Getting ready to start your college essay? Your essay is very important to your application — especially if you’re applying to selective colleges.
You should also take advantage of the following free resources:Become a stronger writer by reviewing your peers’ essays and get your essay reviewed as well for free.
We have regular livestreams during which we walk you through how to write your college essay and review essays live.
Just getting started on college essays? This section will guide you through how you should think about your college essays before you start.
How a college essay fits into your application
What a strong essay does for your chances
How to create an application theme
Next, let’s make sure you understand the different types of college essays. You’ll most likely be writing a Common App or Coalition App essay, and you can also be asked to write supplemental essays for each school. Each essay has a prompt asking a specific question. Each of these prompts falls into one of a few different types. Understanding the types will help you better answer the prompt and structure your essay.
Personal Statement The Extracurricular Essay The Diversity Essay The Community Service Essay The “Why This Major” Essay The “Why This College” Essay The “Overcoming Challenges” EssayIdentify how each prompt fits into an essay type
What each type of essay is really asking of you
How to write each essay effectively
Almost every student will write a Common App essay, which is why it’s important you get this right.
How to choose which Common App prompts to answer
How to write a successful Common App essay
What to avoid to stand out to admissions officers
Many schools, especially competitive ones, will ask you to write one or more supplemental essays. This allows a school to learn more about you and how you might fit into their culture.
These essays are extremely important in standing out. We’ve written guides for all the top schools. Follow the link below to find your school and read last year’s essay guides to give you a sense of the essay prompts. We’ll update these in August when schools release their prompts.
See last year’s supplemental essay guides to get a sense of the prompts for your schools.
Now that you’re starting to write your essay, let’s dive into the writing process. Below you’ll find our top articles on the craft of writing an amazing college essay.
How a college essay fits into your application
Understand how to write a great hook for your essay
Complete the first drafts of your essay
Have a first draft ready? See our top editing tips below. Also, you may want to submit your essay to our free Essay Peer Review to get quick feedback and join a community of other students working on their essays.
Proofread and edited your essay.
Had someone else look through your essay — we recommend submitting it for a peer review.
Make sure your essay meets all requirements — consider signing up for a free account to view our per-prompt checklists to help you understand when you’re really ready to submit.
Let’s take it one step further and see how we can make your college essay really stand out! We recommend reading through these posts when you have a draft to work with.