The way you tell your story can make all the difference.

Why do universities require a personal essay?

The role of the personal essay is to provide universities with a holistic snapshot of who students are. Universities especially look for people that indicate shared values with the university and show potential of enriching their cohort. Attending university is not purely based on the classroom - students will attend clubs, participate in competitions, or even start their own projects. Universities want to see this potential for taking initiative and becoming a part of the community - the personal statement plays such an important role in communicating this.

According to admissions specialists at College Vine, the personal essay can account for nearly 25% of students’ admissions decision. Therefore, this is an excellent opportunity to to humanize your application and express your true self to your dream university.

In the college admissions process, stats are not everything. Oftentimes personal statements help students become admitted to their dream universities despite having average SAT results or GPA. Here’s a great example: let’s say a student dreams of becoming a computer engineer and decides to apply to Stanford University. They have a desirable SAT result, yet their GPA is below average. However, this student spent their free time coding applications and even put some on the App Store. The essay is the best place to talk about these achievements, explain their passion for coding , and the happiness it provides.

A personal essay provides context to your grades, hobbies, and personality. The most popular application website, CommonApp, allows students to write a personal statement up to 650 words - being original and creative in telling your story is challenging, but we are here to help. Our team at Advantageous Education went through this process and succeeded in the admissions process. Let us give you the tips and tricks of what universities look for in the personal essay and how to find your own unique story,

Application Prompts

The most popular application website is CommonApp, so our team at Advantageous Education will discuss the personal statement’s construction and look at these specific requirements. However, we can assist students with all types of essays from other application sites if need be.

Please read the seven CommonApp prompts on the right.

The last question allows students to talk about anything they choose: if you choose this route for the personal essay, it is crucial to select a topic that stands out. Together, students and our team will read example essays, create drafts, and brainstorm all different aspects of the topic. This whole pre-writing process is often overlooked by high school students who ignore proper preparation, but our team has prepared outlines to compare topics, organize ideas, and choose the perfect subject to write about.

There are 7 types of questions that students can choose for a personal statement:

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then 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 that is 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 that 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.

A good essay to me, in general, is one where I learn something about the student that I wouldn't learn elsewhere in the application. Monica Inzer, vice president for enrollment management at Hamilton College in New York.

Supplemental Essays

In addition to the personal statement, universities often ask for supplemental essays. These essays give universities even more insight into the personalities and values of students. One on hand, supplemental essays may allow students to provide more details about a project, motivation, or character traits expressed by their personal essay story. On the other hand, these essays can also have tricky questions and require extra creativity. For example, the University of Chicago asks students:

“If there’s a limited amount of matter in the universe, how can Olive Garden (along with other restaurants and their concepts of food infinity) offer truly unlimited amount of soup, salad and breadsticks?” (See an example answer to this prompt on the right.)

Top universities can have several questions similar to this, as well as questions that ask why a student chose their university, major, etc. Overall, supplemental essays do not require less work than the main personal essay - our team will help you select questions that best reflect your personality/creativity, construct answers and write great responses.

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Essay advice from our team…

Be authentic! Write an essay that makes you stand out from the crowd and prove that you care about the application process.
Don’t write about topics that are often too overused by students - a sports injury, service trip, etc. Write about a topic that is unique and unexpected.
Use formal language to present your achievements in a well-spoken way.
Structure and divide your essay into appropriate paragraphs.
Support your examples with real-life situations - do not just talk, show what you’ve accomplished!
Do not copy someone else's work.
Do not create fake events, achievements or interests.
Do not create essay structures that are overly complicated.
Avoid trivialities, clichés, and colloquial language.
Do not purely list your achievements, goals, etc.
Do not use quotations unless they are necessary and well justified.

How can our team help you?

Advantageous Education tutors will assist you in: