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How to Write the Activities List: Everything You Need to Know

Padya Paramita

February 23, 2021

As you start your college application process, chances are, you will encounter the Common Application for at least one or two of your schools. After all, this centralized application system allows you to apply to any of its 700+ member colleges. The Common App is divided into sections that ask for your contact information, demographics, school name and address, test scores, personal statement, and of course, the place where you mention your 10 most significant extracurriculars. This is an extremely important component, and thus many students wonder how to write the activities list .

The Common App activities list is a significant element that provides admissions officers with an insight into your personality and how you choose to spend your time outside of school. A strategically-written activities list can help distinguish you from your peers. Admissions officers use your extracurricular roles, descriptions, and the duration of your participation to understand what you’re passionate about, whether or not you’re a hardworking and committed individual, and how your extracurriculars connect to the rest of your application. In this blog, we have outlined all of the nitty-gritty details that you need to know about how to write the activities list . 

The Activities List: The Basics

Let’s start with the logistics of the activities list. The section lets you add up to 10 activities, and allows only 150 characters (not words!) to describe each of your entries. It’s crucial to make the most of the allotted space when writing the description, but note the other questions asked by the section alongside “Activity description” before you start writing so that you don’t repeat any information. These are:

• Activity type
• Position/leadership description and organization name if applicable
• Activity description
• Participation grade levels: 9, 10, 11, 12
• Timing of Participation: all year, summer, school break, etc
• Hours spent per week
• Weeks spent per year
• Intent to continue in college: yes, no 

The first menu you come across is a drop-down list featuring categories to describe your activities. 

Read through all of the options that are available so that you don’t end up picking “Work (Paid)” for a babysitting role for example when “Family Responsibilities” is more precise. 

• Athletics: Club
• Athletics: JV/Varsity
• Career Oriented
• Community Service (Volunteer)
• Computer/Technology
• Debate/Speech
• Environmental
• Family Responsibilities
• Foreign Exchange
• Journalism/Publication
• Junior R.O.T.C.
• Music: Instrumental
• Music: Vocal
• School Spirit
• Science/Math
• Student Government/Politics
• Theater/Drama
• Work (Paid)
• Other Club/Activity

You’re allowed a maximum of 50 characters for the “Position/leader description and organization name” slot. Having a description of what the student did as the title is the most important. Simply having the title of the activity or the role is not enough.

You might be confused about how to order your involvements most effectively as you figure out how to write the activities list . Since it is a part of the Common App itself and doesn’t pertain to any particular school, keep in mind that all of the colleges you apply to will see the same activities list. To guide you through determining which activities to add first and how your level of commitment plays a role in the order, let’s take a more in-depth look at how to strategize the placements and write descriptions in a way that can help distinguish you from your peers.

How to Write the Activities List: Strategizing the Order and Description

Long story short, you should list your most impressive activities first. Think about which activity has had the most impact on you and vice versa. The order should also fit the theme of the rest of your application and be organized in a categorical order.

When you write your activities list, remember that it is all about optimizing the character limit of 150 to summarize your impact and role in a way that stands out to admissions officers. This means strategically outlining the part you played—whether you had a leadership position, how you put forth quantifiable and tangible achievements, how long you’ve been involved, as well as making sure activities fit the theme of your application. So let’s take a closer look at the categories to think about in regards to each of your extracurriculars when considering what to include as you wonder how to write the activities list :

• Leadership: Whether you’ve started an organization, led a sports team or acapella group, or served as the president of your favorite club, leadership roles should always take precedence when thinking about both the order and the description of your activities. Your leadership roles help you stand out from the rest of the pack. Schools want students who aren’t afraid to take initiative and would undoubtedly be more impressed by a leadership position in your own organization over your general membership in a common club.
• Tangible Achievements: You should definitely quantify your achievements, as numbers are a quick but highly efficient way of demonstrating impact. If you know the number of people who attended an event you initiated, or membership growth since you started leading a group, these are useful statistics that impress admissions officers!
• Sustained Involvement: When thinking about how to order your activities, students should carefully consider the consistent amount of time or sustained involvement they have demonstrated to the activity. Take advantage of the “Participation grade level,” “Hours spent per week,” and “Weeks spent per year” options. Greater and longer involvement depicts dedication towards honing your leadership skills and creating community in your club or organization, which are traits admissions officers seek in students.
• Application Persona: It’s important to think of your application persona when organizing your activities list. Your application persona is the theme of your application. You could be an artist who has taught painting classes at a local school and started an Instagram page featuring your work for example. If the majority of your activities—especially the ones listed at the top—don’t have a clear connection to each other, admissions officers might think you’re disorganized and not ambitious enough. Colleges appreciate students who are specialized leaders in one area rather than moderately committed to 10 different activities. 

Now that you have an idea of the content, let’s talk about the structure of your sentences as you think about how to write the activities list . Don’t start your descriptions with “I” as it’s considered too informal. Be consistent in your formatting and organization. Don’t start one entry with “President & Captain,” but another with “Founder & President.” Keep “President” in the same position both times.

Your word choice makes a difference to your activities list. Since you only get 150 characters to make a strong impression on the reader, it’s key that you use strong verbs that convey your role with greater impact. Check out some action words in the table below which might come in handy when describing your role in your most significant activities:

Research: Analyze, Assess, Compile, Estimate, Evaluate, Examine, Identify, Investigate, Pinpoint

Creation: Design, Engineer, Establish, Explore, Formulate, Implement, Inaugurate, Initiate, Launch, Pioneer, Propose

Cooperation: Collaborate, Coordinate, Consolidate, Contribute, Facilitate, Negotiate, Support

Leadership: Execute, Enforce, Govern, Manage, Motivate, Preside, Simulate, Strategize

Improvement: Accelerate, Amplify, Enhance, Enrich, Extend, Formalize, Improve, Optimize, Overhaul, Refine, Restructure, Revamp, Revitalize, Streamline, Systemize

Even from just reading these words you can tell that they can convey your role in the activity very clearly to admissions officers. Mentioning that you’ve “engineered” or “accelerated” a project gets the message across more effectively than words like “do” or simply “led.” Comprehensive wording allows admissions officers to visualize and understand your level of commitment and the depth of your involvement better. 

A successful activities list should look like this:

You can see that the student has prioritized original initiatives, i.e., the program they have founded. Note the quantified data—it’s apparent from the description that the student worked hard at this project due to the inclusion of the “¥80,000.” Each of the activities are described using strong verbs such as “spearhead,” “analyze” and “teach,” letting admissions officers clearly understand what the student did in the role. 

The student has participated in all of these activities over all four years of high school, and throughout the week. They have also placed an internship in second place, conducted under professors at prestigious universities. Unique work opportunities such as these are a big achievement for high school students, over participation (even a leadership position) in a pre-existing common club such as Amnesty International.

Dos and Don’ts of the Activities List

Now that you have an idea of what admissions officers look for in the descriptions and order of your extracurriculars, let’s take a look at some dos and don'ts as you embark on strategizing how to write the activities list .

• Be honest about your hour count: While it may be hard to pinpoint the exact amount of time you’ve dedicated to an activity down to the minute, be reasonable when adding the time spent in a week or year. Try to be as honest as possible, instead of exceeding the actual amount in order to impress colleges. Admissions officers will find it hard to believe if you mention that you’ve spent 100 hours a week on an extracurricular on top of taking a challenging course load.
• Try to fill all 10 slots: While you don’t have to add 10 activities if you’re stretching too thin, admissions officers highly recommend that you try your best to fill all 10 of the slots provided if you’re applying to colleges ranked in the Top 20. According to our former admissions officers, you’re struggling to find an extracurricular when you’re running short, something to note is that Activity #9 on the Common Application is somewhat of a throw-away activity while activity #10 can be something that is eccentric, interesting, or surprising although not necessarily meaningful or impressive.
• Include part-time jobs and volunteer experiences: Going off of the last point, you might not realize that part-time jobs and volunteer experiences also count as your activities. You can add them to the activities list—especially if you’ve been involved in them throughout high school, have led projects as part of these endeavors, and they fit your application persona. This is especially useful to remember if students are struggling to fill all 10 slots. Admissions officers appreciate knowing that candidates are responsible individuals who bring experience in a variety of degrees.
• Keep supplemental essays in mind: Even though all your schools will see your Common App activities list, some universities also ask a supplemental essay question about elaborating on one of your most significant activities. Here are some examples from top institutions:

Caltech : Describe three experiences and/or activities that have helped develop your passion for a possible career in a STEM field. (10-120 words.)

Harvard: Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (150 words)

Princeton: Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that was particularly meaningful to you. (Response required in about 150 words.)

While you can definitely write your essay about an activity that’s mentioned in your activities list—after all you’re supposed to include your most impactful extracurriculars in both cases—make sure you’re not repeating sentences from your Common App for your supplemental essay and vice versa. Admissions officers want each sentence in either case to convey new information about yourself. So make sure to note how you’ve framed your description in the activities list so that you won’t have to repeat the same line later!

• Write out the list in a separate file first: Your activities list gives admissions officers an idea of how you choose to interact with your community and how you’d contribute to their campus. So don’t take this section lightly and come up with your list on a whim. Type out your list in a different file first—a spreadsheet is good for dividing up into the categories and keeping character count—to stay organized.
• Don’t prioritize common activities: You may have been captain of your debate or Model UN team, and while that’s okay, participation in these common activities should not go on top of your Common App activities list. You’re trying to stand out here. Below is a list of the types of extracurriculars that won’t make you diverse in the eyes of admissions officers.
• Chorus/marching band
• Cheerleading/pep squad
• Recreational summer camps
• Service trips abroad

These kinds of extracurriculars aren’t so interesting and aren’t as important as other unique activities or ones that are specific to a student’s interest. So while you may have taken on leadership roles in these areas, you shouldn’t prioritize them over more specific and unique initiatives. 

• Don’t include honors: If you’ve received awards for your extracurriculars, the activities list might not be the best place to put them. After all, you have 5 slots and 100 characters each to add them in the honors section. Even though the honors section is dedicated to “academic” achievements, the word can be used loosely, for recognition in the arts, for publication, and for showing sportsmanship in athletics as well. Before writing about an accolade in the activities list, ask yourself if it would make more sense in the honors section first.
• Don’t submit the first draft of your activities list: Just like with any other part of your college applications, you should not submit the Common App activities list without having read through your entries and gone over multiple drafts. Watch out for spelling and grammar errors, incorrect numbers, and whether you’ve made the most of the space given. After you’ve edited once, edit again!
• Don’t add hobbies without careful consideration: You might be wondering whether or not to include hobbies in your activities list. It depends on how much the activity aligns with the theme of your application. If your application persona is a screenwriter, it makes sense to include that you’ve made short films as a passion project. But if you enjoy playing basketball in your free time but you’re not applying as a student athlete and have no other athletic experience, you shouldn’t include it in your activities list.
• Don’t be offensive: Remember that admissions officers are human too and will flag your application for any inappropriate content. You naturally want to appear as a considerate and likeable individual, so adding anything that could offend an individual or a group of people will never look good on your college applications. 

While grades and test scores make up a big part of the application process, your Common App activities list gives admissions officers a glimpse into your character and personality. As you figure out how to write the activities list , don’t miss out on the opportunity to show your top-choice schools the depth of your involvement by successfully taking advantage of the space provided. By highlighting your most significant and impressive extracurricular involvements, you can demonstrate to colleges that you bring commendable leadership abilities and dedication to your community.

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Common App 101: Activities List & Honors | Comprehensive Guide

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The activities list is the part of the college application—either on the Common Application or the UC system application —where you can list and describe your extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities encompass a broad range of activities. Commonly listed activities include participating in school clubs, playing an instrument, playing a sport, attending pre-college summer programs, volunteering, and many others. Activities like working a part-time job, or caring for a family member also count. The activities list is an excellent opportunity to brag about your accomplishments, as well as the talents and skills that you have developed outside of the classroom along the way.

Most importantly, the activities list is one of the best places to showcase the various ways in which you have developed your hook!

At Command Education, we often emphasize the importance of establishing your “ hook ”— otherwise known as a passion and skill set that sets you apart. A hook is typically thought of as a well-developed record of distinctive achievements, activities, and service in one or two specific areas of interest. Instead of dabbling in a little bit of everything, we encourage our students to delve deep into activities they are particularly passionate about.

Your activities list is the key place you can demonstrate your hook to admissions officers. For example, if you are interested in the biomolecular sciences and cancer research and decide this will be your hook, you should be able to demonstrate that interest through activities like working as a professor’s research assistant at a medical school, taking related classes at a college or university, or writing about cancer research-related topics in your school newspaper.

It’s important to craft your activities list descriptions in such a way that they relate to your hook, as well as to your academic and career goals. Say you are applying to gain admission to an undergraduate business program. You could relate your experience as a tour guide and representative at your high school to marketing, or your experience working as a sales associate at a clothing store to client relationship skills! The key is to clearly demonstrate a connection between each activity and your hook.

We’ll give you more tips and tricks about crafting your activities list below, but let’s start by discussing…

Yes! While your grades and standardized test scores make up the foundation of your college application, your activities, personal statement and extracurriculars will allow you to stand out amongst the sea of applicants and could tip an application in your favor. Thus, demonstrating a strong hook through your Activities List is very important. Additionally, college admissions officers will view your extracurricular involvement as a good indicator of how well you might function as a member of your future college community , and afterwards, how you might perform in the real world, since commitment to your activities will allow you to demonstrate time management skills, drive and commitment, and a genuine interest in the world around you.

Quality is always more important than quantity when it comes to the activities you choose to add to your Activities List. Juniors and seniors can often fall into the trap of signing up for many clubs at their school—but this strategy could end up backfiring by making an application seem disingenuous. Having two to three meaningful extracurricular involvements is always better than ten activities that have no meaning to you at all. Admissions officers see thousands of applications every season, and they can easily identify resume fillers. This is not to say that you can’t join a new club as a junior or senior, you definitely can! The club should just serve to complement the hook you have been working to develop throughout your high school career.

While the Common Application Activities List and UC Activities List serve similar purposes for admissions committees, there are differences in the ways they are completed. The Common Application allows students to list 10 activities and 5 honors and awards separately, while the UC application allows students 20 spaces in total for both activities and awards.

✔️ 10 Activities ✔️ 5 Honors and Awards

✔️ 20 Activities, Honors and Awards

Beyond the number of slots for activities and awards, there are also differences in the corresponding information students must provide for each activity and award.

You’ll want to begin this process by compiling a list of all the activities that you have been involved in throughout high school. You will also want to jot down the years you’ve been involved in the activity in terms of grade levels. For example, you’ll want to write down “12th” as opposed to 2020-2021, if that’s the year you were in the 12th grade. Activities that you can include on this list are: sports, community service, employment, religious activities (such as teaching Sunday school), internships (paid or unpaid), arts, hobbies (for example, biking or stacking competitions), school clubs, academic competitions, and basically anything else that you spend time doing outside of school. Remember to include non-formalized activities if they have been meaningful to you, such as small projects you’ve been working on to improve your programming abilities, the hours you’ve poured into learning a new language on Duolingo, or the works of art you might be painting for your own enjoyment. If you spend a lot of time with your family, perhaps you take care of an ailing member, that absolutely counts as well and shows a great deal of responsibility.

Once you have an initial list of schools to research, you can begin researching each school on your list in more depth, with the aim of both narrowing down your initial list and potentially discovering additional factors that can help you identify more schools for your list.

You should strategically choose the ten activities you want to include in a way that highlights your hook! Below, we’ve included an example activities list, paired with an explanation of how it demonstrates a hook!

You should order your activities in order of personal importance to you! This will allow you to demonstrate your values to the admission officers who review your application.

Be sure to prioritize personal importance over quantity of time.

For example, you may spend 14 hours of your week attending tennis practice and taking tennis lessons, and two hours hosting a tennis clinic for elementary school students through the organization you founded. Though you devote much more time to your own practice, you may find the clinics to be much more rewarding and place this higher up on your activities list than your practices.

Let’s take it one step further. Maybe you run the camp for 35 weeks of the year, but you ran a tennis racket drive for five days in the late spring of your junior year that ended up being particularly rewarding. Even though you spend much more time running the clinics than you spent hosting the equipment drive, you place the drive further up on your activities list because it was more meaningful to you.

The Common Application will ask you to fill out 9 fields for each activity you choose to list. You do not have much space to do so, so read this guide to learn how to make the most of the characters you are allotted.

Hover over each hot spot to learn more about each field. Below, you’ll find more examples about how to make the most of each field to highlight your potential!

The 9 Fields are:

Activity Type

Begin by selecting the category the activity falls under. For any activities that fall outside the predefined categories, which are listed below, just select Other Club/Activity.

Position/ Leadership Description

Describe your title to the best of your ability here - this can be as simple as “Volunteer” or “Club Member.” However, try to get specific when you can!

Organization Name

Be as descriptive as possible within the confines of the character limit, and avoid acronyms or abbreviations if possible.

Activity Description

Make it clear what your responsibilities were and highlight your key accomplishments.

Participation Grade Levels

Check off the grades during which you were involved with the activity. If you graduated from high school and continued to participate in that activity, mark “post-graduate.”

Timing of Participation

Check off the time periods during which you participated in the activity.

Hours Spent Per Week

Roughly estimate the number of hours you devoted to an activity.

Weeks Spent Per Year

Roughly estimate the number of weeks you devoted to an activity.

I intend to participate in a similar activity in college.

Check yes or no.

Here is the list of predefined categories provided by the Common App:

If possible, add a descriptive term in front of your position. Be sure to specify whether or not your position changed over time by notating the grade levels next to the position name in parenthesis, like so: Member (9th, 10th), Vice President (11th, 12th)

Gallery Assistant (9th, 10th), Curatorial Intern (11th)

It is possible that your organization’s name takes up all of the allotted characters, but if it doesn’t, take advantage of the extra space to include relevant information. Make sure you make it clear when clubs are in association with your school when applicable. A volunteering club at Average High School simply called “Hilltop” is better referred to as “Average High School Hilltop Volunteers” or “Hilltop Volunteering Club of Average High School.” If you’re including an independent activity such as painting for local arts competitions, your title and position could read: “Artist, Self-Directed Oil Painting”

You can use acronyms and abbreviations when referring to well-known organizations like the NAACP, or if you use the same abbreviation throughout, like “LA” for “Las Angeles.” However, if it’s not obvious what the organization does from its name or abbreviation, add a little context.

School Newspaper

The Falcon, Average High School’s Student Newspaper

It is very important that your description should make clear what your specific impact or contribution is or was, as opposed to what the organization’s members did as a group. Write in present tense only if you are still involved, and past tense if your involvement in the activity has come to an end.

Use verbs that show action and ownership over an activity

Worked with a professor on a research project

Conducted university-level research

Include numbers and percentages to quantify your impact

Fundraised a few thousand dollars for…

Recruited a handful of new club members

Fundraised over $5,000…

Increased membership by 25% in…

Avoid redundancy. If you say you were the Editor of your school paper in your title, you won’t need to repeat that in the description. Rather, describe your impact as an editor.

Edited the environmental column

Proofread and fact-checked over 30 pieces about environmental issues annually

You’ll have a chance to include five formal awards you received in the “honors” section of the Common App, but the activity descriptions are the perfect place to include achievements for which you did not receive awards. You will want to provide context for awards or opportunities that are selective.

Selected to be student representative

1 of 3 student representatives selected in our class of 200 to interview and select the next head of upper school

A commonly asked question regarding this field is how to label the activities that took place in the summer. We recommend selecting the grade level preceding the summer in question. For example, if you completed a summer course the summer between freshman and sophomore years of high school, you would select 9th. If you completed an internship the summer between sophomore and junior years of high school, you would check off 10th, and so on and so forth.

If you participated during the school year and during school breaks, check off both “During school year” and “During school break.” If you participated in the activity during the school year, during the school breaks, and during the summer, check off “All year.”

It might be easier to estimate the number of hours you devote to scheduled activities like sports than activities you complete at your own leisure. For activities that are less structured, estimate the average time you devote per week. For example, you might spend 20 weeks during the school year attending your robotics club. If you usually spend 2 hours a week with this club, but have 3 weeks during the height of tournament season during which you spend 15 hours with the club, you can list your hours per week as 4 since your weekly average comes out to 3.95 hours.

The easiest way to calculate this is to first look at your school’s calendar and count the number of weeks between the first week of school and the last week of school. Then, you will want to subtract weeks during which the club didn’t meet. This usually includes holiday breaks, study and finals weeks, and sometimes, the first few weeks of the semester when clubs do not yet meet. From there, you can calculate how many weeks you participated in a sport or school-affiliated extracurricular activity.

Alternatively, some activities like sports or school plays are seasonal. If that is the case, refer to your practice or game schedule or estimate based on the semester schedule. Be sure to include weeks for preseason or tryouts and auditions in your final number!

The average school year is 36 weeks, give or take a few weeks depending on your school’s break schedule. Sports seasons can be divided into fall (September-November), Winter (November/December-February), and Spring (March-June). Remember to account for spring/winter breaks as you calculate weeks you participated.

Since your list of activities should relate to the hook you are crafting throughout your application, it probably makes sense that many of the activities you currently participate in will be activities you want to participate in while you’re in college. Unless the activity was high school-specific or if there is a good reason you wouldn’t participate in it later on, we recommend that you mark “yes.”

Here are two examples of what an activity can look like once you have filled out each of the 9 fields!

11, 12 Year 10 hr/wk, 45 wk/yr

Worked in the gallery’s archive and supervised visits

11, 12 Year 10 hr/wk, 45 wk/yr Continue

Selected, cataloged, and digitized materials from 2011 to 2018 to be housed in the contemporary art archive.

Reviewed and edited submissions for my school’s newspaper

10, 11, 12 School 5 hr/wk, 35 wk/yr Continue

Final review of 20 articles published and distributed bi-weekly. Spearheaded creating a digital paper. Increased readership by 20.

The Common Application Honors List is separate from the Activities List—it can be found under the Education Section of the Common Application. The Honors section allows you to show a snapshot of how you excelled on a local, national, or international level. Honors and awards students commonly list include: Dean’s List, Language Honors Society, National Merit, Congressional Award, Valedictorian, etc. Be sure to list the most impressive/selective honors first, followed by less selective ones.

This section allows students to enter a maximum of 5 Honors and Awards and 100 characters to describe the honor. The Honors Section will prompt you to fill out 3 fields.

Honors Title

Write the title of the award and add details when possible!

Grade Level

Check off the grade you were in when you received the award.

Level(s) of Recognition

Select the award’s level of recognition.

In 100 characters or less, you will need to describe the honors you received. With so little space, you will not be able to write in full sentences. Therefore, it will be necessary to abbreviate when possible and include only the most illuminating information. Be sure to include the following information: the name of the award, what the award was for (community service, for example), and if applicable, what place you received (1st, Bronze, etc).

In tenth grade, I received an award from the President’s Foundation for my work volunteering at an animal shelter.

Gold Medal from the President’s Foundation for volunteering 200+ hrs at animal shelters.

Select the grade level in which you won the award. Follow the same guidelines as suggested for the activities list for awards you received during the summer, selecting the year that preceded the summer!

If you are unsure which level of recognition to select, you can often determine information about the scope of the award on the award organization’s affiliate website! The larger and more diverse, the more prestigious the award; international recognition is the most prestigious type of recognition.

Be sure to list your Honors and Awards in descending order of recognition, listing your international awards first, followed by national, state/regional and school.

In our example Honors section, the student has listed five awards in descending order of importance (i.e. listing awards issued by national organizations above her school-level recognitions). As with the Activities List, this student is able to use the content in this section, even within limited space, to successfully convey her academic potential, community contributions, and artistic ability.

Below, you’ll find an Example Common Application Activities List! This fictional student demonstrates a strong hook in environmental science and art. Her hook is conveyed through an impressive mix of in-school extracurriculars, out-of-school activities, summer activities, and hobbies. Not only has she pursued multiple activities in both environmental science and art, but she has also found and studied creative intersections between these fields, through painting murals at local gardens, featuring and selling her nature photography on her personal social media, and studying environmental art at a summer program. By reading her Activities List, admissions officers would be able to envision her continuing to explore these intersections as an undergraduate, as well as contributing to sustainability initiatives and artistic projects and clubs on campus.

Through this highly descriptive and well-crafted Activities List, admissions officers can glean this prospective student’s important priorities and some of her salient characteristics. This student is creatively-minded, self-driven, capable of leading groups and teams, and interested in community-building. It is clear that as a student in NYC, she has taken advantage of the extensive resources at her disposal–universities, museums, nonprofits, and even her own apartment complex–in order to contribute to her community and explore her passions from multiple angles. Lastly, the fact that this student is an accomplished student-athlete speaks to her ability to manage her time effectively and develop an impressive and diverse variety of skills.

Admissions officers always look to see whether a student’s selections for their intended majors align with their hook and Activities List, and in this case, this Activities List would best complement an intended double-major in Environmental Science and Studio Art. Because this student also has an entrepreneurial streak, she could optionally indicate a secondary interest in business if a school offers dual degrees, majors, or minors in business administration for undergraduates. It is helpful to be aware that consistency across every part of the application, from coursework and letters of recommendation to the Activities List, intended majors, and essays, is necessary for building a cohesive narrative.

10, 11, 12 Year 4 hr/wk, 52 wk/yr Continue

Build community with over 1,000 cactus-lovers in NYC. Share info about plant sales, swaps, and propagation. Hosted planting workshops at 8 schools.

10, 11, 12 School 8 hr/wk, 25 wk/yr Continue

Organized inaugural Green Week with themed activities and prizes. Convinced school admin to implement meatless Mondays. Host weekly meetings, trips.

11 Break 35 hr/wk, 8 wk/yr Continue

Collected data on health and resilience of trees in NYC saltwater marshes after flooding events. Recommended species and locations for replanting.

9, 10, 11, 12 School 16 hr/wk, 18 wk/yr Continue

Individually nominated for AVCA All-American Awards and won Average HS’s Spirit Award. Team placed 1st in division and advanced to state semifinals.

9, 10, 11, 12 Year 1 hr/wk, 26 wk/yr Continue

Create public art installations including murals and sculptures in community gardens. Designed rooftop herb garden installation for restaurant.

10 Break 6 hr/wk, 8 wk/yr Continue

Greet and direct visitors at information desk and coat check. Work shifts at gift shop and assist customers with check out and locating merchandise.

9, 10, 11, 12 Year 1 hr/wk, 52 wk/yr Continue

Create art (paintings, portrait photography, nature photography) and exhibit on personal Instagram. Sell prints and stickers with $500+ in profits.

10 Break 35 hr/wk, 3 wk/yr Continue

Studied intersections of art and environmental activism. Created multimedia portfolio of 5 works under guidance of professional artist First Last.

9, 10, 11, 12 Year 4 hr/wk, 45 wk/yr Continue

Run dog-walking service with my siblings for neighbors in apartment complex.

11, 12 Year 1 hr/wk, 36 wk/yr Continue

Elected by peers as 1 of 4 class reps. Create and print posters to promote events, design and order class spiritwear, manage social media.

Although students can often overlook or rush the Activities List, taking time to write an accurate, thoughtful, and well-ordered Activities List is essential for strategically framing your application and communicating your personal story. An outstanding Activities List should invariably help admissions officers grasp who you are, what is important to you, and how you have spent your time learning and serving others in your community during high school. Investing time and effort into this important component of the Common App will truly increase the quality of your college applications, while also being a satisfying exercise in looking back at your accomplishments and growth over the past three years!

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How to Write Your Common App Activities List

This is a guest blog post written by Ethan Sawyer,  The College Essay Guy . Ethan helps students write amazing college essays by offering free resources, one-on-one essay sessions, online webinars, and in-person workshops.  We encourage you to learn more about  The College Essay Guy  and check out the original post !

1. State role and organization name in top box, so you don’t waste characters in the lower, 160 character box. Instead of: (top box) School newspaper (description box) I am the editor for the school newspaper ( And don’t repeat words!)

Try: (top box) Editor of International Column, School Newspaper (description box) Responsible for brainstorming, revising, and supervising articles by other writers for my column.

2. Emphasize tangible, measurable impact .  Whom did your activity help? How many people? How much money did you raise?

Instead of: Raised money for children in Africa. Try: Raised $3,000 to provide three uniforms and scholarships for students attending the Joseph Waweru Home School in Kenya (http://www.exop.org/home_school.html).

3. Use active verbs  to explain what you actually did (list your tasks). Instead of: Worked at a clinic doing different things. Try: Organized patient diagnosis notes, sterilized tools for surgeries, assisted with x-ray analysis.

4. To fit in more info:  use lists ,  don’t use complete sentences ,  cut extra words . Instead of: I raised money to donate to a school in Ghana in Africa by selling t-shirts and bracelets. Try: Arranged advertising events, organized fundraisers, and gave presentations at school meetings.

5.  Use the present tense  if it’s something you still do. Instead of: I helped tour visitors around the campus and presented some information on school history and student life. Try: I give campus tours, providing info on school history, student activities, boarding life.

6. Aim for  variety  in your list, making sure your verbs aren’t redundant. Instead of: Instructing, helping, teaching children tennis (how are these three different?) Try: Instructing in proper technique, while imparting lessons in sportsmanship, health and integrity.

7. Include  any responsibilities you had  to  demonstrate leadership skills . Instead of: I swim on the swim team. Try: Responsible for leading swim practices, planning fundraising events; assisting in recruiting process.

8. What if there isn’t much to say, or it was a one-time event? Explain the significance of the activity: who did the event matter to and why? Rather than: Tutored students. Try: Provided support to fourth graders with particularly difficult math concepts.

9. Avoid extreme language . Instead of: to help all those in need (or) to end poverty in the world Try: to help those in need (or) to aid in the fight against global poverty

10. Use bigger words.  Instead of: “Come up with” (or) “told people about” Try: Develop, brainstorm (or) advertised, marketed

Here are some examples: 

Important: list them in descending level of importance.

Editor of International Column, School Newspaper Responsible for brainstorming, revising, and supervising articles by other writers for my column.

Intern at Children’s Institute Otis Booth Campus Brainstormed ideas for after school programs for teens,created surveys,presented data to supervisor

Intern at Department of Cardiovascular Disease Organized patient diagnosis notes, sterilized tools for surgeries, assisted with x-ray analysis.

Worked as assistant at Ye-In Dental Clinic Helped with patient registration, sterilized tools for surgeries, assisted with surgical processes.

Speech and Debate Academic All-American Award, NFL Tournament Qualifier (’11, ’12), Rupe Scholar, Stanford Invitational Semi-finalist, Harker Invitational Semi-finalist

Korean Compassion: Korean-to-English Letter Translator Translated letters sent by supporters to impoverished children in Asian and African countries.

Junior Researcher at Benetti Sport Inc. Conducted surveys to research youth interests, contributed ideas for future products.

Math Tutor at Sippican Elementary School Using card games and quizzes to simplify concepts, taught basic math skills to third graders.

School Tour Guide – International Guiding Staff I tour visitors around campus, while presenting school history, student activities, boarding life.

Global Partner for International Orientation I help new international students with registration and adjustment to the new school environment.

Click here for 10 Tips on Writing Your UC Activities List

Click here for a Brief Guide to Writing Your Common App “Additional Info” Section

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The Common App Activities List: How to Make the Most of 150 Characters

January 27, 2017 :: Admissionado

You should think of the the Common App Activities List as a resume.

Basically, it’s an opportunity to (briefly) highlight what you have participated in outside of the classroom and how you have made an impact through your involvement. But how can you do this effectively in just 150 characters?

Here are some tips from our best MBA admissions consultants to help you pack as much punch as possible into just a couple of lines:

1. Start with an action verb

Just like Like when writing a resume , you can use “incomplete sentences” in your activity list descriptions to maximize the amount of information you’re able to fit. To do this, start each line with an action verb (rather than “I”), using the present tense if it is something that you’re still participating in (e.g., “lead”) and the past tense if you are no longer involved (e.g., “led”).

Examples of great action verbs include: led, managed, coordinated, developed, initiated, (re)designed, achieved, analyzed, authored, trained… You get the idea!

2. Avoid vague or redundant language

One of the most common mistakes that students make when working on their activities lists is that they write descriptions that are entirely too vague or repetitive.

For example, imagine that you want to describe your experience tutoring students at a local elementary school. So you write, “Helped elementary school students.” Okay, great… but you helped them to do what? Learn to play soccer? Study math concepts? Maybe instead you write, “Tutored elementary school students.” While this is a bit clearer, we already gleaned this from what you wrote beneath “Position/Leadership description and organization name”: Tutor, XYZ Elementary School.

Instead, you should write a description that actually helps the admissions committee get an idea for what you did as a tutor. How many students did you teach at a time? Were you teaching first graders or fifth graders? Were you also responsible for developing a lesson plan? Did you do an administrative work to help their primary teacher? By including answers to questions like these in your descriptions, you will give the reader a better sense of the responsibility you had in each role.

Good example: Taught math concepts to 5 fourth grade students individually, organizing weekly lesson plans and developing games to help them learn material.

3. Demonstrate leadership and impact

Wherever possible, it’s a good idea to highlight any actions you took that demonstrate leadership . (Think of things you “led” or “initiated.”) Moreover, it’s important to clearly show not only that you led but also what you accomplished as a leader.

If you “organized a fundraiser,” how much did you raise, and whom did those funds help? If you “founded a new club at school,” how many students joined, and what was your collective impact in the community? Let’s take our previous example about tutoring elementary school students.

Bad: Tutored elementary school students.

Good: Taught math concepts to five fourth grade students individually, organizing weekly lesson plans and developing games to help them learn material.

Great: Taught math concepts to five fourth grade students individually, organizing weekly lesson plans and developed games that helped improve test scores.

Now, we understand not only that you “tutored students,” but also how you went about teaching them and what you were able to accomplish as a tutor. With such detailed descriptions, the admissions committee will get a better sense of what you’re capable of and how you might be able to contribute to their campus community.

>>> Recommended Reading: What You Should Know About The 2016-17 Common App Essay Prompts

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16 Strong College Essay Examples from Top Schools

What’s Covered:

• Common App Essays
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Most high school students don’t get a lot of experience with creative writing, so the college essay can be especially daunting. Reading examples of successful essays, however, can help you understand what admissions officers are looking for.

In this post, we’ll share 16 college essay examples of many different topics. Most of the essay prompts fall into 8 different archetypes, and you can approach each prompt under that archetype in a similar way. We’ve grouped these examples by archetype so you can better structure your approach to college essays.

If you’re looking for school-specific guides, check out our 2022-2023 essay breakdowns .

Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Note: the essays are titled in this post for navigation purposes, but they were not originally titled. We also include the original prompt where possible.

The Common App essay goes to all of the schools on your list, unless those schools use a separate application platform. Because of this, it’s the most important essay in your portfolio, and likely the longest essay you’ll need to write (you get up to 650 words). 

The goal of this essay is to share a glimpse into who you are, what matters to you, and what you hope to achieve. It’s a chance to share your story. 

Learn more about how to write the Common App essay in our complete guide.

The Multiple Meanings of Point

Prompt: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. (250-650 words)

Night had robbed the academy of its daytime colors, yet there was comfort in the dim lights that cast shadows of our advances against the bare studio walls. Silhouettes of roundhouse kicks, spin crescent kicks, uppercuts and the occasional butterfly kick danced while we sparred. She approached me, eyes narrowed with the trace of a smirk challenging me. “Ready spar!” Her arm began an upward trajectory targeting my shoulder, a common first move. I sidestepped — only to almost collide with another flying fist. Pivoting my right foot, I snapped my left leg, aiming my heel at her midsection. The center judge raised one finger. 

There was no time to celebrate, not in the traditional sense at least. Master Pollard gave a brief command greeted with a unanimous “Yes, sir” and the thud of 20 hands dropping-down-and-giving-him-30, while the “winners” celebrated their victory with laps as usual. 

Three years ago, seven-thirty in the evening meant I was a warrior. It meant standing up straighter, pushing a little harder, “Yes, sir” and “Yes, ma’am”, celebrating birthdays by breaking boards, never pointing your toes, and familiarity. Three years later, seven-thirty in the morning meant I was nervous. 

The room is uncomfortably large. The sprung floor soaks up the checkerboard of sunlight piercing through the colonial windows. The mirrored walls further illuminate the studio and I feel the light scrutinizing my sorry attempts at a pas de bourrée, while capturing the organic fluidity of the dancers around me. “Chassé en croix, grand battement, pique, pirouette.” I follow the graceful limbs of the woman in front of me, her legs floating ribbons, as she executes what seems to be a perfect ronds de jambes. Each movement remains a negotiation. With admirable patience, Ms. Tan casts me a sympathetic glance.   

There is no time to wallow in the misery that is my right foot. Taekwondo calls for dorsiflexion; pointed toes are synonymous with broken toes. My thoughts drag me into a flashback of the usual response to this painful mistake: “You might as well grab a tutu and head to the ballet studio next door.” Well, here I am Master Pollard, unfortunately still following your orders to never point my toes, but no longer feeling the satisfaction that comes with being a third degree black belt with 5 years of experience quite literally under her belt. It’s like being a white belt again — just in a leotard and ballet slippers. 

But the appetite for new beginnings that brought me here doesn’t falter. It is only reinforced by the classical rendition of “Dancing Queen” that floods the room and the ghost of familiarity that reassures me that this new beginning does not and will not erase the past. After years spent at the top, it’s hard to start over. But surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become. In Taekwondo, we started each class reciting the tenets: honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet. 

The thing about change is that it eventually stops making things so different. After nine different schools, four different countries, three different continents, fluency in Tamil, Norwegian, and English, there are more blurred lines than there are clear fragments. My life has not been a tactfully executed, gold medal-worthy Taekwondo form with each movement defined, nor has it been a series of frappés performed by a prima ballerina with each extension identical and precise, but thankfully it has been like the dynamics of a spinning back kick, fluid, and like my chances of landing a pirouette, unpredictable. 

The first obvious strength of this essay is the introduction—it is interesting and snappy and uses enough technical language that we want to figure out what the student is discussing. When writing introductions, students tend to walk the line between intriguing and confusing. It is important that your essay ends up on the intentionally intriguing side of that line—like this student does! We are a little confused at first, but by then introducing the idea of “sparring,” the student grounds their essay.

People often advise young writers to “show, not tell.” This student takes that advice a step further and makes the reader do a bit of work to figure out what they are telling us. Nowhere in this essay does it say “After years of Taekwondo, I made the difficult decision to switch over to ballet.” Rather, the student says “It’s like being a white belt again — just in a leotard and ballet slippers.” How powerful! 

After a lot of emotional language and imagery, this student finishes off their essay with very valuable (and necessary!) reflection. They show admissions officers that they are more than just a good writer—they are a mature and self-aware individual who would be beneficial to a college campus. Self-awareness comes through with statements like “surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become” and maturity can be seen through the student’s discussion of values: “honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet.”

Sparking Self-Awareness

Prompt: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? (250-650 words)

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the garb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire. 

Furiously I rubbed the twigs together—rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers. No smoke. The twigs were too young, too sticky-green; I tossed them away with a shower of curses, and began tearing through the underbrush in search of a more flammable collection. My efforts were fruitless. Livid, I bit a rejected twig, determined to prove that the forest had spurned me, offering only young, wet bones that would never burn. But the wood cracked like carrots between my teeth—old, brittle, and bitter. Roaring and nursing my aching palms, I retreated to the tent, where I sulked and awaited the jeers of my family. 

Rattling their empty worm cans and reeking of fat fish, my brother and cousins swaggered into the campsite. Immediately, they noticed the minor stick massacre by the fire pit and called to me, their deep voices already sharp with contempt. 

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame. 

In the tent, I pondered my failure. Was I so dainty? Was I that incapable? I thought of my hands, how calloused and capable they had been, how tender and smooth they had become. It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive. And I’d gotten glasses, having grown horrifically nearsighted; long nights of dim lighting and thick books had done this. I couldn’t remember the last time I had lain down on a hill, barefaced, and seen the stars without having to squint. Crawling along the edge of the tent, a spider confirmed my transformation—he disgusted me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to squash him. 

Yet, I realized I hadn’t really changed—I had only shifted perspective. I still eagerly explored new worlds, but through poems and prose rather than pastures and puddles. I’d grown to prefer the boom of a bass over that of a bullfrog, learned to coax a different kind of fire from wood, having developed a burn for writing rhymes and scrawling hypotheses. 

That night, I stayed up late with my journal and wrote about the spider I had decided not to kill. I had tolerated him just barely, only shrieking when he jumped—it helped to watch him decorate the corners of the tent with his delicate webs, knowing that he couldn’t start fires, either. When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.

First things first, this Common App essay is well-written. This student is definitely showing the admissions officers her ability to articulate her points beautifully and creatively. It starts with vivid images like that of the “rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free.” And because the prose is flowery (and beautiful!), the writer can get away with metaphors like “I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms” that might sound cheesy without the clear command of the English language that the writer quickly establishes.

In addition to being well-written, this essay is thematically cohesive. It begins with the simple introduction “Fire!” and ends with the following image: “When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.” This full-circle approach leaves readers satisfied and impressed.

While dialogue often comes off as cliche or trite, this student effectively incorporates her family members saying “Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” This is achieved through the apt use of the verb “taunted” to characterize the questioning and through the question’s thematic connection to the earlier image of the student as a rustic princess. Similarly, rhetorical questions can feel randomly placed in essays, but this student’s inclusion of the questions “Was I so dainty?” and “Was I that incapable?” feel perfectly justified after she establishes that she was pondering her failure.

Quite simply, this essay shows how quality writing can make a simple story outstandingly compelling. 

Why This College?

“Why This College?” is one of the most common essay prompts, likely because schools want to understand whether you’d be a good fit and how you’d use their resources.

This essay is one of the more straightforward ones you’ll write for college applications, but you still can and should allow your voice to shine through.

Learn more about how to write the “Why This College?” essay in our guide.

Prompt: How will you explore your intellectual and academic interests at the University of Pennsylvania? Please answer this question given the specific undergraduate school to which you are applying (650 words).

Sister Simone Roach, a theorist of nursing ethics, said, “caring is the human mode of being.” I have long been inspired by Sister Roach’s Five C’s of Caring: commitment, conscience, competence, compassion, and confidence. Penn both embraces and fosters these values through a rigorous, interdisciplinary curriculum and unmatched access to service and volunteer opportunities.

COMMITMENT. Reading through the activities that Penn Quakers devote their time to (in addition to academics!) felt like drinking from a firehose in the best possible way. As a prospective nursing student with interests outside of my major, I value this level of flexibility. I plan to leverage Penn’s liberal arts curriculum to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges LGBT people face, especially regarding healthcare access. Through courses like “Interactional Processes with LGBT Individuals” and volunteering at the Mazzoni Center for outreach, I hope to learn how to better support the Penn LGBT community as well as my family and friends, including my cousin, who came out as trans last year.

CONSCIENCE. As one of the first people in my family to attend a four-year university, I wanted a school that promoted a sense of moral responsibility among its students. At Penn, professors challenge their students to question and recreate their own set of morals by sparking thought- provoking, open-minded discussions. I can imagine myself advocating for universal healthcare in courses such as “Health Care Reform & Future of American Health System” and debating its merits with my peers. Studying in an environment where students confidently voice their opinions – conservative or liberal – will push me to question and strengthen my value system.

COMPETENCE. Two aspects that drew my attention to Penn’s BSN program were its high-quality research opportunities and hands-on nursing projects. Through its Office of Nursing Research, Penn connects students to faculty members who share similar research interests. As I volunteered at a nursing home in high school, I hope to work with Dr. Carthon to improve the quality of care for senior citizens. Seniors, especially minorities, face serious barriers to healthcare that I want to resolve. Additionally, Penn’s unique use of simulations to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world application impressed me. Using computerized manikins that mimic human responses, classes in Penn’s nursing program allow students to apply their emergency medical skills in a mass casualty simulation and monitor their actions afterward through a video system. Participating in this activity will help me identify my strengths and areas for improvement regarding crisis management and medical care in a controlled yet realistic setting. Research opportunities and simulations will develop my skills even before I interact with patients.

COMPASSION. I value giving back through community service, and I have a particular interest in Penn’s Community Champions and Nursing Students For Sexual & Reproductive Health (NSRH). As a four-year volunteer health educator, I hope to continue this work as a Community Champions member. I am excited to collaborate with medical students to teach fourth and fifth graders in the city about cardiology or lead a chair dance class for the elders at the LIFE Center. Furthermore, as a feminist who firmly believes in women’s abortion rights, I’d like to join NSRH in order to advocate for women’s health on campus. At Penn, I can work with like-minded people to make a meaningful difference.

CONFIDENCE. All of the Quakers that I have met possess one defining trait: confidence. Each student summarized their experiences at Penn as challenging but fulfilling. Although I expect my coursework to push me, from my conversations with current Quakers I know it will help me to be far more effective in my career.

The Five C’s of Caring are important heuristics for nursing, but they also provide insight into how I want to approach my time in college. I am eager to engage with these principles both as a nurse and as a Penn Quaker, and I can’t wait to start.

This prompt from Penn asks students to tailor their answer to their specific field of study. One great thing that this student does is identify their undergraduate school early, by mentioning “Sister Simone Roach, a theorist of nursing ethics.” You don’t want readers confused or searching through other parts of your application to figure out your major.

With a longer essay like this, it is important to establish structure. Some students organize their essay in a narrative form, using an anecdote from their past or predicting their future at a school. This student uses Roach’s 5 C’s of Caring as a framing device that organizes their essay around values. This works well!

While this essay occasionally loses voice, there are distinct moments where the student’s personality shines through. We see this with phrases like “felt like drinking from a fire hose in the best possible way” and “All of the Quakers that I have met possess one defining trait: confidence.” It is important to show off your personality to make your essay stand out. 

Finally, this student does a great job of referencing specific resources about Penn. It’s clear that they have done their research (they’ve even talked to current Quakers). They have dreams and ambitions that can only exist at Penn.

Prompt: What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer)

Coin collector and swimmer. Hungarian and Romanian. Critical and creative thinker. I was drawn to Yale because they don’t limit one’s mind with “or” but rather embrace unison with “and.” 

Wandering through the Beinecke Library, I prepare for my multidisciplinary Energy Studies capstone about the correlation between hedonism and climate change, making it my goal to find implications in environmental sociology. Under the tutelage of Assistant Professor Arielle Baskin-Sommers, I explore the emotional deficits of depression, utilizing neuroimaging to scrutinize my favorite branch of psychology: human perception. At Walden Peer Counseling, I integrate my peer support and active listening skills to foster an empathetic environment for the Yale community. Combining my interests in psychological and environmental studies is why I’m proud to be a Bulldog. 

This answer to the “Why This College” question is great because 1) the student shows their excitement about attending Yale 2) we learn the ways in which attending Yale will help them achieve their goals and 3) we learn their interests and identities.

In this response, you can find a prime example of the “Image of the Future” approach, as the student flashes forward and envisions their life at Yale, using present tense (“I explore,” “I integrate,” “I’m proud”). This approach is valuable if you are trying to emphasize your dedication to a specific school. Readers get the feeling that this student is constantly imagining themselves on campus—it feels like Yale really matters to them.

Starting this image with the Beinecke Library is great because the Beinecke Library only exists at Yale. It is important to tailor “Why This College” responses to each specific school. This student references a program of study, a professor, and an extracurricular that only exist at Yale. Additionally, they connect these unique resources to their interests—psychological and environmental studies.

Finally, we learn about the student (independent of academics) through this response. By the end of their 125 words, we know their hobbies, ethnicities, and social desires, in addition to their academic interests. It can be hard to tackle a 125-word response, but this student shows that it’s possible.

Why This Major?

The goal of this prompt is to understand how you came to be interested in your major and what you plan to do with it. For competitive programs like engineering, this essay helps admissions officers distinguish students who have a genuine passion and are most likely to succeed in the program. This is another more straightforward essay, but you do have a bit more freedom to include relevant anecdotes.

Learn more about how to write the “Why This Major?” essay in our guide.

Why Duke Engineering

Prompt: If you are applying to the Pratt School of Engineering as a first year applicant, please discuss why you want to study engineering and why you would like to study at Duke (250 words).

One Christmas morning, when I was nine, I opened a snap circuit set from my grandmother. Although I had always loved math and science, I didn’t realize my passion for engineering until I spent the rest of winter break creating different circuits to power various lights, alarms, and sensors. Even after I outgrew the toy, I kept the set in my bedroom at home and knew I wanted to study engineering. Later, in a high school biology class, I learned that engineering didn’t only apply to circuits, but also to medical devices that could improve people’s quality of life. Biomedical engineering allows me to pursue my academic passions and help people at the same time.

Just as biology and engineering interact in biomedical engineering, I am fascinated by interdisciplinary research in my chosen career path. Duke offers unmatched resources, such as DUhatch and The Foundry, that will enrich my engineering education and help me practice creative problem-solving skills. The emphasis on entrepreneurship within these resources will also help me to make a helpful product. Duke’s Bass Connections program also interests me; I firmly believe that the most creative and necessary problem-solving comes by bringing people together from different backgrounds. Through this program, I can use my engineering education to solve complicated societal problems such as creating sustainable surgical tools for low-income countries. Along the way, I can learn alongside experts in the field. Duke’s openness and collaborative culture span across its academic disciplines, making Duke the best place for me to grow both as an engineer and as a social advocate.

This prompt calls for a complex answer. Students must explain both why they want to study engineering and why Duke is the best place for them to study engineering.

This student begins with a nice hook—a simple anecdote about a simple present with profound consequences. They do not fluff up their anecdote with flowery images or emotionally-loaded language; it is what it is, and it is compelling and sweet. As their response continues, they express a particular interest in problem-solving. They position problem-solving as a fundamental part of their interest in engineering (and a fundamental part of their fascination with their childhood toy). This helps readers to learn about the student!

Problem-solving is also the avenue by which they introduce Duke’s resources—DUhatch, The Foundry, and Duke’s Bass Connections program. It is important to notice that the student explains how these resources can help them achieve their future goals—it is not enough to simply identify the resources!

This response is interesting and focused. It clearly answers the prompt, and it feels honest and authentic.

Why Georgia Tech CompSci

Prompt: Why do you want to study your chosen major specifically at Georgia Tech? (300 words max)

I held my breath and hit RUN. Yes! A plump white cat jumped out and began to catch the falling pizzas. Although my Fat Cat project seems simple now, it was the beginning of an enthusiastic passion for computer science. Four years and thousands of hours of programming later, that passion has grown into an intense desire to explore how computer science can serve society. Every day, surrounded by technology that can recognize my face and recommend scarily-specific ads, I’m reminded of Uncle Ben’s advice to a young Spiderman: “with great power comes great responsibility”. Likewise, the need to ensure digital equality has skyrocketed with AI’s far-reaching presence in society; and I believe that digital fairness starts with equality in education.

The unique use of threads at the College of Computing perfectly matches my interests in AI and its potential use in education; the path of combined threads on Intelligence and People gives me the rare opportunity to delve deep into both areas. I’m particularly intrigued by the rich sets of both knowledge-based and data-driven intelligence courses, as I believe AI should not only show correlation of events, but also provide insight for why they occur.

In my four years as an enthusiastic online English tutor, I’ve worked hard to help students overcome both financial and technological obstacles in hopes of bringing quality education to people from diverse backgrounds. For this reason, I’m extremely excited by the many courses in the People thread that focus on education and human-centered technology. I’d love to explore how to integrate AI technology into the teaching process to make education more available, affordable, and effective for people everywhere. And with the innumerable opportunities that Georgia Tech has to offer, I know that I will be able to go further here than anywhere else.

With a “Why This Major” essay, you want to avoid using all of your words to tell a story. That being said, stories are a great way to show your personality and make your essay stand out. This student’s story takes up only their first 21 words, but it positions the student as fun and funny and provides an endearing image of cats and pizzas—who doesn’t love cats and pizzas? There are other moments when the student’s personality shines through also, like the Spiderman reference.

While this pop culture reference adds color, it also is important for what the student is getting at: their passion. They want to go into computer science to address the issues of security and equity that are on the industry’s mind, and they acknowledge these concerns with their comments about “scarily-specific ads” and their statement that “the need to ensure digital equality has skyrocketed.” This student is self-aware and aware of the state of the industry. This aptitude will be appealing for admissions officers.

The conversation around “threads” is essential for this student’s response because the prompt asks specifically about the major at Georgia Tech and it is the only thing they reference that is specific to Georgia Tech. Threads are great, but this student would have benefitted from expanding on other opportunities specific to Georgia Tech later in the essay, instead of simply inserting “innumerable opportunities.”

Overall, this student shows personality, passion, and aptitude—precisely what admissions officers want to see!

Extracurricular Essay

You’re asked to describe your activities on the Common App, but chances are, you have at least one extracurricular that’s impacted you in a way you can’t explain in 150 characters.

This essay archetype allows you to share how your most important activity shaped you and how you might use those lessons learned in the future. You are definitely welcome to share anecdotes and use a narrative approach, but remember to include some reflection. A common mistake students make is to only describe the activity without sharing how it impacted them.

Learn more about how to write the Extracurricular Essay in our guide.

A Dedicated Musician

My fingers raced across the keys, rapidly striking one after another. My body swayed with the music as my hands raced across the piano. Crashing onto the final chord, it was over as quickly as it had begun. My shoulders relaxed and I couldn’t help but break into a satisfied grin. I had just played the Moonlight Sonata’s third movement, a longtime dream of mine. 

Four short months ago, though, I had considered it impossible. The piece’s tempo was impossibly fast, its notes stretching between each end of the piano, forcing me to reach farther than I had ever dared. It was 17 pages of the most fragile and intricate melodies I had ever encountered. 

But that summer, I found myself ready to take on the challenge. With the end of the school year, I was released from my commitment to practicing for band and solo performances. I was now free to determine my own musical path: either succeed in learning the piece, or let it defeat me for the third summer in a row. 

Over those few months, I spent countless hours practicing the same notes until they burned a permanent place in my memory, creating a soundtrack for even my dreams. Some would say I’ve mastered the piece, but as a musician I know better. Now that I can play it, I am eager to take the next step and add in layers of musicality and expression to make the once-impossible piece even more beautiful.

In this response, the student uses their extracurricular, piano, as a way to emphasize their positive qualities. At the beginning, readers are invited on a journey with the student where we feel their struggle, their intensity, and ultimately their satisfaction. With this descriptive image, we form a valuable connection with the student.

Then, we get to learn about what makes this student special: their dedication and work ethic. The fact that this student describes their desire to be productive during the summer shows an intensity that is appealing to admissions officers. Additionally, the growth mindset that this student emphasizes in their conclusion is appealing to admissions officers.

The Extracurricular Essay can be seen as an opportunity to characterize yourself. This student clearly identified their positive qualities, then used the Extracurricular Essay as a way to articulate them.

A Complicated Relationship with the School Newspaper

My school’s newspaper and I have a typical love-hate relationship; some days I want nothing more than to pass two hours writing and formatting articles, while on others the mere thought of student journalism makes me shiver. Still, as we’re entering our fourth year together, you could consider us relatively stable. We’ve learned to accept each other’s differences; at this point I’ve become comfortable spending an entire Friday night preparing for an upcoming issue, and I hardly even notice the snail-like speed of our computers. I’ve even benefitted from the polygamous nature of our relationship—with twelve other editors, there’s a lot of cooperation involved. Perverse as it may be, from that teamwork I’ve both gained some of my closest friends and improved my organizational and time-management skills. And though leaving it in the hands of new editors next year will be difficult, I know our time together has only better prepared me for future relationships.

This response is great. It’s cute and endearing and, importantly, tells readers a lot about the student who wrote it. Framing this essay in the context of a “love-hate relationship,” then supplementing with comments like “We’ve learned to accept each other’s differences” allows this student to advertise their maturity in a unique and engaging way. 

While Extracurricular Essays can be a place to show how you’ve grown within an activity, they can also be a place to show how you’ve grown through an activity. At the end of this essay, readers think that this student is mature and enjoyable, and we think that their experience with the school newspaper helped make them that way.

Participating in Democracy

Prompt: Research shows that an ability to learn from experiences outside the classroom correlates with success in college. What was your greatest learning experience over the past 4 years that took place outside of the traditional classroom? (250 words) 

The cool, white halls of the Rayburn House office building contrasted with the bustling energy of interns entertaining tourists, staffers rushing to cover committee meetings, and my fellow conference attendees separating to meet with our respective congresspeople. Through civics and US history classes, I had learned about our government, but simply hearing the legislative process outlined didn’t prepare me to navigate it. It was my first political conference, and, after learning about congressional mechanics during breakout sessions, I was lobbying my representative about an upcoming vote crucial to the US-Middle East relationship. As the daughter of Iranian immigrants, my whole life had led me to the moment when I could speak on behalf of the family members who had not emigrated with my parents.

As I sat down with my congresswoman’s chief of staff, I truly felt like a participant in democracy; I was exercising my right to be heard as a young American. Through this educational conference, I developed a plan of action to raise my voice. When I returned home, I signed up to volunteer with the state chapter of the Democratic Party. I sponsored letter-writing campaigns, canvassed for local elections, and even pursued an internship with a state senate campaign. I know that I don’t need to be old enough to vote to effect change. Most importantly, I also know that I want to study government—I want to make a difference for my communities in the United States and the Middle East throughout my career. 

While this prompt is about extracurricular activities, it specifically references the idea that the extracurricular should support the curricular. It is focused on experiential learning for future career success. This student wants to study government, so they chose to describe an experience of hands-on learning within their field—an apt choice!

As this student discusses their extracurricular experience, they also clue readers into their future goals—they want to help Middle Eastern communities. Admissions officers love when students mention concrete plans with a solid foundation. Here, the foundation comes from this student’s ethnicity. With lines like “my whole life had led me to the moment when I could speak on behalf of the family members who had not emigrated with my parents,” the student assures admissions officers of their emotional connection to their future field.

The strength of this essay comes from its connections. It connects the student’s extracurricular activity to their studies and connects theirs studies to their personal history.

Overcoming Challenges

You’re going to face a lot of setbacks in college, so admissions officers want to make you’re you have the resilience and resolve to overcome them. This essay is your chance to be vulnerable and connect to admissions officers on an emotional level.

Learn more about how to write the Overcoming Challenges Essay in our guide.

The Student Becomes the Master

”Advanced females ages 13 to 14 please proceed to staging with your coaches at this time.” Skittering around the room, eyes wide and pleading, I frantically explained my situation to nearby coaches. The seconds ticked away in my head; every polite refusal increased my desperation.

Despair weighed me down. I sank to my knees as a stream of competitors, coaches, and officials flowed around me. My dojang had no coach, and the tournament rules prohibited me from competing without one.

Although I wanted to remain strong, doubts began to cloud my mind. I could not help wondering: what was the point of perfecting my skills if I would never even compete? The other members of my team, who had found coaches minutes earlier, attempted to comfort me, but I barely heard their words. They couldn’t understand my despair at being left on the outside, and I never wanted them to understand.

Since my first lesson 12 years ago, the members of my dojang have become family. I have watched them grow up, finding my own happiness in theirs. Together, we have honed our kicks, blocks, and strikes. We have pushed one another to aim higher and become better martial artists. Although my dojang had searched for a reliable coach for years, we had not found one. When we attended competitions in the past, my teammates and I had always gotten lucky and found a sympathetic coach. Now, I knew this practice was unsustainable. It would devastate me to see the other members of my dojang in my situation, unable to compete and losing hope as a result. My dojang needed a coach, and I decided it was up to me to find one. 

I first approached the adults in the dojang – both instructors and members’ parents. However, these attempts only reacquainted me with polite refusals. Everyone I asked told me they couldn’t devote multiple weekends per year to competitions. I soon realized that I would have become the coach myself.

At first, the inner workings of tournaments were a mystery to me. To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side. I learned everything from motivational strategies to technical, behind-the-scenes components of Taekwondo competitions. Though I emerged with new knowledge and confidence in my capabilities, others did not share this faith.

Parents threw me disbelieving looks when they learned that their children’s coach was only a child herself. My self-confidence was my armor, deflecting their surly glances. Every armor is penetrable, however, and as the relentless barrage of doubts pounded my resilience, it began to wear down. I grew unsure of my own abilities.

Despite the attack, I refused to give up. When I saw the shining eyes of the youngest students preparing for their first competition, I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was. The knowledge that I could solve my dojang’s longtime problem motivated me to overcome my apprehension.

Now that my dojang flourishes at competitions, the attacks on me have weakened, but not ended. I may never win the approval of every parent; at times, I am still tormented by doubts, but I find solace in the fact that members of my dojang now only worry about competing to the best of their abilities.

Now, as I arrive at a tournament with my students, I close my eyes and remember the past. I visualize the frantic search for a coach and the chaos amongst my teammates as we competed with one another to find coaches before the staging calls for our respective divisions. I open my eyes to the exact opposite scene. Lacking a coach hurt my ability to compete, but I am proud to know that no member of my dojang will have to face that problem again.

This essay is great because it has a strong introduction and conclusion. The introduction is notably suspenseful and draws readers into the story. Because we know it is a college essay, we can assume that the student is one of the competitors, but at the same time, this introduction feels intentionally ambiguous as if the writer could be a competitor, a coach, a sibling of a competitor, or anyone else in the situation.

As we continue reading the essay, we learn that the writer is, in fact, the competitor. Readers also learn a lot about the student’s values as we hear their thoughts: “I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was.” Ultimately, the conflict and inner and outer turmoil is resolved through the “Same, but Different” ending technique as the student places themself in the same environment that we saw in the intro, but experiencing it differently due to their actions throughout the narrative. This is a very compelling strategy!

Growing Sensitivity to Struggles

Prompt: The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? (650 words)

“You ruined my life!” After months of quiet anger, my brother finally confronted me. To my shame, I had been appallingly ignorant of his pain.

Despite being twins, Max and I are profoundly different. Having intellectual interests from a young age that, well, interested very few of my peers, I often felt out of step in comparison with my highly-social brother. Everything appeared to come effortlessly for Max and, while we share an extremely tight bond, his frequent time away with friends left me feeling more and more alone as we grew older.

When my parents learned about The Green Academy, we hoped it would be an opportunity for me to find not only an academically challenging environment, but also – perhaps more importantly – a community. This meant transferring the family from Drumfield to Kingston. And while there was concern about Max, we all believed that given his sociable nature, moving would be far less impactful on him than staying put might be on me.

As it turned out, Green Academy was everything I’d hoped for. I was ecstatic to discover a group of students with whom I shared interests and could truly engage. Preoccupied with new friends and a rigorous course load, I failed to notice that the tables had turned. Max, lost in the fray and grappling with how to make connections in his enormous new high school, had become withdrawn and lonely. It took me until Christmas time – and a massive argument – to recognize how difficult the transition had been for my brother, let alone that he blamed me for it.

Through my own journey of searching for academic peers, in addition to coming out as gay when I was 12, I had developed deep empathy for those who had trouble fitting in. It was a pain I knew well and could easily relate to. Yet after Max’s outburst, my first response was to protest that our parents – not I – had chosen to move us here. In my heart, though, I knew that regardless of who had made the decision, we ended up in Kingston for my benefit. I was ashamed that, while I saw myself as genuinely compassionate, I had been oblivious to the heartache of the person closest to me. I could no longer ignore it – and I didn’t want to.

We stayed up half the night talking, and the conversation took an unexpected turn. Max opened up and shared that it wasn’t just about the move. He told me how challenging school had always been for him, due to his dyslexia, and that the ever-present comparison to me had only deepened his pain.

We had been in parallel battles the whole time and, yet, I only saw that Max was in distress once he experienced problems with which I directly identified. I’d long thought Max had it so easy – all because he had friends. The truth was, he didn’t need to experience my personal brand of sorrow in order for me to relate – he had felt plenty of his own.

My failure to recognize Max’s suffering brought home for me the profound universality and diversity of personal struggle; everyone has insecurities, everyone has woes, and everyone – most certainly – has pain. I am acutely grateful for the conversations he and I shared around all of this, because I believe our relationship has been fundamentally strengthened by a deeper understanding of one another. Further, this experience has reinforced the value of constantly striving for deeper sensitivity to the hidden struggles of those around me. I won’t make the mistake again of assuming that the surface of someone’s life reflects their underlying story.

Here you can find a prime example that you don’t have to have fabulous imagery or flowery prose to write a successful essay. You just have to be clear and say something that matters. This essay is simple and beautiful. It almost feels like having a conversation with a friend and learning that they are an even better person than you already thought they were.

Through this narrative, readers learn a lot about the writer—where they’re from, what their family life is like, what their challenges were as a kid, and even their sexuality. We also learn a lot about their values—notably, the value they place on awareness, improvement, and consideration of others. Though they never explicitly state it (which is great because it is still crystal clear!), this student’s ending of “I won’t make the mistake again of assuming that the surface of someone’s life reflects their underlying story” shows that they are constantly striving for improvement and finding lessons anywhere they can get them in life.

Community Service/Impact on the Community

Colleges want students who will positively impact the campus community and go on to make change in the world after they graduate. This essay is similar to the Extracurricular Essay, but you need to focus on a situation where you impacted others. 

Learn more about how to write the Community Service Essay in our guide.

Academic Signing Day

Prompt: What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

The scent of eucalyptus caressed my nose in a gentle breeze. Spring had arrived. Senior class activities were here. As a sophomore, I noticed a difference between athletic and academic seniors at my high school; one received recognition while the other received silence. I wanted to create an event celebrating students academically-committed to four-years, community colleges, trades schools, and military programs. This event was Academic Signing Day.

The leadership label, “Events Coordinator,” felt heavy on my introverted mind. I usually was setting up for rallies and spirit weeks, being overlooked around the exuberant nature of my peers. 

I knew a change of mind was needed; I designed flyers, painted posters, presented powerpoints, created student-led committees, and practiced countless hours for my introductory speech. Each committee would play a vital role on event day: one dedicated to refreshments, another to technology, and one for decorations. The fourth-month planning was a laborious joy, but I was still fearful of being in the spotlight. Being acknowledged by hundreds of people was new to me.     

The day was here. Parents filled the stands of the multi-purpose room. The atmosphere was tense; I could feel the angst building in my throat, worried about the impression I would leave. Applause followed each of the 400 students as they walked to their college table, indicating my time to speak. 

I walked up to the stand, hands clammy, expression tranquil, my words echoing to the audience. I thought my speech would be met by the sounds of crickets; instead, smiles lit up the stands, realizing my voice shone through my actions. I was finally coming out of my shell. The floor was met by confetti as I was met by the sincerity of staff, students, and parents, solidifying the event for years to come. 

Academic students were no longer overshadowed. Their accomplishments were equally recognized to their athletic counterparts. The school culture of athletics over academics was no longer imbalanced. Now, every time I smell eucalyptus, it is a friendly reminder that on Academic Signing Day, not only were academic students in the spotlight but so was my voice.

This essay answers the prompt nicely because the student describes a contribution with a lasting legacy. Academic Signing Day will affect this high school in the future and it affected this student’s self-development—an idea summed up nicely with their last phrase “not only were academic students in the spotlight but so was my voice.”

With Community Service essays, students sometimes take small contributions and stretch them. And, oftentimes, the stretch is very obvious. Here, the student shows us that Academic Signing Day actually mattered by mentioning four months of planning and hundreds of students and parents. They also make their involvement in Academic Signing Day clear—it was their idea and they were in charge, and that’s why they gave the introductory speech.

Use this response as an example of the type of focused contribution that makes for a convincing Community Service Essay.

Climate Change Rally

Prompt: What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time? (technically not community service, but the response works)

Let’s fast-forward time. Strides were made toward racial equality. Healthcare is accessible to all; however, one issue remains. Our aquatic ecosystems are parched with dead coral from ocean acidification. Climate change has prevailed.

Rewind to the present day.

My activism skills are how I express my concerns for the environment. Whether I play on sandy beaches or rest under forest treetops, nature offers me an escape from the haste of the world. When my body is met by trash in the ocean or my nose is met by harmful pollutants, Earth’s pain becomes my own. 

Substituting coffee grinds as fertilizer, using bamboo straws, starting my sustainable garden, my individual actions needed to reach a larger scale. I often found performative activism to be ineffective when communicating climate concerns. My days of reposting awareness graphics on social media never filled the ambition I had left to put my activism skills to greater use. I decided to share my ecocentric worldview with a coalition of environmentalists and host a climate change rally outside my high school.

Meetings were scheduled where I informed students about the unseen impact they have on the oceans and local habitual communities. My fingers were cramped from all the constant typing and investigating of micro causes of the Pacific Waste Patch, creating reusable flyers, displaying steps people could take from home in reducing their carbon footprint. I aided my fellow environmentalists in translating these flyers into other languages, repeating this process hourly, for five days, up until rally day.  

It was 7:00 AM. The faces of 100 students were shouting, “The climate is changing, why can’t we?” I proudly walked on the dewy grass, grabbing the microphone, repeating those same words. The rally not only taught me efficient methods of communication but it echoed my environmental activism to the masses. The City of Corona would be the first of many cities to see my activism, as more rallies were planned for various parts of SoCal. My once unfulfilled ambition was fueled by my tangible activism, understanding that it takes more than one person to make an environmental impact.

Like with the last example, this student describes a focused event with a lasting legacy. That’s a perfect place to start! By the end of this essay, we have an image of the cause of this student’s passion and the effect of this student’s passion. There are no unanswered questions.

This student supplements their focused topic with engaging and exciting writing to make for an easy-to-read and enjoyable essay. One of the largest strengths of this response is its pace. From the very beginning, we are invited to “fast-forward” and “rewind” with the writer. Then, after we center ourselves in real-time, this writer keeps their quick pace with sentences like “Substituting coffee grounds as fertilizer, using bamboo straws, starting my sustainable garden, my individual actions needed to reach a larger scale.” Community Service essays run the risk of turning boring, but this unique pacing keeps things interesting.

Having a diverse class provides a richness of different perspectives and encourages open-mindedness among the student body. The Diversity Essay is also somewhat similar to the Extracurricular and Community Service Essays, but it focuses more on what you might bring to the campus community because of your unique experiences or identities.

Learn more about how to write the Diversity Essay in our guide.

A Story of a Young Skater

​​“Everyone follow me!” I smiled at five wide-eyed skaters before pushing off into a spiral. I glanced behind me hopefully, only to see my students standing frozen like statues, the fear in their eyes as clear as the ice they swayed on. “Come on!” I said encouragingly, but the only response I elicited was the slow shake of their heads. My first day as a Learn-to-Skate coach was not going as planned. 

But amid my frustration, I was struck by how much my students reminded me of myself as a young skater. At seven, I had been fascinated by Olympic performers who executed thrilling high jumps and dizzying spins with apparent ease, and I dreamed to one day do the same. My first few months on skates, however, sent these hopes crashing down: my attempts at slaloms and toe-loops were shadowed by a stubborn fear of falling, which even the helmet, elbow pads, and two pairs of mittens I had armed myself with couldn’t mitigate. Nonetheless, my coach remained unfailingly optimistic, motivating me through my worst spills and teaching me to find opportunities in failures. With his encouragement, I learned to push aside my fears and attack each jump with calm and confidence; it’s the hope that I can help others do the same that now inspires me to coach.

I remember the day a frustrated staff member directed Oliver, a particularly hesitant young skater, toward me, hoping that my patience and steady encouragement might help him improve. Having stood in Oliver’s skates not much earlier myself, I completely empathized with his worries but also saw within him the potential to overcome his fears and succeed. 

To alleviate his anxiety, I held Oliver’s hand as we inched around the rink, cheering him on at every turn. I soon found though, that this only increased his fear of gliding on his own, so I changed my approach, making lessons as exciting as possible in hopes that he would catch the skating bug and take off. In the weeks that followed, we held relay races, played “freeze-skate” and “ice-potato”, and raced through obstacle courses; gradually, with each slip and subsequent success, his fear began to abate. I watched Oliver’s eyes widen in excitement with every skill he learned, and not long after, he earned his first skating badge. Together we celebrated this milestone, his ecstasy fueling my excitement and his pride mirroring my own. At that moment, I was both teacher and student, his progress instilling in me the importance of patience and a positive attitude. 

It’s been more than ten years since I bundled up and stepped onto the ice for the first time. Since then, my tolerance for the cold has remained stubbornly low, but the rest of me has certainly changed. In sharing my passion for skating, I have found a wonderful community of eager athletes, loving parents, and dedicated coaches from whom I have learned invaluable lessons and wisdom. My fellow staffers have been with me, both as friends and colleagues, and the relationships I’ve formed have given me far more poise, confidence, and appreciation for others. Likewise, my relationships with parents have given me an even greater gratitude for the role they play: no one goes to the rink without a parent behind the wheel! 

Since that first lesson, I have mentored dozens of children, and over the years, witnessed tentative steps transform into powerful glides and tears give way to delighted grins. What I have shared with my students has been among the greatest joys of my life, something I will cherish forever. It’s funny: when I began skating, what pushed me through the early morning practices was the prospect of winning an Olympic medal. Now, what excites me is the chance to work with my students, to help them grow, and to give back to the sport that has brought me so much happiness. 

This response is a great example of how Diversity doesn’t have to mean race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, age, or ability. Diversity can mean whatever you want it to mean—whatever unique experience(s) you have to bring to the table!

A major strength of this essay comes in its narrative organization. When reading this first paragraph, we feel for the young skaters and understand their fear—skating sounds scary! Then, because the writer sets us up to feel this empathy, the transition to the second paragraph where the student describes their empathy for the young skaters is particularly powerful. It’s like we are all in it together! The student’s empathy for the young skaters also serves as an outstanding, seamless transition to the applicant discussing their personal journey with skating: “I was struck by how much my students reminded me of myself as a young skater.”

This essay positions the applicant as a grounded and caring individual. They are caring towards the young skaters—changing their teaching style to try to help the young skaters and feeling the young skaters’ emotions with them—but they are also appreciative to those who helped them as they reference their fellow staffers and parents. This shows great maturity—a favorable quality in the eyes of an admissions officer.

At the end of the essay, we know a lot about this student and are convinced that they would be a good addition to a college campus!

Finding Community in the Rainforest

Prompt: Duke University seeks a talented, engaged student body that embodies the wide range of human experience; we believe that the diversity of our students makes our community stronger. If you’d like to share a perspective you bring or experiences you’ve had to help us understand you better—perhaps related to a community you belong to, your sexual orientation or gender identity, or your family or cultural background—we encourage you to do so. Real people are reading your application, and we want to do our best to understand and appreciate the real people applying to Duke (250 words).

I never understood the power of community until I left home to join seven strangers in the Ecuadorian rainforest. Although we flew in from distant corners of the U.S., we shared a common purpose: immersing ourselves in our passion for protecting the natural world.

Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns. My classmates debated the feasibility of Trump’s wall, not the deteriorating state of our planet. Contrastingly, these seven strangers delighted in bird-watching, brightened at the mention of medicinal tree sap, and understood why I once ran across a four-lane highway to retrieve discarded beer cans. Their histories barely resembled mine, yet our values aligned intimately. We did not hesitate to joke about bullet ants, gush about the versatility of tree bark, or discuss the destructive consequences of materialism. Together, we let our inner tree huggers run free.

In the short life of our little community, we did what we thought was impossible. By feeding on each other’s infectious tenacity, we cultivated an atmosphere that deepened our commitment to our values and empowered us to speak out on behalf of the environment. After a week of stimulating conversations and introspective revelations about engaging people from our hometowns in environmental advocacy, we developed a shared determination to devote our lives to this cause.

As we shared a goodbye hug, my new friend whispered, “The world needs saving. Someone’s gotta do it.” For the first time, I believed that someone could be me.

This response is so wholesome and relatable. We all have things that we just need to geek out over and this student expresses the joy that came when they found a community where they could geek out about the environment. Passion is fundamental to university life and should find its way into successful applications.

Like the last response, this essay finds strength in the fact that readers feel for the student. We get a little bit of backstory about where they come from and how they felt silenced—“Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns”—, so it’s easy to feel joy for them when they get set free.

This student displays clear values: community, ecoconsciousness, dedication, and compassion. An admissions officer who reads Diversity essays is looking for students with strong values and a desire to contribute to a university community—sounds like this student!  

Political/Global Issues

Colleges want to build engaged citizens, and the Political/Global Issues Essay allows them to better understand what you care about and whether your values align with theirs. In this essay, you’re most commonly asked to describe an issue, why you care about it, and what you’ve done or hope to do to address it. 

Learn more about how to write the Political/Global Issues Essay in our guide.

Note: this prompt is not a typical political/global issues essay, but the essay itself would be a strong response to a political/global issues prompt.

Fighting Violence Against Women

Prompt: Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay. (250-650 words)

“One of the great challenges of our time is that the disparities we face today have more complex causes and point less straightforwardly to solutions.” 

– Omar Wasow, assistant professor of politics, Princeton University. This quote is taken from Professor Wasow’s January 2014 speech at the Martin Luther King Day celebration at Princeton University. 

The air is crisp and cool, nipping at my ears as I walk under a curtain of darkness that drapes over the sky, starless. It is a Friday night in downtown Corpus Christi, a rare moment of peace in my home city filled with the laughter of strangers and colorful lights of street vendors. But I cannot focus. 

My feet stride quickly down the sidewalk, my hand grasps on to the pepper spray my parents gifted me for my sixteenth birthday. My eyes ignore the surrounding city life, focusing instead on a pair of tall figures walking in my direction. I mentally ask myself if they turned with me on the last street corner. I do not remember, so I pick up the pace again. All the while, my mind runs over stories of young women being assaulted, kidnapped, and raped on the street. I remember my mother’s voice reminding me to keep my chin up, back straight, eyes and ears alert. 

At a young age, I learned that harassment is a part of daily life for women. I fell victim to period-shaming when I was thirteen, received my first catcall when I was fourteen, and was nonconsensually grabbed by a man soliciting on the street when I was fifteen. For women, assault does not just happen to us— its gory details leave an imprint in our lives, infecting the way we perceive the world. And while movements such as the Women’s March and #MeToo have given victims of sexual violence a voice, harassment still manifests itself in the lives of millions of women across the nation. Symbolic gestures are important in spreading awareness but, upon learning that a surprising number of men are oblivious to the frequent harassment that women experience, I now realize that addressing this complex issue requires a deeper level of activism within our local communities. 

Frustrated with incessant cases of harassment against women, I understood at sixteen years old that change necessitates action. During my junior year, I became an intern with a judge whose campaign for office focused on a need for domestic violence reform. This experience enabled me to engage in constructive dialogue with middle and high school students on how to prevent domestic violence. As I listened to young men uneasily admit their ignorance and young women bravely share their experiences in an effort to spread awareness, I learned that breaking down systems of inequity requires changing an entire culture. I once believed that the problem of harassment would dissipate after politicians and celebrities denounce inappropriate behavior to their global audience. But today, I see that effecting large-scale change comes from the “small” lessons we teach at home and in schools. Concerning women’s empowerment, the effects of Hollywood activism do not trickle down enough. Activism must also trickle up and it depends on our willingness to fight complacency. 

Finding the solution to the long-lasting problem of violence against women is a work-in-progress, but it is a process that is persistently moving. In my life, for every uncomfortable conversation that I bridge, I make the world a bit more sensitive to the unspoken struggle that it is to be a woman. I am no longer passively waiting for others to let me live in a world where I can stand alone under the expanse of darkness on a city street, utterly alone and at peace. I, too, deserve the night sky.

As this student addresses an important social issue, she makes the reasons for her passion clear—personal experiences. Because she begins with an extended anecdote, readers are able to feel connected to the student and become invested in what she has to say.

Additionally, through her powerful ending—“I, too, deserve the night sky”—which connects back to her beginning— “as I walk under a curtain of darkness that drapes over the sky”—this student illustrates a mastery of language. Her engagement with other writing techniques that further her argument, like the emphasis on time—“gifted to me for my sixteenth birthday,” “when I was thirteen,” “when I was fourteen,” etc.—also illustrates her mastery of language.

While this student proves herself a good writer, she also positions herself as motivated and ambitious. She turns her passions into action and fights for them. That is just what admissions officers want to see in a Political/Global issues essay!

Where to Get Feedback on Your College Essays

Once you’ve written your college essays, you’ll want to get feedback on them. Since these essays are important to your chances of acceptance, you should prepare to go through several rounds of edits. 

Not sure who to ask for feedback? That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review resource. You can get comments from another student going through the process and also edit other students’ essays to improve your own writing. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools.  Find the right advisor for you  to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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9 10 Academic Goals Examples to Supercharge Your Student Success

Becoming a successful student involves more than just going to classes and remembering facts for the test. It is about establishing a mentality of learning and evolving continuously, and distinct academic goals are a key aspect of that. These are the lights that lead the way and help you stay on track as you navigate through the trials and tribulations of your studies, whether it’s the demands of testing or the stuff that life throws at you. But, just as importantly, by clearly defining and outlining your academic objectives, you give your study a sense of intention and purpose. Whether it’s achieving a particular GPA, mastering a challenging topic, or participating in enriching extracurricular, strong academic Goals are the foundation of both short- and long-term academic success.  

Establishing concrete goals and the quest of excellence are frequently linked in the academic sphere. Before delving into these Academic Goals Examples, it is important to recognize services like Scholarly Help that provide workable ways to handle several Tasks. With options like pay someone to do my online class , Scholarly Help ensures you stay on track without compromising other responsibilities. This comprehensive guide explores ten powerful academic goals examples designed to elevate your student success to unprecedented heights. Whether your academic goals are designed to improve your critical thinking habits, advance your time management skills, or explore interdisciplinary thinking to further your academic career, they should provide students with a path toward overall intellectual and personal development. Rounding up different students through carefully structured college academic goals. All must necessarily form the basis of individual reality and opportunities.

Mastering Time Management

One of the building blocks for academic achievement is the effective management of time. The ability allows students to combine studies with other activities, namely work, daily life, or personal life. To manage time effectively, learners are recommended to:

• Plan a Weekly Schedule: set certain hours and days to work, study, and engage in other activities; 
• Set Priorities: determine poses that are urgent and important, then focus on a solution; 
• Do not Get Distracted: if some activities or processes are distracting, generate disadvantages.

Enhancing Study Skills

Improving study abilities might result in better comprehension and recall of course material. Students should focus on:

• Active Learning Techniques: Engage with the material such as holding discussions, teaching others, and transforming what one learned to real-life application. 
• Effective Note-Taking: Employ methods like Cornell Note-taking System to organize and refresh notes. 
• Regular Review Sessions: Set regular study dates to refresh one’s memory and prepare for exams.

Setting Specific Academic Targets

Setting clear, specific targets helps students stay motivated and measure progress. Examples of specific academic goals include:

• Achieve Specific GPA:   Aim to reach or maintain a specific grade point average each semester.
• Improving Grades in Challenging Subjects: Identify subjects where improvement is needed and set goals accordingly.
• Completing Assignments Ahead of Deadlines: Plan to finish assignments before the due date to allow time for revisions.

Expanding Knowledge beyond the Classroom

Gaining knowledge outside the classroom can enhance academic performance and provide a broader perspective. Students can achieve this by:

• Reading Extensively: Explore Books, Journals, and articles related to their field of Study.
• Attending Seminars and Workshops: Participate in events offering additional insights and networking opportunities.
• Engaging in Research Projects: Collaborate with professors or peers on research projects to deepen understanding of specific topics.

Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking is vital for problem-solving and making informed decisions. Students can cultivate these skills by:

• Questioning Assumptions: Always ask why and consider alternative viewpoints.
• Analyzing Arguments: Evaluate the evidence and logic in different arguments.
• Reflecting on Learning: Regularly review what has been learned and how it applies to real-world situations.

Building Effective Communication Skills

Strong communication skills are essential for academic and professional success. Students can enhance these skills by:

• Participating in Class Discussions: Engage actively in discussions to practice articulating thoughts clearly.
• Writing Regularly: Practice writing essays, reports, and articles to improve writing abilities.
• Presenting Projects: Take opportunities to present work in front of an audience to build confidence and clarity.

Fostering Collaboration and Teamwork

Collaboration with peers can lead to better understanding and innovative solutions. Students should focus on:

• Joining Study Groups: Collaborate with classmates to discuss topics and solve problems together.
• Participating in Group Projects: Develop teamwork and leadership skills by working on group assignments.
• Engaging in Extracurricular Activities: Join clubs and organizations that encourage teamwork and collective problem-solving.

Seeking Feedback and Continuous Improvement

Constructive feedback helps identify areas for improvement and guide academic growth. Students should:

• Ask for Feedback: Request feedback from professors and peers on assignments and presentations.
• Reflect on Criticism: Use feedback to identify strengths and weaknesses, developing action plans for improvement.
• Commit to Lifelong Learning: Embrace continuous learning and improvement in all aspects of life.

Utilizing Academic Resources

Taking full advantage of available academic resources can enhance learning and performance. Students should:

• Visit the Library Regularly: Utilize resources for research and study.
• Use Online Databases: Access academic journals and articles online to support studies.
• Seek Academic Support Services: Utilize tutoring, writing centers, and academic advising offered by the institution.

Preparing for Future Careers with Academic Goals

Setting academic goals with future careers in mind provides direction and motivation. Students should:

• Identify Career Goals: Determine career aspirations and align academic goals accordingly.
• Gain Relevant Experience: Pursue internships, part-time jobs, and volunteer opportunities related to the field of study.
• Develop Professional Skills: Focus on skills like resume writing, interviewing, and networking to prepare for the job market.

Setting and meeting academic goals necessitates dedication, strategic planning, and consistent effort. By focusing on these ten academic goal examples, students can improve their learning experience, and performance, and set themselves up for future success. Remember that the key to academic success is to set specific, attainable goals and work hard to meet them.

Education Copyright © by john44. All Rights Reserved.

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How to Start a College Essay: 5 Effective Techniques

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Impressionable Openers

Descriptions and demonstrations, show vulnerability, be authentic, stay personal, fun & quirky, common mistakes to avoid in your college essay.

• Ways to Overcome Writer's Block

Frequently Asked Questions About Starting a College Essay

College essays are a huge part of your college career. If not huge, one of the biggest, and for someone who has been there and done that, I know the amount of pressure the beginning of a college essay, as well as the entire essay, can put on your shoulders.

Not only are you trying to juggle things like word count and grammar errors, but you're also trying to create the perfect college essay introduction that will attract admissions officers to your application or professors to your writing skills. And that, itself, can feel impossible, fill you with dread and self-doubt, but just breathe. I am here to help all present and future students know how to start a college essay.

Today is all about starting a college essay. I have come up with five easy and effective techniques that will help you create essays so good you're going to leave your readers wanting more , starting with your opening sentence! So, this is for all college students and college applicants. Stress no more! This guide was created to help you write a successful college essay. Let's get into it.

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The beginning of your essay should, first and foremost, always have a strong opening sentence . This sentence sets the tone for not only your readers but for the entire essay. Having a wobbly, almost interesting opener can steer an admissions officer and/or professor away, so you want it to be strong. And it doesn't have to be complicated! Less is more in this situation. Here are a couple of ways you can accomplish this.

• Look within and be relatable
• Use your real life for inspiration
• Think about ways to evoke emotion

Here are some examples of impressionable openers:

• Example 1: When I was 11 years old, my mother told me she had cancer over breakfast.
• Example 2: Maybe yellow isn't my favorite color.
• Example 3: I sat next to this girl in class who made me feel stupid.

DISCLAIMER : your opener should ALWAYS adhere to the essay prompts. These are just a few examples that can capture your reader's attention almost immediately.

In order to keep readers interested, visuals are key . Image-based descriptions will not only add value to your writing, it will give your readers front seats to your essay's journey. These descriptions let actions speak for themselves.

Here is an example of a description and demonstration in an essay:

• Example 1: "I was sitting on a bar stool when the word 'cancer' hit me like the smell of her coffee brewing on the stove. The Rice Krispies were popping in my cereal bowl, and MTV Jams was playing in the background, yet all I could hear was the sound of doom all around me. The lips of my mother were moving, but I was frozen, crumbling on this stool like my mother's health. She was sick, and I didn't know how sick or what that even meant, and that terrified me."

Why This Works:

Here you can clearly feel the writers emotional state: shocked, still, scared. Not only is this moment at breakfast traumatic, you feel frozen in time with the writer. Using descriptions like this will evoke so much emotion and leave your reader wanting more.

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Something one of my teachers told me in high school was any good essay will have personal elements in it, no matter the topic. That always stuck with me and became the way I approached my college essays. Showing vulnerability in your writing will always guarantee interest. It also evokes emotion.

You can show vulnerability by:

• Being honest
• Explaining what's going on inside underneath the exterior
• Describe what's going on around you at the moment
• Letting go of the fear of being seen
• Connecting with the topic
• Being transparent about mistakes/flaws

Examples of showing vulnerability:

• Example 1 : My mother telling me she had cancer over breakfast was not on my bingo card this year.
• Example 2 : I never thought losing someone I love would change me.
• Example 3: I had to lose everything in order to gain everything.

I know being vulnerable can be tough for some , but showing this side of you to college admissions officers and/or professors will not only make you stand out, but it can also help free you of things that might be weighing on your mind. Not to sound corny, but it can be therapeutic and make you a better writer . Just make sure you are staying on track with the essay prompt, and you're set!

Whether it's believed or not, an admissions officer wants to see pieces of you in your personal statement, so starting your essay by showing authenticity is a major major key. Along with being vulnerable, there are a few ways you can achieve this.

• Reflect : Take the time to reflect on your experiences, values, and beliefs that have shaped who you are today. Let your values, passions, and interests shine through in your writing.
• Mind Your Voice : Write in your own voice and avoid trying to sound like someone you're not. Authenticity comes from being genuine and true to yourself.
• Tell Your Story : Share personal anecdotes and insights that show your unique perspective.
• Be True to You : Focus on what matters to YOU (as long as you're on topic!). Write about what is meaningful and important to you rather than what you think admissions officers want to hear.

Above all, be open . Showing introspection and self-awareness in your essay will show any admissions committee who you are beneath the surface, as well as your personal growth.

You can also begin your essay being as random and silly as you'd like . It goes hand-in-hand with other important factors like vulnerability and authenticity. But don't get too crazy . Beginning your essay with something strange will definitely draw readers in. Let me show you what I mean.

• Example 1 : I start my mornings off in silence and solitude to keep people away from me.
• Example 2 : Sometimes, I like to circle big words in complex articles to learn new words. Yeah, but to also keep one in my back pocket for later use.
• Example 3 : Being the youngest child means getting away with everything you want, and that's exactly how I like it.

Do you see how each sentence draws you in? Not only are they light-hearted, but they also make you want to know why you want to keep people away in the morning and what kind of weapon you're forming against others with new words. And every youngest sibling will attest to feeling that exact same way. All of these examples are sure to make your essay fun, show who you are, and leave readers wanting more.

Years of writing college essays have taken me through every high and low of the process possible. And when they're good, they're great! But for some reason, my mistakes stick out more than anything. So, I've compiled a list of common mistakes to avoid when writing your college essay .

• Avoid Being Cliche - While you want to be captivating, you want to avoid overly used syntax and phrases that could potentially lose your reader's curiosity. For example, "in today's day and age," "follow my heart," "don't judge a book by its cover," etc. are all cliches that can be avoided by thinking outside of the box.
• Using Vocabulary to be Impressive - I know you want to impress the admissions committees, but it's important to stick to what you know and not what you can allude to. That is, use verbiage that resonates with your personality. Using extravagant words can work against you, and they can also sound forced. College admissions officers want to see the real you, so show it to them.
• Steer Clear of Controversy - Though it's not said enough, your college essay should tell your personal story and not touch on things that can stir the pot. For instance, talking about politics and religious beliefs may not be the route you want to take UNLESS it's called for in the college essay topic. And if so, stay on track with the essay prompts.
• Procrastinating : Waiting until the last minute to start writing your essay will bite you in the butt. You will feel rushed and end up writing a poorly crafted piece. Give yourself enough time to complete an essay draft, edit the draft, and repeat this two-step cycle until your essay is complete.
• Lack of originality : This goes hand-in-hand with avoiding cliches. Your college essay should exude a lot of your personality, so show admissions officers and teachers who you are! Include your cultural background, test scores that you're proud of, any future aspirations, etc. This all depends on the essay prompts, of course, but in my experience, every essay topic has room to show who you are.
• Ignoring the prompt : This is a major key. STAY ON TRACK. Make sure to carefully read and understand the essay prompt, and write your essay accordingly. The last thing you want to do is write a college essay that has nothing to do with the prompt. Reading is essential here.
• Lack of focus : If you want to know how to start a college essay, that means knowing how to stay focused. Find a quiet space, turn off electronics, hide your phone, and really nestle into how you want to capture your reader's attention. This will help you use your five senses clearly, keep your writing strong and not write an overly wordy essay. Focus is the tool here.
• Poor organization : Make sure your essay has a strong structure with clear transitions between paragraphs. An outline will work best to accomplish this. If you go into starting your college essay without a plan, be prepared to hit all roadblocks.
• Neglecting to Revise and Edit : Like procrastinating, don't fail to revise and edit your work. Always, always, always proofread your essay for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors , as well as clarity and coherence.
• Not Seeking Feedback : Listen, I know that completing an essay is an accomplishment in itself, and you immediately want to submit it, but it's so beneficial to have others read your essay for feedback. You can only spot so many holes in your work when your eyes are constantly reviewing it, so a second, third, or even fourth set of eyes can help point out areas for improvement.

Above all, trust the writing process. Though I do want you to be aware of your jargon, don't get too wrapped up in thinking you're making a mistake. That's what editing is for! Once you complete your college essay, you should always revise and edit accordingly . What you thought sounded good might make you edit it to sound great. Just keep in mind that many colleges are looking for honesty and authenticity vs how well you can sound on paper . So, if you're aware of these factors, you'll be good to go.

Ways to Overcome Writer's Block

Take it from someone who has suffered from chronic writer's block, it's a pain to get through . Imagine being on a writing streak so good that when you stop, the entire essay writing process stops as a whole. It's definitely a challenge, but after 10 years of writing essays and really honing my craft, I learned a few things that have helped me get through even the thickest of writer's blocks, and I want to share them with you. Check them out:

• Take a break : This works every single time. Take a short break and step away from your computer to clear your mind and come back with a fresh perspective. For me, 15 minutes is all I ever need. If you need more time, that's okay. Just try not to make your break a rest.
• Freewriting : Sometimes, I'd start writing without worrying about my structure or grammar to get the ideas flowing, and surprisingly enough, I found my essay taking a pleasant turn.
• Change your environment : Move around. Don't underestimate the effects of a different location or workspace to stimulate creativity. Try coffee shops, bookstores, a park, or a new room in your house. New environment, new energy.
• Set small goals : This one is actually the most important. Some people get overwhelmed with the word "essay" for things like lack of proper writing skills, pressure to write a great essay, etc. But if you try breaking down your writing task into smaller, manageable chunks to make it less overwhelming, it can help. For example, set a goal of three paragraphs one day, take a day to edit those paragraphs, two more the next day, and so forth. Find a formula that works for you.
• Brainstorming : Write down all your ideas--everything. No matter how small you think the idea is, write it down. Even if these ideas seem unrelated, they will help you generate new thoughts and connections.
• Read or listen to music : It took me a while to realize this helps, but engaging in other forms of art can inspire new ideas and break through mental blocks. And new creativity can lead you to impress admissions officers.
• Talk it out : As a writer, it's hard to let people in on the creative process, but discussing my ideas with a friend, family member, or colleague helped me gain new perspectives and insights.
• Relax and Meditate : Hear me out: it works! Practice deep breathing and/or meditation to reduce stress and anxiety that may be contributing to writer's block.

I won't sugarcoat it: the college application process can be intimidating , but it doesn't have to throw you off your game. When it comes to college essays, I see them as opportunities to be fun and expressive. Trust me when I say if you have fun with it, you'll attract the reader's attention , paint vivid details, and write an essay that will leave the admissions officer wanting you at their school. So, take it one step at a time and watch your personal statement come to life.

How can I make my college essay stand out to admissions officers?

Simply put, be yourself. As long as you stay on track with the essay's topic, showing pieces of yourself will allow admissions officers to know more about who you are. Essays are meant to show readers who you are, how you feel, and what you think naturally, not robotically, so be authentic in your writing, and you'll be sure to stand out amongst the rest.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing a college essay?

Some common mistakes to avoid in your essay are using cliches and boring wording. You also want to avoid procrastinating, wasting time, not focusing, not editing, etc. When writing your essay, you want to make sure you give your writing the time and attention it deserves, so make sure you're aware of what is pulling you away from your writing. This will help you stay focused. If you have any other doubts, refer to the section about mistakes in this article and let it guide you to success.

How important is the college essay in the admissions process?

Your college essay is key in the admissions process . It's an admissions committee's first impression of you as a writer and potential student, so it should be taken very seriously. Trying to cut corners or rush through the writing process will be obvious, and it will stand out more than things like test scores, academic achievements, extracurricular activities, and any other positive influence you've had in your life. So, don't take the easy way out and really work on your essay.

Feeling confident in your college essay skills and want to explore some other essay content? Explore our blog on the comma splice to enhance your technical writing skills!

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How to Write a College Essay

Let QuestBridge help you with college essay writing tips. We cover what to write about, how to get feedback, and more!

The low-income lens in college essays

Students from low-income backgrounds may not realize that they have a unique perspective to present to admissions officers. If your identity has been shaped by financial difficulties and other obstacles, consider writing about these challenges in your college essays so that admissions officers understand the full context of your successes and academic accomplishments.

Bring us into your world. We want to know you. We want to know your truth.

Student challenges and extenuating circumstances

You may describe specific challenges that you have risen above in your college essays, such as:

• You hold significant responsibilities in your household, such as providing care for an ill family member, babysitting siblings, or preparing family meals.
• You have a part-time job to pay for school activities or household expenses.
• You live with people other than your immediate family or have been in foster care.
• You experienced homelessness or other temporary housing situations.
• A parent has passed away or is not present in your life.
• You commute a long distance to attend school.
• Your family or community is not supportive of your educational goals.
• You faced obstacles because English is not your first language.

Proper tone for college essays

If you choose to write about challenges in your life, be careful to avoid using overly critical or negative language when writing a college essay. This is a good opportunity to emphasize your emotional maturity and how challenges in your life have helped you grow as a person. You may compromise that impression if your tone is resentful or excessively dramatic.

College essay topic choice

Giving admissions officers a window into difficult experiences can present your story in your college application, but there are other topics that can also make for a strong essay (e.g. a favorite book, a community service project). Whichever angle you select to tell your story, highlight the most important things that have shaped and continue to shape your identity.

The writing process: brainstorm, outline, and draft

Writing a college essay can seem daunting at first, but it doesn’t have to be. Watch our webinar,  Write a College Essay that Stands Out , and download our worksheet as a template and foundation to help you craft a strong college essay. This college essay format may help you write your essay in a manner that goes beyond just a chronological explanation of your life or an expansion of your resume.

Essay feedback and revisions

Ask teachers, mentors, family, or friends for feedback on your essay. Reach out well in advance of any deadlines, and give them at least two weeks to provide feedback. Ask them in person if you can, but if you cannot, send them an email. If they agree to take a look, you can send them a message with your essay. Download a sample message below.

After receiving feedback, revise! You should plan on going through a few drafts. Here are some things to keep in mind: 

• You do not have to incorporate all feedback. Accept what you think is most helpful. 
• Edits and revisions should not remove your voice or completely alter your writing style. 
• Pay attention to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and even formatting. 
• It may help to read your essay out loud to catch mistakes you might otherwise skim over. 
• Read your college essay from an admissions officer’s perspective.
• For more college essay writing tips, continue reading the FAQs below.

Detailed FAQs about college admissions essays

Mechanics, structure, and content are vital parts of a successful essay. Our Detailed College Essays FAQs page covers each category in detail to give your essay a strong start and finish. Learn about how to write a college essay, how long a college essay should be, and more.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, community service essays - what do colleges look for.

Hey everyone! I'm currently working on my college applications and I've been thinking about how to approach my community service essays. Would you guys be able to give me some insight into what colleges are looking for in these essays? Also, if you could share any personal experiences or tips for writing a standout community service essay, that'd be really helpful. Thanks!

When it comes to community service essays, colleges are generally looking for a few key aspects that demonstrate your personality, motivations, and personal growth as a result of your community service experiences. Here are some aspects to consider when writing your essay:

1. Personal connection: Highlight the reasons why you chose the specific community service activity and what it means to you. If there's a personal story or connection, make sure to share that to showcase your unique perspective.

2. Impact on others: Explain the positive effects your community service had on the community, individuals, or a specific group. Describe your interactions with others and how you were able to help them through your involvement.

3. Personal growth: Clarify how the community service experience has helped you grow as a person. Focus on the skills you developed, the challenges you overcame, or the values you gained from your experiences.

4. Leadership and teamwork: Show how you stepped up as a leader or worked as a team player while participating in your community service. Colleges value applicants who can demonstrate their ability to work with others and take on leadership roles.

5. Longer-term commitment: Emphasize your dedication to the community service activity by describing the length of time you spent or any ongoing commitment you have. A longer-term engagement demonstrates your sincerity and genuine interest in making a difference in the community.

When crafting your essay, avoid presenting a laundry list of your community service activities. Instead, focus on one or two experiences in depth, using specific examples and anecdotes to make your essay more engaging. Be genuine and reflective, as this will make your essay more relatable and memorable. Lastly, make sure your writing is clear, well-organized, and proofread for grammar and spelling errors.

By addressing these aspects while maintaining a strong narrative and clear focus, you can create a standout community service essay that gives colleges insight into who you are, what you value, and how your experiences have shaped you as a person. Good luck!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.