Every year high school seniors are faced with the sometimes daunting task of writing their college admissions essay(s). Here are a few tips to help get your essay started!

1. Identify the question you are going to answer. Most colleges have more than one essay prompt that you can choose from. The Common Application¹ has five options, while other colleges may have less, Truman State University, for example, has only two. When selecting the prompt, pick the one you personally can write the most about. Whether it’s about overcoming a failure, solving a problem, or simply telling your story. 
2. Make it personal. College admissions officers want to hear about you. They don’t want to hear about how your sister completely ruined your family vacation. They want to hear about how you didn’t let her wreck the experience, and what you possibly learned from it. They want to hear about how you plan on using your background to succeed at their school, and in life. Use your own experiences because they make the best essays. Anecdotes provide your essay with interest, authenticity, and give the admissions officers a sense of who you are. 
3. Show don’t tell. If you want someone to know that you don’t give up, don’t say “I don’t give up”. Instead, tell them how you were an understudy for a play freshman year, didn’t get cast sophomore year, and finally landed the lead role junior year. 
4. Make sure you write enough, but not too much. Keep it short and to the point. Admissions officers will be reading maybe hundreds of these essays in a day, and you want yours to stand out. Don’t take detours, get to the point. Of course you still want your writing style to shine through, so don’t sell yourself short. 
5. Proofread/Revise. Edit, edit, edit. The first draft of an essay is rarely the finished product. Once you finish the first draft, send it to a couple of teachers, family members, or people who you trust to give you helpful and honest advice. Make sure all of your grammar, spelling, and punctuation is correct. Most of all, even after all of the edits and revisions, make sure it still sounds like you.

1. The Common Application is a widely used application service that has more than 600 participating colleges/universities. While some colleges have their own application, some use the Common App, and some let you choose.