This essay could work for prompts 1 and 7 for the Common App.
Wisdom - All great college essays have an “ah-ha” moment (or multiple!). What have you learned from your experiences, good and bad? What do your interests and passions reveal about your essential self? The personal statement is an exercise in self-reflection. Colleges want to see that you are someone who is continually learning and growing.
Want - Colleges are interested in learning about what motivates you. What do you love more than anything? What is the source of your genuine enthusiasm and drive? Your core “want” will be the driving force behind your college essay. A conducted by researchers at Stanford looked at the topics of over 350,000 college essays. They found that most of the essays were grouped into a series of stable topic buckets. That is, while the quality and success of the essays differed wildly, the topics themselves remained fairly consistent. (I think there were only about fifty disparate topics that applicants wrote about.) Coming up with the right topic for your essay is probably the most important part of the process, and also the hardest. How can you possibly sum up your entire being in 500 words? Now that you know how to format your college essay, we'll explore how to develop the story you'll tell in it. Here are some steps to get started: Finish your story with a conclusion paragraph, where you clarify the value or idea you're trying to convey. What is the main thing you want the college to know about you through this story? Is it what you've learned, a value that's important to you, or what you want to contribute to society? Finally, use the last line of your personal statement to reinforce this central idea, so that your reader leaves with a clear impression about who you are. After the "hook" of your personal statement, the concluding line is the most important of your essay. How do you do that? NOT through topic selection, let me tell you. Plenty of students think that the only way to stand out from an application stack is to write an essay that's about a quirky topic—something weird that an admissions officer has never encountered before.
This essay could work for prompts 1, 2, 5 and 7 for the Common App.
This leads to the larger and more important point. When it comes to the college essay, the main rule is to avoid the cliché. It is paramount that your essay be original and unique to you. So in theory, you could write your essay about any of the 5 Ds, provided you approach it from a new angle that the admissions committee has never seen before. This is easier said than done, but it is nonetheless true that an original voice and perspective can transcend even the most commonplace subject matter.
How many paragraphs should a college essay be?
It is commonly said that students should avoid “the 5 Ds” when selecting a college essay topic: Death, Divorce, Disease (including Depression), Drugs, and Dating. This is not to say that these topics are not important or worthy of being written about. The problem is many students fail to realize just how common they are as inevitable, albeit difficult components of the human experience. Your parents’ divorce, the death of your grandfather, or your addiction problem are no doubt important to your personal story, but they are not unique to you. When it comes to any of the 5 D’s, the admissions committee has almost certainly seen it before.
How long should my college essay be?
The next step in how to write a college essay is putting together a clear structure that will help your essay flow and make it easy for admissions committees to follow your story.
How (and why) to outline your college essay to use a good structure
Pro Tip: When thinking about how to write a college essay, always follow the prompts and stick to the word limit set by the school. One of the most common mistakes students make is ignoring these guidelines!
This section contains five examples of good college essays.
You can usually find school-specific essay prompts on the college’s admissions website. Most colleges release their prompts in the summer by August, giving you time to brainstorm and draft your essays before the application deadlines in the fall. Be sure to keep an eye on these deadlines, as they can vary significantly from school to school, and check if there are any additional required.