9 Biggest College Essay Mistakes
If you want to write a great college essay, you'll need to avoid common pitfalls. Read the biggest college essay mistakes so you know what not to do.
Choosing Supplemental Essay Topics
Learn how to brainstorm supplemental essay topics. Develop a strong fit between yourself and the school to make a persuasive argument for your...
How Important Are College Essays?
Learn how college essays help students stand out and why they are especially crucial at selective schools.
QuestBridge: Everything You Need to Know
QuestBridge is a non-profit that helps high-achieving, low-income students apply to and pay for college. Learn how it works and key dates.
How to Write a Why Us Supplemental Essay
Discover the keys to crafting a compelling Why Us college application essay, from research strategies to avoiding common pitfalls.
How to Write the Purdue Supplemental Essays
Ace Purdue University's two supplemental essays. Learn to articulate your interests, choose your major, and connect with Purdue's unique offerings.
Three Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a College Essay About Goals
Avoid three common mistakes to write a winning college essay about goals. Understand your motivations, link goals to the university, and consider the...
How to Write the Wake Forest Supplemental Essays
Explore strategies for answering Wake Forest's optional application questions. Boost your application by revealing your personality, intellectual...
College Essay About Hair: Dos and Don’ts
Discover how to craft compelling college essays about hair that reveal your identity, revolve around something meaningful, and avoid common pitfalls.
How to Write the Caltech Supplemental Essays
We talk about how to approach Caltech's supplementals, with tips on choosing an academic interest, detailing STEM experiences, and expressing...
Writing a College Essay About Nature? 5 Questions to Ask First
Learn how to effectively write your college essay about nature. Focus on the outcomes, learning, and relevance to your intended field of study.
How to Write the Johns Hopkins Supplemental Essay
Gain insight into the Johns Hopkins University application process. Learn how to answer their supplemental essay prompt effectively to stand out.
How to Write the Georgia Tech Supplemental Essay
Learn how to write a strong Georgia Tech supplemental essay that showcases your fit for your chosen major and highlights your intellectual...
What College Essays About Gymnastics Should and Shouldn’t Do
Learn effective strategies for writing a standout college essay about gymnastics. Avoid cliches and delve into personal stories that go beyond the...
The Best Way to Write College Essays About Moving
Discover effective approaches for writing a college essay about moving, including personal insights, family context, and lessons learned.
How to Write the Emory Supplemental Essays
Learn how to tackle Emory's short supplemental essays, focusing on academic interests and personal experiences. Make every word count with our guide.
How to Write a Great College Essay About Music (with examples)
Learn how to write a college essay about music that stands out to admissions officers by avoiding cliches and focusing on your strengths.
“Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities”: Tips and Tricks
Learn how to showcase your impact, personal significance, alignment with school values, and extracurricular accomplishments.
How to Write the UNC Supplemental Essays
Learn how to tackle the UNC supplemental essays and create concise fill-in-the-blank responses that showcase your personality and narrative.
How to Write a College Essay About ADHD
Learn how to write a college essay about ADHD. Use the topic to understand trends and growth, highlight your strengths, or emphasize your empathy.
3 Ways to Approach College Essays About Adoption
Learn to write a college essay about adoption, exploring themes of identity, biology, and culture. Avoid common mistakes and focus on your unique...
How to Write the UIUC Supplemental Essays
Learn how to write effective UIUC supplemental essays, showcasing your academic fit, personal goals, and future aspirations.
The First Paragraph of Your Supplemental Essay is All that Matters
The first paragraph can make or break your supplemental essays. Let's talk about why.
Diversity Essays Are Actually Community Essays
Struggling with diversity supplemental essays? You're not the only one. To help, I recommend that you think about diversity essays as community...
How to Write a College Essay About Running
College essays about running can go wrong when they focus too much on surface-level details and not enough on you. Here are three approaches that...
4 Questions to Ask If You're Considering Writing Your College Essay About Video Games
Some college essays about video games are better than others. These four questions will help you decide whether it's the right topic for you.
How to Write a Great College Essay About Veganism
Are you planning on writing your college essay about veganism? We'll explain how you can write one that stands out from all the rest.
The Biggest Mistake to Avoid When Writing a College Essay About Coffee
Are you considering writing your college essay about coffee? Here's the biggest mistake to avoid (and three approaches you can take instead).
How to Write a College Essay About Work that Will Pay Off
College essays about work can be hit or miss. They miss when they focus on the job itself, but they can be a home run when they illustrate your...
College Essay Format (with Examples)
We go over college essay format requirements, and we lay out three narrative structures (with examples!) that you can use to write your personal...
How NOT to End a College Essay (and What You Can Do Instead)
Wondering how to end a college essay? We go through the four biggest conclusion mistakes and talk about what to do instead (with examples!).
4 Ways to Show Not Tell in a College Essay
You've heard that you should show, not tell in your writing. But what does that actually mean? And how do you do it? We break it all down for you...
How to Write the Columbia Supplemental Essays
We'll go through the Columbia supplemental essays, including the Columbia list questions and the Columbia short answer questions.
How to Write the Rice Supplemental Essays
We go through the Rice supplemental essays, including the Rice Box image, and talk about how to ace each.
How to Write the Dartmouth Supplemental Essays
Your Dartmouth supplemental essays are crucial. We'll go through all the Dartmouth supplemental prompts and give you strategies for answering them.
How to Write the Georgetown Supplemental Essays
The Georgetown supplemental essays are your chance to show academic and cultural alignment with Georgetown as an institution. Let's talk about how.
How to Write the Notre Dame Supplemental Essays
What are the Notre Dame supplementals? Do you have to write about Catholicism? Which prompt should you choose? We answer all these questions and more!
How to Write the Boston University Supplemental Essays
The Boston University supplemental essay asks you what excites you the most about being a student at BU. Let's talk about how to ace it.
Should you write your college essay about siblings?
Lots of applicants write their college essays about siblings. How can you write one that stands out?
How to Write an Insightful College Essay About Tutoring
Thinking about writing your college essay about tutoring? It can be a common topic, so we've got some advice for approaching your essay the right way.
9 Ways to Start a College Essay
We know—the introduction to your college essay is always the hardest. Here, we talk about introductions and offer up 9 proven ways to write your own.
How to Write the Brown Supplemental Essays
Ready to ace your Brown supplemental essays? We'll walk through all three prompts together and talk about how to answer them effectively.
Should You Write Your College Essay About Losing a Loved One?
We discuss college essays about losing a loved one, and we offer up some advice about how to approach such a personal subject in your Common App...
25 College Essay Brainstorming Questions
Find your perfect college essay topic with these 25 college essay brainstorming questions.
How to Write the UChicago Supplemental Essays
Can't quite crack those UChicago supplemental essay prompts? We've got some essay advice that will help.
How to Write the University of Michigan Supplemental Essays
You've got two University of Michigan supplemental essays to answer. In this post, we break down both prompts and walk you through how to answer them.
How to Write a College Essay About Photography
Want to write your college essay about photography? We explain the challenges you might face, and we give you advice about the best approaches.
College Essay Requirements: Everything You Need to Know
Let's walk through all the college essay requirements you need to know. We talk about length, style, topic, tone, and more.
How to Write the Northwestern Supplemental Essays (With Examples)
Let's tackle the supplemental essays required by Northwestern University. We go through best practices and give an example of a great supplemental.
How to Write the NYU Supplemental Essays
We look at the NYU supplemental prompt and talk about how to write an effective NYU supplemental essay.
How to Write the UPenn Supplemental Essays
Learn how to crack the three supplemental essays required by the University of Pennsylvania.
How to Write the Princeton Supplemental Essays
Learn about how to approach the Princeton University supplemental essays. There are three types, and we cover how to approach all three of them.
How to Write the Duke Supplemental Essays
We show you all of the Duke supplemental essay prompts and give you tips for answering each of them.
How to Write the USC Supplemental Essays
We list all of the USC supplemental essay prompts and the USC short answer questions. We show you how to answer them to make your application stand...
How to Write the Yale Supplemental Essays
We show you all of the Yale supplemental essays and short answer questions. We explain how to write Yale supplemental essays that stand out.
How to Write the Stanford Supplemental Essays
We go through all of the Stanford supplemental essay prompts. We explain how to write the Stanford Roommate Essay and Stanford Short Questions.
How to Write the Cornell Supplemental Essays
We go through all of the Cornell supplemental essay prompts, and we give you advice for writing your responses.
How to Write the Harvard Supplemental Essays
We go through all of the Harvard supplemental essay prompts. We show you how to write compelling essays for each Harvard supplemental essay prompt.
How to Write the MIT Supplemental Essays
We show you all the MIT supplemental essay prompts. We discuss how to answer each prompt and give you tips for writing your MIT supplemental essays.
The 3.5 things I learned reading essays in a top-15 admissions office
We talk about what it's really like to work in a top admissions office. We explain what admissions officers look for when they read application...
How to Write an Extracurricular Activities Supplemental Essay
We go over what an Extracurricular Activities supplemental essay is. We give you Extracurricular Essay strategies and tell you a few mistakes to...
How to Write a Personal Challenge Essay (with Examples)
We cover everything you need to know about Personal Challenge supplemental essays. You'll learn about the best approaches and start brainstorming...
How to Write a Diversity Supplemental Essay
We cover what a diversity supplemental essay is. We talk about the best ways to approach diversity essays and give you some tips for writing your own.
How to Write a Why This Major Supplemental Essay (with Examples)
Let's talk about how to write a why this major supplemental essay, with examples!
How to Write a Community Supplemental Essay (with Examples)
We talk about how to write Community supplemental essays. We go over choosing a community, identifying your story, and doing school research.
How to Write Supplemental Essays that Will Impress Admissions Officers
We talk about how to write supplemental essays, including reading supplemental prompts, doing school research, and showing academic and school fit.
How to Write a Personal Statement for Colleges
We talk about how to write a personal statement, including finding a topic and formatting a personal statement. We also have personal statement...
How to Write a College Essay (Exercises + Examples)
We go through how to write a college essay. We talk about finding a Common App essay topic and drafting your college essay. We also show you examples.
Writing a Great Academic Interest Essay (with Examples)
Let's talk about how to write an academic interest essay. This is one of the most common supplemental essay genres, and we give you a great example.
The Incredible Power of a Cohesive College Application
Above all, your college application needs to be cohesive — it needs to work in concert to help you stand out.
Oops, no posts matched your selected topic.
"The #1 college application newsletter. Something useful every time."
Open Admissions Thesis
Provide free, reliable resources for everyone at all phases of the application.
Write only the best & most insightful content for any topic we discuss.
Bridge the information access gap and help more students apply successfully.
Grow our community of 2,429+ students and parents who benefit from our insights
Get weekly updates. No fluff, just value.