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and if you’re caught, you will either be rejected from the college in question or your offer of acceptance will be rescinded.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?”