A Parent’s Guide to College Essays
If you’re a parent to a teenager, the college application process is probably on your radar. Maybe you’ve even gone through the steps of applying to college yourself. If so, it’s worth noting that both the application process for students and the selection process for college officials have evolved significantly in recent decades.
There are several reasons for these changes, but the most apparent is the increasing demand for a college education. According to Erin Duffin of Statista, college enrollment has increased steadily over time, from approximately six million college students in the U.S. in 1965, to nearly 20 million in 2018.
The staggering volume of applications that colleges receive each year has universally prompted a raising of the bar for admissions. According to The Atlantic, “The University of Pennsylvania announced that the class of 2018 was the most competitive class yet, as UPenn’s admit rate had dropped below 10 percent for the first time in its history.”
This competition underscores the importance of a strong application, one key part of which is the college essay. So—what should you know about personal statements? Where do you start? Enter the parent’s guide to college essays:
What items are required to apply to college?
Part of what makes applying to college so daunting for high schoolers and their families is the detailed list of materials they must gather. To apply to the average American college, students are generally required to submit a completed application form, an academic transcript, a resume outlining their extracurricular activities, recommendation letters, standardized test scores (particularly ACT, SAT, AP or IB results)—though some colleges are starting to move away from this requirement—and a college application essay.
Note that the above list is generalized and variable. To find out exactly what materials your child will need to apply to a given college, it’s always best to visit the school’s official website.
Luckily, though college applications have become more involved over time, the logistics have gotten easier. In 1998, the Common App moved online. The Common App is a single portal through which students can upload their application materials and apply to multiple schools simultaneously. The Common App is used by roughly 900 colleges today.
What, exactly, is a college essay?
College application essays go by several names, including “personal statement,” “college admissions essay,” and “college essay.” In short, they’re original responses to a prompt about a personal topic. The word limit for these responses varies from approximately 250 to 650 words.
Colleges ask for personal statements so that they can learn about applicants on a deeper level. While transcripts and test scores can speak to an applicant’s academic potential, they don’t say much about the applicant’s character. A college essay is meant to convey information that is not available anywhere else on a student’s application.
How important are college essays?
The short answer? It depends. Not all colleges require essays for admission. If your child is applying to a school that doesn’t ask for a personal statement, then they’re not an important component of their application at all. However, such colleges tend to be the exception, rather than the rule.
More competitive colleges, including Ivy League schools, usually require some sort of application essay. Even more notably, they tend to “pay greater attention to personal statements and essays.” For top-tier institutions, the importance of college essays shouldn’t be underestimated.
What are college essay prompts like?
College essay prompts vary tremendously, so the only way to gather accurate information is to visit each school’s official website.
Where the Common App is concerned, students can submit the same essay to all schools that use the portal. This year, the Common App prompts for freshman applicants are as follows:
Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, please share your story.
The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma — anything of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.
You may notice some unifying threads among these prompts. For example, prompts 2-4 deal with overcoming adversity, while 5 and 6 are more about personal enrichment. In any case, college essays require students to discuss a highly personal topic, so no two statements should be alike.
In addition to or instead of a Common App essay, some colleges request “supplemental” responses. These prompts are college-specific and can necessitate responses that are a few sentences to a few paragraphs long.
For instance, ApplyTexas, the portal for applying to public universities in Texas, released these prompts about personal interests and challenges. Others go a different route, asking students to explain their career goals, motives for wanting to study at a particular school, or how their background aligns with the school’s mission. The University of San Diego is one institution whose essay prompts relate to the school’s reputation and mission.
What makes for a great college essay?
College admissions officers read hundreds (if not thousands) of college essays—but the word “read” may be misleading. At the country’s biggest institutions, admissions officers only have time to scan each applicant’s essay. This may come as heartbreaking news, especially to those conscientious applicants who agonize over every word in their statement.
Nonetheless, students should use this news as fuel for their fire, looking at the situation this way: If I don’t captivate my reader right from the start, I risk having a forgettable essay.
Effective personal statements are inventive and unusual—in a good way. They may begin with a direct quote, onomatopoeia, antithesis, or another device that piques the reader’s interest from the first line. They may, and often do, convey the applicant's most prized personality traits through a meaningful anecdote. Details are paramount in college essays, so students should always follow this writing mantra: “Show, don’t tell.”
Without a doubt, there are many ways to craft an outstanding college essay, but the key is always that: to stand out. The biggest mistake a student can make with their college essay(s) is to be cliché. Any phrases that sound “recycled” or overly familiar, like movie references, should be avoided.
Other big “no-nos,” according to UCLA, include manufacturing hardship and using humor that could be misinterpreted. Instead, students should speak from the heart and focus on a topic they care about. From there, the inspiration will flow naturally.
Can someone else write college essays for my child?
No. Parents should never write admissions essays for their children or assign this task to a third party. There are plenty of people who clandestinely offer this service, but the stakes of engaging in such a business deal are high.
Before submitting any college application materials, students must certify claims about academic honesty and agree to certain conditions. For instance, Common App users must click a box that certifies the following: “all information submitted in the admission process — including this application and any other supporting materials — is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented...”
Common App users must also click to signify their agreement with this statement: "I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree should the information I have certified be false."
The consequences of submitting an unethically written college essay could be grave. In the short term, your child would miss out on a unique and meaningful opportunity to improve as a writer. In the long term, your child may end up losing their spot at a desirable college, should the school find out. With so much on the line, it’s best to ensure your child’s personal statement is written exclusively by them.
Can I help with my child’s college essays at all, then?
Despite the previous disclaimers, there are still several ways you can help your child with the writing process. The name says it all: personal statements are highly personal, and who knows your child's personality better than you?
The first thing you can do is help your child create a timeline. The steps in the writing process should progress in the following way:
Evaluation of prompt
Brainstorming
Outlining
First draft
First peer review
Second draft
Second peer review
Third draft
Third peer review
Final edits
In a time crunch, the third round of drafting and peer review can be eliminated.
As a parent, you can also partake in the brainstorming process. (When it comes to brainstorming, two heads are always better than one!) Don’t underestimate what you can bring to the table in this key phase of the writing process: insight as to what makes your child unique and the anecdotes that prove that.
The next phase you can be involved with is peer review. However, you shouldn’t be the only one reviewing your child’s essay. Ideally, two or three different individuals should, but make sure at least one of those individuals has a strong background in writing (English teachers are usually great candidates for the job). However, not everyone needs to be an English major to provide insight on a college essay. In fact, involving people with a range of skill sets and backgrounds can result in more comprehensive feedback for your child.
An important note about time management
Ideally, students should start their college essays months before the deadline to allow enough time for thorough peer review and editing. Through effective time management, students can avoid the uncomfortable impulse to rush their peer reviewers.
If your child’s peer reviewers feel pressured, it may compromise the quality of their feedback. Remember: peer review is essentially a favor, so you and your child should make sure those who agree to it can work comfortably on their own terms.
Tiffany Sorensen holds a Master of Science in Spanish-English Translation from New York University. She works remotely from sunny Mexico, where she gives English and Spanish classes, writes educational articles, and designs practice tests for the ACT.