writing help for essays

Ultimate Guide to Writing Your College Essay

Tips for writing an effective college essay.

College admissions essays are an important part of your college application and gives you the chance to show colleges and universities your character and experiences. This guide will give you tips to write an effective college essay.

Want free help with your college essay?

UPchieve connects you with knowledgeable and friendly college advisors—online, 24/7, and completely free. Get 1:1 help brainstorming topics, outlining your essay, revising a draft, or editing grammar.

Writing a strong college admissions essay

Learn about the elements of a solid admissions essay.

Avoiding common admissions essay mistakes

Learn some of the most common mistakes made on college essays

Brainstorming tips for your college essay

Stuck on what to write your college essay about? Here are some exercises to help you get started.

How formal should the tone of your college essay be?

Learn how formal your college essay should be and get tips on how to bring out your natural voice.

Taking your college essay to the next level

Hear an admissions expert discuss the appropriate level of depth necessary in your college essay.

Student Stories

Student Story: Admissions essay about a formative experience

Get the perspective of a current college student on how he approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about personal identity

Get the perspective of a current college student on how she approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about community impact

Student story: admissions essay about a past mistake, how to write a college application essay, tips for writing an effective application essay, sample college essay 1 with feedback, sample college essay 2 with feedback.

This content is licensed by Khan Academy and is available for free at www.khanacademy.org.

• Tips for Reading an Assignment Prompt
• Asking Analytical Questions
• Introductions
• What Do Introductions Across the Disciplines Have in Common?
• Anatomy of a Body Paragraph
• Transitions
• Tips for Organizing Your Essay
• Counterargument
• Conclusions
• Strategies for Essay Writing: Downloadable PDFs
• Brief Guides to Writing in the Disciplines

How to Write Your College Essay: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide

Getting ready to start your college essay? Your essay is very important to your application — especially if you’re applying to selective colleges.

Become a stronger writer by reviewing your peers’ essays and get your essay reviewed as well for free.

We have regular livestreams during which we walk you through how to write your college essay and review essays live.

College Essay Basics

Just getting started on college essays? This section will guide you through how you should think about your college essays before you start.

• Why do essays matter in the college application process?
• What is a college application theme and how do you come up with one?
• How to format and structure your college essay

Before you move to the next section, make sure you understand:

How a college essay fits into your application

What a strong essay does for your chances

How to create an application theme

Learn the Types of College Essays

Next, let’s make sure you understand the different types of college essays. You’ll most likely be writing a Common App or Coalition App essay, and you can also be asked to write supplemental essays for each school. Each essay has a prompt asking a specific question. Each of these prompts falls into one of a few different types. Understanding the types will help you better answer the prompt and structure your essay.

• How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges
• Personal Statement Essay Examples
• How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity Essay
• Extracurricular Essay Examples
• Tips for Writing a Diversity College Essay
• Diversity Essay Examples
• Tips for Writing a Standout Community Service Essay
• How to Write the “Why This Major” Essay
• How to Write a “Why This Major” Essay if You’re Undecided
• How to write the “Why This College” Essay
• How to Research a College to Write the “Why This College” Essay
• Why This College Essay Examples
• How to Write The Overcoming Challenges Essay
• Overcoming Challenges Essay Examples

Identify how each prompt fits into an essay type

What each type of essay is really asking of you

How to write each essay effectively

The Common App essay

Almost every student will write a Common App essay, which is why it’s important you get this right.

• How to Write the Common App Essay
• Successful Common App Essay Examples
• 5 Awesome College Essay Topics + Sample Essays
• 11 Cliché College Essay Topics + How to Fix Them

How to choose which Common App prompts to answer

How to write a successful Common App essay

What to avoid to stand out to admissions officers

Supplemental Essay Guides

Many schools, especially competitive ones, will ask you to write one or more supplemental essays. This allows a school to learn more about you and how you might fit into their culture.

These essays are extremely important in standing out. We’ve written guides for all the top schools. Follow the link below to find your school and read last year’s essay guides to give you a sense of the essay prompts. We’ll update these in August when schools release their prompts.

See last year’s supplemental essay guides to get a sense of the prompts for your schools.

Essay brainstorming and composition

Now that you’re starting to write your essay, let’s dive into the writing process. Below you’ll find our top articles on the craft of writing an amazing college essay.

• Where to Begin? 3 Personal Essay Brainstorming Exercises
• Creating the First Draft of Your College Application Essay
• How to Get the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay
• What If I Don’t Have Anything Interesting To Write About In My College Essay?
• 8 Do’s and Don’t for Crafting Your College Essay
• Stuck on Your College Essay? 8 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block

Understand how to write a great hook for your essay

Complete the first drafts of your essay

Editing and polishing your essay

Have a first draft ready? See our top editing tips below. Also, you may want to submit your essay to our free Essay Peer Review to get quick feedback and join a community of other students working on their essays.

• 11 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your College Essay
• Getting Help with Your College Essay
• 5 DIY Tips for Editing Your College Essay
• How Long Should Your College Essay Be?
• Essential Grammar Rules for Your College Apps
• College Essay Checklist: Are You Ready to Submit?

Proofread and edited your essay.

Had someone else look through your essay — we recommend submitting it for a peer review.

Make sure your essay meets all requirements — consider signing up for a free account to view our per-prompt checklists to help you understand when you’re really ready to submit.

Advanced College Essay Techniques

Let’s take it one step further and see how we can make your college essay really stand out! We recommend reading through these posts when you have a draft to work with.

• 10 Guidelines for Highly Readable College Essays
• How to Use Literary Devices to Enhance Your Essay
• How to Develop a Personalized Metaphor for Your College Applications

How to Write an Essay

Use the links below to jump directly to any section of this guide:

Essay Writing Fundamentals

How to prepare to write an essay, how to edit an essay, how to share and publish your essays, how to get essay writing help, how to find essay writing inspiration, resources for teaching essay writing.

Essays, short prose compositions on a particular theme or topic, are the bread and butter of academic life. You write them in class, for homework, and on standardized tests to show what you know. Unlike other kinds of academic writing (like the research paper) and creative writing (like short stories and poems), essays allow you to develop your original thoughts on a prompt or question. Essays come in many varieties: they can be expository (fleshing out an idea or claim), descriptive, (explaining a person, place, or thing), narrative (relating a personal experience), or persuasive (attempting to win over a reader). This guide is a collection of dozens of links about academic essay writing that we have researched, categorized, and annotated in order to help you improve your essay writing. 

Essays are different from other forms of writing; in turn, there are different kinds of essays. This section contains general resources for getting to know the essay and its variants. These resources introduce and define the essay as a genre, and will teach you what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab

One of the most trusted academic writing sites, Purdue OWL provides a concise introduction to the four most common types of academic essays.

"The Essay: History and Definition" (ThoughtCo)

This snappy article from ThoughtCo talks about the origins of the essay and different kinds of essays you might be asked to write. 

"What Is An Essay?" Video Lecture (Coursera)

The University of California at Irvine's free video lecture, available on Coursera, tells  you everything you need to know about the essay.

Wikipedia Article on the "Essay"

Wikipedia's article on the essay is comprehensive, providing both English-language and global perspectives on the essay form. Learn about the essay's history, forms, and styles.

"Understanding College and Academic Writing" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This list of common academic writing assignments (including types of essay prompts) will help you know what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Before you start writing your essay, you need to figure out who you're writing for (audience), what you're writing about (topic/theme), and what you're going to say (argument and thesis). This section contains links to handouts, chapters, videos and more to help you prepare to write an essay.

How to Identify Your Audience

"Audience" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This handout provides questions you can ask yourself to determine the audience for an academic writing assignment. It also suggests strategies for fitting your paper to your intended audience.

"Purpose, Audience, Tone, and Content" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

This extensive book chapter from Writing for Success , available online through Minnesota Libraries Publishing, is followed by exercises to try out your new pre-writing skills.

"Determining Audience" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This guide from a community college's writing center shows you how to know your audience, and how to incorporate that knowledge in your thesis statement.

"Know Your Audience" ( Paper Rater Blog)

This short blog post uses examples to show how implied audiences for essays differ. It reminds you to think of your instructor as an observer, who will know only the information you pass along.

How to Choose a Theme or Topic

"Research Tutorial: Developing Your Topic" (YouTube)

Take a look at this short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to understand the basics of developing a writing topic.

"How to Choose a Paper Topic" (WikiHow)

This simple, step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through choosing a paper topic. It starts with a detailed description of brainstorming and ends with strategies to refine your broad topic.

"How to Read an Assignment: Moving From Assignment to Topic" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Did your teacher give you a prompt or other instructions? This guide helps you understand the relationship between an essay assignment and your essay's topic.

"Guidelines for Choosing a Topic" (CliffsNotes)

This study guide from CliffsNotes both discusses how to choose a topic and makes a useful distinction between "topic" and "thesis."

How to Come Up with an Argument

"Argument" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

Not sure what "argument" means in the context of academic writing? This page from the University of North Carolina is a good place to start.

"The Essay Guide: Finding an Argument" (Study Hub)

This handout explains why it's important to have an argument when beginning your essay, and provides tools to help you choose a viable argument.

"Writing a Thesis and Making an Argument" (University of Iowa)

This page from the University of Iowa's Writing Center contains exercises through which you can develop and refine your argument and thesis statement.

"Developing a Thesis" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page from Harvard's Writing Center collates some helpful dos and don'ts of argumentative writing, from steps in constructing a thesis to avoiding vague and confrontational thesis statements.

"Suggestions for Developing Argumentative Essays" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

This page offers concrete suggestions for each stage of the essay writing process, from topic selection to drafting and editing. 

How to Outline your Essay

"Outlines" (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill via YouTube)

This short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows how to group your ideas into paragraphs or sections to begin the outlining process.

"Essay Outline" (Univ. of Washington Tacoma)

This two-page handout by a university professor simply defines the parts of an essay and then organizes them into an example outline.

"Types of Outlines and Samples" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL gives examples of diverse outline strategies on this page, including the alphanumeric, full sentence, and decimal styles. 

"Outlining" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Once you have an argument, according to this handout, there are only three steps in the outline process: generalizing, ordering, and putting it all together. Then you're ready to write!

"Writing Essays" (Plymouth Univ.)

This packet, part of Plymouth University's Learning Development series, contains descriptions and diagrams relating to the outlining process.

"How to Write A Good Argumentative Essay: Logical Structure" (Criticalthinkingtutorials.com via YouTube)

This longer video tutorial gives an overview of how to structure your essay in order to support your argument or thesis. It is part of a longer course on academic writing hosted on Udemy.

Now that you've chosen and refined your topic and created an outline, use these resources to complete the writing process. Most essays contain introductions (which articulate your thesis statement), body paragraphs, and conclusions. Transitions facilitate the flow from one paragraph to the next so that support for your thesis builds throughout the essay. Sources and citations show where you got the evidence to support your thesis, which ensures that you avoid plagiarism. 

How to Write an Introduction

"Introductions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page identifies the role of the introduction in any successful paper, suggests strategies for writing introductions, and warns against less effective introductions.

"How to Write A Good Introduction" (Michigan State Writing Center)

Beginning with the most common missteps in writing introductions, this guide condenses the essentials of introduction composition into seven points.

"The Introductory Paragraph" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming focuses on ways to grab your reader's attention at the beginning of your essay.

"Introductions and Conclusions" (Univ. of Toronto)

This guide from the University of Toronto gives advice that applies to writing both introductions and conclusions, including dos and don'ts.

"How to Write Better Essays: No One Does Introductions Properly" ( The Guardian )

This news article interviews UK professors on student essay writing; they point to introductions as the area that needs the most improvement.

How to Write a Thesis Statement

"Writing an Effective Thesis Statement" (YouTube)

This short, simple video tutorial from a college composition instructor at Tulsa Community College explains what a thesis statement is and what it does. 

"Thesis Statement: Four Steps to a Great Essay" (YouTube)

This fantastic tutorial walks you through drafting a thesis, using an essay prompt on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter as an example.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through coming up with, writing, and editing a thesis statement. It invites you think of your statement as a "working thesis" that can change.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (Univ. of Indiana Bloomington)

Ask yourself the questions on this page, part of Indiana Bloomington's Writing Tutorial Services, when you're writing and refining your thesis statement.

"Writing Tips: Thesis Statements" (Univ. of Illinois Center for Writing Studies)

This page gives plentiful examples of good to great thesis statements, and offers questions to ask yourself when formulating a thesis statement.

How to Write Body Paragraphs

"Body Paragraph" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course introduces you to the components of a body paragraph. These include the topic sentence, information, evidence, and analysis.

"Strong Body Paragraphs" (Washington Univ.)

This handout from Washington's Writing and Research Center offers in-depth descriptions of the parts of a successful body paragraph.

"Guide to Paragraph Structure" (Deakin Univ.)

This handout is notable for color-coding example body paragraphs to help you identify the functions various sentences perform.

"Writing Body Paragraphs" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

The exercises in this section of Writing for Success  will help you practice writing good body paragraphs. It includes guidance on selecting primary support for your thesis.

"The Writing Process—Body Paragraphs" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

The information and exercises on this page will familiarize you with outlining and writing body paragraphs, and includes links to more information on topic sentences and transitions.

"The Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post discusses body paragraphs in the context of one of the most common academic essay types in secondary schools.

How to Use Transitions

"Transitions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill explains what a transition is, and how to know if you need to improve your transitions.

"Using Transitions Effectively" (Washington Univ.)

This handout defines transitions, offers tips for using them, and contains a useful list of common transitional words and phrases grouped by function.

"Transitions" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This page compares paragraphs without transitions to paragraphs with transitions, and in doing so shows how important these connective words and phrases are.

"Transitions in Academic Essays" (Scribbr)

This page lists four techniques that will help you make sure your reader follows your train of thought, including grouping similar information and using transition words.

"Transitions" (El Paso Community College)

This handout shows example transitions within paragraphs for context, and explains how transitions improve your essay's flow and voice.

"Make Your Paragraphs Flow to Improve Writing" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post, another from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming, talks about transitions and other strategies to improve your essay's overall flow.

"Transition Words" (smartwords.org)

This handy word bank will help you find transition words when you're feeling stuck. It's grouped by the transition's function, whether that is to show agreement, opposition, condition, or consequence.

How to Write a Conclusion

"Parts of An Essay: Conclusions" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course explains how to conclude an academic essay. It suggests thinking about the "3Rs": return to hook, restate your thesis, and relate to the reader.

"Essay Conclusions" (Univ. of Maryland University College)

This overview of the academic essay conclusion contains helpful examples and links to further resources for writing good conclusions.

"How to End An Essay" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) by an English Ph.D. walks you through writing a conclusion, from brainstorming to ending with a flourish.

"Ending the Essay: Conclusions" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page collates useful strategies for writing an effective conclusion, and reminds you to "close the discussion without closing it off" to further conversation.

How to Include Sources and Citations

"Research and Citation Resources" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL streamlines information about the three most common referencing styles (MLA, Chicago, and APA) and provides examples of how to cite different resources in each system.

EasyBib: Free Bibliography Generator

This online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. Be sure to select your resource type before clicking the "cite it" button.

CitationMachine

Like EasyBib, this online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. 

Modern Language Association Handbook (MLA)

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of MLA referencing rules. Order through the link above, or check to see if your library has a copy.

Chicago Manual of Style

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of Chicago referencing rules. You can take a look at the table of contents, then choose to subscribe or start a free trial.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

"What is Plagiarism?" (plagiarism.org)

This nonprofit website contains numerous resources for identifying and avoiding plagiarism, and reminds you that even common activities like copying images from another website to your own site may constitute plagiarism.

"Plagiarism" (University of Oxford)

This interactive page from the University of Oxford helps you check for plagiarism in your work, making it clear how to avoid citing another person's work without full acknowledgement.

"Avoiding Plagiarism" (MIT Comparative Media Studies)

This quick guide explains what plagiarism is, what its consequences are, and how to avoid it. It starts by defining three words—quotation, paraphrase, and summary—that all constitute citation.

"Harvard Guide to Using Sources" (Harvard Extension School)

This comprehensive website from Harvard brings together articles, videos, and handouts about referencing, citation, and plagiarism. 

Grammarly contains tons of helpful grammar and writing resources, including a free tool to automatically scan your essay to check for close affinities to published work. 

Noplag is another popular online tool that automatically scans your essay to check for signs of plagiarism. Simply copy and paste your essay into the box and click "start checking."

Once you've written your essay, you'll want to edit (improve content), proofread (check for spelling and grammar mistakes), and finalize your work until you're ready to hand it in. This section brings together tips and resources for navigating the editing process. 

"Writing a First Draft" (Academic Help)

This is an introduction to the drafting process from the site Academic Help, with tips for getting your ideas on paper before editing begins.

"Editing and Proofreading" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page provides general strategies for revising your writing. They've intentionally left seven errors in the handout, to give you practice in spotting them.

"How to Proofread Effectively" (ThoughtCo)

This article from ThoughtCo, along with those linked at the bottom, help describe common mistakes to check for when proofreading.

"7 Simple Edits That Make Your Writing 100% More Powerful" (SmartBlogger)

This blog post emphasizes the importance of powerful, concise language, and reminds you that even your personal writing heroes create clunky first drafts.

"Editing Tips for Effective Writing" (Univ. of Pennsylvania)

On this page from Penn's International Relations department, you'll find tips for effective prose, errors to watch out for, and reminders about formatting.

"Editing the Essay" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This article, the first of two parts, gives you applicable strategies for the editing process. It suggests reading your essay aloud, removing any jargon, and being unafraid to remove even "dazzling" sentences that don't belong.

"Guide to Editing and Proofreading" (Oxford Learning Institute)

This handout from Oxford covers the basics of editing and proofreading, and reminds you that neither task should be rushed. 

In addition to plagiarism-checkers, Grammarly has a plug-in for your web browser that checks your writing for common mistakes.

After you've prepared, written, and edited your essay, you might want to share it outside the classroom. This section alerts you to print and web opportunities to share your essays with the wider world, from online writing communities and blogs to published journals geared toward young writers.

Sharing Your Essays Online

Go Teen Writers

Go Teen Writers is an online community for writers aged 13 - 19. It was founded by Stephanie Morrill, an author of contemporary young adult novels. 

Tumblr is a blogging website where you can share your writing and interact with other writers online. It's easy to add photos, links, audio, and video components.

Writersky provides an online platform for publishing and reading other youth writers' work. Its current content is mostly devoted to fiction.

Publishing Your Essays Online

This teen literary journal publishes in print, on the web, and (more frequently), on a blog. It is committed to ensuring that "teens see their authentic experience reflected on its pages."

The Matador Review

This youth writing platform celebrates "alternative," unconventional writing. The link above will take you directly to the site's "submissions" page.

Teen Ink has a website, monthly newsprint magazine, and quarterly poetry magazine promoting the work of young writers.

The largest online reading platform, Wattpad enables you to publish your work and read others' work. Its inline commenting feature allows you to share thoughts as you read along.

Publishing Your Essays in Print

Canvas Teen Literary Journal

This quarterly literary magazine is published for young writers by young writers. They accept many kinds of writing, including essays.

The Claremont Review

This biannual international magazine, first published in 1992, publishes poetry, essays, and short stories from writers aged 13 - 19.

Skipping Stones

This young writers magazine, founded in 1988, celebrates themes relating to ecological and cultural diversity. It publishes poems, photos, articles, and stories.

The Telling Room

This nonprofit writing center based in Maine publishes children's work on their website and in book form. The link above directs you to the site's submissions page.

Essay Contests

Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards

This prestigious international writing contest for students in grades 7 - 12 has been committed to "supporting the future of creativity since 1923."

Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest

An annual essay contest on the theme of journalism and media, the Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest awards scholarships up to $1,000.

National YoungArts Foundation

Here, you'll find information on a government-sponsored writing competition for writers aged 15 - 18. The foundation welcomes submissions of creative nonfiction, novels, scripts, poetry, short story and spoken word.

Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest

With prompts on a different literary work each year, this competition from Signet Classics awards college scholarships up to $1,000.

"The Ultimate Guide to High School Essay Contests" (CollegeVine)

See this handy guide from CollegeVine for a list of more competitions you can enter with your academic essay, from the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards to the National High School Essay Contest by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Whether you're struggling to write academic essays or you think you're a pro, there are workshops and online tools that can help you become an even better writer. Even the most seasoned writers encounter writer's block, so be proactive and look through our curated list of resources to combat this common frustration.

Online Essay-writing Classes and Workshops

"Getting Started with Essay Writing" (Coursera)

Coursera offers lots of free, high-quality online classes taught by college professors. Here's one example, taught by instructors from the University of California Irvine.

"Writing and English" (Brightstorm)

Brightstorm's free video lectures are easy to navigate by topic. This unit on the parts of an essay features content on the essay hook, thesis, supporting evidence, and more.

"How to Write an Essay" (EdX)

EdX is another open online university course website with several two- to five-week courses on the essay. This one is geared toward English language learners.

Writer's Digest University

This renowned writers' website offers online workshops and interactive tutorials. The courses offered cover everything from how to get started through how to get published.

Writing.com

Signing up for this online writer's community gives you access to helpful resources as well as an international community of writers.

How to Overcome Writer's Block

"Symptoms and Cures for Writer's Block" (Purdue OWL)

Purdue OWL offers a list of signs you might have writer's block, along with ways to overcome it. Consider trying out some "invention strategies" or ways to curb writing anxiety.

"Overcoming Writer's Block: Three Tips" ( The Guardian )

These tips, geared toward academic writing specifically, are practical and effective. The authors advocate setting realistic goals, creating dedicated writing time, and participating in social writing.

"Writing Tips: Strategies for Overcoming Writer's Block" (Univ. of Illinois)

This page from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Center for Writing Studies acquaints you with strategies that do and do not work to overcome writer's block.

"Writer's Block" (Univ. of Toronto)

Ask yourself the questions on this page; if the answer is "yes," try out some of the article's strategies. Each question is accompanied by at least two possible solutions.

If you have essays to write but are short on ideas, this section's links to prompts, example student essays, and celebrated essays by professional writers might help. You'll find writing prompts from a variety of sources, student essays to inspire you, and a number of essay writing collections.

Essay Writing Prompts

"50 Argumentative Essay Topics" (ThoughtCo)

Take a look at this list and the others ThoughtCo has curated for different kinds of essays. As the author notes, "a number of these topics are controversial and that's the point."

"401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing" ( New York Times )

This list (and the linked lists to persuasive and narrative writing prompts), besides being impressive in length, is put together by actual high school English teachers.

"SAT Sample Essay Prompts" (College Board)

If you're a student in the U.S., your classroom essay prompts are likely modeled on the prompts in U.S. college entrance exams. Take a look at these official examples from the SAT.

"Popular College Application Essay Topics" (Princeton Review)

This page from the Princeton Review dissects recent Common Application essay topics and discusses strategies for answering them.

Example Student Essays

"501 Writing Prompts" (DePaul Univ.)

This nearly 200-page packet, compiled by the LearningExpress Skill Builder in Focus Writing Team, is stuffed with writing prompts, example essays, and commentary.

"Topics in English" (Kibin)

Kibin is a for-pay essay help website, but its example essays (organized by topic) are available for free. You'll find essays on everything from  A Christmas Carol  to perseverance.

"Student Writing Models" (Thoughtful Learning)

Thoughtful Learning, a website that offers a variety of teaching materials, provides sample student essays on various topics and organizes them by grade level.

"Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

In this blog post by a former professor of English and rhetoric, ThoughtCo brings together examples of five-paragraph essays and commentary on the form.

The Best Essay Writing Collections

The Best American Essays of the Century by Joyce Carol Oates (Amazon)

This collection of American essays spanning the twentieth century was compiled by award winning author and Princeton professor Joyce Carol Oates.

The Best American Essays 2017 by Leslie Jamison (Amazon)

Leslie Jamison, the celebrated author of essay collection  The Empathy Exams , collects recent, high-profile essays into a single volume.

The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate (Amazon)

Documentary writer Phillip Lopate curates this historical overview of the personal essay's development, from the classical era to the present.

The White Album by Joan Didion (Amazon)

This seminal essay collection was authored by one of the most acclaimed personal essayists of all time, American journalist Joan Didion.

Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace (Amazon)

Read this famous essay collection by David Foster Wallace, who is known for his experimentation with the essay form. He pushed the boundaries of personal essay, reportage, and political polemic.

"50 Successful Harvard Application Essays" (Staff of the The Harvard Crimson )

If you're looking for examples of exceptional college application essays, this volume from Harvard's daily student newspaper is one of the best collections on the market.

Are you an instructor looking for the best resources for teaching essay writing? This section contains resources for developing in-class activities and student homework assignments. You'll find content from both well-known university writing centers and online writing labs.

Essay Writing Classroom Activities for Students

"In-class Writing Exercises" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page lists exercises related to brainstorming, organizing, drafting, and revising. It also contains suggestions for how to implement the suggested exercises.

"Teaching with Writing" (Univ. of Minnesota Center for Writing)

Instructions and encouragement for using "freewriting," one-minute papers, logbooks, and other write-to-learn activities in the classroom can be found here.

"Writing Worksheets" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

Berkeley offers this bank of writing worksheets to use in class. They are nested under headings for "Prewriting," "Revision," "Research Papers" and more.

"Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism" (DePaul University)

Use these activities and worksheets from DePaul's Teaching Commons when instructing students on proper academic citation practices.

Essay Writing Homework Activities for Students

"Grammar and Punctuation Exercises" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

These five interactive online activities allow students to practice editing and proofreading. They'll hone their skills in correcting comma splices and run-ons, identifying fragments, using correct pronoun agreement, and comma usage.

"Student Interactives" (Read Write Think)

Read Write Think hosts interactive tools, games, and videos for developing writing skills. They can practice organizing and summarizing, writing poetry, and developing lines of inquiry and analysis.

This free website offers writing and grammar activities for all grade levels. The lessons are designed to be used both for large classes and smaller groups.

"Writing Activities and Lessons for Every Grade" (Education World)

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The 13 Best College Essay Tips to Craft a Stellar Application

College Essays

In many ways, the most labor-intensive part of your college application process is the essay. It’s not just about forwarding transcripts or entering a list of extracurricular activities—you have to craft something personal and compelling to show the admissions committee who you are beyond your resume.

In this article, we’ll go over our 13 best tips for writing college essays. We’ll give tips for every step of the process including planning, writing, and editing your essay, as well as some quick and easy tips to boost any essays you already have written! With these college essay tips, you’ll be that much closer to the best admissions essay ever!

5 Tips for College Essay Planning

Doing a good job planning makes the college essay process that much easier. These five college essay tips will help you get started and pave the way for a great final product.

#1: Make a Plan of Attack for Your Essays

The first thing you’ll need to do is identify all the essays you’ll need to write and their deadlines. It may help you to make a spreadsheet with the essay guidelines for each school, the word count, the prompts, the due date, and any special instructions. This will help you figure out:

How many essays you’ll need to write, and how long those essays need to be.

Whether you can reuse any essays: In general, you can reuse essays for prompts that are about your life, broadly similar in theme, and have a similar word count. You probably can’t reuse essays that are very specific to the college, like “Why This College” essays .

Which essay you should write first: You’ll probably want to start first on the essay with the earliest application deadline. Alternatively, if you have plenty of time or the deadlines are close together, you could start with the longest essay (which will take the most time) or the essay that will be used for the most schools (like a Common Application essay). Do what you feel most comfortable with.

With all this information gathered, you’ll be able to make a plan of attack for your essays and make sure nothing gets lost in the application shuffle. (In fact, I actually advise keeping track of all necessary components of your application in a spreadsheet for the same reason).

#2: Start Early

You want to start writing way before the deadline. If possible, give yourself at least two months, and maybe even more time if you can. This will make sure that you have enough time to adequately plan your essay, draft it, and edit it.  

And, of course, the more essays you have to write, the earlier you should start!

#3: Choose the Right Topic

Choosing the right topic has two facets: first, choosing the right prompt (if there’s a choice) and second, choosing the right topic to write about for that prompt.

The Right Prompt

If there’s a choice of prompts, you may want to actually start by brainstorming the specific topic or thing in your life that you want to write about, and then reverse-engineer back to the most appropriate prompt. Most college essay prompts are pretty vague, so a broad range of topics and issues can be applied.

You can also use prompts to help you brainstorm if you’re having a hard time figuring out what to write about. Think about the prompt that seems most appealing to you at first. What intrigues you about it? What do you think you could communicate about yourself through that question?

Here’s some tailored guidance on some of the most common college essay prompt types . And if you’re writing a Common Application essay, here’s advice on how to choose the right Common App prompt for you .

The Right Topic

When you’re trying to choose something about your life to write about, consider the following:

What are you excited to write about? A good college essay can be about a wide variety of topics, but it should show that you’re passionate about something. This could be anything from a hobby you have to your favorite book or even your most beloved stuffed animal, just so long as you can make it memorable and positive. Also, your writing will be a lot better if you are writing about something you care about and are interested in!

Whatever you write about should be primarily about you. You should be the focal point. Even if you’re writing about someone who has influenced you, for example, you need to relate it back to yourself. What does this tell admission officers about you?

What makes you stand out? This should be something that goes beyond what’s in the rest of your application. Your test scores and GPA are already there. What really shows something unique about you?

Choose a topic you can be honest about . If you’re not being genuine, it will end up coming through in your writing. So don’t write about how much your membership in Youth Group meant to you if you only went to make your mom happy and you actually didn’t care that much.

In general, you should avoid topics that are overly controversial, like things that are politically charged, doing things that are illegal, or anything involving graphic descriptions of any bodily function. So if you’re going to write about recovering from hip surgery, probably leave out the gory details of you being constipated and your oozy scars.

Check out our 35 brainstorming techniques for college essays for even more help coming up with a topic!

If you’re really stumped, consider asking your friends and family what they think could be good topics. They may help you figure out something memorable and interesting. But also, don’t feel like you have to write about a topic just because someone else thinks it would be great. You need to be genuinely interested in what you’re writing about to write an engaging essay!

#4: Decide on Your Approach

In general, there are two main approaches you might take to write your essay. It might primarily take a narrative format, or it might take a thematic format.

In a narrative format, you’ll be relating a particular anecdote or experience and what it means to you. In a thematic format, you’ll present a particular theme—say, your love of parakeets or your secret talent for balancing books on your head—and expound on that theme in a descriptive way to reveal more about you and your personality.

Sometimes your approach will be determined by the prompt or topic that you choose. For example, if a prompt says to relate a particular event or anecdote, you’ll probably use a narrative approach. By contrast, if you want to write about how your favorite book changed your life, that will probably be a thematic essay.

#5: Write an Outline

Doing a little bit of outlining before you put fingertips to keyboard to write your essay is always a good idea. You don’t necessarily need to make a super-detailed plan before you starting writing, but a general idea of where you are going and the points you want to make will be very helpful when you start drafting. Otherwise, you may find yourself spending a lot of time staring at a blank Word document.

Yes, good, very detailed essay plan. 

4 Top College Essay Writing Tips

Here are four tips for writing college essays and making sure your work  stands out in a good way:

#6: Use Specific Details

The more details you use, the more your writing will come alive. Try to use words that are vivid and specific, instead of ones that are vague like “nice,” “good,” and so on. This will really flesh out the scene and help the reader picture what’s going on.

So take something like this:

One of my biggest accomplishments in life was teaching my little brother to ride a bicycle. I encouraged him to keep going when he fell down. Now he’s a great cyclist!

To something more like this:

One of my biggest accomplishments in life was teaching my eight-year-old brother to ride the racy red bicycle he got for his birthday. He wanted to give up when he took a tumble and skidded across the sidewalk. But while I bandaged up his knees with Batman band-aids, I convinced him to give it another try. I told him to think about how he would be able to bike all around the neighborhood exploring. Now I smile whenever I see him zooming down our street—wearing his helmet, of course!

See the difference? Wouldn’t you rather read the second one?

#7: Be Genuine

It’s important to get beyond the superficial in your personal statement. You should be writing about something that’s genuinely important or significant to you, so try to get beyond the surface. Instead of writing vague platitudes about how you really like the violin but it’s hard, really get at the meat: did you ever think about quitting? What’s frustrated you the most? What really keeps you going?

This means you shouldn’t try to write about things where it’s too painful to be honest. So if your parents got a divorce last year, it may be too raw to write about, which is perfectly fine. If, however, they got divorced when you were 5 and you can honestly reflect on how it changed your life, go for it.

Of course, you want to be honest in a reasonable and appropriate way. If you overshare, it will make it seem like you have bad judgment or don’t understand social norms—not good impressions to give the admissions committee. So probably don’t write about how much you despise your mother and think she is evil since she had an affair with your school librarian. It’s fine to feel how you feel, but there are some things that are a little too charged to write in your college essay.

#8: Be Unique, but Not Bizarre

You definitely want your writing to set you apart—but you want it to set you apart in a good way. This means you want high-quality writing about unique experiences and qualities you bring to the table that aren’t covered elsewhere in your application.

This does not mean you should get really avant-garde with your essay formatting. Don’t send in a piece of art instead of an essay, or make a video, or write a poem instead of an essay, unless those things are explicitly allowed.

Similarly, while your essay doesn’t have to be 100% deadly serious in tone, you should be careful with humor. This doesn’t mean absolutely no jokes or tongue-in-cheek moments or that your essay should read like an 18th-century book of sermons. But if your essay relies too much on humor, you’ve got a lot riding on whether or not the person reading your essay “gets” it. They may well be annoyed. So deploy humor carefully and selectively.

#9: Avoid Cliches and Platitudes

The more cliches you use in your writing, the more boring and less insightful your essay will be. Cliches are phrases that are so overused that they are essentially meaningless, and they are likely to make any reader roll their eyes. Phrases like “a dime a dozen,” “outside the box,” “cold as ice,” “dirt cheap,” “flash in the pan,” and so on are frequently deployed in conversation because they convey a common idea quickly. But you don’t want your essay to be common, so avoid cliches. Try to think about how you can communicate the same idea in a more specific and interesting way.

Here’s a list of over 600 cliches . But for the most part, you won’t need a list; you’ll know something is a cliche because you will have heard it a million times already.

You should also avoid platitudes or sweeping generalizations about life. These are statements that are so broad and far-reaching as to be both obvious and completely uninsightful.

So avoid making statements like “And that’s how I learned that hard work pays off,” or “There’s no ‘I’ in team.” You may think you sound sage or wise, but the truth is, platitudes are going to sound immature and poorly-formed to the reader. Similarly, don’t say things that sound like they could come from an inspirational quote account on Instagram. (See, ahem, “You miss 100% of the shots you never take,” “Shoot for the moon,” and so on.)

How do you avoid the platitude problem? Try to keep what you’re saying specific to you. So instead of saying “And that’s how I learned that hard work pays off,” try, “This experience helped me to realize that when I put concentrated effort into something that’s important to me, I can accomplish it even when there are roadblocks.” Keep the focus on what you can and will do in your own life.

Avoid  trite sayings like this one.

2 Tips for Editing Your College Essay

You may think that once you’ve gotten a draft done that you’re good to go. Not so! Editing is one of the most important parts of writing the best college essay possible, and here are two essential college essay tips for editing.

Tip #10: Ask for Help

It’s always wise to get another set of eyes on your college essays. In fact, several sets of eyes is even better! Other people can help you make sure your essay flows, you have enough detail, that everything is relevant, and that you sound as engaging and interesting as you really are! They can also help you catch typos and other minor errors—although you’ll want to double and triple-check for that yourself before submitting.

Here’s advice on how to ask for help with all parts of the college essay process , including editing.

Tip #11: Be Prepared to Cut a Lot

Brace yourself for cutting up your initial draft into tiny little ribbons and rearranging the remaining pieces Frankenstein-style. A first draft is really just a starting place to get your ideas down before you revamp the entire thing into a more streamlined, better organized, highly polished version. So you have to be ready to let go of pieces of your essay, no matter how much you love a particular turn of phrase or analogy. The ultimate goal is to turn the rough stone of your first draft into a polished and clear piece of writing—and that’s going to take a lot of chipping and sanding!

2 Final Tips for College Essay Success

Here are two quick but essential college essay tips you can implement easily.

Tip #12: Have a Standout First Sentence

One thing you can do to give any essay a boost is to make sure that your first sentence is attention-grabbing. If you can pique the interest of the admissions counselor right away, you’ll help keep their attention throughout your essay.

Here’s our guide to getting that perfect first sentence!

Tip #13: Triple-check for Typos and Errors

The most important quick thing you can do for your essay is to make sure there are no typos or grammatical errors. It will make your essay look sloppy and unfinished, and that’s the last thing you want! College admissions officers expect a polished product, and there’s nothing less polished than misspelled words and comma splices.

13 College Essay Tips: Key Takeaways for a Great College Essay

To recap, here’s our 13 tips for the best college essay ever:

College Essay Planning Tips:

• Create a plan of attack for all of your essays so you can keep track of everything.
• Start early—at least two months before the due date, if not more.
• Choose the right prompt and topic for you.
• Decide between a narrative or a thematic approach to the topic.
• Outline before you start writing!

College Essay Writing Tips:

• Use vivid, specific details.
• Be genuine—get beyond the superficial.
• Be unique, but not bizarre.
• Avoid cliches and platitudes; they are boring and unimaginative.

College Essay Editing Tips:

• Get other people to look at your essay.
• Be prepared to change, cut, and rearrange a lot!

Final Tips for College Essays:

• Make sure your first sentence is stellar.
• Triple check for typos and grammatical errors!

What’s Next?

You’ve read our tips for success—now see 10 college essay mistakes to avoid .

Looking for some college essay examples? See 133 essay examples and expert analysis here , along with 11 more places to find great college essay examples .  

Check out our complete guides to ApplyTexas essays , UC Personal Insight questions , and the Common Application essay !

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Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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A reliable essay writing service will never sell a pre-written article to multiple users. It should guarantee you personalized research. The essay writer will first analyze your requirements and start writing an academic paper from scratch. Their ultimate goal? It’s to reflect your style and your arguments through the writing. You should get a paper that you’ll be proud to present as your own.

You want NO plagiarism in your academic paper

Essay service can never guarantee specific grades when you send the requirement: “I need you to write my essay!” However, it will guarantee the best conditions that lead to high grades. First and foremost, plagiarism is not allowed in essay writing. It’s one of the most serious violations of all college/university rules. Each student is required to submit a unique essay. That’s why a legit essay paper writing service must guarantee the delivery of a plagiarism-free piece, which will be based on your personal guidelines.

Privacy protection makes all the difference

Our writers know this for sure: no professor would be happy to find out that you ordered a paper. You’re not forbidden to use essay writing help. You just don’t want anyone to find out about it. You have to make sure that the chosen paper writing service will never share your information with third parties. The paper must be delivered solely to you, and it must never be published. Check the privacy policies, so you’ll know you’re hiring the right writing company.

You want the best quality for an affordable price

Finally, let’s talk about a major matter of interest: cost-effectiveness. It means finding the perfect balance between quality and price. Don’t fall for the trick that you have to pay a lot to get an assignment of the best quality. Affordable essay writing services, such as BestEssay, will give you a low quote for top-notch results. That’s because they have fair terms towards their writers. When a writer gets most of what the customer pays, the writing service can afford to charge less.

Why Is Uniqueness So Important in a Paper Writing Service?

What’s the point of these assignments if plagiarism was allowed? Any student would copy or paraphrase the content in a matter of minutes. They wouldn’t conduct any research. They wouldn’t bother coming up with their own arguments. They wouldn’t learn anything through the process. That’s why all professors set the no plagiarism rule. Their goal is to push you to research and express your own arguments.

BestEssay is a paper writing service with long-term experience in the industry. No writer from our team has ever delivered a plagiarized paper. We established strict rules for a 100% unique paper and a personalized approach to each customer’s order. When you buy an essay from us, the essay writer will adjust their tone and style to fit your personality. That’s why the form is so detailed. We give you a chance to list all requirements, so we can assign the perfect writer and deliver essays of good quality to you.

Although the customer will hire a paper writer, they are still learning through this process. They will observe the process of developing a unique paper under specific requirements. They witness a writer’s creativity to come up with original arguments. Our customer also learns about the paper’s format, tone, and proper syntax structure.

The overall experience with a custom essay writing service depends on its capacity to deliver a plagiarism-free paper.

Guide Our Professional Essay Writers with Your Requirements!

What instructions should a customer provide when they hire a writer online? We’ll give you brief guidelines that make the writing process more effective:

What’s the topic?

When you come to BestEssay with the request "I want you to write my essay for me", this is the first question we’ll ask: what’s your topic?

The order form requires the customer to set a theme for the writer. If you don’t have a specific topic, you can write it in general. The writer will narrow it down. You’ll also choose the subject area during this step. We have writers covering the areas of literature, nursing, social studies, healthcare writing, science, economics, and many other niches.

What type of work do you need?

We usually get a request for academic essays, but our offer is much broader. You can also hire a writer to complete your research paper, case study, term paper, thesis, reaction paper, reflective thinking paper, and many other types of documents.

What if you don’t see the type of paper in the order form? We have agents attending the live chat 24/7. Contact them with your request, and they will do everything to find a writer who’s qualified to complete your specific project.

What’s your deadline?

This is one of the most important adjustments you’ll need to make in the order form. We’ll allow you to set a deadline that we can and we will meet. If you need a two-page essay for nursing or any other subject area, the shortest deadline available will be 3 hours. But if you hire a writer for a more complex paper that’s also longer, the fast essay options will be adjusted.

Our writers recommend you leave space before this deadline and the actual due date for your project. That gives you the time to ask for revisions and learn from the paper before submitting it.

Set the Other Parameters

The order form also asks for instructions on spacing, quality level, academic level, number of needed references, preferred language style, and more. If you already had a good experience with a writer from our team, you can indicate their ID. We’ll make sure to assign the same writer.

We also let you choose additional services when you hire BestEssay: proofreading by a pro editor, order completed by one of the top 10 writers from the niche, VIP customer support, one-page summary of your paper, and a VIP service package. These add-ons boost the value of writing.

The Importance of Revisions when Hiring an Essay Writing Service

If you hire professional writers, you can feel calm. The results will be brilliant when you deal with a service like BestEssay.

What if you don’t like something in the paper? Maybe it’s a single sentence that sounds unclear. Maybe it’s a gap in the logical flow, which needs to be fixed before you submit the assignment. You hire a writer for writing, and you don’t want to do the editing by yourself.

Don’t worry; we will never ask you to pay for additional editing when you buy an essay from us. If you have any remarks on the writer’s work, they will immediately act upon them.

We ask you to check the paper for any mistakes. It doesn’t matter what element of writing you want us to improve; just send us a request and we’ll cover the revisions for free.

You should analyze our terms and conditions before placing the order. They cover your rights to free revisions. As long as you provide detailed instructions for our writers, you can ask for amendments based on those requirements.

Even the best writers can make mistakes. Misunderstandings happen, too. Maybe they will do their best work, but the customer won’t like parts of it. We don’t suffer from a big ego. As our customer, you deserve to be 100% satisfied with the work you receive.

We Understand Your Need for an Affordable Price!

Affordability is of essential importance for each customer. They pay thousands of dollars for their education each year. Even if they earned a scholarship, they still have to cover the expenses for accommodation, books, bills, and everything else you need to support your lifestyle. They deserve to have a decent social life, too. It’s okay to have a share of the partying experience.

Do you have the budget to hire essay writers with all those expenses on your shoulders? You may have a job, but it doesn’t provide a good income. That’s why you need cheap quotes. Even if it’s a larger project, it should still fit in your budget.

Our pricing system is flexible. It’s based on these factors:

• Type of content (term paper, speech, reaction paper, or anything else)
• Quality level
• Number of pages

We’ll give you great discounts when you hire a writer. You’ll always save money when working with BestEssay. 15% off is a massive price reduction for all new customers. Our loyal users get up to 15% off, too!

The price calculator will give you an estimation for your project. In the order form, you’ll see a final price that doesn’t come with any hidden costs. If you have any questions, you can contact a customer service agent. We’ll immediately answer!

You Can Learn from Your Professional Paper Writer

What will you gain by collaborating with a pro essay writer?

• Let’s say you’re working on a science project and you don’t have experience with it. The research sources are confusing. You need someone to clarify the concept and develop strong arguments. When you hire our essay writing service, we offer professional writing assistance. We write an elaborate essay that explains the concept from a knowledgeable point of view. If your professor asks a question, you’ll be able to answer it just by reading the content.
• The writer won’t provide broad instructions. You could easily get such guidelines online. They are meaningless, since they aren’t tailored to your paper writing assignments. For example, a healthcare project requires a unique structure, which differs from the one you construct for a research paper. The writer you hire knows how to handle different types of projects.
• Our writers teach about the proper tone used in academics, too. When a professor requires you to complete essays, they don’t want something that looks like blogging. They want you to show your capacity for critical thinking and reflective thinking. They need to see strong arguments based on facts. That’s how you earn a good grade.

Do you Have More Questions? Talk to Us

BestEssay is non-stop available to offer professional essay writing services to any customer who needs them. You can talk to the representatives of our essay writer service at any moment. Use the live chat, send us an email, or call us by phone. We’ll be happy to attend to you.

And if you’re wondering when to place an order, remember: the sooner the better! That’s how you get the cheapest price!

What services do you offer?

Our professional academic writers offer assistance with college papers, article completion, critical thinking, speech writing, case study, research paper, thesis, term papers, reaction essays, reflective thinking, nursing essays, social studies and science projects, healthcare papers, and more. A writer can complete a dissertation of the finest quality for you. But if the customer only hired us for a college paper, that’s what they get!

Why should I choose BestEssay.co?

Our essay writing service is special because it delivers the best quality. A customer always works with the writer when they choose us. Each paper writer has a personalized approach to each user. They pay close attention to their requirements. Our guarantees ensure a secure and satisfactory user experience. If the customer has remarks to the paper writing, they can ask for revisions. We revise essays without charging an additional fee. The bottom line is: you get the best quality for your money from BestEssay!

How can I be sure the right writer is writing my paper?

You want to count on legitimate essay writing services, which assign pro writers to your fast essay order. Hiring writers online is not easy. Not everyone has the skill and experience to work on your topic. We formed the best paper writer team in the industry. Our writers complete good papers that impress professors. Remember this fact: your professional writer will have a graduate degree in the topic’s field of study. That makes all the difference.

How fast can you write an essay?

You can get a cheap essay in a matter of hours. 3 hours is our shortest deadline. It’s only available for simple assignments. But we make it possible for you to set short deadlines even for the most complex projects. We guarantee that when you use BestEssay to hire writers online, the assignment will be completed on time. Our online essay writing service has experience with fast orders.

What if I am not happy with my paper?

Even though we hired the most professional paper writers on the market, misunderstandings still happen. Maybe the customer won’t understand something in the assignment and they will need the writer to fill in some gaps in information. Whatever their remarks are, a customer can submit a requirement for revisions to our paper writing service. The amendments are already included in the price you paid. We will not charge any extra fees to the customer.

Can I order securely on your website?

Our professional essay writing service is protected with legit security standards. We follow strict protocols for customer privacy protection. We never share the information of a customer with third parties. The payment process is safe and legitimate. The paper writing process is fast, secure, and responsive. You’ll get the safest and most convenient user experience when you hire writers from our cheap essay writing service! Read the terms and conditions to see how we protect you as our customer.

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Essay Papers Writing Online

Mastering the art of essay writing – exploring the world of professional essay writers.

Welcome to our exceptional team of dedicated individuals who are ready to assist you with all your academic writing needs. With years of experience in the field, our team of talented writers is committed to delivering top-notch essays that meet the highest standards of quality. Whether you are a student struggling with a challenging assignment or a professional seeking assistance with a scholarly piece, we are here to provide you with the reliable support you need.

Unleash your creativity: Our essay writers are not only highly competent in their respective areas of expertise, but they are also passionate about writing. We understand that every assignment is unique and requires a creative approach. By harnessing their creativity and applying it to your essays, our writers ensure that every piece of writing is engaging, insightful, and well-researched.

Timely delivery: We value your time and understand the importance of meeting deadlines. Our team of professionals is skilled at working under tight schedules and will always deliver your essays on time. With us, you never have to worry about missing a submission deadline again.

Confidentiality and privacy: At our essay writing service, we prioritize the confidentiality and privacy of our clients. We understand the sensitive nature of academic writing and guarantee that all your personal information, as well as the details of your order, will remain strictly confidential. You can trust us to maintain the highest level of privacy and discretion throughout the entire process.

When it comes to essay writing, don’t settle for anything less than the best. Trust our team of skilled professionals to deliver high-quality essays that exceed your expectations. Contact us today to get started on your journey towards academic success.

Why Hiring Skilled Essay Writers is a Smart Choice

When it comes to composing well-written papers, it is essential to entrust the task to highly experienced and proficient individuals. Skilled essay writers possess the necessary expertise and knowledge to craft high-quality essays that meet the highest standards of academic excellence. Hiring skilled essay writers is a wise choice for various reasons, allowing you to benefit from their expertise and ultimately achieve the desired results.

One of the main advantages of hiring skilled essay writers is the assurance of receiving top-notch essays. These professionals have a deep understanding of the subject matter and are equipped with the necessary research skills to gather relevant and credible information. Their ability to synthesize complex ideas into coherent and well-structured essays ensures that you receive a well-crafted piece that demonstrates critical thinking and analytical skills.

Furthermore, skilled essay writers can save you valuable time and effort. Writing an essay can be a time-consuming process that requires extensive research, analysis, and writing. By hiring professionals, you can delegate the task to them, freeing up your time to focus on other important tasks or simply relax and enjoy your academic journey without the added stress.

In addition, expert essay writers understand the importance of adhering to strict deadlines. They are accustomed to working under pressure and can deliver high-quality essays within the specified time frame. By hiring skilled essay writers, you can be confident that your assignment will be completed on time, allowing you to meet your academic obligations and avoid any potential penalties for late submissions.

In conclusion, hiring skilled essay writers is a wise choice due to their ability to deliver high-quality essays, save you time and effort, and meet strict deadlines. Their expertise and professionalism guarantee a well-crafted piece that meets the highest standards of academic excellence. So, why struggle with writing assignments when you can rely on skilled essay writers to support you in achieving your academic goals?

The Benefits of Trusting Professionals with Your Essays

When it comes to your academic success, it is crucial to ensure that your essays are of the highest quality. However, crafting well-written and persuasive essays can be a challenging task for many students. That is why trusting professionals with your essays can have numerous benefits and help you achieve your academic goals.

Firstly, professionals have the expertise and knowledge to produce exceptional essays. They possess a deep understanding of various subjects and can provide insightful analysis and critical thinking in their writing. By entrusting your essays to professionals, you can be confident that your work will be well-researched, structured, and original.

Additionally, professionals have extensive experience in essay writing. They have honed their skills and techniques over time, allowing them to produce high-quality essays efficiently. They are familiar with the requirements of different academic institutions and can tailor their writing accordingly. By relying on professionals, you can save time and effort, allowing you to focus on other important tasks.

Moreover, professionals can offer valuable feedback and suggestions for improvement. They have a keen eye for detail and can identify areas where your essay can be enhanced. Their expertise enables them to provide constructive criticism and guidance that can help you refine your writing skills. By working with professionals, you can learn from their expertise and continually improve your essay writing abilities.

Lastly, trusting professionals with your essays can provide you with peace of mind. Writing essays can be stressful and time-consuming, especially when you are juggling multiple assignments or have tight deadlines. By delegating the task to professionals, you can alleviate the pressure and ensure that your essays are delivered on time. This allows you to focus on other aspects of your education and enjoy a balanced academic life.

In conclusion, entrusting professionals with your essays offers a range of benefits. Their expertise, experience, feedback, and ability to provide peace of mind make them valuable partners in your academic journey. By seeking the assistance of professionals, you can elevate the quality of your essays and enhance your overall academic performance.

How Our Team of Proficient Academic Writers Ensures Exceptional Work Quality

At our company, we take pride in the high-quality work delivered by our team of proficient academic writers. We understand the significance of producing exceptional essays that are not only well-written but also meet the highest standards of academic excellence.

Our skilled writers are well-versed in various subjects and possess extensive experience in crafting top-notch essays. They have a deep understanding of the academic requirements and are committed to delivering papers that showcase thorough research, critical analysis, and clear arguments.

To ensure the highest level of quality, our expert writers follow a meticulous writing process. They start by thoroughly analyzing the essay topic and gathering relevant sources of information. They then conduct comprehensive research to gain in-depth knowledge of the subject matter.

Once the research is complete, our writers meticulously outline their essay to ensure a logical flow of ideas. They pay attention to the structure and organization of the paper, ensuring that each paragraph transitions seamlessly to the next, and that the overall argument is well-supported by evidence and examples.

During the writing process, our writers utilize their exceptional writing skills to create engaging and persuasive content. They use language effectively, employing appropriate vocabulary and sentence structures to convey their ideas in a clear and concise manner. Moreover, they ensure that the essay adheres to the specified formatting and referencing style.

After completing the initial draft, our writers carefully review and revise their work. They pay attention to grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors, and make necessary corrections. Additionally, they also ensure that the content is plagiarism-free by thoroughly checking it with reliable plagiarism detection tools.

Finally, before delivering the completed essay, our team of proficient academic writers conducts a thorough quality check to ensure that all requirements have been met and that the essay meets our strict standards of excellence. We strive to provide our clients with work that not only meets their expectations but exceeds them.

When you choose our services, you can rest assured that your essay will be in the hands of skilled professionals who are dedicated to delivering high-quality work. Place your order today and experience the difference our team of proficient academic writers can make!

Customized Essays: Tailored to Your Requirements and Preferences

When it comes to academic writing, we understand that each student has unique requirements and preferences. That’s why our team of seasoned professionals goes the extra mile to deliver customized essays that meet your specific needs.

Whether you are a student struggling with a complex research paper or a high-achieving student aiming for top grades, our writers are here to assist you. They have profound knowledge and expertise in diverse fields, allowing them to craft essays that are tailored to your subject and academic level.

Our process begins with a thorough understanding of your assignment instructions and guidelines. We collaborate closely with you to gather all the necessary information, ensuring that all your requirements and preferences are taken into account. We then assign your project to a writer who possesses the relevant background and skills to deliver a high-quality customized essay.

With our service, you can expect essays that are carefully crafted to reflect your unique perspective and argumentation style. Our writers conduct in-depth research on the topic, ensuring that the content is accurate, up-to-date, and relevant. They also pay attention to the structure and organization of the essay, ensuring that your ideas flow logically and coherently.

• Personalized Approach: Our team understands that each student has different needs and expectations. We take the time to understand your requirements and preferences, ensuring that your essay is personalized to your unique specifications.
• Accurate Research: Our writers conduct extensive research to gather relevant information and data for your essay. They cite credible sources and ensure that the content is accurate, current, and reliable.
• Flawless Writing: Our team of professionals excels in delivering flawless writing that is free from grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and plagiarism. We take pride in our attention to detail and our commitment to delivering high-quality essays.
• Timely Delivery: We understand the importance of meeting deadlines. Our writers work diligently to deliver your customized essay on time, allowing you to submit your work without any worries.

At Expert Essay Writers, we are dedicated to providing you with customized essays that exceed your expectations. Contact us today to get started on your personalized essay journey!

A Wide Range of Subjects: Our Experts Can Handle Any Topic

At Expert Essay Writers, we understand the diverse needs of our clients and their academic pursuits. That’s why we are proud to offer a wide range of subjects that our experts can confidently handle. Whether you’re studying engineering, psychology, literature, or any other field, our team of professionals is here to help you excel in your academic endeavors.

Our experts have in-depth knowledge and expertise in a myriad of subjects, ensuring that we can cater to the unique requirements of each individual assignment. No matter how challenging or specialized your topic may be, you can trust our team to deliver top-notch essays that exhibit a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

From mathematics and physics to sociology and history, we have a diverse pool of experts who are well-versed in the intricacies of various academic disciplines. We continuously update our team’s knowledge base to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements and research in each field, ensuring that we can tackle even the most cutting-edge and niche topics.

When you choose Expert Essay Writers, you can be confident that your essay will be handled by a knowledgeable professional who has relevant experience in your subject area. We carefully match each assignment with an expert who possesses the necessary qualifications and expertise, ensuring that you receive a high-quality essay that meets your specific requirements.

So whether you’re struggling with an assignment in biology, philosophy, or business, rest assured that our team of experts is ready to assist you. With our extensive range of subjects and talented professionals, we guarantee that you will receive a well-researched, well-written, and thoroughly referenced essay that exceeds your expectations.

Affordable Pricing: High-Quality Essays at a Reasonable Cost

At our esteemed company, we believe that everyone deserves access to top-notch writing services without breaking the bank. That’s why we offer affordable pricing options without compromising on quality. With our team of experienced professionals, you can trust that you’ll receive high-quality essays at a reasonable cost.

When it comes to essay writing, we understand the importance of striking a balance between quality and affordability. We know that students and professionals alike have budget constraints, and our goal is to provide you with exceptional essays that won’t strain your wallet. Our competitively priced services ensure that you get the best value for your money.

We take pride in offering transparent pricing with no hidden fees or extra costs. Our pricing structure is designed to be straightforward and easy to understand, so you know exactly what you’re paying for. Whether you need assistance with a research paper, an argumentative essay, or any other academic assignment, our prices remain affordable without compromising on the quality of our work.

When you choose our essay writing services, you can rest assured that you’re getting the best bang for your buck. Our team of knowledgeable writers goes above and beyond to deliver essays that not only meet your requirements but also exceed your expectations. We believe that affordability should never mean a compromise on quality, and we stand by that commitment.

Don’t let high prices deter you from seeking professional essay writing help. With our affordable pricing options, you can access expert assistance and top-notch essays without breaking the bank. Trust us with your writing needs, and we’ll deliver high-quality essays at a reasonable cost, helping you achieve academic success without the stress.

Customer Satisfaction: Our Priority in Providing Expert Essay Writing Services

At Expert Essay Writers, we understand the importance of customer satisfaction when it comes to providing exceptional essay writing services. We prioritize delivering the highest level of satisfaction to our clients, ensuring that their needs and requirements are met with utmost professionalism and reliability.

Our team of highly skilled and knowledgeable professionals are dedicated to delivering top-quality essays that meet the highest standards set by our clients. We believe in the power of well-crafted essays to make a lasting impact, and we strive to exceed expectations in every aspect of our service.

When you choose Expert Essay Writers, you can expect nothing less than top-notch customer service. We value open and transparent communication, and we are committed to addressing any concerns or inquiries promptly. Our team of experts is always available to provide assistance and guidance throughout the essay writing process.

Moreover, we understand that every client is unique, with distinct preferences and requirements. That is why we take the time to listen and understand your specific needs, ensuring that we tailor our services to meet your expectations. We believe in the importance of customization and personalization, as it allows us to deliver essays that truly reflect your individual style and voice.

Our commitment to customer satisfaction is reflected in our dedication to delivering essays that not only meet your expectations but exceed them. We go above and beyond to ensure that every essay we produce is of the highest quality, meticulously researched, and written with precision and expertise.

Choose Expert Essay Writers as your trusted partner in achieving academic success. Experience the difference our dedication to customer satisfaction can make in ensuring that you receive expertly written essays that exceed your expectations.

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Growth: 5 Tips for Writing a Stand-Out College Essay

Here's a helping hand from an essay coach.

In addition to becoming ever-more competitive, applying to college has recently changed in ways that give college essays more weight in the admissions process. 

First, most schools have opted to remain test-optional even now that pandemic quarantines are a thing of the past. Lifting that requirement has opened the field to any student who cannot either score high on their own or with the aid of expensive test prep. That means students with good grades and extracurriculars but low test scores have a greater chance of admission to selective and highly selective (so-called “elite”) schools, particularly if they are strong writers.

Second, in June of 2023, a  Supreme Court ruling ended affirmative action in higher education, leaving students without a means of disclosing their race and ethnicity unless they write about it in their essays. Since most campuses still wish for greater diversity, many schools’ admissions officers wrote new supplemental essay prompts following the ruling, asking students to describe their  identity or community . 

And finally, Chat-GPT has changed the way we look at student writing. A perfectly composed essay with generic observations and stock emotional reactions will seem robotic to some admissions readers. Readers are now looking for students who write with their unique voice, giving an edge to creative students who may not necessarily be the best on paper but can employ strong critical thinking skills and experiment with form.

In this article, I will draw from my personal experience as an essay coach to give you some tips for writing a stand-out college essay. I will also demystify the process and let you know what kind of help is available for you or your child. 

A Brief Overview of What to Expect This Admissions Season

The Common Application , or “Common App,” is the portal where students submit the majority of their college application essays. In addition to hosting the prompts for the personal statement — that all-important 650-word essay required by most schools — the Common App has sections where students submit their test scores, official transcripts, and extracurricular activities. There is also an optional essay in the  “Additional Information” section for students adversely affected by community disruptions. This could be a place to address the Covid lockdowns or other natural disasters that impacted school performance. When students download their list of schools into the Common App portal, the supplemental essays for each individual school will automatically appear as fields in the Common App as well. Not all schools have supplemental essays, making it all the more important that you write an amazing personal statement. 

Not every school uses the Common App. The University of California system, for instance, has its own portal and set of four 350-word “personal insight questions” for students to complete.

Application season officially opens on August 1, when the Common App opens the portal for students to begin submitting applications.  Prompts for the season’s personal statement have already been posted and are available to the public. 

The next big deadline is November 1 (though this deadline varies by school and can be as early as October 15). This is when students need to submit applications for their early decision (ED) and early action (EA) schools. 

Early decision is usually a binding decision — if the student is accepted, they must go to that school — so families should make sure they can afford or are eligible for enough financial aid to attend. Early action, on the other hand, is non-binding. Many students apply to EA when pursuing a competitive major, like computer science, because it conveys a small advantage. 

Unless your school has a rolling deadline, most regular deadlines are in late December or early January; some fall as late as February. Regular admission deadlines are designed to give students enough time to recoup and reevaluate their college list should they be rejected from their ED and/or EA schools. 

Do You (or Your Child) Need Professional Help Writing Your College Essays?

If a student is confident about their ideas and has strong writing and time management skills, writing the essays solo is totally doable. There is a wealth of free information online to help students brainstorm, draft, and write. 

Students who benefit from hiring an essay coach are those who have difficulty making deadlines, have a low opinion of their writing, or want professional advice when applying to elite schools such as U of Chicago, Princeton, and Rice. Neurodivergent students may also benefit from the stability of having someone help chart their progress forward with patience and a lack of judgment. 

Parents who can afford to hire a coach — or whose child qualifies for pro bono coaching — often tell me they enjoy the peace of mind that comes from not spending the fall semester of their child’s senior year nagging them about college applications. 

Essay Specialist vs. College Counselor

Although there is some overlap, there are two areas where students typically seek help when applying to college. An essay coach, or essay specialist, is precisely that — someone with an advanced degree and/or professional background in writing, teaching, or editing who can help students produce strong essays. Essay specialists often assist students with other areas of the Common App, strategizing to make the best use of every section without unnecessary overlap.

A college counselor, whether they work for your school or have an independent practice, is usually a certified or degreed professional with a background in college admissions. They understand the needs of various schools and may have developed relationships with some admissions officers. Thus, they are able to build college lists based on statistical and insider information about the schools, finding a range of good, plausible matches for the student.  

Tips for Writing a Stand-Out Personal Statement 

1. be yourself.

This is by far the most important thing. Admissions readers don’t want to read perfect essays written by model students. Such essays tell them very little about the person who will attend their school. Instead, they are looking to see who you are as a person. Whether you compare your life to Don Quixote's quest or Disney’s Tarzan movie, talk about baking macarons, recount the outfits you’ve sewn, or conceive your essay in the style of an interview set in the future — all actual topics students used effectively — your personal statement should be authentic and written in your own voice.  

While you don’t want to divulge personal information that could make schools nervous about your ability to succeed in college, you should be vulnerable and honest in this essay. It is a place for analyzing motives and reflecting on challenges.  

It can help to brainstorm before sitting down to write. College Essay Guy teaches you how to find symbols in your everyday life with this useful “essence objects” exercise. Finding big meaning through small concrete objects gives you a good place to start. Another good source of inspiration is reading successful college essays written by other students. 

2. Lean into Values

Are you honest to a fault? Does family matter more to you than success? Both of these questions can lead to an essay grounded in values, provided that you find concrete examples to show when honesty got you in trouble, or you chose to put family over personal advancement. Awareness of values not only as a motivating force but also as part of your cultural heritage or social class can give you an interesting angle on viewing your place in the world.

The VIA character survey is a good place to see what you value most.

3. Find a Unique Angle

One of my daughter’s classmates wrote a personal statement that earned him acceptance to Stanford — the admissions officer wrote to tell him — by showing how the lyrics of Taylor Swift songs influenced his development from boy to man. The reason his essay was successful isn’t because he wrote about Taylor Swift. It was successful because he wrote about using a woman’s take on the world to develop his own brand of masculinity and social consciousness.

The more unusual and specific both your topic and your perspective on your topic are, the more effective your essay will be. 

4. Document a Human  Being , Not a Human Doing

Your activities and awards list is where you get to show schools that you were class president or led your team to victory. So don’t make the mistake of recounting your achievements one more time in the personal statement. It’s not a place to showcase what you’ve done but to showcase who you are. This is one of the hardest sells for my high-achieving students, who are so wrapped up in their extracurriculars that they don’t know what else to write about. 

Last season, students who admitted failure, talked about work-life balance , and openly stated that they were undecided outperformed students who were more achievement-focused. 

5. Read Your Essay Aloud and Have Other Readers Look at It

I tell my students they will probably go through 3-5 drafts of the personal statement before they realize their best work. Revising draft after draft can be harder than brainstorming the initial great idea, however, and it is much more frustrating. 

One way to make the revision process easier is to read your own work aloud. You will catch awkward phrases and sentences that don’t make sense more readily this way. By the same token, having other people read the essay and provide feedback is a good way to see if the points you are trying to get across are clear and effective.  

Final Thought

I can’t promise that, if you follow these tips, you will get into the school of your dreams. But you will be better prepared to take on the personal statement, and that’s some of the battle right there. 

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Valerie is a freelance writer who specializes in real estate, finance, and business formation. When not writing, she can be found renovating her 200-year-old rental property on the coast of Maine.

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The Common App Opens Today—Here’s How To Answer Every Prompt

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Writing the Personal Statement for the Common Application

Today, the Common Application opens for the 2024–25 application cycle. As the platform opens, officially signaling the start of the college admissions season, many students are starting the daunting process of crafting their personal statements. The personal statement is a crucial opportunity to showcase individuality, character, and intellectual depth. In only 650 words, students should seek to encapsulate their authentic voice and perspective through a compelling and creative narrative. The process requires thorough brainstorming, strategy, and editing in order to produce an essay that is distinct from those of thousands of other applicants vying for seats at top colleges.

As students choose a prompt and begin brainstorming essays, here are the key points to consider in order to create a stellar essay for each prompt:

1. The Meaningful Background Prompt

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.

This prompt invites you to share an aspect of your identity or experience that is central to who you are. Start by thoughtfully considering aspects of your identity that are unique to you; then, try to think of a specific anecdote or experience that provides a portrait of those qualities. While detail and specificity are critical for all engaging essays, they are particularly important in this one, as you should show (rather than tell ) admissions committees the things that are quintessential to who you are.

Your essay should also have a takeaway—aside from just telling admissions officers what the background, identity, interest, or talent is, you should also focus on what you’ve learned from this piece of your identity, how it has developed over time, and how you will apply it in college and beyond.

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What we know about simone biles’ earnings and endorsements as she competes for all-around gold in paris, russia releasing reporter evan gershkovich and ex-marine paul whelan in major prisoner swap, reports say, 2. the overcoming obstacles prompt.

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?

This prompt is an opportunity to demonstrate resilience and the capacity to learn from adversity—qualities that elite universities value highly. Begin by choosing a specific incident where you faced a significant challenge or failure—this could be an academic setback, a personal loss, or a time when you were out of your comfort zone. Students often fall into one of two common mistakes when tackling this question. First, many students rely on cliches and overused tropes. Keep in mind that admissions officers will likely read hundreds of essays recounting stories of students missing the game-winning goal or flunking a test in sophomore English. Try to select a story that only you can tell, and if you choose a topic you worry might be popular among other students, consider how you might recount it in a unique and unexpected way. On the other hand, some students fall into the opposite problem, sharing about a particularly personal, traumatic, or triggering experience that impacted them. Though it should convey personal insights, the personal statement is still a professional document, and you should not make your reader uncomfortable or unsettled by the information you share.

Finally, note that admissions officers are not primarily interested in the challenge itself, but in how you responded to the challenge. Focus on the steps you took to overcome the obstacle, what you learned about yourself in the process, and how this experience has shaped your future actions and mindset. Highlight any new skills, perspectives, or motivations that emerged from this experience, demonstrating your ability to grow and adapt in the face of adversity.

3. The Changed Perspective Prompt

Prompt: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Top colleges seek to admit students who are willing to engage in critical thinking and who possess the intellectual courage to question norms or ideas. For this essay, consider beginning with an anecdote—starting the essay in media res can be an engaging way to catch the reader’s attention and quickly establish the stakes of your narrative. As you share your story, remember that the essay’s focus is to demonstrate your open-mindedness, your commitment to seeking the truth, and your willingness to engage deeply with complex issues. It also shows your ability to respect differing viewpoints while developing your own reasoned stance. As such, you should take the admissions committee through your process of growth and change step-by-step, clearly articulating how the experience impacted you and how your changed perspective will enhance their campus community should you enroll.

4. The Gratitude Prompt

Prompt: Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Like the two prior prompts, this prompt requires students to share a particular anecdote, and students should consider beginning with their narrative before zooming out to explore the broader theme of gratitude. Start by recounting a specific instance where someone did something for you that made you feel unexpectedly grateful. This could be a small act of kindness, a significant gesture, or a moment of support that made a lasting impression on you. Then, explore how this experience of gratitude has affected your actions or attitude. As you do so, be sure to avoid platitudes or vapid buzzwords—rather than expressing that the experience made you feel “good” or “appreciated” or the equivalent, share how it has affected your perspective or actions going forward. The best responses are those that illustrate actionable change rather than fuzzy feelings.

5. The Personal Growth Prompt

Prompt: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

A student’s college years are all about growth and transformation, and this prompt invites students to demonstrate their capacity for self-reflection and teachability. Thus, while this prompt might invite you to describe a major event or accomplishment, what you really want to show is a transformative period and the resulting reflection. Don’t feel as though the accomplishment, event, or realization needs to be especially earth-shattering or ground-breaking—sometimes the small things can make an impression in a big way. Finally, if you do choose to write about an accomplishment, be sure that you are not bragging. The prompt is an opportunity to show self-awareness, rather than to tout your achievements.

6. The Captivating Concept Prompt

Prompt: Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Intellectual curiosity and authentic passion are distinguishing characteristics in the landscape of top college admissions. For this prompt, zoom in on a particular topic that genuinely fascinates you, whether it’s a specific academic subject, a philosophical idea, or a creative pursuit. Many students manufacture a response to this prompt based on what they assume will impress admissions officers—but if you aren’t truly interested in Kantian ethics, an admissions officer will be able to tell. However silly, mundane, quirky, or bizarre your “captivating concept” may be, if it’s true to you—write about it!

While your response should describe how a specific aspect of this topic captivates your interest and why it resonates with you on a deeper level, it should also demonstrate how you have taken the initiative to explore this topic in unique ways. Have you sought out books on the topic? Taken an online course to elevate your knowledge? Started a club to connect with others who share your interest? Developed a passion project that mobilized your interest in service of your community?

7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

If none of the above prompts allow you to effectively express yourself, remember that the Common App includes an open prompt, wherein you can write on a topic of your choice! This is an excellent opportunity to share a story that doesn’t fit neatly into the other prompts but is crucial to understanding who you are. If you choose to pursue this prompt, make sure your essay is well-structured and cohesive, with a clear theme or message that ties everything together.

The Common App essay is more than just a component of your application; it’s a chance to speak directly to admissions officers and present your authentic self. Taking the time to brainstorm and edit will allow you to submit an essay that showcases your unique voice and original perspective to admissions officers at top colleges.

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How to Unlock Higher Essay Grades with Bloom’s Taxonomy Chloe Made Me Study

#161 – In this episode, I delve into the transformative power of Bloom's Taxonomy for essay writing. You'll discover how this powerful framework, developed by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom, can help you deepen your understanding, better interpret essay questions, allocate your word count effectively, and self-assess your writing skills. I'll guide you through the six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, showing you how to harness each one to enhance your essays and achieve higher grades. Whether you're balancing study with work or family commitments, this episode offers practical strategies to boost your confidence and elevate your academic performance. Tune in to unlock the secrets to writing better essays with Bloom's Taxonomy! To get the links and shownotes for this episode, head to: https://chloeburroughs.com/episode161. Find out more and enrol in Write Better Essays. Join the waitlist for the Kickbutt Students Club. Grab a copy of my book, The Return to Study Handbook.  

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