How to Write an Amazing Common App Essay (2021–2022) - Examples Included
Writing a strong common app essay will help you stand out to colleges, beyond your GPA and TEst scores
(Note: This guide can also be found in our free, 110-page comprehensive guide to top college admissions, How to Get Into America’s Elite Colleges: The Ultimate Guide.)
First two weeks of November: Complete third and fourth drafts Since working at Studiosity I've realised that it's not uncommon for students to have trouble putting together a well structured, consistent piece of writing - whether it be a narrative, essay, report or other writing task.How To Write An Amazing Essay (On Pokémon Go)
Since working at Studiosity I've realised that it's not uncommon for students to have trouble putting together a well structured, consistent piece of writing - whether it be a narrative, essay, report or other writing task.
I’m not judging anyone here, I figure a lot of you have had the same “a story needs an intro, body and conclusion” talk that I did in high school. But like the “when a mummy and daddy love each other very much they cuddle…” talk that we get around the same time, it's lacking in the functional details to allow us to proceed with purpose and skill!
So I wanted to share two techniques that I’ve learnt in my time as a student, and as a worker (because it’s not like you stop writing when you finish school):
- Put all your thoughts on paper in a mess, including your overall position or opinion (for essay or discussion tasks)
- Put together the skeleton of an essay then start writing dot points under the headings
Both methods allow you to visualise your thoughts on paper and group them, Style 1 by topic or how related thoughts are to each other
I’ve mocked up 2 examples. T he first method is good for structured writing tasks, where you’re given specific short questions to address. You can group similar thoughts together and work around a main 2-4 points, ensuring you have some content to fill a few paragraphs.
Sample Essay Question - Method 1
You may have noticed that I’ve simply copied points from 1 into 2 - this is fine because you’re just trying to flesh out your concepts. It might also be apparent that I’ve done Method 1 first then gone back to Method 2 - again that’s fine, you’ve gone from brain dump mode into structuring mode.
Once you have these ideas down it’s time to start on the main event. I find that it’s much easier to start putting pen to page at this stage because you don’t have a blank page anymore. You now have a couple of sample intros, your body points already articulated and maybe even with some references/quotes.