The passing of Labor Day signals the unofficial end of summer for high schoolers, and cooling fall breezes bring college application deadlines into view. In search of inspiration for starting their main Common Application essay, many seniors will turn to troves of examples like Johns Hopkins’ Essays That Worked or the Harvard Crimson’s book of 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays. As a senior private counselor at Top Tier Admissions, I advise my students to maintain perspective when reading these collections touting essays that “got students into” top colleges: an essay is one piece of an application considered alongside a student’s grades, academic rigor, test scores, academic interest, extracurricular activities, and community engagement. Reading an essay outside of its holistic context is almost like hearing a single note and claiming to know a whole song. Rather than encouraging students to imitate essays, we at Top Tier Admissions guide our students through the following fundamental principles of effective college essay writing.
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COMMON APP ESSAY: STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
Start with a compelling hook: a scene that grabs attention.
Instead of beginning with abstract ideas or a long-winded explanation of how something came to be, dive right into the middle of a scene, or “in medias res” to borrow the Latin phrase. Be cinematic!
Here are a few of our favorites:
- “The wool of my Confederate uniform scratched my chin as I stood in the sweltering New Orleans heat, proudly portraying General P.G.T. Beauregard for our school’s Living History Days.”
- “‘I’ll probably just flip a coin.’
‘Flip a coin?’ I asked. ‘For an election?’ The door slammed shut in my face.’” - “The day I insisted on skiing in below-40-degree weather, I learned an important lesson: frostbite will strike even the smallest sliver of exposed skin.”
Anchor ideas in personal background or identity.
A strong essay doesn’t just describe an interest; it connects them to family, upbringing, or community. Showing the roots of an interest lends authenticity and shows how personal experiences spark intellectual pursuits and discovery.
- “As a Colombian American in Miami, I grew up surrounded by macho ideals of masculinity.”
- “From a young age, I worshiped the exacting nature of logic, finding my faith in the calculated movements of chess games and the provocative puzzles of escape rooms […] Naturally, it followed that I would question my family’s worship of Buddha, a being whose existence could be neither proven nor refuted.”
Use intellectual discovery or a perspective change as a narrative arc.
Show how an idea evolved from confusion or surprise to learning and a shift in a previously held perspective.
- “Reading Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” in a summer course sparked an epiphany. As we discussed dominant social groups’ unconscious advantages and biases, I found my feelings validated about what I’d experienced as one of only two brown girls in my grade.”
- “Perhaps it was easiest to surrender to Camus’ absurdist position: our existence is meaningless, and we shouldn’t bother struggling to make sense of it. Yet as I further explored existentialist philosophy, I started to reframe my thinking.”
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Show (don’t just tell) passion in action.
The most impactful essays back up interests with concrete action.
- “I worked with Professor Sweetland to help design a new course examining ancient gender norms.”
- “I became host of my own podcast for Simply Neuroscience, where I conduct interviews with individuals on the spectrum and their advocates, helping to amplify their voices.”
- “I joined the effort to help [State] learn from our mistakes by working with Dr. [Name] at the [School Name], helping prevent the displacement of residents from the construction of a transit line through a historically Black section of [City].”
End with forward momentum.
Rather than just summarizing your story, look to the future. Your conclusion might emphasize how you will approach an idea differently as a result of your personal or intellectual growth, or it could identify how you might carry a lesson or interest with you into college to make an impact.
- “This New Year, I’ll surrender my skepticism—and I’ll offer mangos up to Buddha again.”
- “In college, I plan to continue studying the history of architecture to better understand how we can reconstruct a more just future.”
- “Now, more than ever, I plan to be at the forefront of climate policy, redefining the conversation into one of optimism and immediacy. I refuse to let our climate future be a matter of heads or tails.”
YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO IT ALONE
Crafting your Common App essay, or personal statement, is one of the most important steps in standing out to admissions committees—and it’s not something you have to navigate alone. With our College Essay Guidance, students gain access to expert, personalized support that transforms a stressful writing process into a strategic advantage. If you’re aiming for top-tier results, this is the guidance that can help get you there.
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Anita holds a BA in Philosophy from Princeton, where she is an alumni class officer and former interviewer, and an MA in English from Middlebury. At Princeton she also contributed her drive and competitiveness to the women’s lacrosse team, winning an NCAA Division I National Championship and three Ivy League Championships while earning national scholar-athlete academic distinction and the Connie McAllister athletic department award for “effort, selfless dedication, enthusiasm and heart.” She brings these qualities to her relationships with students as she helps to bring out the best in them.
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