Chapter Three
You will receive a lot of advice about what you should and shouldn’t do in your essays. And there is a decent chance that some of the advice will be conflicting. Some people will tell you to add something to your essay and others will tell you to take it out. Writing your Common App essay is not an exact science, and in some cases, it’s hard to determine which advice is best. Here is our take on what to do in your essay:
Build yourself up, but don’t brag. No matter what you are writing about in the essay, you are telling your story. You want to describe your talents, your competence, the attractive aspects of your personality, and why you will be an asset to that school. This involves a modicum of self-promotion. But remember not to reiterate the accomplishments listed in the Activities section of your Common App. Your essay is not the place for it. If you do, the reader is likely to place it in the “Reject pile.” Sometimes, you may recount something that happened to you in a competition or game, but stick to what happened and how it affected you or, as much as possible, what you learned from it instead of the outcome. If you scored the winning touchdown or hit a home run in a state championship game, talk about your emotions or the lead-up, not so much the game itself. Likewise, if you dropped the touchdown pass or struck out in the championship, you can talk about that; failure can be as compelling as success, sometimes even more so.
But here’s the rub (sorry, minor cliché—see how easy it is to fall into the trap of using clichés?): There can be a fine line between self-promotion and bragging. Some admissions people say that you should brag in your essay. We do not recommend crossing that line; you can talk about yourself and still be humble, and we think humility is an important virtue to demonstrate.
It’s OK to be controversial, but know your boundaries. Tread carefully with hot-button issues. You don’t have to avoid “edgy” or darker topics like student suicide, but you should exercise discretion when writing about them. If you talk about sex, don’t be too graphic; you risk turning off the reader. Likewise, with politics and religion; done the right way, these are both topics that can make for a good essay, as long as you remember to keep the reader interested by not becoming self-absorbed. You can talk about your political views in your essay (the school may already have an idea about your political views based on your resume), but don’t make the essay about your politics or try to convince the reader of your political view. And, of course, you should always consider that the reader may not have the same political views you do—in which case, he or she just might take offense. The same with religion. Religion is an important part of many students’ lives and if it is part of yours, by all means discuss it in your essay. But do not proselytize; that is another guaranteed way to ensure the reader flings your essay across the room.
If you talk about mental health issues, avoid being overly clinical and do not delve too deeply into past problems. It may be important to you, and that’s fine, but the reader will want to know how you are coping rather than too much about the actual problem. Also, more students are writing about learning disabilities in their essays. We do not recommend this; a better place to explain a learning disability is in the Additional Information section of the Common App.
If you decide to write about a world problem or contemporary issue, you must put it in the context of your story. Do not make it a research paper. Issues such as climate change are popular, but in all probability your reader has read many essays about climate change and you don’t want to burden the reader with details on the topic by writing a polemic. (We anticipate that the COVID-19 pandemic will also be a popular topic.) If you write about climate change or some other current problem like COVID-19, racism, homelessness, or poverty, try talking about what you are attempting to do about the problem. Perhaps you have a personal take on the issue. Readers don’t want statistics or opinions, they want your story.
Don’t play the “blame game.” Avoid becoming a victim. Plenty of students have stories about something bad that has happened to them, something that may have been out of their control. It is tempting to write an essay portraying yourself as a victim. Resist that temptation. A “victim essay” will quickly become either maudlin or an exercise in self-absorption. Far better, if you have had something bad happen to you, that you discuss what you learned from it, how you rebounded, or how you persevered.
Profanity—it’s not a good idea. Unless it’s part of an important piece of dialogue—and even then, think twice—don’t use profanity in your essay. It’s unnecessary and can be off-putting. The same holds for controversial ethnic terms. You may know what you are trying to say, but the reader may not understand your context. If a controversial word is part of dialogue you are writing, consider whether the term is absolutely essential.
In all these situations, if you have decided to delve into a sensitive or controversial issue, take extra care. Have someone you trust look at your first copy. If something strikes you or that person as “over the top,” take it out or rewrite it. Many times you can provoke a positive response from the reader if you rewrite what you are trying to say in a less edgy or more discreet manner. If you don’t think you are capable of doing that or if the subject matter doesn’t lend itself to a more nuanced approach, consider excising it. The reader wants to know what kind of person you are, but an overly provocative essay—even one needlessly incendiary sentence—can give an impression you may not want to convey and one that you have no ability to correct. Think about it.