Introduction

You're probably feeling a bit apprehensive about your college application essay. It's okay! Writing a good essay is hard, especially when it's the only thing you have that might get you into an expensive university. The good news: You can learn how to write an amazing college admissions essay by using these tips and techniques for brainstorming, drafting, and polishing your admissions essay instead of stressing about it!

1. Figure out your topic's angle.

The first step to writing your college essay is to figure out what you want to say. This can be a daunting task, but luckily for you, we're here for help!

Before starting in on the meat of your essay, make sure you know:

• What your purpose is in writing this essay.

• Who your audience is and how they can benefit from reading it.

The answers to these questions will help inform everything else about the content of your essay—what point(s) you want to make and how best to illustrate them. Once you've figured that out, move on!

2. Be specific and personal.

The most important piece of advice we can give you is to be specific and personal. Don’t write about something generic or boring, like how the experience of being part of a team taught you leadership skills or how you learned to work with others during your internship at the local coffee shop. In fact, don’t write about anything that isn’t specifically relevant to your application! If there aren't concrete details from your life that back up your points, admissions officers won't believe that what you're saying really matters.

Let's say for example that one of the essay prompts asks about college choice. You don't have to make up an entire story about why you chose this school over another—a simple anecdote will suffice in this case: “When I visited campus last year during Spring Break with my family (and saw how beautiful it was), it just felt right."

3. Write in your own voice.

This is the biggest mistake students make when writing college applications. They are afraid that if they write in their own voice, it will be too obvious who they really are. So instead of writing from the heart, they try to sound like someone else or like a different version of themselves. I'm going to help you figure out a way around this problem. As long as you avoid these three things: 1) Don't try too hard to sound smart; 2) don't be afraid of being honest; 3) don't avoid telling stories about yourself (and the truth is always interesting).

4. Make a plan before you start writing, so you know what points to hit and how to get from point A to point B to point C to point D, etc.

Planning is vital when it comes to writing a good essay. Before you start writing, make sure that you know what points and arguments you want to make. You should also know how each point relates back to your central point. Make a rough outline ahead of time so that as soon as you sit down with your laptop or notebook in hand, all of this will be fresh in your mind. It’s important for even experienced writers not just because it helps you stay organized during the writing process but because it allows them to communicate their ideas more clearly with readers who may not have read previous essays by this person before (i.e., professors).

5. Use concrete details over abstract language whenever possible.

Concrete details are the best way to make your essay more vivid and memorable. The more specific you can be, the better. Here's a quick list of concrete details to keep in mind when writing your college application essays:

• A specific location (e.g., “The clouds were hanging low over the city of Detroit”)

• A particular object or article of clothing (e.g., “I wore my favorite sneakers that day”)

• A person (e.g., “My grandmother laughed at all my jokes”)

• An action (e.g., “She poured herself another glass of wine”)

6. Use active voice instead of passive voice as much as possible.

Active voice is more direct and engaging, while passive voice is more indirect and impersonal. Passive voice often hides the subject of the sentence (the person or thing responsible for an action), and it can also hide the object of a sentence (the person or thing that receives an action).

In contrast, active sentences state who did what in a straightforward manner. An example of active voice: "John plays soccer." In this sentence, John is performing an action—playing soccer—and we know who's doing it because he's mentioned as the subject in "John."

Passive voice would say: "Soccer was played by John." Here, too much information has been omitted; we don't know who played soccer or why they're playing soccer.

7. Proofread the final draft multiple times, asking someone else to look at it too if possible—it can be hard to spot mistakes in one's own work! 

• Proofread the final draft multiple times, asking someone else to look at it too if possible—it can be hard to spot mistakes in one's own work! 

• You might want to ask a friend, family member, teacher, tutor, or writing coach to check your essay as well.

• If you're feeling overwhelmed with how many times you need to go over this essay before sending it off into the world and hoping that no one notices there that you wrote it once and got too scared to read it again, you can always hire a writing coach to help you break down what you need to do into a concrete and bite-sized action plan. 

Conclusion

Now that you have learned how to write a great college application essay, all you have left to do is start! If you want even more help, check out this College Application Essay Help Guide to reference specific tips and tools for understanding your audience and making sure you are on the right track. Plus, if you need any extra help, feel free to contact me for individual coaching! I am well versed as a writing coach who helps students write their college admissions essays (common app and supplemental). Overall, you are going to do just fine. Take a breath, take a break, and then get ready to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard?). Good luck!