Resources and essay example to help you master your college essays.

Choosing Supplemental Essay Topics

You’ll probably be writing a lot of supplemental essays during your application process. Some ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How Important Are College Essays?

Navigating the college admissions process isn’t easy. You've got grades, standardized test scores, ...

Alex McNeil, MA

QuestBridge: Everything You Need to Know

There are lots of things to consider when you’re applying for college. The application system you ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Use the UCSD Common Data Set

The University of California - San Diego Common Data Set is a powerful tool to help you better ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Use the UC Berkeley Common Data Set

The UC Berkeley Common Data Set can be a key tool in your UC Berkeley application process. It's ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write a Why Us Supplemental Essay

This post is one in a series of posts about the supplemental essays. You can read our core “how-to” ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write the Purdue Supplemental Essays

Purdue University only has two supplemental essays. Each should be fewer than 100 words in length, ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

Three Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a College Essay About Goals

In a lot of ways, applying to college is all about goals. You have a goal to get in, to study a ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write the Wake Forest Supplemental Essays

Applying to Wake Forest? You have four optional short answer questions to go along with your Wake ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

College Essay About Hair: Dos and Don’ts

As an admissions officer, I read quite a few essays about hair. After all, hair can be an important ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the Caltech Supplemental Essays

The California Institute of Technology, or Caltech for short, is a small but highly selective ...

Alex McNeil, MA

Writing a College Essay About Nature? 5 Questions to Ask First

Working in admissions at a college in the Pacific Northwest, I can’t tell you how many essays I ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the Johns Hopkins Supplemental Essay

Applying to Johns Hopkins? You and almost 40,000 other people!

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write the Georgia Tech Supplemental Essay

In addition to your Common App personal statement, Georgia Tech also asks you to write the Georgia ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

What College Essays About Gymnastics Should and Shouldn’t Do

If you weren’t already aware, college essays about sports are notorious among admissions officers.

Kylie Kistner, MA

The Best Way to Write College Essays About Moving

Moving’s a big deal, especially when you’re in high school.

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write the Emory Supplemental Essays

You can thank Emory now, because you’ll only be writing two short supplemental essays for your ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write a Great College Essay About Music (with examples)

Ask any admissions officer if they’ve read a college essay about music, and they’ll definitely say ...

Alex McNeil, MA

“Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities”: Tips and Tricks

You’ve probably seen this prompt again and again: “Please briefly elaborate on one of your ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write the UNC Supplemental Essays

Applying to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill? You’ll be writing two short ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write a College Essay About ADHD

ADHD and ADD are becoming more prevalent, more frequently diagnosed, and better understood.

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

3 Ways to Approach College Essays About Adoption

If you’re adopted, you might be wondering whether you can write your college essay about your ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write the UIUC Supplemental Essays

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has two supplemental pathways and an add-on, all ...

Alex McNeil, MA

4 Questions to Ask Before Writing a College Essay About Volunteering

You know that colleges are on the search for students who will be good community members, so ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write the UVA Supplemental Essays

You’ll be writing three short essays for your University of Virginia application, but don’t ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the Tufts Supplemental Essays

Tufts splits their supplemental essays into two groups. Most applicants will answer the first two ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

The First Paragraph of Your Supplemental Essay is All that Matters

Supplemental essays exist for three reasons — they:

Alex McNeil, MA

Diversity Essays Are Actually Community Essays

Diversity essays are impossible. Somehow, it seems like everybody struggles with them.

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write a College Essay About Running

If you love to run, you may be interested in writing your college essay about running. You’re not ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

4 Questions to Ask If You're Considering Writing Your College Essay About Video Games

The two main concerns I hear from students who are considering writing their college essay about ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write a Great College Essay About Veganism

People become vegan for a number of reasons. For some, it’s a deeply held personal choice, while ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

The Biggest Mistake to Avoid When Writing a College Essay About Coffee

Drinks, foods, and the customs associated with each can be fruitful topics for college essays. ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write a College Essay About Work that Will Pay Off

Work—your first job, summer job, after-school job, or volunteer work—can be a foundational part of ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

College Essay Format (with Examples)

Knowing how to format your college essay can be tricky.

Kylie Kistner, MA

How NOT to End a College Essay (and What You Can Do Instead)

If you’ve ever read the last page of a book, gasped, and slammed it shut, then you know the effect ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

4 Ways to Show Not Tell in a College Essay

You’ve heard it again and again. You should “show, not tell” in your writing. This adage is ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the Columbia Supplemental Essays

With the lowest acceptance rate of the entire Ivy League, Columbia is exceptionally hard to get ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write the Rice Supplemental Essays

So you’ve decided to apply to Rice and now have to complete the Rice supplement? Never fear. In ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write the Dartmouth Supplemental Essays

You’ll have three supplemental essays to write for your Dartmouth application: two required ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write the Georgetown Supplemental Essays

You might remember from our How to Get into Georgetown post that Georgetown uses its own ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Answer the UC Essay Prompts

Taken collectively, the University of California receives more college applications every year than ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write the Notre Dame Supplemental Essays

If you’re applying to the University of Notre Dame, then you’ll be writing two supplemental essays, ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write the Boston University Supplemental Essays

The Boston University supplemental essay question is short and sweet. You’ll have a maximum of 250 ...

Alex McNeil, MA

Should you write your college essay about siblings?

Siblings. Love them or hate them, they shape who you are, especially as a high school student.

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write an Insightful College Essay About Tutoring

If you’ve had a job tutoring others, you know that tutoring can be an impactful act of teaching and ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

9 Ways to Start a College Essay

The hardest thing about writing is starting.

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write the Brown Supplemental Essays

You’ll have three supplemental essays to write for your Brown application. Each will be 200-250 ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

Should You Write Your College Essay About Losing a Loved One?

Losing a loved one, especially in high school, can upend how you view the world.

Alex McNeil, MA

25 College Essay Brainstorming Questions

If you’re in the process of starting your college essay, you know how hard it is to come up with a ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write the UChicago Supplemental Essays

The University of Chicago requires you to write two supplemental essays. For both, you’ll upload a ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write the University of Michigan Supplemental Essays

The University of Michigan—or UMich, if you’re feeling casual—is one of the best large state ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write a College Essay About Photography

Whether you're starting to dive into your personal statement or taking a bit out of ...

Alex McNeil, MA

College Essay Requirements: Everything You Need to Know

College essays, also called personal statements, are essays that most colleges require students to ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the Vanderbilt Supplemental Essays

What are the Vanderbilt supplemental essay prompts? Vanderbilt has two supplemental essay prompts ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write the Northwestern Supplemental Essays (With Examples)

How to Write the Northwestern Supplemental Essays With an acceptance rate hovering around 7%, ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write the NYU Supplemental Essays

The NYU supplemental essay is short and sweet—and it’s not even required! In fact, the NYU ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the UPenn Supplemental Essays

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the Princeton Supplemental Essays

Princeton breaks up their supplementals into three categories: extracurricular and work experience, ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write the Duke Supplemental Essays

Duke requires you to write one 250-word supplemental essay. You can also submit two optional essays.

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the USC Supplemental Essays

When you apply to USC, you’ll have to write one supplemental essay and several short-answer ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the Yale Supplemental Essays

You’ve got your work cut out for you with the Yale supplemental essays. There are a lot! Your ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the Stanford Supplemental Essays

The Stanford application is one of the more notorious school supplementals for two reasons. The ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write the Cornell Supplemental Essays

Cornell’s supplemental essays are a little different from those at other schools. Instead of giving ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the Harvard Supplemental Essays

You’ve got a few supplemental essays to write for your Harvard application. Since essays can make ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write the MIT Supplemental Essays

At 200 words each, the MIT supplemental essays seem innocent enough. But they’re deceptively ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

The 3.5 things I learned reading essays in a top-15 admissions office

I saw a lot in my years in admissions. Universities go test-optional, the impact of covid, ...

Ben Bousquet, M.Ed

How to Write an Extracurricular Activities Supplemental Essay

This post is one in a series of posts about the supplemental essays. You can read our core “how-to” ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write a Personal Challenge Essay (with Examples)

This post is one in a series of posts about the supplemental essays. You can read our core “how-to” ...

Kylie Kistner, MA

How to Write a Diversity Supplemental Essay

This post is one in a series of posts about the supplemental essays. You can read our core “how-to” ...

Alex McNeil, MA

How to Write a Why This Major Supplemental Essay (with Examples)

This post is one in a series of posts about the supplemental essays. You can read our core “how-to” ...

Alex McNeil, MA