College essay tips

By Austin Hewu, 2023

Published 10/7/22

One of the most infamous parts of college admissions is the personal essay. With November 1st deadlines coming right around the corner, I thought it would be helpful to give three college essay prompts for seniors who need something to start their essay off (or any underclassmen who want some early inspiration).

• Write about a time you failed, and how you dealt with and grew from that failure.

With this prompt, it’s important to remember that you only have 650 words - do not spend the majority of your essay describing the event itself. Instead, give some context and then hone in on your feelings in the moment, how you persevered, and how that experience eventually led you to become a better version of yourself in the present day.

• Write about a passion you have, and why you love it.

You can go as niche and as technical with this as you want - make sure your admissions reader can feel your passion for the subject. Another similar prompt to this is to create and describe a class that you would want to teach.

• Write about a problem in the world that you want to solve.

Don’t feel like you have to make this one too realistic, as admissions readers are well aware that you are a high school student who doesn’t have divine power at your fingertips. However, make sure you stand out! Readers have seen countless essays about ending world hunger and stopping climate change, so choose something creative and specific that truly shows off your interests.

There are countless directions you can take your college essay - just make sure that whatever you write about highlights who you specifically are as a person. After that big idea comes to mind, everything else will fall naturally into place.