Common Application Essay

This is my favorite awful essay example.

Read "Hiking to Understanding."

How would you describe this writer? What sort of person does the writer seeme to be? Would you want to spend time with this person?

There are thousands of these sample essays on the internet. Just because someone posted an essay, doesn't mean it's good. And ignore all the hype that surrounds some of these essays -- maybe the writers all got into super-competitive schools, but they maybe they didn't, or maybe they did despite the essay...

From Quartz: Charted: The most tragically banal ways to begin a college application essay

Take a deep breath. Remember that the essay is only one part of your application. And get to work.

Read the directions on the Common App website carefully.

Start by copying all the prompts into a GDoc, and then under each one, list possible stories you might tell.

Avoid typical topics if you can: sports, clubs, mission trips, volunteer work. All of this will be accounted for elsewhere in the application. Find a topic more personal to you -- preferably not something on your list of activities.

When you're ready to draft your essay, tell a story about a specific moment in time, and then branch out to the larger import or meaning.

Immerse your essay in the moment by using vivid imagery and, if possible, dialog.

You can write about big, significant moments, or not. A popular essay from a few years ago was about a trip to Costco. For a discussion of it, read "Why The Costco Essay Is Crucial Reading for Future College Applicants (And Also Why It’s Not)" from The Huffington Post.

The essay can be no more than 650 words. That's a nice length: long enough to let you tell your story and short enough to let you polish it.

From Time Magazine (2018): What No One Will Tell You About the New Common App Essays

From The Huffingtom Post (2018): The Common App Essay Prompts Are Changing. Here’s Why It Doesn’t Matter.

Harbor graduates have chosen to share these with students in my classes as a favor to me and you. Please DO NOT distribute them further.

• Mom
• Laundry
• Spanish
• Grandfather
• Logarithms
• Chicken
• 85
• First Impressions
• Alcohol
• Robot
• Depression

The New York Times often puts together a collection of appliction essays they like around a particular theme:

• 2015: Students and Money
• 2016: Memories and Hopes
• 2017: 4 Standout College Application Essays on Work, Money and Class

Johns Hopkins University publishes essays they particularly like every year on their "Essays that Worked" site.

How? Follow the steps on my draft, revise, and edit site.