Crafting The Perfect College Application Essays

August 04, 2014

College application essays don’t have to make you crazy! AdmitSee offers tons of advice on how to make your application essays great from college counselors, students, and our team members! If you’re just getting started, check out these 7 Do’s and Don’ts for crafting your essays. 

We’ve organized lots of students’ application essays into essay topic packages - unlock a two packages and you get a third free! Also, click here to read about which essay topics you might want to skip (spoiler alert: writing about jail time is not a good idea). But remember sometimes controversial topics work!

Are you an international student? Read examples of application essays from other international students who got accepted to ivy league schools.  Here is advice from AdmitSee’s co-founder Stephanie Shyu about how to improve your writing! Also check out this interview with college counselor Keith for advice on the application process, including his take on extracurricular activities.

The intro is the most important part - a lot of college admissions officers will only read this paragraph and then just skim the rest. You can read thousands of accepted students’ application essay intros totally free on our essays tab! Make sure to have a killer hook - avoid cliche quotes from famous people. Remember, you want to put your best self forward - this is your opportunity to shine. You don’t want to come off like this (unless you’re applying to NYU’s Tisch Program).

Review this final essay checklist to make sure your essay is top notch! Compare it to essays by students who were already accepted to your first choice school. And remember, you can do this! You ARE a big deal!! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!



Browse Successful Application Files

rfkoerner
UMich


Accepted to UMich, GA Tech, Case, Michigan Tech

I am a hard-working, motivated student, athlete, and performer who enjoys having fun on the side.
htownbrown
Stanford


Accepted to Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, UPenn, Pomona, Williams, Amherst, Claremont (CMC), Northwestern, Vanderbilt, USC, JHU, UC Berkeley, UT Austin, UNC, Tulane, UMich, Georgetown

An aspiring lawyer who wants to make a difference in the world.
ssp2020
MIT


Accepted to MIT, UMich, Rutgers, Cornell, Rice, JHU

computer science / design / music / film
michellezhang
Northwestern


Accepted to Northwestern, Dartmouth, UC Berkeley, UChicago, Rice, UMich, USC

Aspiring entrepreneur interested in computer science, health, and sustainability; applied to college as an econ/environmental science major.

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