Writing

This process should take several hours to complete depending on whether you choose to write one or both of the optional essays.

Items marked with a red asterisk * are required. Students are not required to complete items that do not have the red asterisk.

Introduction

In this section, you will learn about the personal essay and optional additional information essays. You will learn:

  • The purpose and goals behind the personal essay
  • Tips on how to approach the personal essay
  • Prompts for the personal essay
  • Resources with more advice about how to write the personal essay
  • The purpose and uses of the optional additional information essays
  • Advice about whether and how to write an essay about COVID’s impact on your life
  • Advice on whether and how to write an essay about other additional information you want colleges to know about you

Take some time to reflect on the writing prompts in Common App, choose your topic, and write your essay(s). The length of time this process takes varies by student, but it should take several hours at least.

Preview

Here is an example of the Writing section in Common App.

Screenshot of the Writing section, within the Common App tab, with the title Personal Essay, in Common App.

Videos

In this video, Todd Rinehart, Vice Chancellor for Enrollment—University of Denver, discusses how your application will be reviewed by admission offices.

How Admission Offices Review an Application

In this video, we discuss the personal essay and the prompts for the essay and provide tips on how to approach writing this essay. The purpose of this section is for you to understand your goals in writing the personal essay and to help you think of a story about yourself to share with colleges. Writing the personal essay should take several hours.

Completing the Writing Section of Common App: Writing the Personal Essay

In this video, college essay coaches provide additional tips on how to write the personal essay. The purpose of this section is to provide more detailed suggestions to help you write your personal essay. This video will take approximately 5 minutes.

Completing the Writing Section of Common App: Additional Tips on Writing the Personal Essay

In this video, we will discuss the two optional additional information essays and the type of information that is appropriate to be included in each. The purpose of this section is to help you understand when you might want to write an additional information essay. If you choose to write an additional information essay, this section might take 1 – 2 hours.

Completing the Writing Section of Common App: Additional Information Essays

Tips & Reminders

  • When writing the personal essay, think about telling a story from your life that reveals something about your character, values, or experiences.
  • Many students do not write an optional additional information essay.
  • In deciding whether to write the COVID impact question, think about the specific impacts mentioned in the question itself. If any of these are particularly relevant for you, then you might consider answering this question. If the impact of COVID to your life was similar to that of your classmates, then you can consider skipping this question.
  • The question on “circumstances and qualifications not reflected elsewhere” is particularly helpful if you need to share information about ongoing challenges that may have impacted your high school career. Colleges want to understand your application in context of the circumstances, challenges, and opportunities in your life, and will not know about situations unless you tell them. This section should be brief, straightforward, and clear.

Resources

Videos

Harvard Undergraduate Admissions Council - great tips straight from a college student

Khan Academy - admission officers give great advice on the essay

Boston University - short, quick pointers from two admissions officers

Tips

National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) – advice on the personal essay

Examples

Essays that worked – on Johns Hopkins website

Essays that worked – on Connecticut College website

License

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AXS Companion Copyright © 2022 by IECA & Oregon State University Ecampus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.