The GET YOURSELF INTO COLLEGE™
Guide for Writing
Your College Application Essay
Writing your college application essay does not have to be a painful process!
STEP 1
Get your creative juices flowing. Review all of the college admissions essay topics.
- You don’t have to make any decisions about what you’re going to write about in your personal statement. . .at least not at this point.
- Just take in the topics and see which ones resonate with you.
- Read “College Essay Topics” to get valuable tips about the new Common Application essay options and learn some surprising facts about what’s possible with them.
STEP 2
Experiment with the essay topics. Come up with a few twists and angles on the essay prompts that will allow you to share with admissions officers important details about yourself.
- Learn my “3 Tips for the ‘Central to Their Identity’ College Application Essay Topic.”
- I show you ways of interpreting the language of the essay topic and give you sample essay topics that will stimulate your creativity.
- Read “Why You Should Write About Failure in Your Application Essay” and watch the videos.
I give you ideas for angles on writing college application essays on this popular topic, tell you which angles to avoid, and provide you with sample essay topics.
You’ll learn other approaches to the failure and “central to your identity” essay options.
- Discover how to write an interesting, impressive application essay in response to the “Challenge a belief or idea” option.
Learn why admissions officers want to know about your experience challenging a belief or idea and received sample essay topics.
Watch the video! I’m giving you free access to one of the sessions from my Get Yourself Into College™ program.
Get my tips for writing about a “place or environment where you are perfectly content.”
I share creative ways of interpreting the words “content,” “place,” and “environment”; reveal how you can add additional angles to your essay; and help you avoid a common mistake related to this admissions essay topic.
STEP 3
Get a good feel for how much you can really share in an admission essay that must be 250-650 words.
STEP 4
That sounds so simple, but we all know how hard it can be. Read “How to Avoid Writer’s Block and Write Really Good College Essays” to discover how to get started by pretending that you’re not writing your essay.
STEP 5
Stoke the flames of inspiration.
- I’m not a huge fan of books featuring college admission essays. Learn why and gain access to the application essay of a student applying to Princeton.
- However, I do recommend getting into the habit of reading really good personal essays. . .no matter where you find them.
- Writing truly compelling admission essays requires putting your own experience into perspective, explaining its significance, and finding just the right way of structuring your narrative.
- These aren’t things that you usually learn how to do in your high school English classes, so you need to get a feel for this kind of writing.
- Check out “Stanford University Student’s Essay and Why You Should Be Reading It” to learn the best ways of reading other people’s essays.
You’ll learn empowering ways of assessing their structure, strengths, and how to apply these things to your own writing.
STEP 6
Are you really committed to doing everything in your power to create a truly illuminating essay that gets admissions officers excited about you?
Well, then, roll up your sleeves and get ready to revise your drafts.
I’m not just talking about making one or two little tweaks.
Most students–even those who are really strong writers–need to revise their essays multiple times. It takes a while to get everything just right.
I was just looking over the application material of one of my students who got accepted to his first-choice school (the University of Pennsylvania) and the final draft of his Common App essay was saved as “Main Essay_Draft 12.”
That’s right. He made 12 revisions to his main admission essay for college!
Read “Write a Better College Application Essay in Just 16 Minutes!”
Watch the video to see me critique an actual student’s college entrance essay.
You’ll learn some really useful techniques that you can use in relation to your own essays for college.
STEP 7
I know you want to be done with your essay, but you’ve got to give yourself time to carefully proofread it!
Get my proofreading tips and put them into practice before you hit send!