This document provides guidance on writing a college essay. It discusses focusing the essay on yourself and how others affected you. Colleges are looking to learn about who you are. Essays should be 500-600 words and tell a story about your experiences and what makes you unique. Common application prompts are analyzed, emphasizing the need to connect experiences back to yourself and lessons learned. Overall, the document stresses writing concisely about meaningful life events and their impact on your identity.

1. Writing Your College Essay
Presented by: Jessica Karner and Lecia Sligh
Presented to: Upward Bound Rising Seniors

2. 2
General Facts About Your College Essay
• College Essay is all about YOU!
• You can talk about other people in your college essay but it should
all come back to how these people affected YOU!
• Colleges are looking to accept you into their community, make sure
you display yourself well
• Be aware of limits on college essay, most colleges are looking for
something between 500-600 words so be concise
• Your college essay does not need to be the most complicated thing
you have ever written, just write a story about YOU

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The YOU factor
• You are the only person that the college is interested in
admitting
• Colleges read many essays that are about how your
mother was important to your life, but the key part in this
sentence is YOUR LIFE.
• Make sure no matter what you are discussing it comes
back to you, you, and you.

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In the RIGHT LIGHT
• Many individuals have faced challenges in which they
did not do the right thing, and these are often the best
learning experiences for individuals.
• These are things you are going to want to highlight in
your college essays, but make sure you are doing so in
the right light
• You should highlight what you learned, how you grew,
and how you continue to grow from experiences

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500-600 words
• This writing is going to be five hundred to six hundred words. I am going to continue to type until I am in that
range. When you are writing your college essay it is going to sound a lot longer than it actually is. Five hundred
words is only about four strong paragraphs, shorter than most essays you have to write for high school, and flies
by if you are not careful. Many papers you have turned in for your English teachers have been around sixteen
hundred words and you did not even realize it. I am already at one hundred words.
• This paragraph is going to be about something influential that happened in my life. First I am going to describe the
influential event to you. For the next several sentences I am going to explain why this event was so important to
my life, and how it affected me specifically. I am going to talk about ways that my life changed when I first started
dealing with the event, and how I think this change makes me a better candidate for your college. I am going to
give many details about this important event to keep people interested in the story. This paragraph is already over
one hundred words.
• This paragraph is going to be about why I want to go to XYZ University. I am going to discuss the clubs that I like
there, the academic interests I have, and the success I believe will be inevitable at this University. I am going to
discuss the school’s location. I am going to talk about the first time I walked on campus, and what made me apply
to the school in the first place. It is going to be a paragraph that discusses why it is the right fit for me to attend
XYZ University. This paragraph is already over one hundred words.
• This paragraph is going to be about my high school experience and how it differed from other applicants. I am
going to discuss the diversity at my high school. I am also going to discuss the club I was in that changed my
entire high school experience and how it makes me a better person. I am going to talk about how much I am going
to miss the school and how excited I am to bring this club to my future college or university. I am going to credit
my high school with allowing me to see who I am as a person and I am going to state that my town shaped me as
well. This paragraph is already over one hundred words.
• At this point I have typed four hundred and fifty one words describing what I am going to talk about in college
essay paragraphs. I do this for two reasons. First, five hundred words goes by very quickly, and I wanted to
illustrate that. Secondly, to show you that if you waste time describing what you want to say, you are not going to
get to the point you are trying to make within five hundred words. These five bullet points are now at five hundred
and thirty five words.

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Common App Prompt 1
• Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity
that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this
sounds like you, then please share your story.
– Breaking Down the Prompt
• Some students- this does not mean all, if you can’t think of something for
this one there are five other prompts you can choose from
• Background or story- is there something that you feel a need to tell about
how you grew up, or a moment you think things changed?
• Central to their IDENTITY- Identity is the key word in this prompt, make sure
that whatever you are sharing with colleges is really crucial to who YOU are
as a person.
• Application would be INCOMPLETE without it- this story needs to be
something that is so crucial that you don’t feel that the college knows you
without it.

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Common App Prompt 2
• Recount an incident or time when you experienced
failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons
did you learn?
– Breaking down the prompt
• Incident or Time- This needs to be a specific experience, this should
be a time in your life.
• Experience Failure- You get to define failure in this prompt, but
make sure you can explain why you think you failed.
• Lessons learned- Make sure you can explain what you learned from
it, remember you want to highlight yourself in the right light
• YOU- this prompt says the word you three times. Describe a time
YOU experienced, how it affected YOU, and the lessons YOU
learned.

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Common App Prompt 3
• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea.
What prompted you to act? Would you
make the same decision again?
– Break down the prompt:
• Challenged a belief or idea- key word is challenged, so it needed to
be something that you disagreed with or questioned
• What prompted you to act- think about why you challenged this idea
• Decision- did you decide to act, and do you think it was a good time.
• YOU is used three times in this prompt as well!

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Common App Prompt 4
• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly
content. What do you do or experience
there, and why is it meaningful to you?
– Breaking down the Prompt
• Describe- give details about this place, don’t just say the Lake,
describe some of the characteristics of this place
• Place or environment- this can be a physical place, but it could also
be a space which you can define as your environment. An example
could be whenever you are with your grandparents
• Perfectly content- make sure this place is where you are at your
absolute
• Experience there- give examples of things that have happened to
you there that make you feel content
• Meaningful- make sure that you give reasons that this is important!
• YOU- three times again on this prompt!

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Common App Prompt 5
• Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal,
that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood
within your culture, community, or family.
– Breaking down the prompt
• Accomplishment or Event- this gives you control about what you
want to talk about, you get to define what you consider an
accomplishment or an event in your life
• Transition from childhood to adulthood- make sure you grew up
because of this event, and you can see a clear change within
yourself
• Culture, community, or family- again this is giving you room to talk
about anything you are comfortable with talking about
• YOUR: Twice, make sure it is all about you!

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