In previous posts, we’ve mentioned that the college essay is the most underestimated part of the college application – and it’s certainly true that a top college essay will dramatically improve your chances of getting into your dream college.

But from our perspective, that’s just the beginning. If you approach the process correctly and write an essay that captures your authentic experience, you will reap the benefits throughout your entire professional life. Here are three benefits to writing a strong college essay that we believe are even more important than getting into college.

If in your darker moments you find yourself asking, “Can I pay someone to write my college essay?” we’re here to tell you: no. We obviously don’t need to tell you that getting someone to write your college essay is a violation of academic ethics, and if you’re caught, you will either be rejected from the college in question or your offer of acceptance will be rescinded. That’s not the point of today’s blog post. Instead, we’re going to explain why paying someone for this service is a bad idea for a different reason: it simply won’t improve your chances of being admitted in the first place. 

Here are three reasons why you should never pay someone to write your college essay for you — and if anyone offers you this service, you should run.

The college essay is a rite of passage in American life. Some students look forward to writing about themselves; most don’t, because they’ve never written anything like it before. Nevertheless, along with their GPA, SAT, and extracurriculars list, the admissions essay plays a key part in determining where students end up going to college.

There has recently been a flurry of headlines claiming that the college essay is dead and that nothing can be done to save it. This is patently untrue. The college essay not only isn’t dead; it’s the one component of the college application most likely to endure. Here’s why the college essay will continue to play a key role in admissions decisions for many years to come.

It happens to everyone. You have an essay due in a month, and somehow you never quite get to it. A week slips by, then another, then another, and the next thing you know, you’re pulling an all-nighter. You’re up till 5am the next day making sure you reach the word count, and you get it in just on time. What a relief!

While this may be a decent idea for one of your classes in high school - and it may even work better than writing your essay in advance sometimes - it’s a terrible idea for the college essay. Here are the three main reasons why you shouldn’t write this all-important 650-word essay just before the deadline.

If you’ve landed here, you’ve probably heard that you should “sell your trauma” in your college essay. In other words, you should tell a sob story and capitalize on the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, because that will get you into the college of your dreams. We totally disagree with this, and in today’s blog, we’ll explain why.

It’s very difficult to stand out in a college application. Of course, it’s extremely important to have good grades, a high SAT/ACT score, and an impressive list of extracurriculars - but lots of students submit impressive applications that meet all of these criteria. The college essay is the only part of the application that gives you the chance to distinguish yourself from everyone else.

It’s one of the most popular college essay prompts students respond to, and it may even be the classic college essay topic. If you do it well, you can really distinguish yourself from other applicants, but if you do it poorly, you will probably be placed at the bottom of the pile. In today’s post, we will reveal three big mistakes students make in writing the “Overcoming Challenges” college essay, and in each case, we’ll explain what you should do instead.

Let’s begin with the prompt itself, which you should read multiple times: “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?”

We’re a small company that works one-on-one with students on their college essays, and every single one of our tutors not only holds a PhD from a top institution but has also published a book with a prestigious university press. And even though each one of us has a decade of experience working with students on their college essays (not to mention many years teaching in top colleges), it’s always challenging to help new applicants come up with a college essay that will really stand out.

After reviewing college essays for many years, we strongly believe that Common App prompt #7 is the single worst college essay prompt for most applicants. You may be tempted to think that because the prompt gives you a lot of freedom, it will allow you to express yourself and stand out more - but it usually ends up doing the opposite. Here are three big reasons we urge you to select one of the other prompts when you write your college essay.

So you’ve followed our advice and written a stellar college essay, and now you’ve gotten to the supplementals. The most popular prompt you’ll have to answer is: “Why do you want to attend our college?” 

Stanford is one of the most competitive schools to get into, and its supplemental prompts are different from other schools. You’ll need to write 3 essays of 100-250 words and 5 short answers of 50 words, in addition to your main college essay. But remember: you’ll be competing with the best students in the country (and around the world), so you’ll need to make sure that every response you submit is both distinctive and well written. If you don’t put in the work, there’s no reason to apply, because your application will simply be removed from the pile. 

If you’ve been reading our blog, you’ll know we don’t believe in reading sample college essays and we don’t think there’s any formula you can follow. But we do think some general guidelines can be helpful, so here are our top 3 tips for writing the Stanford supplementals.

What is an essence object? Essentially it’s an object you own (or use regularly) that represents one of your fundamental qualities. So you could pick the violin you’ve been playing since you were a child, or the soccer jersey you were wearing when you scored your first goal, or the book your grandfather gave you before he died. You start by brainstorming ten or twenty of these essence objects, and the one you pick forms the basis for your college essay.

Unfortunately, essence objects won’t help you write a great college essay. Instead, they prevent you from thinking through your life experience seriously and maturely. Here are the main reasons we don’t recommend getting lost in this brainstorming exercise.

There’s a lot of confusion around what it means to brainstorm your college essay. The standard advice is that you should rack your brain and write down every single idea that comes to mind, as if this will somehow lead to a magical idea that will get you into college. But it’s not that simple. You can only brainstorm effectively if you do it from the right starting point.

Here’s an example of the wrong starting point: a handful of college essay websites suggest that you should brainstorm your values for college essay ideas. This means you should look at a list of abstract concepts and pick out the ones you value the most. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help you get started on your college essay, and it can actively sabotage the writing process. In this post, we’ll explain why, step by step.

A college essay tutor is the last qualified person to read your essay before it goes to admissions officers, and they won’t be doing you a service if they act like you’re ready to submit when you’re not. If you know what to expect, working with a college essay tutor can be extremely helpful and, we hope, enjoyable! Here are three reasons why you should seek out a college essay tutor who’s direct with you: