College Essay Advice 2018-19

Writing a college essay may seem a daunting task. How does one create a personal statement that highlights one’s character and aspirations while being engaging? College prep companies charge to help students with the preparation of their college applications. Some like PrepScholar, CollegeVine, and CollegeXpress also share college essay advice and tips on their blogs.

This article contains links to 82 posts about writing college essays, most of them published this year. The first eight give general advice about how to compose a personal statement. The next three focus on the Common Application, Coalition Application and ApplyTexas essay prompts. The last 71 provide specific insights into how to write the application and supplemental essays for 62 popular colleges.

General advice and tips

Posts in this section focus on general information about how to write a college essay. They cover topics like brainstorming ideas, composing a good introduction, and mistakes to avoid.

How to write a great college essay, step-by-step by PrepScholar

How to come up with great college essay ideas by PrepScholar

What if I don’t have anything interesting to write about in my college essay? by CollegeVine

How to start a college essay perfectly by PrepScholar

Bad college essays: 10 mistakes you must avoid by PrepScholar

How to write a perfect “Why this College” essay by PrepScholar

101 college essay examples for 13 schools + expert analysis by PrepScholar

All the college application essay help you will ever need by CollegeXpress

How to approach the Common Application, Coalition Application, and ApplyTexas essays

The Common Application, Coalition Application, and ApplyTexas are online applications that are shared by multiple colleges. For instance, more than 750 schools accept the Common Application. That means that if your child applies to at least two of those schools, they will share most of the information she/he enters in the application, even the college essay.

The posts below give experts tips on how to write the personal statements requested by each of these online applications.

Complete strategies: Common Application essay prompts (2018-19) by PrepScholar

How to write the Coalition application essays by CollegeVine

How to write perfect ApplyTexas essays by PrepScholar

Do you wish to know more about the Common Application, Coalition Application, and ApplyTexas? Here are a few helpful resources:

Complete guide: which schools use the Common Application? by PrepScholar

Which schools use the Coalition Application? Complete list by PrepScholar

ApplyTexas essay questions

Advice on how to write the essays requested by 62 popular colleges

Online applications help students by reducing the number of times they have to re-enter the same information and the number of essays they have to write. These systems also allow colleges to customize what they request from applicants. While some do not require a personal statement, many ask for one or more supplemental essays. Other schools maintain their online application and, therefore, have their own essay prompts. The list below includes 71 CollegeVine and PrepScholar posts that provide guidelines and tips on how to handle the application and supplemental essay prompts for 62 popular colleges.

Amherst College supplemental essays by CollegeVine

Auburn University supplemental essays by CollegeVine

Baylor University supplement essay by CollegeVine

Boston College supplemental essays by CollegeVine

Boston University supplemental essays by CollegeVine

Bowdoin College supplemental essays by CollegeVine

Brandeis University essays by CollegeVine

Brown University and PLME supplemental essays by CollegeVine

Caltech application essays by CollegeVine

Carnegie Mellon University essays by CollegeVine

Clark University supplemental essays by CollegeVine

Columbia