. Typically, admissions pros note, these essays are shorter and focus on answering a specific question posed by the college.

The University of Chicago in Illinois allows students to submit essay prompts as inspiration for the admissions office and gives students some latitude in how they answer them. Essay prompts range from questions about the school itself to asking students to pick a question from a song title or lyric and give their best shot at answering it.

"We think of them as an opportunity for students to tell us about themselves, their tastes, and their ambitions," the school's admissions website reads. "They can be approached with utter seriousness, complete fancy, or something in between."

While the University of Chicago says there is no strict word limit on its supplemental essays, other schools prefer brevity. For example, Stanford University in California asks students to answer several short questions, with a 50-word limit, in addition to answering three essay questions in 100 to 250 words.

Georgia asks for a school-specific supplemental essay that's 200-300 words in addition to a 250- to 650-word personal essay.

"Sometimes a shorter essay response is not as polished an essay, but instead is a more casual, more relaxed essay," Graves says. "In addition, sometimes a student needs to get to the point or be concise, and this helps see if they can give us their story without overdoing it."

Other schools allow for a little more creativity in how the supplemental essay questions are answered. Babson College in Massachusetts, for example, gives students a 500-word limit to answer a prompt, or they can choose to submit a one-minute video about why they chose to apply to the school.

One student, Gabrielle Alias, chose to film a "day-in-the-life" video , which she narrated to answer the prompt, "Who Am I?"

"Visiting campus twice, I know I could see myself as one of the many interesting, innovative, and enticing students that come out of Babson," she says in the video. "But who am I you ask? I am a student. I am a reader. I am a researcher. I am a music lover. ... I am Gabrielle Alias and I am excited for who I will be as a graduate of Babson."

An essay by Babson student Bessie Shiroki, seen below, describes her experience in the school's admissions office and how she immediately felt comfortable.

I immediately smiled at the sight of my favorite board game. Babsonopoly. I love the combination of strategy and luck in this traditional family pastime. Seeing this on the wall in the admissions office gave me immediate comfort; I knew I was home.

Shiroki describes what she felt set Babson College apart from other schools, such as being surrounded by "sophisticated and mature individuals" and a tight-knit, entrepreneurial environment that would help her reach her career goals.

It is natural for me to be in a small class where more than one language is spoken. I am accustomed to discussions with diverse viewpoints, open minds, and where differences are seen as advantages. I embrace my cultural uniqueness, and I will add my voice to the community. I can’t imagine not continuing this in college.

She notes that as she toured the campus and saw students studying, she could see herself as one of them, feeding off of their studious and entrepreneurial energy. She mentions that Babson's Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship class got her attention immediately and she saw it as a launch pad for a future that included running a business.

Babson recognizes the potential of their students, and FME is a great way for young entrepreneurs like me to find our place in the business world and learn from our mistakes. I am capable of this challenge and will conquer it with tenacity. I will bring my dedication, commitment, and innovative skills to Babson College.

Now it’s my turn to pass go and collect my Babson acceptance letter. I’ve found my next challenge.

Babson College offers several tips for what make good essays, including a strong "hook" to engage the reader from the start and a topic that allows you to share something that's not as obvious on your application.

When it comes to writing a college admissions essay – whether personal or supplemental – experts advise students to follow these rules:

• Find your voice.
• Write about a topic that matters to you.
• Share your personality.
• Express yourself.
• Proofread extensively.

With both traditional essays and supplemental essays, Koh says it's best to write long and work with someone you trust to edit it down. Teachers, friends and parents can all be helpful proofreaders, but experts note that the student voice should remain intact.

A good editor can help edit a long essay to keep the main message but with fewer words. “If I see 400 words, I know I’m a dozen drafts away from getting it to 650,” he says. “If I see 1200 words, we might just be one or two away. It’s at least going to be a shorter haul.”

Strickler encourages students not to stress too much over the essay or put unnecessary weight on it as part of their college application . While a strong essay helps, he says, it doesn't make or break an application.

"There's this sense that you write the most amazing essay and it gets you over the top because it opens the door to the pathway to the Magic Kingdom," he says. "But it's just one piece of a myriad of pieces that allow us to get to know a particular student and help us figure out if they're a good fit and how they're going to contribute to our community."

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Tips for Writing an Effective Application Essay

How to Write an Effective Essay

Writing an essay for college admission gives you a chance to use your authentic voice and show your personality. It's an excellent opportunity to personalize your application beyond your academic credentials, and a well-written essay can have a positive influence come decision time.

Want to know how to draft an essay for your college application ? Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing.

Tips for Essay Writing

A typical college application essay, also known as a personal statement, is 400-600 words. Although that may seem short, writing about yourself can be challenging. It's not something you want to rush or put off at the last moment. Think of it as a critical piece of the application process. Follow these tips to write an impactful essay that can work in your favor.

1. Start Early.

Few people write well under pressure. Try to complete your first draft a few weeks before you have to turn it in. Many advisers recommend starting as early as the summer before your senior year in high school. That way, you have ample time to think about the prompt and craft the best personal statement possible.

You don't have to work on your essay every day, but you'll want to give yourself time to revise and edit. You may discover that you want to change your topic or think of a better way to frame it. Either way, the sooner you start, the better.

2. Understand the Prompt and Instructions.

Before you begin the writing process, take time to understand what the college wants from you. The worst thing you can do is skim through the instructions and submit a piece that doesn't even fit the bare minimum requirements or address the essay topic. Look at the prompt, consider the required word count, and note any unique details each school wants.

3. Create a Strong Opener.

Students seeking help for their application essays often have trouble getting things started. It's a challenging writing process. Finding the right words to start can be the hardest part.

Spending more time working on your opener is always a good idea. The opening sentence sets the stage for the rest of your piece. The introductory paragraph is what piques the interest of the reader, and it can immediately set your essay apart from the others.

4. Stay on Topic.

One of the most important things to remember is to keep to the essay topic. If you're applying to 10 or more colleges, it's easy to veer off course with so many application essays.

A common mistake many students make is trying to fit previously written essays into the mold of another college's requirements. This seems like a time-saving way to avoid writing new pieces entirely, but it often backfires. The result is usually a final piece that's generic, unfocused, or confusing. Always write a new essay for every application, no matter how long it takes.

5. Think About Your Response.

Don't try to guess what the admissions officials want to read. Your essay will be easier to write─and more exciting to read─if you’re genuinely enthusiastic about your subject. Here’s an example: If all your friends are writing application essays about covid-19, it may be a good idea to avoid that topic, unless during the pandemic you had a vivid, life-changing experience you're burning to share. Whatever topic you choose, avoid canned responses. Be creative.

6. Focus on You.

Essay prompts typically give you plenty of latitude, but panel members expect you to focus on a subject that is personal (although not overly intimate) and particular to you. Admissions counselors say the best essays help them learn something about the candidate that they would never know from reading the rest of the application.

7. Stay True to Your Voice.

Use your usual vocabulary. Avoid fancy language you wouldn't use in real life. Imagine yourself reading this essay aloud to a classroom full of people who have never met you. Keep a confident tone. Be wary of words and phrases that undercut that tone.

8. Be Specific and Factual.

Capitalize on real-life experiences. Your essay may give you the time and space to explain why a particular achievement meant so much to you. But resist the urge to exaggerate and embellish. Admissions counselors read thousands of essays each year. They can easily spot a fake.

9. Edit and Proofread.

When you finish the final draft, run it through the spell checker on your computer. Then don’t read your essay for a few days. You'll be more apt to spot typos and awkward grammar when you reread it. After that, ask a teacher, parent, or college student (preferably an English or communications major) to give it a quick read. While you're at it, double-check your word count.

Writing essays for college admission can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be. A well-crafted essay could be the deciding factor─in your favor. Keep these tips in mind, and you'll have no problem creating memorable pieces for every application.

What is the format of a college application essay?

Generally, essays for college admission follow a simple format that includes an opening paragraph, a lengthier body section, and a closing paragraph. You don't need to include a title, which will only take up extra space. Keep in mind that the exact format can vary from one college application to the next. Read the instructions and prompt for more guidance.

Most online applications will include a text box for your essay. If you're attaching it as a document, however, be sure to use a standard, 12-point font and use 1.5-spaced or double-spaced lines, unless the application specifies different font and spacing.

How do you start an essay?

The goal here is to use an attention grabber. Think of it as a way to reel the reader in and interest an admissions officer in what you have to say. There's no trick on how to start a college application essay. The best way you can approach this task is to flex your creative muscles and think outside the box.

You can start with openers such as relevant quotes, exciting anecdotes, or questions. Either way, the first sentence should be unique and intrigue the reader.

What should an essay include?

Every application essay you write should include details about yourself and past experiences. It's another opportunity to make yourself look like a fantastic applicant. Leverage your experiences. Tell a riveting story that fulfills the prompt.

What shouldn’t be included in an essay?

When writing a college application essay, it's usually best to avoid overly personal details and controversial topics. Although these topics might make for an intriguing essay, they can be tricky to express well. If you’re unsure if a topic is appropriate for your essay, check with your school counselor. An essay for college admission shouldn't include a list of achievements or academic accolades either. Your essay isn’t meant to be a rehashing of information the admissions panel can find elsewhere in your application.

How can you make your essay personal and interesting?

The best way to make your essay interesting is to write about something genuinely important to you. That could be an experience that changed your life or a valuable lesson that had an enormous impact on you. Whatever the case, speak from the heart, and be honest.

Is it OK to discuss mental health in an essay?

Mental health struggles can create challenges you must overcome during your education and could be an opportunity for you to show how you’ve handled challenges and overcome obstacles. If you’re considering writing your essay for college admission on this topic, consider talking to your school counselor or with an English teacher on how to frame the essay.

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How to write a college essay

How to write a college essay (with real examples).

Bonus Material: PrepMaven’s 30 College Essays That Worked

If you’re applying to college, the application essay is your chance to differentiate yourself from other applicants and highlight something beyond your GPA and test scores. 

The college application essay matters: it can make or break an application, especially to elite universities that get thousands of other applications. 

At PrepMaven, we’ve specialized in developing an approach to the college application essay specifically designed to help students gain admission to elite universities. Using this approach, we’ve helped countless students get admitted to Princeton, Harvard, and other Ivies. 

This post has two main parts. In the first, we explain what admissions committees are looking for and what your college essay needs to do (with an example!). In the second, we walk you through the 5 stages of writing an application essay, with advice for how to approach each stage. 

Download 30 College Essays That Worked

Jump to section: What are admissions committees looking for? Story Reflection Style and Tone 5 Stages

• Brainstorming/topic selection
• Picking a structure
• First Draft
• Revising 
• Final Draft

What are admissions committees looking for?

That’s really the key question: at the end of the day, the college application process is all about giving college admissions officers what they want. 

When we work with students, we often like to tell them that most successful college application essays contain two key elements: story and reflection.  

At the same time, the college admissions essay also requires you to write in a specific style and tone–the kind that you’re likely not used to writing in for school. 

In this section, we’ll walk through what we mean by each of these by dissecting a real college essay that worked to get the writer into Princeton. 

Every good college admissions essay tells some kind of story about you. Often, this is pretty literal: as you can see in our collection of 30 real college admissions essays that worked, many of these essays recount some of the writer’s most important personal experiences. That’s the heart of the Narrative Essay structure, which you can read about here . 

But even more creative or unusual essay formats come down to telling some kind of story. 

If you’re going to tell admissions counselors the five most important books on your shelf, you’re telling a story about what kind of reader you are and what those books meant to you. If you write an essay that outlines the steps you take to create a painting, you’re telling the story of you as an artist. 

It all comes down to story. 

Let’s take a look at the below example, essay 1 from our collection of 30 successful sample essays , to see how a good story works. 

At eleven years old, I wrote the New York Times best-selling novel, The Chosen, the first installation in a trilogy that would become the newest sensation of the fantasy genre, and grow to be even more popular than the Harry Potter series. At least, that’s what I originally imagined as I feverishly typed the opening words of my manuscript. I had just received a call from my parents, who were on a business trip in London. While touring the city, they heard about an amateur novel writing contest open to all ages, and thought that I, as an amateur writer, would be interested. All I had to do was compose an original manuscript of merely 80,000 words and submit it to an office in London, and I could win $20,000 in addition to a publishing deal. I hung up the phone with a smile plastered on my face. Never mind that I was barely eleven, that my portfolio consisted of a few half-page poems from elementary school, or that the contest was taking place on another continent, I was determined to write the most extraordinary fantasy novel ever created. For months afterward the sight of me was accompanied by the tap, tap, tap of my fingers flying across the keyboard, and the sharp glint of obsession in my eyes. The contest in London closed, a winner was chosen. I didn’t care. I kept writing. After a year I had stretched my writing project into a three hundred page novel. I scraped together a few dollars of allowance money, slapped it in my mom’s hand, and asked her to have Staples print a bound copy of the manuscript. She handed me my magnum opus when I got home from school that day. I ran my fingers across the shiny laminate over the cover page, caressed the paper as if it were some sacred tome. After more than fourteen months fleshing out characters and cultivating mythologies, I was ready to publish. With the copy in hand I ran to my dad. “Read it and tell me what you think!” I said, imagining the line of publishing companies that would soon be knocking down my door.

Within two weeks my father handed it back to me, the pages now scrawled over in bright red ink. “You’ve got a lot of work to do,” he told me, with his typical soul-wrenching brusque. I stared at him for a moment, jaw locked tight, eyes nearly brimming with tears. He proceeded to list for me all the things I needed to revise for my next draft. Less colloquial dialogue, vivid descriptions, more complex subplots, the list went on and on. “A serious author doesn’t get offended by constructive criticism,” he said, “whether you take my advice or not will prove whether or not you are one.” My dreams fell like the Berlin wall. What was the point of slaving over a novel if I had to start from scratch again? My father’s advice would force me to rewrite the entire novel. What sort of writer was I, that my work warranted such substantial alteration? As I soon learned—a normal one. Today, six years, 10 drafts, and 450 pages later, I am finally close to finishing. Sometimes, when I’m feeling insecure about my ability as a novelist I open up my first draft again, turn to a random chapter, and read it aloud. Publishing that first draft would have been a horrible embarrassment that would have haunted me for the rest of my life. Over the past half-decade, I’ve been able to explore my own literary voice, and develop a truly original work that I will be proud to display. This experience taught me that “following your dreams” requires more than just wishing upon a star. It takes sacrifice, persistence, and grueling work to turn fantasy into reality.

So, what’s the story here? It’s pretty simple: an eleven year old hears about a writing contest and spends a year writing a 300-page novel, certain that it’ll be a best-seller. Showing it to their dad, they instead get a whole lot of (constructive) criticism–a huge disappointment at first, but then an important learning moment. 

In the end, they finish their novel, though it isn’t (that we know of) a worldwide success. 

If you’re used to writing essays for school, this probably looks a bit bizarre: almost the entirety of this essay gets used to tell an anecdote about the student’s life. So, why did admissions committees love this essay?

• It starts with a great hook.

This is a textbook opening paragraph that reels the reader in with a surprising statement before then building that statement into an entire story. You can read more about that in our dedicated guide on how to start these personal statements, here . 

• Something about the story is unique. 

Most of us, probably, haven’t actually written a book. It doesn’t really matter how good it is, whether it’s published, and so on. What matters is that the actual story of hearing about this writing contest and spending so long writing is an experience particular to this student. 

A note on “unique” vs “cliche” topics. Most good college essay counselors will tell you that you’re better off avoiding any “cliche” topics and instead trying to write about something unusual, quirky, or unique. That’s mostly true: if you have something unique to write about, it’ll make your job easier. If you don’t, however, you can still write a brilliant, successful essay about something like sports. 

Doing this is hard: if your topic is a bit “cliche,” then you have to find some other way (experimental structure, particularly effective storytelling, or an unexpected and profound reflection) of differentiating your essay from all the other sports essays. 

• The story is well-told. 

What does it mean to tell a story well? Imagine if this author had instead written: “When I was 11, I tried to write a book, but my dad said it wasn’t very good and I had to edit it. So I edited it, and now I’ve finished writing it, which makes me proud.” 

Yikes, right? It’s the same story, but now it’s boring. So, what makes a story interesting to read?

• Tons of specific details–the more, the better . To pick just a few from this essay: “the shiny laminate over the cover page,” “fleshing out characters and cultivating mythologies,” as well as the whole list of necessary edits provided by the father. 
• Vivid description . This goes hand in hand with specific details: instead of saying “I was upset,” this author writes “I stared at him for a moment, jaw locked tight, eyes brimming with tears.” Instead of saying “I typed the book,” the author writes about “the tap, tap, tap of their fingers flying across the keyboard.” Every sentence is a chance for you to do something interesting, to write it in your own way. 
• The story has a satisfying ending. 

Here, the story starts with the writer’s feverish attempts to create a novel, all while harboring unrealistic expectations. 

After receiving a ton of constructive criticism, the writer basically starts from scratch. By the end of their essay, they’re “close to finishing” something much more thoughtfully and carefully written. 

It’s not that the story has to be perfectly wrapped up at the end of these college application essays–after all, your life story is just starting out. Even in this example, notice that the story doesn’t end with the writer telling us they finally finished the novel and published it to astounding success: they’re just “close to finishing.” But because the whole story is about the process of learning, editing, and starting over, it’s an ending that wraps up the story neatly. 

So, if we want to break down the formula for the story element of the college essay, we can say it looks something like this:

A good story = a great hook + some unique element + specific details/vivid description + satisfying ending. 

It’s simple, but it’s not easy. For 29 more examples of writers who mastered this formula, check out our collection of successful essays. 

Or, if you want to work with someone who not only mastered this formula themselves but has mastered how to teach students this formula, contact us to get paired with one of our expert personal essay coaches. 

So, let’s say you do some soul searching and come up with an amazing, unique story about yourself to wow college admissions committees. You write it beautifully, perhaps using some of PrepMaven’s many guides. 

Great: now, you have to show us what this story says about you. 

That’s all we mean by reflection: once you’ve told us your story, you need to make clear to the reader what we’re supposed to get out of it. In other words, you need to reflect or investigate your own story, exploring some of the possible impacts it’s had on you, some lessons you learned from it, or what it means in the grand scheme of your life. 

In essence, the reflection is your answer to the question, “So what?”

Let’s take a look at the example essay we’ve been looking at and identify the parts where the author reflects on or thinks about what lessons can be taken from this story. The reflection element of this essay comes right at the end:

What was the point of slaving over a novel if I had to start from scratch again? My father’s advice would force me to rewrite the entire novel. What sort of writer was I, that my work warranted such substantial alteration? As I soon learned—a normal one. Today, six years, 10 drafts, and 450 pages later, I am finally close to finishing. Sometimes, when I’m feeling insecure about my ability as a novelist I open up my first draft again, turn to a random chapter, and read it aloud. Publishing that first draft would have been a horrible embarrassment that would have haunted me for the rest of my life. Over the past half-decade, I’ve been able to explore my own literary voice, and develop a truly original work that I will be proud to display. This experience taught me that “following your dreams” requires more than just wishing upon a star. It takes sacrifice, persistence, and grueling work to turn fantasy into reality.

Why is this an effective reflection?

• It shows the writer’s thought process and questioning.  

Confronted with disappointment, the writer is forced to question what they thought they knew: “what was the point?” and “what sort of writer was I?” are great examples of what a good reflection looks like. 

We actually get to see into this student’s thought process. Open-ended questions like the ones here are, by the way, one of the most efficient ways to signal to admission officers that you’re doing some serious reflecting. 

• It shows growth. 

The writer doesn’t just question and move on: they actually develop some new knowledge as the result of this questioning. They learn what it means to be a writer, what it means to produce something you can be proud of. 

We can see this most clearly in the part of the essay where the writer talks about looking back on that first draft: we know they’ve grown because they can see the flaws with their earlier writing. 

• It highlights an important, positive aspect of the writer’s outlook on life. 

What’s the lesson this writer learns? 

That “‘following your dreams’ requires more than just wishing upon a star. It takes sacrifice, persistence, and grueling work to turn fantasy into reality.” It’s a simple enough life lesson, one that all of us (hopefully) have to learn. But it’s an important one, especially because it conveys to college admission officers that this student is ready to work hard to attain their goals. 

At the end of the day, you’re trying to convince a room full of adults that you’d be an interesting, enjoyable person to have around campus for the next four years. Your reflection needs to show them that–that’s why we say it should be “positive.”

It wouldn’t be a good idea, for example, if the ultimate takeaway you lead up to is something like “I learned to only look out for myself and trust no one.” No matter how good your story, no matter how well laid out your thought-process, the takeaway from this essay for an admissions officer will be that you’re selfish and not much of a community member. So: think about what aspect of yourself you would want people to come away with.

The key to a good reflection like this one is that you really show us the process of you thinking through the important changes/lessons/etc. at play in your essay . 

It’s not enough to just say, “This is important because X.” Admissions committees want to see you actually think through this. Real realizations don’t usually happen in an instant: you should question and consider, laying your thoughts out on paper. 

A suggestion we often give our students is to read over the story you’ve written, and ask yourself what it means to you, what lessons you can take from it. As you ask and answer those questions, put those onto the page and work through them in writing. You can always clean it up and make it more presentable later. 

If you like things broken down neatly, let’s sum up the formula here: Successful reflection = thought process + growth + outlook. 

Style and Tone

The third thing that admissions officers are looking for in your essay is an engaging style and tone. 

This is less an “element” of the essay like Story and Reflection, and more of a quality that all of your essay needs to have. 

What kind of style and tone are they looking for? Again, take a look at the above example. How would you describe the style and tone of that essay?

You might say it’s playful, informal, fun. The point is not to mimic this essay’s style, but to notice that it is personal , that it feels like there’s a real, distinct person talking to us. Because you aren’t the person who wrote that essay, yours will look and feel different. But it still needs to feel like it’s coming from you. 

What this really means is that you need to avoid a few specific traps that lots of students fall into when writing their application essays:

• Don’t write it like a formal essay for school. 
• Don’t try to show off fancy vocabulary. 
• Don’t try to sound like you’re older than you are. 

There are lots of little ways to accomplish those things: using contractions is one I always recommend to students. You’ll be surprised how much looser and more natural your writing feels when you stop saying “it is” and start saying “it’s.”

Another good place to start: cut out all those big transition words. They’re great to know if you’re taking the SAT or writing an essay on symbolism in Jane Eyre . But when most of us tell stories to each other, we don’t say things like “Nevertheless” and “However.” 

The best general advice we can give for style and tone? Read it out loud. Does what you’re reading sound stilted, awkward, unnatural to you? Then change it. 

A lot of this is easier said than done. While the college application essays might feel effortless and informal, they are often products of extensive revisions and tiny edits, each one designed to bring out the voice of the writer just a bit more. 

Often the best way to get there is with the help of someone who can read through your essay with you and let you know how it sounds–which is exactly what our essay coaches are trained to do . 

The 5 stages of writing a college essay

Now that we’ve covered what the college essay is supposed to do, we’ll break down the stages of writing a personal statement like this. 

Why does it matter to have stages to the essay writing process? It doesn’t just help you save time; following these steps will help ensure you get the best possible finished product. By tackling each stage of the essay-writing process separately, you can focus only on what immediately matters, making your job a lot easier. 

Below, we’ll offer an overview of what to do from start to finish as you write your own personal statement. Often, you’ll see that these stages link to other blog posts: that’s because we’ve created in-depth, dedicated guides for each of these stages that go into even more detail.

Stage 1: Brainstorming and topic selection

A huge part of what makes an essay like this successful is what it’s actually about. Even if you’re a brilliant writer, you don’t want to pick the wrong topic. While it’s possible to write a great essay about anything, picking the right topic will make your life way easier–and might make the difference when it comes to impressing those selective colleges. 

So, how do you pick the right topic?

It starts by really dedicating a lot of time to coming up with all the viable things you could write about, then narrowing them down. It might sound dumb or easy, but the best college essay writers all spend a lot of time on brainstorming to ensure they get the topic right. 

You can consult our post here for specific brainstorming exercises that our students have used to craft essays that got them into their dream schools. In this post, we’ll cover what makes a good essay topic in the first place so you know what kinds of things you should be brainstorming. 

Qualities of a good personal statement topic:

• It’s personal. 

This might sound like an obvious thing (it is a “personal” statement, after all), but let us explain what that actually means. 

Your topic doesn’t necessarily have to be unique. If you do have some truly unique story–a personal struggle, tragedy, or accomplishment that you’ve never heard of anyone else experiencing–then you should most likely use that. 

But the truth is that most of us don’t have that kind of story in our arsenal–and yet, many people still write fantastic essays. The key is that your topic has real, specific personal importance to you and your life. You need to be able to tell the reader of your essay how this topic has influenced your perspective, your life, or just who you are. 

Even if the topic itself isn’t completely unique, you can make your essay unique by focusing on those deeply personal connections that nobody else has.

• It shouldn’t be cliche. 

This might sound a little contradictory: didn’t we just say that most of us don’t have a “unique” story to tell? Remember that a college essay has two parts: story and reflection. Even if the story you have to tell might not be unique, the reflection should be. What do we mean?

Let’s say, for example, that all you’ve really pursued in high school is competitive swimming. It’s the biggest part of your life; it’s by far the thing that has shaped you most. Now, is swimming (or dedication to a sport in general) unique? Nope, not really. But that doesn’t mean you’re dead in the water. 

Now, let’s say you write your essay about your swimming career, and the reflection in your essay is mostly about how it taught you to work hard, dream big, and pursue excellence. That might very well be true, but it’s the kind of story we’ve all heard a million times before. If that’s the essay you write, the admissions committee will yawn politely and more or less forget the essay in its entirety. 

But what if you took a different approach? Let’s say you still wrote about swimming, but instead connected it to something far less cliche. Perhaps swimming was a way you were able to connect to a family member or friend you otherwise had trouble relating to. Perhaps swimming shaped how you viewed, say, art or literature or science. Or maybe swimming taught you something paradoxical, like how to slow down and be less competitive. 

The point is that there are a hundred different, unusual ways to write about something. Your goal should be to pick a topic that lets you write about it in a way nobody else has. 

A key question to ask yourself as you consider your topic might be just that: can I say something personal about this topic that other people cannot?

• It lends itself to a story. 

As we suggested earlier in this post, these are all fundamentally narrative essays, which means you’ve got to tell a story. So as you consider your topic, make sure that it’s one that allows you to tell some kind of story or paint a scene. 

If your topic is something totally theoretical (like abstract ideas you have about the state of the world, or politics, or human nature), it’s likely best you avoid it unless you can anchor it to a particular event in your own life. 

Using our brainstorming exercises and Diamond Strategy , you’ll be able to find a topic that fits all three of these criteria. Once you do, it’s time to pick a structure for your essay.

Take a look at the essays below: each spent a lot of time in the brainstorming process, and each has a good example of a successful topic. 

  Download 30 College Essays That Worked

Stage 2: Picking a structure

Although each college essay is a little different, we’ve broken the overall structure or format of the college application essay into four different types. 

The Narrative Essay

The montage essay, the “i am…” essay, the creative essay.

In this section, we’ll talk a bit about what each looks like and how to decide which to use. If you want a deep dive into each of these essay types that dissects real examples, you should check out our post on College Essay Formats here . 

Key elements:

• Starts with a story that it tells in detail.
• Moves on to reflecting on that story and connecting it to an important development in the author’s life. 
• Often ends by circling back to the story at the beginning and offering closure. 

When is the Narrative Essay the right structure for you?

If your essay topic is connected to one specific event or moment in your life, then the Narrative Essay is likely the best choice for you. This format is designed to let you go deep, really diving into just one story and telling it in great detail before drawing out some life lessons. 

• Includes 2-4 mini-stories or snapshots from your life. 
• Ends by tying all of those mini-stories together into one overarching theme or lesson. 

When is the Montage Essay the best move?

If you want to convey multiple aspects of your life, or describe several minor events connected by a common theme, then this is the best move. For example: if you have a really diverse set of interests or passions that can be summed up by looking at the bumper stickers on your car, or if you want to recount three totally different moments from your life that are all connected by you learning to overcome failure. 

These essays are flexible, and often work best for writers who want to highlight breadth–that is, describing a number of different aspects of your personality or outlook. 

• Starts with a declarative statement about your identity or beliefs. 
• Inserts a story or scene later as an example.
• Uses the statement and story together to look forward to the future. 

Who should use this?

This format is best if your topic centers on an identity or belief that is fundamental to who you are. You should still include a story or scene in this format, but it’ll really be more of an example than the main show. 

Primarily, you should focus on articulating in an interesting and unique way what this identity or belief says about you, why it matters, and how it will shape who you’ll be in college. 

• It’s radically experimental with form. 

This one’s a weird one by definition: the idea here is that it doesn’t look like any of the other ones, and does something totally unexpected. Some examples: 

• A transcript of a mock interview with you.
• A play, story, or poem.
• A recipe or instruction guide. 

You get the idea: these essays rely in part on a clever gimmick that connects to the overall theme of the essay. As a result, they’re hard to classify–and risky to try. 

Who should use this essay format?

If you’re willing to write creatively and take risks, and if your essay topic is itself unusual or strange, then you might want to give this format a try. 

We recommend that you look at our related post on College Essay format and download the below collection of 30 college essay examples to see how these different formats can play out successfully. 

Stage 3: First Draft

This is probably the hardest part of any kind of writing: going from nothing to something. If you’re struggling to figure out where to start, we’ve outlined a set of writing exercises and specific techniques for starting college essays here .

In this post, we’ll walk you through what you should be aiming to accomplish in your first draft. 

The goal of the first draft isn’t to come up with a perfect–or even good–essay. We can’t stress this enough: there’s no reason at all your first draft should be a particularly good essay or piece of writing. 

What does that mean for you? It means you don’t have to worry about the smaller stylistic things. Word choice, sentence structure, and style can all wait. Trust us, you’ll have plenty of time in the revision process to play around with all those. But if you focus too much on that for the first draft, it’ll make it a lot harder for you to make progress and get the draft completed. 

So, what is the first draft supposed to do for you?

The goal is to get the content and most of the details onto the page. Everything that you think might fit into the story you’re telling should be present in the first draft. And, while you should do your best to structure and organize it in the most effective way, odds are that the organization is going to change too. 

What shouldn’t change much is the backbone of this essay: the story you tell, the specific details from your life you include, and the reflection you think through. 

Thinking about it that way should make your life a lot easier. The first draft is literally all about getting the important things on the page so that later you can reorganize and polish them into a coherent, successful essay.

That doesn’t mean, however, that the first draft should be short or undetailed: just the opposite. We recommend starting with a first draft of over 750 words for the Common App personal statement (which has a max word count of 650). 

Why? Because you need to focus on getting all of the ideas and details together first. Inevitably, you’ll later cut some stuff out. But it’s much, much better to cut things out than it is to discover you haven’t written enough. 

In a nutshell: the first draft should be long and detailed, but it doesn’t have to be pretty. 

Take a look at the free collection of 30 successful essays below. The first draft of each of those essays looked totally different–but all of the key details and ideas were there. 

Stage 4: Revision

This is really where most of the work happens. 

Once you’ve written a first draft that contains the key ideas and details, your job is to shape it into a compelling narrative essay. 

Below we’ll offer a synopsis of what you should focus on as you revise, as well as what your long-term goals should be. 

When you revise, you should tackle the following things one at a time:

• Big picture/content
• Organization
• Style/language
• Proofreading 

Do these in order: don’t worry about organization until you’re sure you’ve gotten the content down, and don’t worry about style/language until everything is organized like you want it to be. 

Why do it this way? Simply put, it saves you a ton of time and helps you focus on the right thing. It doesn’t make any sense to pretty up the sentences if you later might totally reorganize the essay. By working through each of these steps in order, you give yourself a specific task to focus on, which will keep the essay-writing process streamlined. 

So, what do we mean by each of these steps?

• Big picture/content 

This is essentially what you’re doing in the first draft. As you review the first draft, ask yourself if all of the necessary pieces to your essay are there: do you have all the details needed for your story and your reflection?

Once you’re confident that everything’s there (even if it’s disorganized, messy, or confusing!), you can move on to the next step. Usually, this process doesn’t take more than one or two drafts, but it is crucial; problems with big picture or content usually necessitate a total rewrite of the essay. 

Once you have the content and ideas you think are most important, start thinking about the order that you’re telling your essay in. What do you start with, and where do you end? How do you keep each paragraph flowing smoothly into the next? 

In general, a well-organized personal statement begins with an engaging hook, often in the form of a surprising statement or a detailed, slightly disorienting anecdote. Then, you’ll want to provide any necessary background for us to understand what’s going on before quickly continuing the story so we don’t lose steam. 

Only once you’ve shown us your story in detail should you move on to any “lessons learned.” Putting those too early will make the essay feel rushed, so the majority of your reflection will come at the end of the essay. 

A good way to test the organization of your essay is this: as you move from each paragraph, is there any unwanted awkwardness or confusion? Does it ever feel like you’re jumping around for no reason? And do the paragraphs feel like they could be moved around somewhere else while still making sense?

If you can answer “yes” to any of the above, it means your essay needs a reorganization.

The best way to figure out when you’re done is simply by playing around with reorganizing your essay several times, and read it aloud each time to yourself and/or someone else. Whatever version sounds smoothest and least confusing when read aloud is likely the best organized one. 

For real examples of what a well organized college essay looks like, check out the collection of 30 linked below!

• Style/Language

Only once your essay has the main ideas and organization in place should you move on to worrying about how pretty the language is. This step often takes many, many drafts, but each one will only change fairly minor things like sentence structure, word choice, etc. 

This can be tricky, especially if you’re not someone who enjoys creative writing. We do have a few important pieces of advice on what to aim for, though: 

• Read it aloud. Does your essay sound like it has a distinct, personal voice?
• Does your essay use words that are formal, complicated, or unnatural to you?
• Does your essay use words that are unvaried, boring, generic?
• Are you showing, or telling?

Your final product shouldn’t sound like an essay you wrote for English class. Nor should it sound like a diary entry or rambling. It should instead feel like someone with a distinct personality is telling a vivid and detailed story about themselves. 

The best way to sum up the ideal tone for most college essays is something like this: imagine you’re trying to tell an interesting story to someone you don’t know very well, maybe at a party or something like that. 

You wouldn’t want to sound like someone from the nineteenth century, using fancy or old words for the sake of it. At the same time, you would want to keep the language engaging enough that you don’t lose their attention.

That’s where the now infamous advice of “show, don’t tell” comes in. You’ve probably heard that advice from just about every college counselor and English teacher, but we should break down what it actually means. What’s “showing” look like?

Simply put, it’s about telling a story rich with detail before making any broad or abstract claims about yourself. “Telling” would look something like: “I’ve always loved spending time with my grandfather.” “Showing” would instead mean actually describing how you spent time with your grandfather, what you did together, and how you felt in the moment. 

Or, to take another example: “I felt incredibly nervous” is a classic example of plain old telling. But you can make that same idea much more engaging by “showing:” “I tried to wipe my clammy palms on my pant legs, hoping nobody would notice the tremor in my voice. Oh God, I was up next. ”

Many students struggle with getting the stylistic elements of the college essay down, and this is one of those moments where the help of an expert can make all the difference. One of the easiest ways to take an essay from okay to amazing is by having a really talented writer help you polish your language and make your essay sound distinct–and that’s exactly what our essay coaches can help you do. 

Once your essay sounds like it should, you’re almost done. The next step is simply to get it under the word count. 

If you’re super close, then this will be a breeze: cut a couple words here and there, and you’re good to go. 

If not, you’ll have a little more work to do to make sure you can retain the essay’s effectiveness while bringing it under the word count. 

This process will depend on just how much over word count your essay is. If you’re within 50 words, you’d be surprised at how much space you can save by simply cutting a word or two out of your sentences. It might sting a bit to get rid of an adjective you’ve fallen in love with, but remember that nobody but you will ever know that word was in there. 

Generally, you can cut anywhere from 50-75 words without actually getting rid of whole sentences. That being said, if you’ve tried that and are still over word count, that means it’s time to judiciously remove or drastically shorten a few sentences. 

Do you have a list of three examples? Cut it down to two, or one. Do you have two sentences that could be combined into one? Do it. Ultimately, this’ll come down to what details, words, and turns of phrase you really want to keep, and which you’re willing to sacrifice. 

• Proofreading

Once your essay is under the word count, print it out. That’s right: print it out. With the essay printed, go through and proofread carefully for any spelling, grammar, or typographic mistakes. Mark it up with a pen, and then fix the essay on your computer. 

Print it again. Proofread again. Correct again. Only once you can do 2 full read-throughs without noticing any mistakes at all should you consider the essay good to go. Even then, we really recommend having someone else read over it as well. After having spent so much time staring at this essay, you’re likely to miss some obvious things that another reader might catch right away. 

Stage 5: The Final Draft

Finally–finally!–you’re finished. At this point, you should have a polished, thoughtful essay that looks like one of the ones in our collection of 30 successful college essays . 

There’s a few minor things left to do. First is to let this final draft sit for a while, from between a few days to a week. Come back to it after you’ve put it out of your mind and re-read it. Does it still hold up? Are there any glaring errors?

Don’t go crazy here: you’re really just looking to see if there’s anything important that you missed when you were in the heat of your essay-writing frenzy. If you need to make some minor tweaks, go ahead–so long as you don’t forget to then proofread all over again.

If you’re feeling good, then now’s the time to paste it into whatever portal you’ll be using for applications (for most of you, this’ll be the Common App). 

Double and triple check that nothing weird happened to the formatting once you pasted it into Common App, which is notorious for messing around with things like spacing and bolding. The best way to do this is to go straight to the application preview pdf. There, you can read through your essay exactly as it’ll appear to college admissions committees.

And if that’s all done… that’s it! You’re free (at least until it’s time to write the supplemental essays). 

No matter where you are in the college application process, looking at examples of what worked to get students into schools like Princeton will always be helpful. That’s why we put together a free collection of 30 real college essay examples for you to use as a resource below. Check them out!

Now that you know what to do, it’s time to start doing it. Regardless of where you are in the process, having an expert guide you through the college essay can be invaluable–especially given how high the stakes are when you’re gunning for admission to elite universities . Reach out to us now to get paired with an expert coach. 

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College Essays

When you're applying to college, even small decisions can feel high-stakes. This is especially true for the college essay, which often feels like the most personal part of the application. You may agonize over your college application essay format: the font, the margins, even the file format. Or maybe you're agonizing over how to organize your thoughts overall. Should you use a narrative structure? Five paragraphs?

In this comprehensive guide, we'll go over the ins and outs of how to format a college essay on both the micro and macro levels. We'll discuss minor formatting issues like headings and fonts, then discuss broad formatting concerns like whether or not to use a five-paragraph essay, and if you should use a college essay template.

How to Format a College Essay: Font, Margins, Etc.

Some of your formatting concerns will depend on whether you will be cutting and pasting your essay into a text box on an online application form or attaching a formatted document. If you aren't sure which you'll need to do, check the application instructions. Note that the Common Application does currently require you to copy and paste your essay into a text box.

Most schools also allow you to send in a paper application, which theoretically gives you increased control over your essay formatting. However, I generally don't advise sending in a paper application (unless you have no other option) for a couple of reasons:

Most schools state that they prefer to receive online applications. While it typically won't affect your chances of admission, it is wise to comply with institutional preferences in the college application process where possible. It tends to make the whole process go much more smoothly.

Paper applications can get lost in the mail. Certainly there can also be problems with online applications, but you'll be aware of the problem much sooner than if your paper application gets diverted somehow and then mailed back to you. By contrast, online applications let you be confident that your materials were received.

Regardless of how you will end up submitting your essay, you should draft it in a word processor. This will help you keep track of word count, let you use spell check, and so on.

Next, I'll go over some of the concerns you might have about the correct college essay application format, whether you're copying and pasting into a text box or attaching a document, plus a few tips that apply either way.

Formatting Guidelines That Apply No Matter How You End Up Submitting the Essay:

Unless it's specifically requested, you don't need a title. It will just eat into your word count.

Avoid cutesy, overly colloquial formatting choices like ALL CAPS or ~unnecessary symbols~ or, heaven forbid, emoji and #hashtags. Your college essay should be professional, and anything too cutesy or casual will come off as immature.

How To Structure Your College Essay

Maybe you're less concerned with the micro-level college essay format, like fonts, and more concerned with the macro-level format, like how to structure your college admissions essay. Is there's some secret paragraph formula that will make writing easy and clearly express all of your strengths to an awestruck admissions committee?

Sadly, no. However, the good news is that a college essay is actually a good opportunity to play with structure a little bit and break free from the five-paragraph essay. (You're certainly not disallowed from writing a five-paragraph essay, but it's by no means guaranteed to be the best college essay structure.)

A good college essay is like a sandwich, where the intro and conclusion are the pieces of bread and whatever comes between them is the sandwich toppings. A sandwich without bread is a bad sandwich, but a good sandwich could have any number of things between the bread pieces.

So you need a clear introduction that gives a pretty clear idea of where you will be going in the essay and a conclusion that wraps everything up and makes your main point clear.

However, how you approach the middle part is up to you. You could structure your essay more like a narrative, relating an important experience from your life. You could use an extended analogy, where each paragraph is a part of the analogy. You want to adhere broadly to the wisdom that each paragraph should have an identifiable main idea, but a college essay is definitely a great chance to break free from the five-paragraph essay.

For more in-depth advice on how to structure your essay, check out our expert step-by-step guide on tackling the essay .

Mmm, delicious essay...I mean sandwich.

Why College Essay Templates Are a Bad Idea

You might see college essay templates online that offer guidelines on how to structure your essay and what to say in each paragraph. I strongly advise against using a template. It will make your essay sound canned and bland—two of the worst things a college essay can be. It's much better to think about what you want to say, and then talk through how to best structure it with someone else and/or make your own practice outlines before you sit down to write.

You can also find tons of successful sample essays online. Looking at these to get an idea of different styles and topics is fine, but again, I don't advise closely patterning your essay after a sample essay. You will do the best if your essay really reflects your own original voice and the experiences that are most meaningful to you.

College Application Essay Format: Key Takeaways

There are two levels of formatting you might be worried about: the micro (fonts, headings, margins, etc) and the macro (the overall structure of your essay).

Tips for the micro level of your college application essay format:

• Always draft your essay in a word processing software, even if you'll be copy-and-pasting it over into a text box.
• If you are copy-and-pasting it into a text box, make sure your formatting transfers properly, your paragraphs are clearly delineated, and your essay isn't cut off.
• If you are attaching a document, make sure your font is easily readable, your margins are standard 1-inch, your essay is 1.5 or double-spaced, and your file format is compatible with the application specs.
• There's no need for a title unless otherwise specified—it will just eat into your word count.

Tips for the macro level of your college application essay format :

• There is no super-secret college essay format that will guarantee success.
• In terms of structure, it's most important that you have an introduction that makes it clear where you're going and a conclusion that wraps up with a main point. For the middle of your essay, you have lots of freedom, just so long as it flows logically!
• I advise against using an essay template, as it will make your essay sound stilted and unoriginal.

Plus, if you use a college essay template, how will you get rid of these medieval weirdos?

What's Next?

Still feeling lost? Check out our total guide to the personal statement , or see our step-by-step guide to writing the perfect essay .

If you're not sure where to start, consider these tips for attention-grabbing first sentences to college essays!

And be sure to avoid these 10 college essay mistakes .

Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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Hey everyone! I'm a junior, and I've been thinking about the whole college application process. I'm just a little stressed about how to start with my college essay draft. What strategies and advice should I consider when starting my journey in writing my essay? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello! Writing your college essay can indeed feel a bit overwhelming, but breaking it down into smaller steps can make the process more manageable. Here's a step-by-step strategy to help you kick off your essay journey:

1. Brainstorm: First, take some time to reflect on your life experiences, values, and passions. Think about the moments when you felt most proud, challenged, or inspired. Create a list of potential essay topics that are meaningful to you and showcase a unique aspect of who you are.

2. Choose a specific focus: Instead of trying to showcase your entire personality or life story, focus on a singular event, experience, or aspect of your life that exemplifies your character, growth, or values.

3. Outline your essay: Before jumping into writing, create an outline to map out what you want to include in your essay, such as the introduction, main points to elaborate, and a conclusion. This will help you stay organized and make the writing process smoother.

4. Show, don’t tell: Use vivid descriptions and sensory details to make your story come alive. Instead of simply stating that you're passionate about a particular subject, show how that passion has manifested in your actions and experiences.

5. Write your first draft: Don't worry about making your first draft perfect; just focus on getting your thoughts and ideas down on paper. You'll have plenty of time to refine and polish your essay later.

6. Revise and edit: Once you've written your first draft, take a step back and give yourself a break for a day or two. This will allow you to come back to your essay with a fresh perspective. As you revise, focus on clarifying your message, refining your voice, and ensuring that your essay remains focused on the central theme. Remember to proofread for grammatical errors and check for consistency in tone and style.

7. Get feedback: Share your essay with a few trusted individuals—a teacher, counselor, or family member—to get valuable feedback and suggestions. Keep in mind that the final decision on changes and revisions should be yours, as the essay should ultimately reflect your own voice and experiences.

8. Revise again: Incorporate the feedback that resonates with you, and revise your essay accordingly. Repeat this process until you're satisfied with the final result.

9. Proofread: Give your essay a final, thorough proofread to catch any lingering grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors.

Remember, the college essay is an opportunity for you to share a meaningful and authentic part of yourself with the admissions committee. Be true to who you are, and showcase the qualities and experiences that make you a unique candidate. Good luck, and happy writing!

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How to Brainstorm and Write the First College Essay Draft

• April 5, 2023
• College Admission Guidance , Parents Must Read , Under Graduate

When it comes to application evaluation, colleges consider many criteria that include high school grades, extracurricular activities, and test scores. But in recent years, more colleges are becoming test-optional and/or test-blind . So, your college essay, traditionally a requirement of any college application, will be more important than ever. Many high schoolers struggle to get started. In this post, we will discuss how to brainstorm and get started with the first college essay draft.

Before we get started with the main agenda, let’s dig a little deeper into why college essays are so important and some of the basics.

College Essay Basics and FAQs

Why are essays so important in college admissions.

Essays give admissions officers a deeper insight into who you are as a person beyond your grades and test scores. They allow you to showcase your personality, interests, and unique perspectives in a way that cannot be captured by standardized measures.

College admissions officers use essays to evaluate a student’s writing skills, critical thinking abilities, and communication skills. Essays can also help admissions officers assess how well you would fit into the school’s community and culture.

Additionally, essays allow applicants to stand out from other applicants who may have similar academic records or extracurricular activities.

In summary, essays are important in college admissions because they provide a more holistic view of the applicant and their potential to thrive at the college.

College Essays: FAQs

How long should your essay be.

It depends. Your main Common App essay can be up to 650 words, while the essays for the University of California (UC) schools are around 350 words each, and your supplemental essays will vary.

How many essays do you need to write?

Around 15-20. You’ll most probably write one main personal statement for your Common App, perhaps some separate essays if you’re applying to public schools (the UCs require four, for example). Additionally, you’ll write supplemental essays for most selective schools, which number anywhere from 6-20, depending on the number of schools you apply to.

What are college admissions officers looking for in college essays?

They’re looking for the answers to these three questions:

• Who is this person?
• Will this person contribute something of value to our campus?
• Can this person write and communicate well?

How do college admissions officers evaluate your essays?

Each school has its own criteria and different readers will prefer different elements. Some admission officers will assess your writing ability, while others will be more interested in your story.

In short, both are important – a good story, well told. That should be your goal.

How much do essays matter in the evaluation process?

Typically, they carry a weightage of 25-30%. Essays tend to matter more for small schools, or schools that look at applications holistically.

Schools look at your GPA, course rigor, and test scores more than anything. When you’re being compared to other students with similar GPA/SAT scores, that’s when the essays can make or break your chances.

Please note that well-written essays can not make up for poor grades and/or lack of impactful extracurriculars. However, a bad essay will surely negatively impact your admission chances.

How to Get Started with Brainstorming for Creating the First Essay Draft?

Option-1: you can get started by asking the following questions yourself:.

• If you really knew me…
• Something you are grateful for…
• Something you celebrated wildly…

Option-2: You can ask a few questions about Essence Objects:

• What’s something you never leave home without?
• What’s a snack you crave?
• A food that reminds you of your family?
• A food that reminds you of home?
• A tradition that reminds you of home?
• What else reminds you of home?
• An object that represents your best friend?
• An object that represents your father? Your mother?
• Something you loved and lost?
• A toy you used to play with as a kid?
• Something that makes you laugh?
• A book you love? Best movie ever?
• Favorite guilty pleasure movie?
• An object that represents something abstract that you broke (a heart, a promise)?
• An object that represents regret?
• A favorite gift you received? A favorite gift you gave?
• An object that represents a secret?
• Something about you no one else knows
• Something that makes you feel safe?
• The worst thing that ever happened to you?

Option-3: Ask yourself what you value the most. Below are a few examples:

• Personal Development
• Helping Others
• Inspiration
• Second Chances
• Flexibility
• Adaptability

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Brainstorm College Essays

• Reflect on your experiences: Start by reflecting on your experiences and thinking about which ones have been the most meaningful or transformative for you. This could include personal challenges you have overcome, memorable moments, or experiences that have shaped your values and beliefs.
• Make a list of potential essay topics: Once you have reflected on your experiences, make a list of potential essay topics. Try to come up with at least five to ten topics that you could write about.
• Narrow down your list: Look at your list and identify the topics that you are most passionate about and that best showcase your unique qualities and perspectives. Cross out any topics that are too broad or cliché.
• Use prompts for inspiration: Many colleges provide essay prompts to help guide applicants. Use these prompts as a starting point for brainstorming and see if any of them spark ideas for potential topics.
• Consider your audience: Remember that your audience is the admissions committee, so think about what they are looking for in an applicant. What qualities and experiences are they likely to value?
• Collaborate with others: Consider sharing your ideas with friends, family members, or teachers to get their feedback and suggestions. They may be able to provide a fresh perspective or help you identify topics that you may not have considered.

Overall, the key to effective brainstorming for college essays is to be open-minded, reflective, and creative. Don’t be afraid to take risks and explore topics that are meaningful and unique to you. Remember that the goal of the essay is to showcase your personal qualities and experiences in a way that sets you apart from other applicants.

How to Approach Writing the First College Essay Draft?

Firstly, you should ask yourself:

• Have you faced significant challenges?
• Do you want to write about them?

If you answered yes to both, Narrative Structure may work well for you.

If no to either, Montage Structure could be a better approach. 

How to Follow a Narrative Structure while Writing the First College Essay Draft?

You can think of this approach to writing an essay as breaking down into three basic sections:

• Challenges + Effects
• What I Did About Them
• What I Learned

While those may be fairly clear just based on their names, here’s a brief breakdown, followed by a sample essay to illustrate:

• Challenges + Effects This part gets into specific detail regarding a specific challenge the student has faced, and the various effects of that challenge. Tough stuff you’ve been through. Big experiences. Their subsequent impacts. Various obstacles you’ve had to overcome.
• What I Did About Them Actions you took to overcome those challenges and their effects, often to meet specific needs. These actions help to illustrate your values and growth.
• What I Learned Lessons and insights you’ve gained through these experiences. Reflection on how your experiences have shaped you and why that matters.

How to Follow a Montage Structure while Writing the First College Essay Draft?

Montage is something you’ve likely all encountered before, but some may not be familiar with the word itself. It’s a technique that involves using separate elements (pictures, words, music, etc.) to create a new whole. In filmmaking, the montage effect is used to condense space and time so that information can be delivered in a more efficient way.

If you’re going to build a montage, you need to find a way to make the different experiences you’ll use feel connected. Think of it this way: if you just had a paragraph on growing up in South East Asia, speaking of which religion, speaking of which literature is important to me, speaking of which… you’re going to feel understandably confused. So you need to have something that threads the pieces together.

Tips on Montage Structure

• Visual threads are easier to write. Storytelling is a visual medium. Use a lens that will help conjure images in the reader’s mind. I’ve had too many students try to write “soundtrack” or “mix-tape” essays in which their favorite songs provide the soundtrack for their lives. The problem with writing this type of essay, however, is that the reader can’t hear the music (and often doesn’t know or have the same emotional connection to the songs referenced). So you can use more abstract things (like Waves, or Home), but those will often take more time to write well.
• Write what you know. Know how to cook? Use food. Play chess? Use that! Use your Essence Objects list as a starting point for ideas. 
• Look for thematic threads that are “elastic”—that allow you to connect a bunch of sides of yourself. Use a metaphor, in other words, that will allow you to discuss several different aspects of who you are.

Monate Structure vs Narrative Structure

A montage essay (i.e., an essay NOT about challenges) is more likely to stand out if the topic or theme of the essay is:

X. Elastic (i.e., something you can connect to a variety of examples, moments, or values) Y. Uncommon (i.e., something other students probably aren’t writing about)

On the other hand, a narrative essay is more likely to stand out if it contains: 

X. Difficult or compelling challenges Y. Insight

These aren’t binary—rather, each exists on a spectrum.

“Elastic” will vary from person to person. I might be able to connect mountain climbing to family, history, literature, science, social justice, environmentalism, growth, and insight … and someone else might not connect it too much of anything. Maybe trees?

“Uncommon” —every year, thousands of students write about mission trips, sports, or music. It’s not that you can’t write about these things, but it’s a lot harder to stand out. 

“Difficult or compelling challenges” can be put on a spectrum, with things like getting a bad grade or not making a sports team on the weaker end, and things like escaping war or living homeless for three years on the stronger side. While you can possibly write a strong essay about a weaker challenge, it’s really hard to do so.

“Insight” is the answer to the question “So what?” A great insight is likely to surprise the reader a bit, while a so-so insight likely won’t. (Insight is something you’ll develop in an essay through the writing process, rather than something you’ll generally know ahead of time for a topic, but it’s useful to understand that some topics are probably easier to pull insights from than others.)

To clarify, you can still write a great montage with a very common topic, or a narrative that offers so-so insights. But the degree of difficulty goes up. Probably way up.

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How to Write a Great Essay Draft In College

Table of content.

• 01. What Makes Essay Drafts Important
• 02. Four Key Steps WhenWriting the First Draft
• 03. Do This When Wondering How to Write a Draft Essay
• 04. Mistakes to Avoid
• 05. Summary of All Crucial Points
• 06. Make a Good Draft and Reap Its Benefits

Students grimace at the thought of essay draft whenever they are asked to write one. Sure, some understand its necessity, but most others just wave it off, thinking that drafts are an unnecessary complication professors made up to make their lives more difficult. Who is right and who is wrong here? Let’s find out by establishing what a draft is. It’s a rough version of the final paper where a writer expresses an outline of their ideas, presenting their skeleton and putting some meat on it. 

But just knowing draft essay definition isn’t enough, you also have to fully realize its relevance and ways in which it should be created. Drafts are vital components of academic writing process: they could help students understand how their introduction, body, and conclusion are going to look like before their paper is fully written. They give you chances to catch mistakes and discrepancies before they go too far as with their help, you can correct everything on time. Let us expand on this thought and explain how an effective draft should be created.

What Makes Essay Drafts Important

Students are right to assume that writing a draft takes time. But what they usually dismiss is the fact that after this document is ready, they can submit it for preliminary assessment. Professor will take a look at it, underlining its strong and weak points, and if everything is more or less fine, you’ll get to keep the draft and transform it into the final essay. This way, the time you spent on it won’t disappear into nowhere — your final version will be at least half-done. 

Look at any example of a draft essay — sometimes they resemble a finished work because you can already understand writer’s point, their evidence, the  structure of an essay  and conclusion. You’ll be expanding a draft to make it into an essay, not writing it from scratch. In addition, even if professor tells you that whole thing needs to be redone because you focused on the wrong theme, it’s better to know about it in advance instead of writing an even longer essay and getting a failing grade for it. Look at this file like you would at the sample of final work. This is your opportunity to learn whether you’re moving in the right direction and take actions in case you took a wrong turn.

Four Key Steps WhenWriting the First Draft

What is a first draft? It’s initial try at building a picture of a future essay. Later, it might be sent back to you for revision or expansion, so you could write a second and third draft. If you want to prevent this situation from happening, it’s preferable to do a great job from the first try. These are the steps you should take.

1. Develop an outline

After deciding on what topic you should write about, start planning the points you’ll be exploring. Determine which bits should be mentioned in the body — it is the most important thing. For example, if you’re working on the theme of English postmodernism, indicate which factors represent it. Place one per each paragraph and add a few more details to them. After this skeleton is ready and you can move on toward the next step.  

2. Make a thesis

Thesis is a key statement of students’ paper that plays an equally relevant role in your first draft essay, so be sure to devise it early on. Decide, what is the central argument? What do you plan to prove? Your reader should be able to understand your goal simply by reading  thesis statement , so make this bit count and base your work on it.  

3. Find good sources

You might have to include more sources when working on the final paper, but deciding on key ones is important at this stage. Choose two or three articles or books. Remember that they should be credible and created within the last 5 years. Dedicate each source to a paragraph, determining main ideas you’ll be supporting with their help.

4. Write at least 3-5 sentences about each key point

Everything is prepared, so it is time for actual writing. Focus only on key elements  —  other details should be added in later versions. Craft a short introduction with thesis. Explore every body point from an outline in 3 or 5 sentences; be brief, concise, and don’t deviate from the course you’ve set. Mention sources in support, even if you don’t provide full evidence yet. Conclude essay by adding some more sentences in the final part. Remember about limits: go for expressing all relevant factors, not for expanding your rough file just to increase the word count.

Useful information: Use our  free conclusion generator  is only a few clicks away.

Do This When Wondering How to Write a Draft Essay

In every assignment, there are some considerations that a student should take into consideration. With drafts, at least three could be distinguished. First, remember your goal. Since drafting entails giving shape to different ideas, this process has an unstable structure. Some new ideas might occur; other ideas could disappear. This is a natural occurrence and you shouldn’t be worried about it. Just keep your judgment sound: sometimes new direction could help you reach your goal more effectively, but other times, it only distracts. Keep visualizing it and you’ll be fine.

The second point worth remembering when drafting an essay is taking a break from writing. Walk somewhere, read something else, and then evaluate your draft. This could reveal some missteps that require correcting. The third consideration is your notes. It isn’t obligatory to make them, but at the same time, they could serve as guidelines showing what you intend to work on after draft is returned to you. They are a useful bridge between a draft and a final essay.   

Mistakes to Avoid

Looking through a draft essay example is a great idea for seeing what mistakes people make. If you know it, you can learn in advance what to avoid and how to smoothen rough angles of your work. Here are three most frequent errors everyone should be wary of.

• Too many details . Common mistake many students make lies in treating a draft like a final essay. They try filling it with all details at once, expressing their opinions fully and not leaving anything out. As a result, they end up with work that equals or exceeds the size of real essay.
• No  structure . Other students, on the contrary, feel too lazy to bother with this task. What is a draft essay for them? This is an unpleasant necessity. That’s why they create a paragraph or two, jumping between points chaotically and hoping that it would be enough. Work performed in such manner is largely useless, and it won’t help with an essay in the slightest. 
• Too much editing.  Sure, doing some light editing and  is always good since it allows making sure that your sentences are coherent, but when drafting, it is vital not to overdo it. Some students get too focused on eliminating all technical mistakes, to the point where they forget about everything else. Drafts are training exercise for students, not some final version that must be polished perfectly. Content is far more important.   

Summary of All Crucial Points

Are you still wondering how to draft an essay? We decided on summarizing the points we mentioned and develop our list with best and worst things students could do in the process of their work. Keep them in mind and you’ll stand higher chances of succeeding.

• Preliminary research.  Conduct thorough research right away. Selecting sources,  making an outline , and figuring out potential scope of future work are vital processes that you should take care of as soon as possible. It’ll come in handy both in a sample version and in an essay itself.
• Present key essay points in your document.  Through thesis and brainstorming, determine major points of an essay. Describe them in a draft, giving each of them a few sentences. In most cases, their number doesn’t exceed 5, but it depends on an overall size of your planned work.  
• Leave space for additions.  Remember that professor expects you to flesh out your ideas in a real paper, so present only raw facts in your draft. There should be space for expanding them at some later stage. You’ll use more evidence, ideas, and arguments there — be sure your word count covers it all.

Don’t:

• Make document too long.  Ideally, draft essay should present about 50-60% of its final version. Students are going to have enough time for expanding paragraphs and fill them with secondary details, so avoid doing it all in one go. Be specific, don’t be detailed.  
• Treat it as a  final  paper.  Don’t think that your draft is the same thing as a complete essay. That’s not true and it could only confuse you further. These rough essays are exercises, you’re only shaping real paper in them. Time for doing more is going to come afterward.   
• Think it is unimportant.  Drafts have an absolute importance, and students shouldn’t forget about this fact. By relying on them, you could see how your final essay would look like if you continued pursuing this course. What you invest into it will pay off, so work hard and follow recommendations provided by your teacher.

Make a Good Draft and Reap Its Benefits

Now that you know draft paper definition and the relevance it carries, you shouldn’t have problems with understanding why creating it is so essential. Consider this to be your training ground. Explore ideas, build links between them, think about sources that should be used in their support, and work on making solid conclusion. When everything is done, send final work for your professor’s assessment. They are going to review and express their opinion on your efforts, both strengths and weaknesses included. In turn, you’ll gain an opportunity to  correct the essay  and elaborate on the strong sides of your text.  

Find some great essay draft example in the Internet if you aren’t sure how to write your own. Start brainstorming right after that, noting down different  essay ideas . Work on each part, from introduction to body and conclusion, exploring an outline of the main essay points. Introduce academic sources in every body paragraph, and that’s it! Your draft will inspire your final paper, serving as its strong foundation. 

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• Choosing Your College Essay Topic | Ideas & Examples

Choosing Your College Essay Topic | Ideas & Examples

Published on October 25, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on July 3, 2023.

A strong essay topic sets you up to write a unique, memorable college application essay . Your topic should be personal, original, and specific. Take time to brainstorm the right topic for you.

Table of contents

What makes a good topic, brainstorming questions to get started, discover the best topic for you, how to make a common topic compelling, frequently asked questions about college application essays, other interesting articles.

Here are some guidelines for a good essay topic:

• It’s focused on you and your experience
• It shares something different from the rest of your application
• It’s specific and original (not many students could write a similar essay)
• It affords the opportunity to share your positive stories and qualities

In most cases, avoid topics that

• Reflect poorly on your character and behavior
• Deal with a challenge or traumatic experience without a lesson learned or positive outlook

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Spend time reflecting on and writing out answers to the following questions. After doing this exercise, you should be able to identify a few strong topics for your college essay.

Writing about yourself can be difficult. If you’re struggling to identify your topic, try these two strategies.

Start with your qualities

After identifying your positive qualities or values, brainstorm stories that demonstrate these qualities.

Start with a story

If you already have some memorable stories in mind that you’d like to write about, think about which qualities and values you can demonstrate with those stories.

Talk it through

To make sure you choose the right topic, ask for advice from trusted friends or family members who know you well. They can help you brainstorm ideas and remember stories, and they can give you feedback on your potential essay topics.

You can also work with a guidance counselor, teacher, or other mentor to discuss which ideas are most promising. If you plan ahead , you can even workshop multiple draft essays to see which topic works best.

If you do choose a common topic, ensure you have the following to craft a unique essay:

• Surprising or unexpected story arcs
• Interesting insight or connections
• An advanced writing style

Here are a few examples of how to craft strong essays from cliché topics.

Here’s a checklist you can use to confirm that your college essay topic is right for you.

College essay topic checklist

My topic is focused on me, not on someone else.

My topic shares something different from the rest of my application.

My topic is specific and original (not many students could write a similar essay).

My topic reflects positively on my character and behavior.

If I chose to write about a traumatic or challenging experience, my essay will focus on how I overcame it or gained insight.

If I chose a common topic, my essay will have a surprising story arc, interesting insight, and/or an advanced writing style.

Good topic!

It looks like your topic is a good choice. It's specific, it avoids clichés, and it reflects positively on you.

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

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 .

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.

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)

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.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

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• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

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Angel Reese Bids Farewell to LSU, College Basketball With Heartfelt Video Essay

• Author: Karl Rasmussen

In this story:

Angel Reese announced Wednesday morning that she intends to enter the 2024 WNBA draft following LSU's season-ending defeat against Caitlin Clark and Iowa in Monday's Elite Eight .

Shortly after her announcement, Reese bid farewell to the Tigers and all of her fans across the country on a more personal level, sharing a heartfelt video essay to her social media accounts. In the video, Reese thanked her supporters and expressed her gratitude to those who helped her along her journey.

"I'm leaving college with everything I've ever wanted," Reese said. "A degree. A national championship. And this platform I could have never imagined. This is for the girls that look like me, that's going to speak up on what they believe in, it's unapologetically you. To grow up in sports and have an impact on what's coming next.

"This was a difficult decision, but I trust the next chapter because I know the author. Bayou Barbie, out."

Grateful for these last four years and excited for this next chapter. #BAYOUBARBIEOUT pic.twitter.com/EvkzUW08JV — Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) April 3, 2024

Reese played two seasons at LSU after transferring from the University of Maryland. With the Tigers, she racked up a multitude of accolades and won a national championship last season, vaulting herself into the national spotlight in the process. Across 69 games for LSU, Reese averaged 20.9 points and 14.4 rebounds.

After wrapping up a legendary college career and bidding an emotional farewell to her fans, Reese has officially declared her intention to enter the WNBA draft, where she projects as a first-round pick in what figures to be a loaded draft class.

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Guest Essay

Elite College Admissions Have Turned Students Into Brands

By Sarah Bernstein

Ms. Bernstein is a playwright, a writing coach and an essayist in Brooklyn.

“I just can’t think of anything,” my student said.

After 10 years of teaching college essay writing, I was familiar with this reply. For some reason, when you’re asked to recount an important experience from your life, it is common to forget everything that has ever happened to you. It’s a long-form version of the anxiety that takes hold at a corporate retreat when you’re invited to say “one interesting thing about yourself,” and you suddenly believe that you are the most boring person in the entire world. Once during a version of this icebreaker, a man volunteered that he had only one kidney, and I remember feeling incredibly jealous of him.

I tried to jog this student’s memory. What about his love of music? Or his experience learning English? Or that time on a summer camping trip when he and his friends had nearly drowned? “I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “That all seems kind of cliché.”

Applying to college has always been about standing out. When I teach college essay workshops and coach applicants one on one, I see my role as helping students to capture their voice and their way of processing the world, things that are, by definition, unique to each individual. Still, many of my students (and their parents) worry that as getting into college becomes increasingly competitive, this won’t be enough to set them apart.

Their anxiety is understandable. On Thursday, in a tradition known as “Ivy Day,” all eight Ivy League schools released their regular admission decisions. Top colleges often issue statements about how impressive (and competitive) their applicant pools were this cycle. The intention is to flatter accepted students and assuage rejected ones, but for those who have not yet applied to college, these statements reinforce the fear that there is an ever-expanding cohort of applicants with straight A’s and perfect SATs and harrowing camping trip stories all competing with one another for a vanishingly small number of spots.

This scarcity has led to a boom in the college consulting industry, now estimated to be a $2.9 billion business. In recent years, many of these advisers and companies have begun to promote the idea of personal branding — a way for teenagers to distinguish themselves by becoming as clear and memorable as a good tagline.

While this approach often leads to a strong application, students who brand themselves too early or too definitively risk missing out on the kind of exploration that will prepare them for adult life.

Like a corporate brand, the personal brand is meant to distill everything you stand for (honesty, integrity, high quality, low prices) into a cohesive identity that can be grasped at a glance. On its website, a college prep and advising company called Dallas Admissions explains the benefits of branding this way: “Each person is complex, yet admissions officers only have a small amount of time to spend learning about each prospective student. The smart student boils down key aspects of himself or herself into their personal ‘brand’ and sells that to the college admissions officer.”

Identifying the key aspects of yourself may seem like a lifelong project, but unfortunately, college applicants don’t have that kind of time. Online, there are dozens of lesson plans and seminars promising to walk students through the process of branding themselves in five to 10 easy steps. The majority begin with questions I would have found panic-inducing as a teenager, such as, “What is the story you want people to tell about you when you’re not in the room?”

Where I hoped others would describe me as “normal” or, in my wildest dreams, “cool,” today’s teenagers are expected to leave this exercise with labels like, Committed Athlete and Compassionate Leader or Environmentally Conscious Musician. Once students have a draft of their ideal self, they’re offered instructions for manifesting it (or at least, the appearance of it) in person and online. These range from common-sense tips (not posting illegal activity on social media) to more drastic recommendations (getting different friends).

It’s not just that these courses cut corners on self-discovery; it’s that they get the process backward. A personal brand is effective only if you can support it with action, so instead of finding their passion and values through experience, students are encouraged to select a passion as early as possible and then rack up the experience to substantiate it. Many college consultants suggest beginning to align your activities with your college ambitions by ninth grade, while the National Institute of Certified College Planners recommends students “talk with parents, guardians, and/or an academic adviser to create a clear plan for your education and career-related goals” in junior high.

The idea of a group of middle schoolers soberly mapping out their careers is both comical and depressing, but when I read student essays today, I can see that this advice is getting through. Over the past few years, I have been struck by how many high school seniors already have defined career goals as well as a C.V. of relevant extracurriculars to go with them. This widens the gap between wealthy students and those who lack the resources to secure a fancy research gig or start their own small business. (A shocking number of college applicants claim to have started a small business.) It also puts pressure on all students to define themselves at a moment when they are anxious to fit in and yet changing all the time.

In the world of branding, a word that appears again and again is “consistency.” If you are Charmin, that makes sense. People opening a roll of toilet paper do not want to be surprised. If you are a teenage human being, however, that is an unreasonable expectation. Changing one’s interests, opinions and presentation is a natural part of adolescence and an instructive one. I find that my students with scattershot résumés are often the most confident. They’re not afraid to push back against suggestions that ring false and will insist on revising their essay until it actually “feels like me.” On the other hand, many of my most accomplished students are so quick to accept feedback that I am wary of offering it, lest I become one more adult trying to shape them into an admission-worthy ideal.

I understand that for parents, prioritizing exploration can feel like a risky bet. Self-insight is hard to quantify and to communicate in a college application. When it comes to building a life, however, this kind of knowledge has more value than any accolade, and it cannot be generated through a brainstorming exercise in a six-step personal branding course online. To equip kids for the world, we need to provide them not just with opportunities for achievement, but with opportunities to fail, to learn, to wander and to change their minds.

In some ways, the college essay is a microcosm of modern adolescence. Depending on how you look at it, it’s either a forum for self-discovery or a high-stakes test you need to ace. I try to assure my students that it is the former. I tell them that it’s a chance to take stock of everything you’ve experienced and learned over the past 18 years and everything you have to offer as a result.

That can be a profound process. But to embark on it, students have to believe that colleges really want to see the person behind the brand. And they have to have the chance to know who that person is.

Sarah Bernstein is a playwright, a writing coach and an essayist.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

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Sophomore standout Xaivian Lee declares for NBA draft, maintaining college eligibility

Lee was a unanimous All-Ivy first-team selection this past season for the Tigers, averaging 17 points per game.

Ammaar alam / the daily princetonian.

In the weeks following the opening of the transfer portal, the Ivy League has seen star after star depart the conference, including Yale’s Danny Wolf, Harvard’s Malik Mack, and Brown’s Nana Owusu-Anane. But Princeton’s star players, sophomore guard Xaivian Lee and sophomore forward Caden Pierce, stayed firm inside the Orange Bubble — until Friday evening, when Lee did not enter the transfer portal, but rather jumped to declaring for the NBA draft.

ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report that Tiger standout Xaivian Lee will be declaring for the 2024 NBA draft while maintaining college eligibility.

Princeton sophomore G Xaivian Lee is declaring for NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility, he tells ESPN. Lee averaged 17 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists on way to earning first-team All-Ivy. Lee’s signing with @GeorgeLangberg of GSL for representation. pic.twitter.com/Am8OIk2j8k — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 5, 2024

“I think it was the smart thing to do,” Lee told The Daily Princetonian in an interview. “Not necessarily leaving for the NBA, but testing the waters and seeing where I’m at against that level of competition … That is ultimately how I can get better and set myself up for the future.”

Declaring for the draft requires Lee to decide his future by May 29. Should he choose to stay in the draft past May 29, Lee will lose his college eligibility.

“That was the important part of it [maintaining my eligibility],” Lee added. “I’m entering this process … open-minded and I have intentions of coming back to school for sure."

Lee will try to do something that has only happened once since 1996 — be drafted to the NBA from the Ivy League. That one player was Yale’s Miye Oni , who was picked 58th in the 2019 draft after declaring early after his junior year, though he struggled to adjust to the NBA and is now playing in the G-League . 

“I think everyone has a goal of making the NBA, but this is just the first step in that process,” Lee told the ‘Prince.’

Lee will be represented by Greg Langgerg, founder and CEO of GSL Sports Group, the same agency that represents former Tiger star and current Detroit Pistons forward Tosan Evbuomwan ’23. Evbuomwan is the NBA’s only Ivy League player and has recently been starting for a severely depleted Detroit roster. 

“Going through the process and talking with different people, George [Langberg] seemed like a really good guy, really easy to talk to, and I think he believes in me and has a good understanding of who I am as a person and as a player,” Lee added.

While Evbuomwan and Lee are in different situations — Evbuomwan was graduating from Princeton at the time of declaring, while Lee is only a rising junior — Lee has still looked to Evbuomwan for guidance.

“I definitely spoke to Tosan [Evbuomwan] going through this process,” Lee noted. “We spoke for a couple of hours over the phone here and there. He’s helped guide me through the process … not really on making the decision, but on the mental side of it and he’s been through that process already.”

Princeton star PG Xaivian Lee went off today against Harvard 33 points 8 rebounds 8 assists(1 TOV) 13-22 FG Lee is really good… he’s crafty, can shoot, make his teammates better, and provides winning basketball consistently. Today with NBA scouts watching he turned up. pic.twitter.com/yEInKnVyZJ — PDT (@PDTScouting) January 6, 2024

Lee became a core part of the Tigers’ squad after seeing limited playing time during his rookie season at Old Nassau. After a summer that saw Lee shine at the 2023 FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup for Team Canada, Lee had a stellar sophomore campaign that saw him average 17.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game on the season. 

When the season ended, Lee finished first in points during in-conference play within the Ivy League, tied with teammate Caden Pierce. He was named on the All-Ivy first team as one of four unanimous selections. He was also a finalist for the Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award, an award given to the best mid-major player in college basketball. 

It is difficult to say how Lee’s game will translate to the NBA. On offense, he has scored over 60 percent of all his field goals unassisted and has a unique playing style that can be a headache for opposing defenses. His biggest concern for scouts will likely be on the defensive end of the ball. While Lee undoubtedly has the lateral quickness that is needed on the defensive end, his lean frame is an overall concern due to the larger size and physicality in the NBA. 

The next eight weeks will be crucial for Lee. While handling four courses at Princeton, Lee will likely attend the NBA draft combine scheduled for May 12–19 and schedule different pre-draft workouts with interested organizations.

“I think it’ll probably take a lot to persuade me to stay in [the NBA draft],” Lee noted. “I’m just really excited to see what happens and I’m open-minded to the process. I think it’ll be a lot of fun. That’s what basketball is about.” 

While whether he suits up for the Tigers in November remains a question mark, Lee remains grateful for the support the Tigers received this season from the community and the school. 

“We’re all super thankful for the great support this year,” Lee said. “It just made it so fun and a privilege to play for you guys [fans] … I’m excited for the future.”

Hayk Yengibaryan is an associate Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.

Reimagining writing seminar for all writers

However, while writing seminars teach helpful research and argumentation tactics, they often ultimately fall short of helping students with their titular skill: writing.

While writing seminars teach helpful research and argumentation tactics, they often ultimately fall short of providing students with the very skill that their name suggests.

U. under federal investigation for antisemitism after complaint by conservative activist

The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into the University on Wednesday, April 3 regarding antisemitism on campus following a January complaint. Princeton joins other universities, including Harvard and Yale, who are also facing antisemitism investigations in recent months by the Department’s Office of Civil Rights.

The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into the University on Wednesday, April 3 regarding antisemitism on campus following a January complaint. Princeton joins other universities, including Harvard and Yale, who are also facing antisemitism investigations in recent months by the Department’s Office of Civil Rights.

Eight multi-goal scorers propel No. 18 Princeton past Columbia, 24–12

The Tigers’ 24 goals is a new season-high, as the Tigers ran out to a 10–2 lead in the first quarter and never took their foot off the gas.

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