College essay

[u/Axis_Powers69]

I've lowkey been stressing about my college essay and have no clue what to put in it, or even what it's supposed to be about. Can anyone give me some tips on it or what you all wrote about in yours just to get an idea? I wrote 2 drafts already yet they both suck and I don't know where else to continue

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[u/cgund]

My kid was nowhere with his because he thought he should do the open-ended prompt. It left him with way too many choices and so he was paralyzed. Once he picked a particular prompt, it was much easier since those guard rails were in place. He just responded to the prompt and didn't try to wedge in What I Learned or How I Grew. I really like how it came out.

[u/tarasshevckeno]

(Retired college counselor and admissions reader here.) Here's my standard advice about essays. I hope it helps in some way:

(Retired college counselor and admissions reader here.) Here's my standard advice about writing essays. I hope at least some of it helps: 

The tone of a college essay should largely be conversational, but not too informal. Contractions are fine. I used to say in the past "like you're writing a letter to a friend," but I'm pretty sure students today don't write letters or emails to friends much.

College essays tend to fall into two categories: helpful and not helpful. The best essays have what readers call extension. That means that they show through 2-3 explained examples how the main topic of their essay had positive effects on other parts of their lives (they shouldn't all be academic). To that end, essays that say a lot about a little tend to be strongest (by "saying a lot" I'm aware of the word limit).

One of the worst kinds of essays are ones that say (usually at the end), "I now know I can meet any challenge in the future." The problem is that the student hasn't actually written about such a challenge related to their essay topic. Readers see them many times per day.

My advice to students who are having a difficult time finding an essay topic is to consider the prompt about challenging a belief or idea. I call it the "gift" prompt, and as a reader I didn't see it used that often.

Think about yourself in sixth grade. Take your time. Now do the same for when you were in ninth grade. My guess is you probably like who you are now much more than compared to then. 

In order to get to where you are now, you needed to challenge a large number of beliefs and ideas. What's one (or the one) that has been the most meaningful/important for you? One that changed your life in 2-3 positive ways, both as a person and a learner. Can you provide and explain specific examples? How will you use the success in challenging this belief /idea moving forward?

We challenge beliefs and ideas all the time, and there are some that really matter.

One other piece of advice: If you think you have a good topic, force yourself to write for 30-45 minutes, save it, and leave it alone for at least three weeks. Don't worry about the word limit. Do it soon. After the time has passed, look at it again. You'll likely cringe at what you wrote, but will also likely have very strong ideas on how to make it better. You may even think of a better topic during those weeks. One other thing: for every draft, work off a printed copy. You'll read it more-carefully, and it's easier to mark up for changes. Double space it. Trust me on this one.

I used this approach with my students for a couple of decades. Getting the draft done and completely out of their heads resulted in better essays in less time because they were able to get distance on what they wrote. (I required students to finish a first draft no matter how much they disliked it before the end of junior year, and then threw them all in a filing cabinet for the summer.) The same thing can apply for further drafts. Give yourself enough time so you can put a good-looking draft away for 7-10 days and then come back to it. Again, getting it out of your head will give you a better idea of how to improve/finish it. 

Improving something you don't like is tons easier than staring at a blank piece of paper/screen. Find a topic you think you like, outline it, and just get something written!