Writing College Essays

As someone who read a ton of college essays (as well as knowing the places those essays were accepted into), doing my own analyses, and having gone through the process myself, I feel like I have a lot I could say on this topic.

If you think your essay has to be unique, yes, that would definitely be good. But what I think truly makes a good essay?

You have to figure out what you want to do in life bro. You have to figure out your passion. Because in my case, you just write about that.

But don't just think that way, to be honest. You can also write about anything important to you or that's happened to you in your life. It can be super positive, super negative. You just got to have passion for what you're writing about, or it'll show.

Personally, I first wrote one essay, and wrote another. Both were good, but what I did was actually combine the two to make the ultimate essay, because both were things I cared incredibly a lot about and a lot about me, but the two were like two halves. Good but by themselves? Not quite representative.

This is all about the personal statement, by the way. The personal statement has about seven prompts it can be...but the prompts are so broad you don't even have to worry about them, initially. Literally you can just write your essay about whatever you want to, and then find a prompt that suits the essay. That's what I did, and I truly think it would work for anyone, doesn't matter what you wrote about.

So don't worry so much about creativity, worry about just writing about your passions in life, or things that have affected you in some major way, that you've grown from. Maybe you haven't even grown that much, but it affected you. Has to be writable-about, though.

Something I have already talked about on my blog in a previous blog post but that is so important so I'll repeat it here is how to figure out what it is that you're passionate about; what you should do in life.

You have to figure out your big "why" and purpose in life. To do this, figure out,

1. What makes you feel the most. It could be a heart-wrenching emotion, where you just want to fix it, (healer? pain? medicine?) or some way in which you would like to help (building rockets?)

Write about that in your essay. Write about

1. Why?

2. What inspired you?

3. How do you know this is for you?

4. Why do you care so much? ...etc.

Let me know what you think!