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

Jwhitty32
UChicago


Accepted to UChicago, UVA, Purdue, GA Tech

If you're looking for that ray of hope that someone unspectactular might get lucky, you came to the right place.
Serena2020
Harvard


Accepted to Harvard, UChicago, Northwestern, Swarthmore, Emory, Oklahoma U, UKentucky, K College , OU, Alma

Premed on track to graduate a year early. But I love my school! National merit scholar, into surgery, arts & community…
ltan98
Fordham


Accepted to American, Fordham, Skidmore, Syracuse, UC Irvine, UCSB

Hi there! I went to an American school in Hong Kong from K-12 and will be starting my freshman year at Fordham University at Lincoln Center in the fall. If you're interested in theater and come from overseas, I would be of particular help to you!
alm25
UT Austin


Accepted to UC Berkeley, USC, UMich, Illinois, UT Austin, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCSD, UCSB, U of Minnesota, Arizona, WVU, Cal Poly, San Jose State

I'm from the SF Bay Area, but I'm betraying my roots by attending The University of Texas at Austin as a chemical engineering major. I like music, science and eating!

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