Rising high school seniors sometimes approach their college essays in the same way they approach their English class essays. They are two totally different things! And therefore, students should approach college essays differently.
Here are some basic differences:
- There’s no thesis statement. This is not an analytical work – you aren’t comparing or contrasting literature, or explaining a scientific theory. Instead, your challenge is to use your college essays to convey something interesting about yourself, something that will help colleges see how you will contribute to their campus.
- You don’t need to support your thesis with facts (no thesis – no facts!) – but you do need to tell a story. “Show, Don’t Tell,” is the standard college essay mantra, and by that, we mean don’t TELL us that you have a particular characteristic (intelligent, funny, leader, humble, whatever you are), SHOW us by recounting a story that demonstrates your selected personality trait. Your stories are your proof! A well-described image or story can lead the reader to the conclusion that you are (intelligent, funny, leader, humble, whatever you are) without your having to tell them. A successful essay will leave them wanting to meet you and welcome you to their campus.
- It doesn’t have to be five paragraphs. It can be two – or ten! It can be longer or shorter. There’s no formula here. It shouldn’t be just one big chunk of text – separate out your thoughts in an organized way, using as many (or as few) paragraphs as you need to help illustrate your point.
- It doesn’t have to be chronological. Until now, your English teachers have taught you to take us methodically – most of the time chronologically – through a story. For your college essays, sometimes it’s better to jump right into the action and skip the lead-up that tells us how you found yourself in that particular situation. Chances are, if you do a good job of telling the story, we’ll figure out how you got there – and an interesting “right into the action” opening will make the admission officer want to keep reading.
- The subject is YOU. This may be the hardest for teenage writers to grasp – for many years, you’ve been taught to write about literature and history, learning how to compare and contrast, as well as analyze others’ work and opinions. For this very special assignment, we’re asking you to do something completely different – focus on yourself. THIS IS HARD! But college essays that don’t make the reader walk away wanting to meet the writer are wasted opportunities. Your college essays need to have YOUR experiences, YOUR personality, YOUR voice.
So that’s what my college essays should NOT be. What SHOULD they be?
- Here are the Ten Commandments of college essays! They may not be a religion to you, but to us they are!
- Did you know that college essays have six distinct phases? If you’re just getting started with your college essays, this might help you get going.
- How deep do your college essays need to be? What’s the actual purpose? Should I restate something from my resume that I think is really important? Here are the five questions you should ask about your college essays before you consider them “final.”
- The passive voice is not your college essay’s BFF. Here’s an article to help you transition your passive voice sentences to be more active, and more about YOU.
- The University of Richmond offered some tips on writing supplemental essays that we thought were super-helpful as well!
Most importantly, your college essay should sound like you. It should be conversational, the way you speak. It should sound like you, and it should reflect your personal experience.
Does grammar matter in college essays?
Some people will tell you that grammar, punctuation and spelling don’t count. We’re here to tell you they ABSOLUTELY DO! College admission officers will notice if your writing is sloppy or has errors in it. While we don’t recommend that you have lots of people review and proofread your college essays (sometimes you will get conflicting advice from different people, and this will be frustrating and may cause you to make changes that could make your “voice” get lost), we definitely suggest you have at least one or two people review them for basic grammar, spelling and punctuation errors.
Need help with your college essays?
Magellan counselors spend lots of our time talking to college admission officers, so we hear a lot about what works and what doesn’t work in essays. We love helping students express themselves in this very unique way! Please get in touch if you feel like your child would benefit from some outside guidance.
