Top colleges want a great essay period!
The colleges want applicants who can articulate their uniqueness in an essay of no more than 650 words. The essay is the best channel for an applicant to showcase who they are and demonstrate their values and qualities to the admissions committee.
This essay is a challenge to write well, which is why applicants should get started on a framework and theme for their essay, at least, six months before their applications are due.
Some applicants resort to hiring an experienced essay reader to review their essays, and a privileged few can afford expensive essay writing boot camps in the summer prior to submission of their applications to polish up their essay theme and essay writing skills. These services can cost anywhere between $500 to $10,000 depending on whether the reviewer is a freelancer or the bootcamp is run by an established college admissions consultant.
The essay must tell a story about the applicant and provide insight into who they are through an experience or series of experiences. The subject of focus in the essay is the applicant, and essays that stray from this focus detract from the overall merits of the essay, and ultimately the application. An admissions officer once adamantly advised a group of students on a college tour that an essay praising grandma who had a substantial impact on a student’s life is unlikely to be well received since the essay focuses on grandma and not the student.
The Common Application provides 7 prompts for the essay, and these prompts typically do not vary much from year to year. The prompts typically allow an applicant a high degree of flexibility and imagination to write about themselves.
The following 7 essay prompts were used in the 2021/2022 Common Application, and continue to be in use for the 2022/2023 application cycle:
Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
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?
Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.
To get you started, you can view examples of successful essays shared by Johns Hopkins University on their website accompanied by commentary from their Admissions Committee on why each of the essays worked for the applicant.
These successful essays from Johns Hopkins applicants share several common features:
the applicants share some pretty mundane, every day activities and experiences that they were part of
the essays have a thematic link that draws the whole story together
the applicants are able to draw powerful insight about themselves from these experiences and demonstrate quite resolutely how they were impacted as a result.
the essays drill down to detail at a very micro level avoiding “big picture” type experiences.
the essays are highly personalized and focus on the applicant even if there are others involved in the story
Remember that the elite colleges are not asking applicants to demonstrate desirable qualities from world changing activities, but they do want to know what kind of person you are and how you would fit into the student body at their college.
One common mistake applicants make with their essay is to pick highlights from their non-academic activities and discuss the lessons they learned from them. This checklist essay method is an absolute “no no” as this type of essay rarely provides insight into who the applicant really is since some of these activities might have been influenced by a parent and says little about the applicant as a person.
The process of writing a strong essay that meets the standards of an Admissions Committee is a challenging one. Applicants should start planning their essay framework and theme 6 months in advance, and be prepared to work through multiple drafts of their essay before submission.
For applicants to colleges in the University of California system, remember that the UC system does not use the Common Application, and the essay requirements are a little different. Applicants are expected to respond to 4 out of 8 prompts, and each essay must be no longer than 350 words.
Here are the University of California system essay prompts for 2021/2022 and the prompts are expected to be the same for the 2022/2023 application cycle:
Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.
Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.
What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.
What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?
Just like the essay prompts in the Common Application, these prompts are designed to elicit information about the applicant, who they are and what they stand for.
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The letter of recommendation should reinforce and expand on what you have presented about yourself in the application.