5 College Personal Statement Tips for a Strong Essay

1. Before your essay sounds good, it has to sound honest. Authenticity should always be your starting point. Over the years, I've helped hundreds of students write their personal statements and I can tell you that the most successful essays are always written by the heart before the hand. Why? Because at the end of the day, authenticity is the fabric of genuine and impactful connection. It's more than just showing the reader who you are; it's about using your essence to reflect theirs. Think of any film or song that resonates with you. This is precisely the bond that you want to create with your reader. This leads to the next point..
2. Write for yourself, not for the school. Of course, you will need to eventually tailor your essay into a mature and professionally sounding piece while following certain guidelines; however, do not make the mistake of writing with the question of "what do colleges want to hear?" I strongly suggest journaling your first draft. In other words, forget the fact that you are writing an admissions essay and simply speak your heart and mind for as if you were writing in a diary or talking to a friend. This strategy is particularly helpful for students who are struggling to find a meaningful topic. Most importantly, don't be discouraged by a lack of direction; I promise that you will strike gold so long as you keep digging. Expression and discovery always go hand in hand.
3. It's all in the presentation. Yes, you should avoid sob stories and cliches; however, this ultimately doesn't boil down to the topic but the context in which you use it. There is not a single generic topic that is off limits so long as you talk about it in a non-generic way. In other words, it's not just what you say but how you say it. The number of themes available to you are ultimately limited; however, the methods of framing and packaging it are endless.
4. Do not be dogmatic (or lazy) with your approach. Oftentimes, when I'm working with a student, we touch upon a side-theme in the final draft that paints the essay in a much more impactful and authentic light. When this occurs, I always encourage students to restructure the entire piece to fit that theme, working on the essay three-dimensionally. You may very well find new themes and have new realizations as you are writing. Never be afraid to reconstruct or even demolish your piece if you've found a better foundation to build on.
5. Write from a place of authority. After all, it's a personal statement, not a personal plea. You need to have conviction when talking about your life. At certain points, you may ask yourself, "Is this good enough for a college essay?" Replace that question with "If this was the last time I spoke about my life, would this be the story I want to share?" Most of all, don't think that just because you're young, you cannot teach the admissions board member something new about life or offer them an interesting perspective.
6. Not every essay needs to be serious or profound. You can probably imagine how much drama college admission reads. A little levity goes a long way. If you have a sense of humor, use it! Also, if you are discussing a heavy topic, it may help to find places in your essay for some relief. A mature essay is one that can balance a spectrum of emotions.
7. Start by showing; not telling. Ever notice how some television series open with an interesting scene that is not yet explained, followed by the opening credits, then the actual storyline that leads up to it? Try adopting this approach for your essay. Engage your reader from the start with an anecdote. Then format the rest of the essay so that your opening scene starts making sense.
8. Tie the conclusion back to the introduction. For instance, if you opened up with an anecdote, refer to it (or something similar) in a new light and with a new understanding in your conclusion. While this strategy is not always necessary, having your essay come full circle is always pleasing for the reader.
9. Title your essay. Often underrated, but an interesting title goes a very long way and can be the perfect bow for your masterpiece. Sometimes, it's great to think of a title BEFORE you finish your essay; this way, you'll have a better understanding of your essay's meaning as you are writing it. It also helps to look through your essay to see if there are any interesting phrases or words that could be used as a title.
10. Stick to the theme! While it may be tempting to veer off into tangents to show how diverse you are, doing so will always dilute the impact of your personal statement. Remember, you don't have a huge word-count to work with. Therefore, your essay needs to be as efficient as possible. Focus on quality, not quantity. Remember, you are not writing a resume; you're creating a story, and the last thing you want to do is to make your reader forget what it's about.

Happy writing, everyone, and remember, authenticity is key.

So here's the deal: after reading thousands of essays over the last several years, I know you have it in you to write a strong, heartfelt, personal, personal essay. So, I’m sharing with you the exact steps I use with my own students to get them to dig down and find their amazing essay inside. It’s there inside you, too. I promise.

A little background: I was a writing teacher for thirty years before I became a college admissions consultant, and for the last fifteen of those years, I taught freshman writing at Houston Community College. Much of that time was spent covering and teaching my personal favorite, the Personal Essay. For the last 9 years, I’ve been a private college admissions consultant, and when I’m not answering questions on Instagram or or working with my students, I’m reading posts in college admissions counselor groups and multiple emails from university and college admissions teams, following tons of admissions offices and deans on social media, visiting colleges, and going to conferences (and frequent virtual webinars).

Here’s what I know: Your idea about some kind of story you tell just isn’t that important. Often, the best essays I read come from the most mundane ideas. So many of you are focused on finding the magical idea that you’re letting the point of the essay escape you.

There is no magic formula.

There is no perfect idea.

You have the focus of the essay right there. With you. It’s inside you because that’s what it should be about: inside you. I mean, we the readers, want to get to know the narrator version of your life, not the pretty scenery version where we only see what the character is doing. We need to know what’s happening inside your head, and most importantly, we need your values. We need your beliefs.

So, ok then, what’s the frickin’ point of the personal essay then? Here’s how I see it and what I’ve learned over many years and lots of time investigating and sleuthing on multiple college admissions websites, years of college admissions conference attending, and lots of social media, Instagram, and Facebook following. Despite what you think and what you’ve been told, I’ve come to believe (strongly!) that the point of the personal essay is not to STAND OUT, but to STICK WITH. You want the reader to fight for you in committee, and they will want to fight for you in committee if you build a connection with them. Here's a quote straight from  on Twitter (back when Twitter was Twitter): “I see so many students worrying about finding a unique college application essay that will ‘set them apart” right now. Application essay topics don’t have to be unique! I don’t mind if students write about something super popular, whether it’s an activity, academic interest, book, song… I just want them to give a little insight into who they are.”

How do you build that connection? You build a connection with your reader by building bridges instead of walls. Walls can be an extended metaphor that has gone too far, an essay that feels like it’s trying too hard, stilted formal language, thesaurus words (please don’t sound like you’ve swallowed a thesaurus -- choking isn’t a good look), paragraphs that aren’t about inside you at all, but that are about another person, your activities ECs, or even too much description. When I feel like someone is writing an essay that has been specifically written with the intent of impressing me – that builds a wall. Bridges let me in. Bridges are human connections. Bridges show vulnerability and problem-solving. Bridges aren’t afraid to show failure and learn from that failure. Think about the bridges and walls you have with your friends. What connects you with your friends with whom you have deeper relationships? What puts up a wall with your more shallow and surface friends?

If you fill your brain with "essays that work," you get stuck inside your head about what a personal essay should look like. You can become limited in your idea of what a college essay is. Honestly, when I'm reading essays, the essays that I feel need the most work are from kids who have tried to emulate what they think an essay "should be", so they get focused on the essay itself rather than sharing who they are and what's important to them. And, moreover, you really don't know if someone's essay helped their app or they got into a school in spite of their essays.

Example: My daughter is an amazing writer, and she won tons of national and state awards for writing in high school. I never worried about or gave her college essays a second thought -- not that it would have mattered if I did because she wouldn't let me near her applications anyway, but that's outside the point of this story. She was accepted to every school she applied to with the exception of Princeton, and she attended Harvard. I think we all just assumed her personal essay helped her with admissions because she wasn't the strongest student in her school when it came to doing homework or daily assignments. But when she used the FERPA rule to review her application later during her sophomore year, she discovered that she'd been admitted despite the fact that they hated her essay. They called it "over-blown" "full of itself" and "way too self-important." That's just one example, but from many of the "essays that worked" that I've seen online, I've found a similar vein. So, you -- or the writer of that essay have no idea if that essay actually helped or hurt them in admissions -- even if they were admitted.

I go into more detail about this in the essay chapter in my book with the help of  (one of our amazing former mods on A2C) and his wise words. I've linked that chapter below in resources. Also, you can find words from  there. You might be able to find her advice archived here on Users somewhere too. She's not active anymore, but she has some awesome posts based on her years of college essay coaching -- starting after she graduated and had read her FERPA! Here's a link to one of her essay posts.

The only exceptions I'd consider to this step are reading essays on College Essay Guy's website or from college admissions websites (like Johns Hopkins, for example) where they profile what they liked! And even then, I still don't fully advise it because I want you focused on your own thoughts and feelings and values, and I don't want you to be stymied by what you think your essay should look like. If you’d like to read some essays from colleges and also read what other folks in admissions say about reading “essays that worked,” here’s a link.

I loved this so comment about reading “Essays that Work” from  so much that I wanted to add it here to make sure y’all all got to see it: "When you have no reference, that accepted essay becomes a reference. You will sound insincere. Furthermore, you create a mental guideline on how a "good" essay is and it severely stunts how much you can express yourself, and that makes your essay that much even more impersonal. It would be like forcing Django Reinhardt to learn the piano instead of the guitar, because you've seen so many famous pianists and not so many guitarists then."

Put aside the pressure of the essays and just write and then keep writing. Jot down a daily journal. Jot down your thoughts about the state of the world. Jot down your gratitudes. Don’t worry about grammar or trying to write in any certain way about any certain topic. Just get comfortable putting words on a piece of paper -- or screen. Hell, write to us here on A2C every day for a week so you can get comfortable with your voice. You can do this while writing your personal essay.

Set a one-minute timer on your phone and list out loud things you love, then list things you value, then list things you believe. Do it with a friend or do it on your own. It doesn’t matter. It’s a good warm-up. You can do this on different days or all one day. You can tell me some in the comments below if you like! (Idea piggy-backed from College Essay Guy)

While I don't feel that you have to pick one of the prompts, because the topic is YOU no matter what, I do think it's important to take some time to internalize what they are asking of you. You can find the prompts here. I encourage you to take time to read them all and focus on these words: background, identity, meaningful, lessons, challenge, obstacles, setback, failure, learn, experience, reflect, questioned, challenged, belief, idea, thinking, problem, solved, challenge, personal importance, significance to you, solution, personal growth, understanding of yourself, engaging.

Maybe highlight them in pretty colors and absorb them as you are in this thinking phase. All of these questions are asking you to dig deep and share what you've learned from your experiences. They want to see a person who's ready to learn from mistakes and obstacles and who knows they can handle bumps in the road because they have.

Go to www.thisibelieve.org and read essays. There are thousands of real deal personal essays there. Read at least three of them and absorb them. You can also listen to them, which can be fun because you can take the essays with you on a walk!

Why am I ok with "this I believe" essays and not "essays that worked"? Great question. It's because “this I believe essays” aren't written with the intent to try to impress someone, but they are written (the good ones anyway) to express innermost values. Also, there are literally thousands of them, so you can play for hours listening and digging in and learning about what a personal essay sounds like that goes deep and really personal. As you read and listen to these essays, see where they may or may not fit into the Common App Essay Prompts. Here’s a link to some of my favorites.

Here’s the deal about the personal essay. It has to be just that — super, incredibly, deeply personal. The essay needs to be about Inner You — the you they can’t get to know anywhere else in your application. So, you have to peel off your onion layers, find your inner Shrek, dig in super deep, and get to know yourself as you’ve never done before. What is the essence of you-ness you want the readers to know about you? It’s not easy. Ask yourself (and write down these answers) some really personal questions like:

What do I believe?

What do I think?

What do I value?

What keeps me up at night?

What do I get excited about?

What comforts me?

What worries me?

What’s important to me?

Who are my superheroes?

What’s my superpower?

What would my superpower be if I could have any superpower?

What’s my secret sauce?

What reminds me of home?

Just play with these. And learn a lot. Become the expert on you because you are really the only person who can be the expert on you. Here and here are some more questions to ask yourself as you’re going through this process. After you’ve answered them, look for themes that tell you about yourself. Then, you’ll be ready to teach the lesson about who you are and what you believe and value to the application readers. The topic is you. Any vehicle (idea or story) that gets across the message of what’s important to you can work. Start with the message you want to share about who you are. Then find ways to demonstrate that.

This doesn’t have to be — and, (in my opinion) — shouldn’t be, a complete narrative. I think the essays need to be more reflection and analysis than story. Those are the essays that stick with me after reading a few thousand of them.

I’m not saying don’t use a story. Use one or two if that’s what feels right for you. Just remember the story is only the vehicle for getting the message of who you are across the page. I like to see more commentary and less narrative, so for me the Show, not Tell isn’t really that effective. I prefer show and tell — like kindergarten. I don’t want a rundown of your activities — if something is discussed elsewhere in your application, to me, you don’t want to waste the valuable space of the personal essay. In essence, you can think of it like this: More expressing, Less Impressing.

This is fun: Pick three or four of the questions above and play around with them on www.themostdangerouswritingapp.com. I like the superhero one, what do I believe, the zombie question, and special sauce, but you pick the ones you like most. Give yourself three or five minutes only to write as much as you can. The cool thing about the most dangerous writing app is that if you stop, you lose what you write, so be careful. I’ve had many many students end up using what they wrote in those few minutes as the catalyst or largest part of their essay. Copy and paste those paragraphs to a google doc so you can use them.

Give those thoughts some time. Let these thoughts simmer. Take long walks and showers. Sit in silence. Give your brain a break from applications and all the stuff we spend so much time filling them with. Turn off ALLLLLL the screens. You’ve asked yourself some tough questions; now you have to give your brain some time to just let the thoughts soak. Live with these thoughts and questions for a few days and just hang out with them. Maybe jot down a note or two as you think of them, but it’s important to spend some time doing nothing at all to let your brain deal with your thoughts and questions. For many of you, this is the first time in your lives you’ve grappled with some of these big questions about life.

Basically, this: "Bad writing precedes good writing. This is an infallible rule, so don't waste time trying to avoid bad writing. That just slows down the process. Anything committed to paper can be changed. The idea is to start, and then go from there." ~ Janet Hulstrand.

So, yeah. Get going on that shitty draft -- especially if you're experiencing overanalysis paralysis, just feel stuck, or feel like you suck at writing. I borrowed this idea from one of our subreddit parents who’d borrowed it from Anne Lamott. Start with writing the shittiest most terrible thing you can do. Just write down all your thoughts and words. Throw away grammar, and trying to make sense of it all. Push yourself to write some total crap. Just keep going until it's the worst most horrible pile of words on a page you've seen. Here's what she says "make it trite, make it stupid, make it arrogant, make it profane." Get all that crappy stuff out of your head and write it down. Then put it away. Just leave it for a day or two and then I love this: She suggests doing a dramatic reading of it. How fun is that?

Read what Anne Lamotte says about Shitty First Drafts here.

Take what you've written on tmdwa and in your shitty first draft and use that to get yourself going. Write your essay. Focus on who you are — not what you do. Like I said earlier, your job is to build a connection with your reader. You build a connection by allowing someone in and being vulnerable. So take what you learned about yourself and share that knowledge.

Essay readers in admissions offices will read your essays quickly, so with limited time to get the essence of who you are across a sheet of paper (or computer screen), clarity and focus on INNER you are essential from the get-go. You have to remember that they will give your essay about 5 minutes. Maybe 10. You don't have a lot of time to be too nuanced. Lack of clarity, too many details about anything other than you, and language that is more complicated than necessary all build barriers (walls) between you and the reader, something you really don’t want. Remember, you want bridges.

While it’s certainly not the only way to write a personal essay, and I don’t suggest that you have to do it this way, the easiest way to move forward might be to use a “This I Believe” type format like those essays you read in www.thisibelieve.org. So if you’re looking for an easy way to move forward, focus on one belief that you thought of and then write about it.

If you can include the words I believe, I think, I value, I wonder, I know, and they fit well in your essay then you know that it’s personal. (Helpful Hints: 1. Remember to use your voice. This essay should “sound” like you and be more conversational. It’s not an English 5 paragraph essay. More like talking to an older cousin, you really like and respect. 2. I also like to suggest throwing in an “I mean” and a “you know” -- if those can flow in your essay, then you know it’s conversational and relaxed.)

Suggestion: If staring at a blank screen stresses you out, record your thoughts by talking into your recorder on your phone. That’s a great idea for those of you who like to write while you walk (like me). Then just write it all down and give it some structure if you ramble!

If someone covered up your name with a thumb or they found your essay on the floor in the middle of your high school hallway with no name on it, would your mom or your best friend know it was yours? If not, keep working. That essay needs to sound like you with your voice, your tone, and include your specific experiences.

Here’s some great advice from my daughter, a college essay specialist: “SPECIFICS ARE THE SPICES (all caps added) — they make the essay worth eating. Or reading. You get it. SPECIFICS MAKE THE ESSAY UNIQUELY ABOUT YOU!!!! Instead of saying that you are practicing “the audition pieces,” tell me specifically which ones. Was it Mozart’s Concerto no. 23 in a minor? Was it Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe?” I want to know! Instead of saying that you are “in classes,” tell me which classes — Physics? Welding? AP Bio? Semi-Professional Clowning? If you don’t tell me, I’m forced to assume, and the reader is going to assume the most boring option every time, which means the more assumptions you leave us to make, the more boring the essay. And seriously, if you take Clowning classes, you cannot leave that out. I need to know that."

Edit the sht out of your essay. Make sure you read it on your computer screen, read it on paper, and read it out loud, and have at least one other person you trust look it over. Here's one of my posts that goes over how to edit essays with lots more detail -- you should read it when it’s edit time. Editing is far more than working on grammar, although grammar is important.

Editing can be about totally restructuring the essay -- and that can be good. When I’m reviewing essays, I look for bumps. Places where when I’m reading I just don’t feel the flow. It’s usually from too much flowery language or long-drawn-out metaphors or funky word choices, so read out loud and look for those bumps! I also look for places where the writing is vague and where the writer can add more specifics (see STEP ELEVEN). Just make sure you are in charge of all edits. If you're still finding your essay is toooooo loooong, try this Cutting to the Bone Exercise!

And, now pay attention here -- If you get someone else to review your essay, don’t let them just randomly make edits and revisions. Make sure they suggest edits -- and YOU agree with them and ok them.

Pat yourself on the back, sit back and smile. (and then go back and edit it again!!)

You CAN do this. It’s hard, but so important for your future, your college admissions, for sure, but it’s also important just for future you to take the time to learn to write clearly and dig in and figure out what’s important about the essence of who you are.

You'll notice I don't include a step about using Chat GPT and that's because I'm very concerned about the effects of AI and GPTs and LLM on all of us, but especially on young minds, so I avoided bringing it up. I have a whole post I'm going to write about this someday. I will share that when one of my students began to bring Chat GPT into their essays last fall, it was immediately obvious to me because the essay changed from being personal and insightful to boring and generic.

Trust your instincts -- don't trust robots. You are human. Colleges are looking for humans -- not robots.

, as usual, has some awesome insight that I want to share here. You can read his comment below, but I'm going to copy his words here for you, too:

"One more tip for 2025 that's particularly important this cycle: Don't touch ChatGPT, especially early on in the process. It doesn't give you personal, specific touches - it's literally designed to produce predictable output. You'll get a lot of the same lame, generic, commonplace themes as all the other lazy GPT zombies. It's even worse than reading a bunch of "essays that worked" and copying their style/approach because SO many applicants are going to use AI.

Yes, you'll see some people/articles saying they used it and got into some top colleges. But that will be the exception. Mathematically, there will be too many students using it for it to provide any kind of real advantage. Your essay is supposed to be about YOU, and you're the world's foremost expert on that subject. Don't outsource that away.

If you MUST use it, make sure you've told your own story first, then ask it for advice, then think critically before mindlessly implementing any of its suggestions. I don't think it's impossible for AI to be useful, but I do think it will take more work to get there vs writing and editing everything yourself. Here be dragons." 🐉

**AN IMPORTANT NOTE*\* You're going to hear lots of different advice about all sorts of things when it comes to college admissions, and especially about the essay. My advice to you is to take it all in and absorb what does work and doesn't work for you. I don't think there's one right or wrong way to end up with a killer essay that gets to the point of you.

• Be SURE to check out the A2C WIKI!
• Def Read what  and  have to say in their many wonderful posts here on Users
• Here are some of my faves: How to end an essay gracefully, Why you shouldn't read essays that worked, Don't put your admissions readers to sleep
• Great points by in their response to a post about the essay
• Katherine Center's Read for Joy (but it's really about writing too)
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott -- Advice on writing
• Stephen King's Top 13 Writing Tips
• Why You Should Probably Delete the First Paragraph
• Here’s a great blog post filled with great blog posts about the essay from Rick Clark, Director of Admissions at Georgia Tech.
• More Advice from Rick Clark
• The Neuroscience of Your Brain on Fiction (NYT)
• George Saunders -- On Story (YouTube)
• Here’s a link to the essay chapter of my book, Hey AdmissionsMom: Real Talk from Users: In it, you'll find lots of advice from me and others from the community from 2016-2018.

tl;dr: The personal essay is about INNER YOU. Find your Inner Shrek. Build bridges, not walls. You do have an amazing essay inside you. I promise.

Title's self explanatory!

Hope this helps!

1.Before your essay sounds good, it has to sound honest. Authenticity should always be your starting point. The primary goal of the personal statement should not be to impress your reader (that's what the rest of the application is for) but to connect with them. Remember, admissions officers are not robots (not yet, at least). They are human beings with emotions and experiences, just like you. When you write from that standpoint of your authentic self, you not only forge a stronger connection with your reader but also deepen their connection with themselves. Think about the effect your favorite film, book, or song had on you—that is the impression you want to leave. As Maya Angelou famously said, "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." The only way to get through to a person's heart is to speak from yours. That leads to the next point…

1. Write for yourself, not for the school. Of course, you will need to tailor your essay at some point into a professionally sounding piece while following specific guidelines; however, do not make the mistake of writing with the question: "What do colleges want to hear?" Start with a first draft that has no word limit. On that note, forget that you are writing an admissions essay entirely and simply journal freely. When it comes to expression, you want to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of a playground, not a classroom. Be free, have fun, and know there is no such thing as a "mistake" when it comes to telling your story. Most importantly, don't be discouraged by a lack of direction; I promise you will strike gold so long as you keep digging. Expression and discovery always go hand in hand.

2. It's all in the presentation. Yes, sob stories and cliches should be avoided; however, this ultimately doesn't boil down to the topic but the context in which you use it. There is not a single "generic" topic that is off-limits as long as you talk about it in a non-generic way. In other words, it's not what you say but how you say it. The number of themes available to you is ultimately limited; however, the ways of packaging them are endless.

3. Have a flexible and three-dimensional approach. Often when I'm working with a student, we touch upon a side theme in the final draft that paints the essay in a much more impactful and authentic light. When this occurs, I encourage the student to restructure the entire piece to fit that theme. In other words, never be afraid to reconstruct or even demolish your piece if you've found a better foundation to build on. You should also never rush the process or try to finish it in one shot. Think of the personal statement as a canvas you're painting—occasionally, you need to step away from it to have a clearer picture of how to improve it.

4. Write from a place of authority. After all, it's a personal statement, not a personal plea. Have conviction when talking about your life. At certain points, you may ask yourself, "Is this good enough for a college essay?" Replace that question with "Is the story I want to share with the world?" Moreover, don't think that just because you're young, you cannot teach the admissions board member something new about life or offer them an interesting perspective.

5. Not every essay needs to be serious or profound. You can imagine how much drama college admission reads; a little levity goes a long way! If you have a sense of humor, use it! And if you happen to be discussing a heavy topic, find places in your essay for some relief. A mature essay is one that can balance a spectrum of emotions.

6. Start by showing, not telling. Ever notice how some television series opens with a captivating scene that is not yet explained, followed by the opening credits, then the actual storyline that leads up to it? Try adopting this approach for your essay. Engage your reader from the start with an anecdote. Then format the rest of the essay to contextualize the opening scene. In other words, use the "spectacle" to make them stay for the content.

7. Tie the conclusion back to the introduction. For instance, if you opened up with an anecdote, refer to it (or something similar) in a new light and with a new understanding in your conclusion. While this strategy is not always necessary, having your essay come full circle is always pleasing for the reader.

8. Title your essay. Often underrated, but an engaging, witty title goes a long way and can be the perfect bow for your masterpiece. Sometimes, it's great to think of a title BEFORE you finish your essay; this way, you'll have a better understanding of what your essay is about as you are writing it. It also helps to look through your work to see if there are any interesting phrases or words that could be used as a title

9. Stick to the theme! While it may be tempting to veer off into tangents to show how diverse you are, doing so will always dilute the impact of your personal statement. Remember, you don't have a huge word count; therefore, your essay needs to be as efficient as possible. Focus on quality, not quantity. You are not writing a resume but creating a story; the last thing you want to do is make your reader forget what it's about.

10. You are a gem. If there's anything this line of work has taught me over the years, it's that every single person on earth has a story worth telling. I can't tell you how many times I've met with students who, after an entire hour of conversation, seem to have absolutely nothing interesting about their lives. Yet, without fail, something beautiful and unique always arises eventually from inside them. It may take some time, but as long as you remain willing and open, you will find something far better than you ever imagined. So, take the time to get to know yourself—after all, that is who you are writing about. Understand that the personal statement is so much more than just something you do to get into college; it is an opportunity to discover who you are on a deeper level. I suggest you view it that way because the one-of-kind essay you're after starts with understanding you are one-of-kind yourself. Find what makes you YOU, for that is what simultaneously makes you stand out from the crowd and deeply connect with them. Such is the beautiful paradox of authenticity.

See, isn't it nice when things come full circle? :)

Happy writing, everyone, and remember, authenticity is gold.

I'm a former admissions officer at Tufts and parent of a rising senior.

I'm witnessing firsthand how difficult it is to pin down a topic.

So I felt like I would offer simple steps on how to craft a compelling PS.

STEP 1: (Focus on one EC activity): Start by evaluating your most prominent extracurricular activities.

Hopefully, one of these activities connects to your intended major. Most importantly, it needs to connect to your actual academic strengths. I can't tell you how many times a student insists they want to declare a major that doesn't align with their academic record. Don't do it!

I realize your PS is not about your major, however, your application (including your essays) will be judged against applicants with your same major, so give yourself the best shot.

Your ECs should bridge your academic strengths/scores to what you aim to study; especially, the ones you spent the most time and energy doing. How you frame your ECs is more malleable than you realize. For example, look at the following profiles both with the same extracurricular activity but different strengths and majors:

Student 1

• academic strength: 780 on the SAT math section
• intended major: computer science
• main extracurricular: debate team
• the bridge:
  • Debate is essentially applied logic. building a debate case is like writing a complex algorithm. you have to anticipate edge cases, structure conditional arguments, and debug an opponent's flawed logic in real-time.

Student 2

• academic strength: 760 on the sat reading and writing section
• intended major: psychology
• main extracurricular: debate team
• the bridge:
  • debate is not just about talking fast; it is real-time behavioral analysis. building a persuasive case requires you to understand cognitive biases, anticipate human reactions, and frame language to trigger a specific emotional or logical response from the judges.

STEP 2: (Identify a challenging experience): Now think about an experience connected to that EC that was challenging. Try to think of a moment that changed the way you think and what you believe.

Consider experiences that caused you to have anxiety? What experiences serviced some fears or insecurities? What experiences created tension or internal conflict for you? What has caused you regret, embarrassment, or remorse?

It doesn't need to be an extraordinary experience; in fact, the more common, the better. this shows how you can take something mundane and make it magical. it also makes you more relatable.

• Sitting at a desk taking notes during an opponent's speech on a random Saturday morning.
• standing in the hallway before a debate round, flipping a coin to see which team has to argue the affirmative side and which has to argue the negative
• the two-hour drive back to the high school in the dark after your entire team got eliminated in the preliminary rounds

Now give the experience an unexpected twist. Give us an opposite reaction to what most people expect.

• You suddenly stop writing because you realize she is completely right.
• You win the flip and get the side you completely agree with, but you realize you have no idea why you actually believe it.
• You feel a massive, overwhelming sense of relief that the pressure is off, and you realize you've been using intellectual arguments to avoid actually connecting with your teammates.

Zoom in on that moment to set up how you introduce the challenge. slow time down and try to incorporate the senses (touch, smell, taste...)

• The overhead fluorescent lights hummed with a low-frequency buzz that seemed to sync up with my opponent’s frantic, repetitive tapping.
• The hallway was full of echoing voices and slamming lockers, but right between us, it was dead silent
• the van was a tomb of silence, vibrating rhythmically against the asphalt while streaks of orange streetlights flashed against the cold, dark glass of the window.

This will become the hook that sets up the opening Scene and introduces the experience/challenge that shaped you. this serves as the anchor in your personal statement.

Now that you've done the hardest part, you're ready to piece together the rest of your essay.

STEP 3: (Plug into a framework). For the sake of brevity I will now be brief. Once you have this experience, follow the framework I call SPARK b/c this experience should have sparked a change inside of you.

• Scene: the anchor moment that sets the stage. drop the reader right into the action.
• Problem & context: hit pause and zoom out. provide background about who you are and how you got here. explain the internal conflict rooted in your history or past experiences. this gives the reader deep insight into your personality.
• Actions: the actual things you did to address the problem. these actions do not just have to address the immediate scene. they can be about solving the deeper problem you introduced from your past.
• Reflection: how you think and reflect on your actions and the actions of others. this is where the real depth happens. it is perfectly fine to have multiple reflection points as you try different actions.
• Key insights: what you learned about yourself and the world. the essay should end with a circular conclusion that ties back to the opening.

here is a simple example of SPARK in action, turning a micro-moment from the debate team into a macro-truth. notice how the focus is on the internal shift, not a list of debate awards, and how zooming in on the scene makes it believable and how your background makes it personal.

• scene:
  • i gripped the edges of the wooden podium, staring at my heavily highlighted notes on universal basic income. i opened my mouth to deliver my final rebuttal, looked at my opponent across the room, and suddenly realized her argument about localized inflation was completely right.
• problem/context:
  • i grew up in a loud house with four older brothers where the only way to be heard was to never back down. my entire identity in the debate club was built on aggressively winning arguments to prove my worth, not actually finding the truth.
• actions:
  • over the next few months, i stopped trying to just win. i started listening to my brothers at home instead of shouting over them. at my next tournament, i paused, conceded a major point on the live microphone, and pivoted my speech to find common ground.
• reflection:
  • i realized that stepping back at home made my brothers actually respect my opinions more. on the stage, i watched my coach shake his head in disappointment, but i felt a strange sense of relief. i realized the point of communication is to actually understand the issue.
• key insights:
  • true confidence is having the humility to change your mind when presented with better evidence. for years i treated every conversation like a zero-sum economy where i had to hoard all the points to survive. i smiled and put down my notes on universal basic income. conceding to her argument about localized inflation was the exact deficit i needed to finally earn my voice.

This personal statement would change based on your major and academic strengths, but the structure is the same and it wouldn't change too much. Perhaps the reflection and key insights would be more related to your major but we're talking adjustments, not overhauls.

To put a bow on this: Bridge your hard data (academic scores) to your biggest extracurricular, find a mundane micro-moment, ground us in the scene, and then flip the script.

Admissions officers aren't looking for an applicant who feigns humility by finding a clever way to tell us how great they are. We are looking for the applicant brave enough to be vulnerable and interesting. One who concedes a point, admits an internal flaw, and shows us how they actually think. Put down your armor, take a deep breath, and just talk to us. you’ve got this.

People actually submit their essays with a title?? I thought admissions offices, consultants, etc. just added titles to essays they use as references so everyone is on the same page 😭😭😭

Hi Everyone,

I am a college counselor who works with about 100 kids a year, and I just wanted to share some tips as we move into application season!

Here are a few common mistakes I point out to my seniors all the time:

1. Going for cliche topics because it is low hanging fruit: many of my seniors as they start brainstorming go for big sports moments, talk about being the "eldest daughter" or "forgotten middle child" without connecting it to their own personal growth and how that realization helped them achieve or experience something tangible. It is okay to talk about things others experience but you need to be able to specifically connect it to something about yourself and weave it into a narrative which has a background, body, and conclusion- paired with a strong hook.

2. Not answering all of the prompt. Many students will focus on one part of a multi-part prompt and ignore the rest. If a prompt asks what you did AND what you learned, you need both. I see so many essays that are 90% story and then a rushed, generic sentence at the end trying to cram in the "lesson." Colleges can tell when the reflection was an afterthought.

3. Writing the "resume in paragraph form" essay. This is where a student lists every achievement, award, and leadership title instead of picking one moment and going deep. Admissions officers already have your activities list. The essay is your chance to show them how you think, not what you have done. One specific scene beats five accomplishments every time.

4. Starting with a quote or a dictionary definition. I know it feels like a safe way to open, but readers have seen "Merriam-Webster defines resilience as..." more times than you can imagine. Start in the middle of the moment instead. Drop the reader right into the scene.

5. Making the essay about someone else. This comes up a lot with essays about a grandparent, a coach, or a sibling. It is fine to be inspired by someone, but if that person is doing more of the "acting" in the essay than you are, admissions has no idea who they are actually admitting. Keep the camera on you.

6. Playing it too safe. Some students are so worried about sounding arrogant that they undersell real accomplishments, or they are so worried about being too vulnerable that the essay stays surface level. The best essays sit in that uncomfortable middle where you are honest about a struggle or a flaw without turning it into a pity party.

A good check before submitting: if you swapped your name for a classmate's, would the essay still make sense? If yes, it is too generic and needs a more specific, personal moment.

Happy to answer questions if anyone wants a second set of eyes on their brainstorming process!

I've been sitting at my desk for the past three days trying to write my college personal statement. I've written multiple drafts and I hate them all.

Everyone has told me my stats and ECs are solid. The only thing I have to do is "kill my writing" or "present a cohesive narrative." Somehow, I must write an AMAZING essay that makes me stand out among other Ivy applicants, and that pressure has crushed my creativity. I've read so much advice about essays over the past couple days and now I'm even more lost. Everyone's opinions on what makes an essay stand out is contradictory.

What do I even write about? I refuse to exploit my trauma for a stupid college essay. It feels so icky. I'm literally so lost. Any help or tips would be appreciated!!

What do you write yourself?

Fantastic advice as usual! One more tip for 2025 that's particularly important this cycle: Don't touch ChatGPT, especially early on in the process. It doesn't give you personal, specific touches - it's literally designed to produce predictable output. You'll get a lot of the same lame, generic, commonplace themes as all the other lazy GPT zombies. It's even worse than reading a bunch of "essays that worked" and copying their style/approach because SO many applicants are going to use AI.

Yes, you'll see some people/articles saying they used it and got into some top colleges. But that will be the exception. Mathematically, there will be too many students using it for it to provide any kind of real advantage. Your essay is supposed to be about YOU, and you're the world's foremost expert on that subject. Don't outsource that away.

If you MUST use it, make sure you've told your own story first, then ask it for advice, then think critically before mindlessly implementing any of its suggestions. I don't think it's impossible for AI to be useful, but I do think it will take more work to get there vs writing and editing everything yourself. Here be dragons.

Hi Everyone,

I am a college counselor who works with about 100 kids a year, and I just wanted to share some tips as we move into application season!

Here are a few common mistakes I point out to my seniors all the time:

1. **Going for cliche topics because it is low hanging fruit:** many of my seniors as they start brainstorming go for big sports moments, talk about being the "eldest daughter" or "forgotten middle child" without connecting it to their own personal growth and how that realization helped them achieve or experience something tangible. It is okay to talk about things others experience but you need to be able to specifically connect it to something about yourself and weave it into a narrative which has a background, body, and conclusion- paired with a strong hook.

**2. Not answering all of the prompt.** Many students will focus on one part of a multi-part prompt and ignore the rest. If a prompt asks what you did AND what you learned, you need both. I see so many essays that are 90% story and then a rushed, generic sentence at the end trying to cram in the "lesson." Colleges can tell when the reflection was an afterthought.

**3. Writing the "resume in paragraph form" essay.** This is where a student lists every achievement, award, and leadership title instead of picking one moment and going deep. Admissions officers already have your activities list. The essay is your chance to show them how you think, not what you have done. One specific scene beats five accomplishments every time.

**4. Starting with a quote or a dictionary definition.** I know it feels like a safe way to open, but readers have seen "Merriam-Webster defines resilience as..." more times than you can imagine. Start in the middle of the moment instead. Drop the reader right into the scene.

**5. Making the essay about someone else.** This comes up a lot with essays about a grandparent, a coach, or a sibling. It is fine to be inspired by someone, but if that person is doing more of the "acting" in the essay than you are, admissions has no idea who they are actually admitting. Keep the camera on you.

**6. Playing it too safe.** Some students are so worried about sounding arrogant that they undersell real accomplishments, or they are so worried about being too vulnerable that the essay stays surface level. The best essays sit in that uncomfortable middle where you are honest about a struggle or a flaw without turning it into a pity party.

A good check before submitting: if you swapped your name for a classmate's, would the essay still make sense? If yes, it is too generic and needs a more specific, personal moment.

Happy to answer questions if anyone wants a second set of eyes on their brainstorming process!

Hello! I need help starting on my personal statement; I’m very grateful to not have any life altering moment, but frankly my life is boring. I don’t play sports, don’t rly have any a major ec either. Honestly my life has been academics only bc of my parents. Idk I don’t want to sound rude but if anyone’s been in this position like not being interesting on the surface (ig, sorry!! Idk how to explain it, but I’m not intending on offending anyone!!) yet still found smth super niche to turn into a rly nice essay I would appreciate it so much! Thank you!!

Nontraditional student here. I applied to my dream school at 25 years old, not thinking that I even stood a chance. Whenever I need a good laugh, I look back at my college "essays", which are rich in hyperbole and language that would make an English professor faint.

These admissions officers get thousands of applications per year that follow a similar format in an almost cookie-cutteresque fashion. It's read, reject, rinse, and repeat.

Point I'm making is this: be true to yourself and write something in a way that captures who YOU are. I'm not saying be unprofessional, but you can probably loosen up a little more than you would think.

Im a rising senior and I have no idea what to write for the common app essay. I feel like I haven't gone through anything actually worth while that has changed me into a different person. My gpa is mid and my SAT score is even worse. I feel like this is my only saving grace and yet I got nothing. Im not a good writer so I feel like this will fall very much flat.

I need some advice in how to not seem basic and like an actually interesting person. Anything would be awesome.

I am currently working on drafting up my personal statement and am starting to realize that I haven't written this style of essay since applying to college a few years back. Does anyone have any tips or rough outlines they followed that might help me push this along? From examples I've seen, similar to college application essays, it seems people are writing highly descriptive and emotional stories/narratives, typically about overcoming a struggle. After taking science classes for the past few years this style of writing has all but left my wheelhouse. Is anyone in the same boat and have any tips?

Thank you so so so much for posting this, I’m just at the point of trying to start struggling though the essay and I had no idea how to go about doing it 

Personal statements are really about storytelling and displaying your virtues, values, or beliefs. You can connect something that seems ordinary but really pull an interesting perspective out of it. The thing is, it has to resonate with you to be actually interesting so the brainstorming part is crucial.

You can either think about your interests and connect one of them to a virtue, values, or personality trait.

Or, vice versa, you can think of a virtue or value etc. and reflect on what experiences helped shape that value.

Here’s an example. Let’s say I’m super into legos. Seems shallow, right? But I could connect that to creativity or a bunch of other things. Perhaps my interest in legos reflects a life philosophy of wanting things to be organized and predictable so legos help me meditate on how to handle life’s unpredictability.

Everyone has something interesting about them. Sometimes it just takes a little digging and experimentation to figure out how to put that into words.

Hi! I’m someone who’s always picking around in their own brain, so I (think!) I have a lot of ideas for college essays that help the AO’s get to know the real me.

One essay topic that comes to mind immediately is talking about my “honor code.” It dictates the way I live my life in almost every way.

TLDR; I live in a way such that if I die at any time, I die without any regrets.

If I expand this out- talk about the thinking that went behind developing this ideology and how it shapes my everyday life and decision making- will I be oversharing?

I feel like this is a risky topic to write about, and I don’t want to put out a super personal essay only for it to be rejected because it was too “non-standard” or didn’t do what a college essay should do.

If you were to read something along these lines, something that defines a student’s way of life, what would you think? Would it be memorable? Would you fight for them?

I greatly appreciate your input!

I had such bad writers block with mine so this is what i did and what you might wanna do:

make a list of topics you might write about (interests, if you collect anything, a trip you went on, a feature about yourself you like, hobbies, anything) and set aside an hour.

put your phone and all distractions away, sit in front of your computer. say to yourself "i have an hour, I can sit here or I can write"

then just start writing—badly.

have it be really bad. Just start somewhere. Its so much easier to fix bad writing with a good concept than it is to start writing and feel like very line has to be perfect from the start

What’s your major? Maybe talk about a teacher/class or experience that pushed you towards that.

One thing worth resetting before you write anything: You called the essay your "only saving grace". It isn't... but believing that is probably making this harder than it needs to be.

The essay isn't a rescue mechanism. It doesn't offset GPA or test scores. At schools where your numbers are in range, it'll be a differentiator. At schools where they aren't, your app won't be saved by it. That prob sounds like bad news, but I think it's actually useful: You can stop trying to write something that has to carry your whole application. That pressure is exactly what produces the stiff, performing-for-an-audience writing you're worried about. Readers can feel a kid straining to seem interesting, and it reads as less interesting, not more.

The other thing: "I haven't gone through anything worthwhile that changed me into a different person" is the wrong bar. Almost nobody's essay is about a transformation (nor are AOs expecting this from 17-18 year olds!). Most good ones are about something small that reveals how the writer thinks - and "I'm not a good writer" matters less than you'd expect, because the essay isn't scored as writing. "Plain and specific" beats "polished and vague".

Where I'd start: Write down 10-15 small, ordinary moments from the past couple of years with no filter for whether they're essay-worthy. Something you noticed, a time you were wrong, a habit you have, an argument you keep having. Then read them back and see what shows up more than once. That's a much better use of an afternoon than staring at a blank page trying to be interesting on command.

Good luck!

Don't overthink the subject you choose! A local issue you helped address or a discipline/cause/art/etc. that you're passionate about is a great start. You should seek to demonstrate depth of commitment to something meaningful to you as opposed to a specific journey you have gone on as a person.

How you stood up for yourself when no one else did. Even if you didn’t thrive you have the satisfaction of having the self respct

I wrote about art, specifically just trying new things in life and in my art. That's it. I've had traumatizing things happen to me but chose not to write about them. Got into great colleges. Just write about something that shows who you are as a person and your growth, even if it's not much.

First off, stop beating yourself down. Secondly, your essay does not have to be about some life changing experience.

I think you should try to write something based on the common app prompts. They allow for some self reflection and can lead you into the right direction, even if you don’t end up using it in the end. Think about the things that make you unique and remember that you have around 2-4 months to write this, so there’s no rush.