college essay

Hi Gwen, a tip my writing professor shared with me for writing college essays (particularly the personal statement) is to balance narration, or the storytelling part of the essay, with reflection. There is no ideal ratio of narration to storytelling, so you can have it mostly narration with a little bit of reflection, vice versa, or have it 50/50. Particularly for the personal statement, if you are stuck on where to start, look at previous essays you've written for school and notice what you choose to share about yourself. Think of it as you sharing a story about yourself with the Admissions Officers; what do they need to know about you that can't fully be captured in your grades, extracurriculars, and accomplishments?

Also, make sure to get lots of feedback from people once you have an idea of what you want to write, and don't try to write what you think AOs want to hear - just tell a story about yourself that lets them know more about who you are.

Good luck.

Hi GwenAliceThornton! To be honest, I don’t know much about college essays and I am also idealess for my own essay but maybe you can explain how your unique lifestyle affected your learning and how you improved and stuff. Good luck with your essay!