College Essay

In 1300 Words or Less, Advise Incoming Seniors on College Essay Writing 

“Some colleges require submission of the personal essay with your Common App.” 

It’s the final tab on the Common App, prompting you to summarize your whole life story in 650 words or less, except, it’s not. College essays provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate an integral part of yourself that the academic achievements on your transcript and extracurricular activities on your resume cannot reveal. College admissions officers should meet you through your writing. While it could, your essay does not have to cover monumental life experiences, it could cover something seemingly insignificant, but of great value to you. Choosing a topic challenges you to pinpoint significant experiences or details to develop an essay. Ideally, you should brainstorm essay topic ideas during your senior summer so you can start drafting over the summer or early fall with guidance from your English teachers. While the Common App essay prompts open early August, you’re not required to answer a specific prompt, and the prompts do not vary much year to year, so if you have an idea, feel free to start developing it before the Common App releases prompts. 

One of the best pieces of advice I received was to approach your essay as a creative writing piece, according to Mrs. Mansfield, an AP Literature teacher and college essay advisor to her senior students. Typically, we associate essays with research and arguments, but in this case, it’s a personal narrative, and you have the creative freedom to make it a distinctive, enthralling writing piece. According to The Ivy Institute, a college advice blog, admissions officers spend about 90 seconds reviewing personal essays. With this in mind, it's crucial to capture admissions officers’ attention. To do this effectively, begin with a strong hook and “show, don’t tell”, as Mrs. Mansfield stresses to her seniors. 

Get Them Hooked 

A hook, an attention-grabbing opening statement, serves to keep a reader interested in a piece of writing. A few generous Class of 2025 seniors shared their hooks as examples. 

Some hooks introduce the topic directly, putting readers in the writer's shoes, eager to want to hear their story. For example: 

“‘Why do you try so hard at school?’” 

“‘People are happy when I get good grades.’” 

Using dialogue as a hook creates a fly-on-the-wall moment for readers, including them in an explanatory conversation in the writer’s life.  

“If you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see, you can find out firsthand what it’s like to be me.” To an angsty twelve-year-old listening to My Chemical Romance’s song, “The End.” From the album The Black Parade for the first time, these lyrics perfectly described what it felt like to “be me.” 

Song lyrics, or quotes, are other effective ways to hook readers. Additionally, their sources naturally reveal the writer’s interests along with their essay topic. In this case, readers learn about the students’ love for alternative rock music and how the lyrics resonated with their self-image journey. 

Other functional hooks leave the essay’s topic mysterious, which may intrigue admissions officers because they can’t anticipate the essay’s direction. 

For example: 

“I hate talking about my dad. Not my dad as a person, but rather what’s inside of him. The thing that has weighed over my family for twelve years.” 

This essay’s strategically vague hook introduces a mysterious “thing” that significantly impacted this student’s life and leaves readers in suspense, only anticipating a compelling, touching narrative. 

“I was the last to find out.” 

This short, cryptic hook’s ambiguity sets up an essay that could take almost any direction. The writer shared the essay discussed their heritage and experiences as the youngest siblings where they were the last to find out about their family’s past, deaths in the family or the realities of their refugee family; the writer takes a simple idea in their life and takes their essay in a complex direction, which the hook leaves unpredictable.  

Lastly, I’ll share mine. 

“I was an Egyptian mummy once.” 

A seemingly contradictory hook can add a unique flair to your essay, much like the mysterious hooks; not only do you leave the topic a mystery, but it prompts readers to keep reading to figure out how an implausible statement makes sense by the end of your essay. 

Show Don’t Tell 

The idea that you should show who you are rather than tell enhances your essay and makes it flow like a narrative rather than a factual essay you’d write in an academic setting. You can show certain attributes through techniques, including, but not limited to, dialogue (internal or external), metaphors, or describing an experience in detail. Rather than tell an admissions officer, “I am proud of my culture,” describe a cultural event or influences of your culture in your daily life. Instead of writing, “I am always thinking about others,” add dialogue outlining an interaction that highlights your thoughtfulness. Use italics, bold words, underlined words, or write in CAPITAL LETTERS to visually grab your reader’s attention and distinguish internal thoughts or yelling from regular writing. By the end, as Mrs. Mansfield tells her students, a phrase like “this made me who I am today” should be unnecessary and omitted altogether from your final draft because your essay should demonstrate that your topic impacted you and “made you who you are” without explicitly stating it. 

Supplementary Essays, Supplementary Advice 

Although your college essay gets sent to each college as your main essay, most colleges require one or more supplemental essays, which are shorter than your college essay. When choosing a topic, consider writing about something the rest of your application doesn’t reflect; avoid repeating yourself and aim to show as many sides of yourself as possible. A common supplementary essay is the “why this college” essay. In my experience, it’s best to treat this prompt like a mini-research task. You might love the college but find yourself with a limited ability to describe why, or you may not be that interested in the college, so answering the “why” prompt is especially challenging. You should consult the college’s website to learn about course offerings, student life, and most importantly, the school’s culture. If you know what you want to major in, check the program for that college and pick distinct aspects of the program unique to the college, not something most colleges have, like a study abroad opportunity. You can also discuss a club or activity you did throughout high school that you’d like to continue throughout your college years. For example, for my “why” essays, I found the names of each school newspaper and expressed my interest in joining. University social media pages on Instagram and TikTok can give you helpful insight into what university life is like at a particular school. The most important thing about a “why” essay is specificity, demonstrating your interest by naming opportunities to show you’ve looked into the school and prove to the college that you can fit within their community. 

Final Advice (200 words or less) 

You’ve likely heard it before, but I’ll reiterate it: write about what you want to write about, not what you think admissions officers want to read. Writing what you think admissions officers want to read risks originality and authenticity, arguably the most important components of a successful essay. If your essay is causing you immense stress, remember, the admissions officer reviews your application holistically, so it’s just one small aspect of a bigger picture they’re considering. Test out different topics, write rough drafts, experiment with words and perspectives, and while looking at others’ examples can be inspiring, be careful not to compare your writing harshly. Don’t hesitate to ask trusted people for assistance, without diminishing your voice. Best of luck, incoming seniors, with telling your story in 650 words or less.