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How to Format A College Essay: 15 Expert Tips

College Essays

When you're applying to college, even small decisions can feel high-stakes. This is especially true for the college essay, which often feels like the most personal part of the application. You may agonize over your college application essay format: the font, the margins, even the file format. Or maybe you're agonizing over how to organize your thoughts overall. Should you use a narrative structure? Five paragraphs?

In this comprehensive guide, we'll go over the ins and outs of how to format a college essay on both the micro and macro levels. We'll discuss minor formatting issues like headings and fonts, then discuss broad formatting concerns like whether or not to use a five-paragraph essay, and if you should use a college essay template.

How to Format a College Essay: Font, Margins, Etc.

Some of your formatting concerns will depend on whether you will be cutting and pasting your essay into a text box on an online application form or attaching a formatted document. If you aren't sure which you'll need to do, check the application instructions. Note that the Common Application does currently require you to copy and paste your essay into a text box.

Most schools also allow you to send in a paper application, which theoretically gives you increased control over your essay formatting. However, I generally don't advise sending in a paper application (unless you have no other option) for a couple of reasons:

Most schools state that they prefer to receive online applications. While it typically won't affect your chances of admission, it is wise to comply with institutional preferences in the college application process where possible. It tends to make the whole process go much more smoothly.

Paper applications can get lost in the mail. Certainly there can also be problems with online applications, but you'll be aware of the problem much sooner than if your paper application gets diverted somehow and then mailed back to you. By contrast, online applications let you be confident that your materials were received.

Regardless of how you will end up submitting your essay, you should draft it in a word processor. This will help you keep track of word count, let you use spell check, and so on.

Next, I'll go over some of the concerns you might have about the correct college essay application format, whether you're copying and pasting into a text box or attaching a document, plus a few tips that apply either way.

Formatting Guidelines That Apply No Matter How You End Up Submitting the Essay:

Unless it's specifically requested, you don't need a title. It will just eat into your word count.

Avoid cutesy, overly colloquial formatting choices like ALL CAPS or ~unnecessary symbols~ or, heaven forbid, emoji and #hashtags. Your college essay should be professional, and anything too cutesy or casual will come off as immature.

Mmm, delicious essay...I mean sandwich.

Why College Essay Templates Are a Bad Idea

You might see college essay templates online that offer guidelines on how to structure your essay and what to say in each paragraph. I strongly advise against using a template. It will make your essay sound canned and bland—two of the worst things a college essay can be. It's much better to think about what you want to say, and then talk through how to best structure it with someone else and/or make your own practice outlines before you sit down to write.

You can also find tons of successful sample essays online. Looking at these to get an idea of different styles and topics is fine, but again, I don't advise closely patterning your essay after a sample essay. You will do the best if your essay really reflects your own original voice and the experiences that are most meaningful to you.

College Application Essay Format: Key Takeaways

There are two levels of formatting you might be worried about: the micro (fonts, headings, margins, etc) and the macro (the overall structure of your essay).

Tips for the micro level of your college application essay format:

• Always draft your essay in a word processing software, even if you'll be copy-and-pasting it over into a text box.
• If you are copy-and-pasting it into a text box, make sure your formatting transfers properly, your paragraphs are clearly delineated, and your essay isn't cut off.
• If you are attaching a document, make sure your font is easily readable, your margins are standard 1-inch, your essay is 1.5 or double-spaced, and your file format is compatible with the application specs.
• There's no need for a title unless otherwise specified—it will just eat into your word count.

Tips for the macro level of your college application essay format :

• There is no super-secret college essay format that will guarantee success.
• In terms of structure, it's most important that you have an introduction that makes it clear where you're going and a conclusion that wraps up with a main point. For the middle of your essay, you have lots of freedom, just so long as it flows logically!
• I advise against using an essay template, as it will make your essay sound stilted and unoriginal.

Plus, if you use a college essay template, how will you get rid of these medieval weirdos?

What's Next?

Still feeling lost? Check out our total guide to the personal statement , or see our step-by-step guide to writing the perfect essay .

If you're not sure where to start, consider these tips for attention-grabbing first sentences to college essays!

And be sure to avoid these 10 college essay mistakes .

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Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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How To Format & Structure Your College Application Essay

Part I: What Is a College Essay?

Part II: College Essay Formats

Choosing the Best Format

Part III: Structure

Part IV: Revising With a Rubric

Part V: Nuts & Bolts Formatting

This blog post provides a comprehensive guide to college essay formats and structures, covering the purpose of the essay in admissions, the differences between personal narratives and personal essays, and a variety of both common and creative essay structures. It also includes a concise rubric for evaluating essays and practical tips on formatting and submitting your final draft. Whether you’re just starting your essay or refining your final version, your essay is a crucial application component. The principles and insights in this post will position you to write the kind of essays submitted by top applicants.

Crafting a compelling college essay is a critical part of the admissions process, but it can also be one of the most daunting. Understanding the different formats and structures available can help you tell your story in a way that resonates with admissions officers. 

Whether you're writing a personal narrative , personal essay , or a reflective essay , this guide will walk you through the key elements to consider, offering practical tips and creative strategies to help your essay stand out.

First, it's important to understand that the essays you write in high school differ from what you have to write in your college application essays . Whether you’re writing the Common App Essay , Supplemental Essays, or UCAS Personal Statement , it's crucial that you prepare ahead of time to do your absolute best. Read ahead for guidelines on how to format and structure a college application essay and what mistakes to avoid.

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Part I. What Is a College Essay?

A college essay introduces you to your prospective college or university.

It’s common for these essays to have a prescribed length between 200 and 600 words .

The college essay is a pillar of most applications because it offers a glimpse into who you are as a person and helps admissions officers gauge your potential fit in a college community.

Your choice of format and structure will also be guided by the specific prompt you’re writing to and how you approach the prompt, based on your own unique personal circumstances and the college context.

The Format Is Not Familiar to Many Students; But It's Not Counter-intuitive Either

Many students have little experience or formal teaching for this kind of writing format, and have had little opportunity to experiment with it and get feedback.

Shifting gears away from what many US students learn about writing a 5-Paragraph Essay or any similar form of expository essay, let's put the college essay writing format into a more familiar perspective.

Imagine you’ve decided to (or been asked to) write a brief memoir of your life.

Or, imagine you’re asked to develop and write a thoughtful personal reflection about a favorite activity, book, or influential event in your life.

Do these examples make writing a college essay feel a bit more approachable? I hope so!

We all have a story to tell that can help strangers know us better.

We all have a capacity for sharing our reflections on formative and memorable personal experiences or big life questions or concepts.

And when we do that, we’re sharing in much the same way we share in a college essay.

Navigating College Essays Prompts

For some students, the prompt can be both helpful and intimidating:

• It narrows the focus of your essay, providing some clear direction, but also setting an expectation about what the reader wants to learn about you.
• It often leaves you lots of latitude for interpreting it how you want to.
• It leaves you to choose, develop, and share the most relevant personal thoughts and experiences.
• It can offer quite a bit of latitude for how you format and structure the final essay.

Here is an example of an actual college essay prompt from Yale :

Reflect on your membership in a community to which you feel connected. Why is this community meaningful to you? You may define community however you like.

Prompts Typically Probe Your Personal Experiences and Thoughts

This kind of essay isn’t about information and facts, or your resume! You're going to need to write about yourself, through the lens of your own feelings, thoughts, perceptions, and experiences. This can involve some uncomfortable honesty, candor, and vulnerability, and a level of subjectivity that's foreign to most academic writing you're used to!

To drive this point home, note that the words you/your appear five times in the prompt from Yale!

Also, the prompt even tells you that “community” can be defined however you like . That's nice freedom... BUT, you're left with the challenge of making a coherent essay out of your thoughts and reflections.

Decoding College Essay Prompts

While the general purpose of a college essay is to introduce yourself to admissions officers or help school leaders gauge your "fit" with their school, you’ll want to decode the essay prompt for more nuanced clarity on the purpose of your essay.

For most college essay prompts, “decoding” is very straightforward, but it’s still important:

• Helping you think about the purpose of your essay in more specific terms
• Guiding your editorial choices, in terms of what you want to share, highlight, and emphasize

Use the specific admissions context to guide decoding.

Using the example above, it’s clear Yale wants to get a sense of how you’ll thrive in a very social learning environment: from interactions with a study group, to collaborating in a school club, orchestra, or athletic team, or thriving in the the larger campus community…

One can go a step further, putting the prompt (and the essay you’ll write) into a larger context . Yale no doubt understands its role in preparing students for future leadership. High-level, innovative leadership requires a well-honed ability to navigate complex community and public/private interactions, collaborations, and even rivalries.

In the end, your essay will focus on what’s real and authentic for you personally, but decoding the prompt in its larger admissions context can help you decide what content is most relevant.

Key Takeaways for Writing to College Essay Prompts:

• Understand what prompts are: A prompt provides a question or statement that highlights something the admissions officers want you to reveal about yourself, but also allows for a fair amount of subjectivity and personal voice, style, and creativity.
• Decode the prompt and brainstorm relevant content: Think about the underlying purpose and context for the prompt and essay — make sure the content is responsive, but also personalized, being genuine and authentic.
• Leverage the prompt as a catalyst to say something important, insightful, and compelling about your personality, character, and/or aspirations, values, and commitments.

What’s the Difference Between a College Essay and a Personal Statement ?

Good question!

In some contexts, or when used loosely, the two terms may periodically be used interchangeably.

But in most contexts, personal statements are different from college essays , even if both are used for admissions.

1. Personal Statement

• A personal statement is common when you apply for a scholarship, or a school wants you to clarify your interest and motivation for applying to a specific major. And personal statements are prevalent in the UK admissions process.
• It tends to be more factual and less personal than a college essay (a bit more like a resume).

If you use the UCAS platform to apply to a UK school, you’ll be asked to write a clear and concise “personal statement” under 4,000 characters that includes the following type of personal information:

• Personal skills and achievements
• Work experience and future plans
• Positions of responsibility held, or have held, both in and out of school
• Details of jobs, placements, work experience, or voluntary work, particularly if it's relevant to the course
• How the applicant has prepared for their chosen area of study
• Why they enjoy and are good at the subject
• A good level of academic terminology and experience

As you can see, a personal statement is autobiographical but in a more matter of fact way , making it less subjective and less intimate in terms of sharing about identity, nuanced thoughts, and formative personal experiences.

A personal statement requires time and effort, but the task is more straightforward, based on resume-type information, qualifications, and academic or professional goals.

A college essay has a prescribed focus, but it’s also asking you to share values, reflections, and ideas, and speak to your personality, attributes, and aspirations. This makes your approach more open-ended, and it’s a big departure from more practical forms of business communication or academic writing.

Part II: The Format of a College Essay

In this section will delve more deeply into the general format of a college essay, with a closer look at the two most relevant formats for this kind of writing task:

• Personal Essay & Reflective Essay
• Personal Narrative

A college essay will typically have the overall format (structure, voice, and perspective) of a personal essay/reflective essay OR personal narrative .

Features of a Personal Essay Format

A personal essay is a reflective piece of writing that explores a specific theme or topic from the author's life. Rather than following a story arc, a personal essay delves into events, influences, personality traits, or beliefs and reflections related to a larger personal theme.

Features of a Personal or Reflective Essay Format:

• Topical Structure : Organized around a central theme or topic, rather than following a chronological narrative. The essay often explores different facets of the theme through various examples or reflections.
• Analytical Approach : Focuses on analyzing and reflecting on personal experiences, thoughts, or ideas. The writing is introspective and seeks to draw broader insights or conclusions from personal events.
• Logical Flow : Maintains a clear, logical progression of ideas, often following the structure of an introduction, body, and conclusion. Each paragraph or section builds on the previous one to support the essay's main theme or argument.
• Reflective Tone : Emphasizes the writer's internal thought process and personal growth. The tone is often contemplative, exploring how specific experiences or ideas have shaped the writer's perspective.
• Less Dialogue, More Reflection : Unlike a narrative, a personal essay rarely includes dialogue or detailed storytelling. Instead, it focuses on the writer's reflections, insights, and the connections they make between their experiences and the essay's theme.
• Unified Theme : The essay revolves around a single, cohesive theme or message. All examples and reflections are tied back to this central idea, creating a sense of unity and purpose throughout the essay.
• Purposeful Conclusion : Ends with a thoughtful conclusion that ties together the reflections and insights, often leaving the reader with a lasting impression or a broader understanding of the theme.

A reflective essay format is similar to a personal essay format, but making a distinction may be helpful.

Some college essay prompts will ask students to share their introspective views of a big idea or concept. This aligns with a reflective essay format , for most circumstances.

With less focus on life events and experiences than a personal essay, a reflective essay focuses on a writer's inner thoughts : this format is ideally suited for sharing thoughts and ideas, revealing how you make mental connections between influences, experiences, and thoughts, and spotlighting evolving ideas and perspectives that shape your identity or academic interests.

Features of a Personal Narrative Format

A personal narrative is a story about a specific experience or event from the author's life, focusing on a particular moment or series of events and the emotions and lessons associated with it.

Features of a Personal Narrative Format:

• Storytelling Elements : Utilizes writing techniques and elements commonly found in novels and short stories, such as character development, plot, and setting.
• Descriptive Details : Includes vivid descriptions that evoke the setting, characters, and atmosphere, helping the reader visualize and connect with the story.
• Dialogue and Inner Thoughts : May incorporate dialogue and inner thoughts to reveal character emotions, intentions, and relationships, making the narrative more dynamic and engaging.
• Chronological Order : Often unfolds in chronological order, recounting events as they happened. This can be over an extended period or within a single moment, depending on the story's focus.
• Sensory Details : Enriches the narrative with sensory details — sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures — that immerse the reader in the experience.
• Suspense and Conflict : Includes elements of suspense, conflict, or intrigue that engage the reader and drive the narrative forward, often creating anticipation for the reader about a resolution or revelation.
• Focused on a Specific Event or Experience : Centers around a particular event or moment in the author’s life, exploring the emotions, lessons, and impacts associated with it.

Depending on the prompt and the content and themes that you most want to recount and share, a college essay may use one of the formats above exclusively, but oftentimes a college essay will be made more effective by integrating features from one or more of these college essay formats.

A Note on the Unconventional “Third-Person” Personal Essay

There can always be creative exceptions to what’s most common…

One such example is using the third-person voice instead of the first-person voice.

While personal essays are typically written in the first person, some applicants choose to take an unconventional approach by writing about themselves from an external perspective.

This method involves observing oneself as if under a microscope, adopting a tone that is intentionally dispassionate, objective, and impersonal — even though the essay is deeply personal. In this style, the writer may even refer to themselves in the third person (using "he," "she," or sometimes their own name) instead of the usual first person ("I").

This approach can offer a unique angle and a distinctive narrative voice, though it requires some artistry to maintain clarity and a strong connection with the reader.

Choosing a Dominant Format: Personal Essay vs. Personal Narrative

When choosing the best format for a college essay, you’ll want to start with  brainstorming and ideation.

Your final choice of format and perspective will depend on the prompt in particular, and how you envision responding to the prompt.

What kind of information is the prompt asking you to share about yourself?

• If a prompt asks an applicant to delve into their “life story” so to speak, most writers will find a narrative format a natural choice.
• If a prompt asks the applicant to share their thoughts about a core value or concept shaping their academic goals and interests, the writer will probably find a reflective essay format is best.
• Another writer, however, may have a gripping life experience, or set of experiences, that shaped a core value in their life, so they may want to share these experiences using narrative features within a larger essay structure.

As you can see, both narrative features and analytical essay features can be effective for a college essay.

When deciding which formats are best for your essay, you’ll want to consider both the prompt itself and the kind of content you want to share based on your personal circumstances.

Showing, Not Telling

Whether you choose a narrative or essay format, the purpose of a college essay is to introduce yourself in a very personal way, including expressing some personal, intellectual, and emotional honesty, authenticity, and vulnerability, rather than just listing autobiographical data, as on a resume.

Doing this effectively can also make an essay more memorable, leaving a stronger impact on the reader (which is a challenge when top schools have so many applicants).

Showing, not telling is an effective strategy to create a stronger bond between writer and reader, and to cultivate empathy and intimacy.

Tips and Techniques for Showing, Not Telling

• Use Anecdotes : Share personal stories that reveal key aspects of your personality, character, or perspectives in a narrative style.
• Use an Authentic First-Person Voice : Write in a way that allows the reader to hear your unique voice and thoughts, rather than adopting an academic tone.
• Cultivate Empathy : Aim to make the reader feel as if they are walking in your shoes, getting to know you as they would a character in a novel.
• Show Authenticity and Vulnerability : Include your thought process, doubts, and the evolution of your beliefs or values, reflecting personal growth and individuality.
• Incorporate Introspection : Enrich your narrative with insights into your inner thoughts, impressions, and changing understandings.
• Embrace Subjectivity : Share candid, fun, and interesting details about yourself using your authentic voice.
• Use Vivid Descriptions : Depict scenes, people, or settings with sensory details, dialogue, and inner thoughts to show rather than tell.

Key Takeaways for the College Essay Format

• Understanding the Context : The "college essay" here refers to the personal essays you write for college applications, not the academic essays you'll write in college classes.
• Format Flexibility : This type of essay is not a 5-paragraph academic or expository essay. It typically takes the form of a personal essay or personal narrative.
• Choosing the Right Format : Select a format—personal essay or personal narrative—that best suits the prompt and the story or message you want to convey. Align your format with the content you wish to highlight.
• Showing vs. Telling : Focus on "showing" through vivid descriptions, anecdotes, and introspection. However, a more reflective essay may emphasize ideas and concepts over storytelling.

Key Do’s and Don’ts

• Use an Authentic Voice : Let your true personality and perspective shine through.
• Engage the Reader : Share insights that reveal compelling personal qualities or traits.
• Show, Don’t Tell : Use vivid descriptions, candid reflections, and personal stories to illustrate your points.
• Be Introspective : Reflect on your experiences and share your thought process, showing authenticity and vulnerability.
• Make a Positive Impression : Highlight your strengths while being honest and humble.
• Always Get Outside Input: Always have a trusted peer and trusted adult, a skilled admissions counselor if possible, give you input before you spend too much time on an essay or submit a final version of an essay.
• Don't Overshare: You want to help schools know you, and you want to make a memorable impression, but a college application is not an arena for sharing overly personal or overly sensitive details about your life. Be sincere and genuine but remain discreet and professional overall.
• Avoid Boasting : Refrain from listing achievements or writing a resume in essay form.
• Don’t Repeat Application Information : Avoid discussing grades or activities already covered in other parts of your application. Use your essay to add depth and insight beyond the facts.

We’ve done a deep dive into the format, perspective, and kinds of writing elements to use in a college essay. But when it comes time to put it together — to outline, compose, and organize — you’ll often find you really don’t have a lot of room in a college essay. this makes it imperative to work within a well defined structure that fits your prompt and the content you're sharing.

In Part III, below, you'll learn crucial tips for structuring an essay so it's memorable and makes its mark on readers. You'll also discover just how many kinds of creative structures you can choose from!

Red Flags To Avoid On Your College Essay

Top 5 Common App Personal Essay Red Flags

Part III: The Structure of a College Essay

First, let’s take a look at how to structure the beginning, middle, and end of a college essay to make it as effective as possible.

Start Your Essay With a Strong Hook

You’ll want an effective hook to give your essay a strong start, and set the stage for making a bigger impact on your reader, helping your essay, and application, stand out!

A creative and imaginative hook is one that announces a larger, unifying theme and also creates some form of invitation or tension, drawing the reader in, so almost without realizing it, they need to read the next part and can't wait to find out more…

One caution here: don’t create a “hook” because you think it’s necessary to show you’re a “good writer.” That’s not really the point.

• The hook should be one hundred percent authentic to what you’re revealing or introducing about yourself
• The hook should bring to the foreground a compelling theme, question, doubt, emotion, or conflict (to be explored and potentially also resolved later in the essay or narrative)
• The hook gets the college essay off to a strong start, so the reader forgets the pile of essays on their desk, being drawn into your story, or your dilemma, or your thoughts…
• Instead of thinking about an “introduction” to your essay, as in a 5-Paragraph Essay, imagine you’re skipping the introduction— the preliminaries — altogether. Go straight to the heart of the matter instead. This is like grabbing the reader by the shirt, or like shooting a gun to start a race!

Create intrigue, suspense, or curiosity…

Since a hook can take so many forms and needs to be so integral to your essay, there’s no fixed recipe to offer.

That said, one way to gauge the power of a hook is by the measure of intrigue, emotion, and curiosity it sparks in the reader .

Here are examples for inspiration:

When I read Frederick Douglass’ account of learning how to read while enslaved, there was one detail that I couldn’t forget, one I’ve been thinking about in my own life over and over again…

My brother died when I was only thirteen and while I look whole on the outside, I sometimes think if people really could see me it would be like I was missing a leg or confined to a wheelchair, it’s just that it’s not physical, but the loss doesn't go away and makes me feel different. And it's become part of who I am.

My stepfather doesn’t believe college is worth it and doesn’t approve of my decision to go to college, let alone go to a really selective one. One week in my junior year the conflict took a turn for the worse, but what happened eventually helped me understand why my motivation to study political science is different from the interest others have in fixing laws and making the country better.

As you can see, each hook has most or all of these features:

• Spotlights a dominant question, emotion, or conflict
• Leaves something crucial unsaid (for the time being), sparking intrigue, suspense, and curiosity
• Announces a central theme , such as an idea or concept shaping my worldview; a key insight into my own sense of self and identity; a compelling conflict that ended up shaping my academic interests...
• Cultivates intimacy and a bond with the reader , immediately conveying honesty, authenticity, and a dose of vulnerability.

With an effective hook your essay comes out of the gate like a racehorse, beginning with the very first sentence! Most likely your reader won’t put down your essay to go to the concession stand either. Instead, they'll keep reading and really start to care about your story and your educational aspirations and future!

The Middle Phase: A Body of Ideas, Experiences, Impressions…

The  middle phase is all the stuff you need to share to add depth and conviction to your writing and core themes, while also maintaining the reader’s engagement. It will also help you personalize your essay, as you share inner thoughts or recount real personal experiences.

Here are some strategies you may find helpful as you develop your ideas for this section of your essay.

Note: you may need to ignore what's not relevant or less relevant based on the structure, content, or approach you're using.

1. Develop Your Narrative or Argument

• Build on the Introduction : Expand on the themes, ideas, or experiences introduced at the beginning. This helps create a sense of continuity and deepens the reader's understanding of your perspective.
• Include Specific Examples : Use concrete examples, anecdotes, or details to illustrate your points. Specificity adds credibility and helps the reader connect with your experiences on a personal level.
• Show, Don’t Just Tell : Use descriptive language and sensory details to create vivid images that allow the reader to experience the story alongside you. This technique makes your writing more engaging and impactful.

2. Maintain a Clear Structure

• Use a Well-defined and Well-aligned Structure : Be clear on the structure you’re using and how it aligns with your content. You have lots of structures to choose from (as you’ll see in a moment), so don’t get stuck thinking about your college essay like it’s a 5-Paragraph Essay; it’s not. Clear organization helps the reader follow your train of thought, but some essays will be great with more creative, less linear structures, to create strong sensory impressions or elicit emotional responses from the reader.
• Develop Key Themes : Reinforce your main themes or ideas throughout the middle section. Repeated references to these themes emphasize their importance and help create a unified narrative.

3. Show Growth and Reflection

• Explore Personal Growth : Use the middle section to delve into how your experiences have shaped you. Reflect on challenges you’ve faced, lessons you’ve learned, and how you’ve changed over time.
• Analyze the Significance : Go beyond describing events; analyze their significance. Explain why certain moments were important to you and how they contributed to your development or perspective.

4. Engage the Reader Emotionally

• Tap into Emotions : Share your thoughts and feelings authentically to build an emotional connection with the reader. Whether through moments of joy, fear, determination, or introspection, emotional depth makes your narrative more compelling.
• Create Tension or Conflict : Introduce challenges, conflicts, or turning points in your story. These elements add drama and keep the reader invested in how you navigate or resolve these situations.

5. Balance Introspection and Action

• Interweave Action with Reflection : Combine narrative action (what happened) with reflective passages (what you thought or felt about it). This balance keeps the story dynamic while allowing for introspection and analysis.
• Avoid Overloading with Reflection : While reflection is important, too much can slow down the narrative. Ensure that your essay maintains momentum by interspersing reflective moments with storytelling.

6. Develop a Unique Voice

• Maintain Consistent Voice and Tone : Ensure that your voice and tone remain consistent throughout the middle section. This consistency helps maintain the reader’s connection to you as the narrator.
• Be Authentic : Write in a way that feels true to who you are. Authenticity resonates with readers and can make your story more relatable and believable.

Making a Strong Finish

There are actually many effective ways to conclude a college essay that are compact but also likely to help make your essay more memorable and give your central theme stronger resonance.

Whether you choose to focus on a resolution (or lack of resolution), or you want to craft a conclusion with a strong future-facing insight, it’s up to you. As author and editor-in-chief, you'll decide what kind of ending works best, but here are ideas to give you a head start:

Circle Back to the Introduction :

Revisit an image, theme, or idea from the opening of your essay. This creates a sense of cohesion and closure, giving the reader a feeling of completeness. For example, if you started with a specific memory or metaphor, bringing it back in the conclusion can effectively tie your story together.

Reflect on Growth or Change :

End with a reflection on how the experiences or ideas discussed in the essay have shaped you. Highlight the personal growth, lessons learned, or changes in perspective. This helps demonstrate self-awareness and the ability to learn from experiences—qualities valued by admissions committees.

Look Forward :

Use the conclusion to connect your past experiences or reflections to your future goals. This shows that you’ve not only learned from your experiences but are also motivated and focused on what comes next. For example, you can mention how the skills or insights gained will help you succeed in college or contribute to your chosen field.

Leave a Lasting Impression :

End with a strong, memorable statement or image that resonates with the reader. This could be a powerful sentence that encapsulates your main theme or a vivid image that leaves the reader thinking. Avoid clichés and aim for something unique to your experience.

Pose a Thoughtful Question :

Conclude by posing a question that invites the reader to think more deeply about the themes of your essay. This can be a rhetorical question that leaves the reader pondering your insights or the broader implications of your experiences.

End with a Call to Action (for Yourself) :

Consider concluding with a personal resolution or commitment related to what you’ve discussed in your essay. This shows forward-thinking and a proactive attitude. For instance, you might write about how you plan to apply what you’ve learned in college or in your future endeavors.

Keep it Concise and Focused :

The conclusion should be succinct and avoid introducing new ideas or topics. Focus on reinforcing the main themes of your essay and leave the reader with a clear understanding of your message.

Use an Appropriate Tone :

Ensure that your conclusion matches the tone of the rest of the essay. If your essay is reflective and serious, the conclusion should maintain that tone. If your essay has a lighter, more optimistic tone, your conclusion should also reflect that.

Creative Essay Structures

While most college essays follow the dominant format of a personal narrative, personal essay, or reflective essay, there are many creative ways you can structure elements from each format .

These structures are not, most of them, used for academic writing, so it’s new territory for many young scholars. On the bright side, consider it an opportunity to use a creative structure to convey something fresh and unique about your personality.

Tip: Only use a structure when it aligns effectively with content you're presenting in your essay.

The Personal Background Structure

This structure focuses on the people, places, and transitions that shaped your upbringing.

• Focus on Key Influences : The essay revolves around significant people, places, or transitions in your life, offering insights into how these elements shaped your identity and perspective.
• Flexible Structure : You can choose a topical essay structure to explore different aspects of your background or a personal narrative structure that follows a chronological sequence, depending on what best suits your story.
• Vivid Descriptions : Use concise, vivid descriptions to bring people and places to life, employing the "show, don't tell" technique to engage the reader and create a strong sense of place and character.
• Unified Theme : Select elements of your personal story that connect to a central theme you wish to highlight. This unifying theme gives your essay coherence and amplifies its impact, ensuring that each part of your background contributes to the overall message.

This structure is effective when it ties together various aspects of your background to illustrate a cohesive narrative about your personal development.

The Pivotal or Memorable Anecdote Structure

This structure centers around a specific event or experience that was highly formative and memorable for you.

• Personal Impact : The essay recounts a significant event, offering insights into how it unfolded, how you experienced it, and how it impacted or shaped you in a meaningful way. The narrative is focused and tied to a clear theme.
• Engaging Storytelling : It uses narrative and cinematic techniques, such as vivid sensory descriptions, to bring the experience to life for the reader. This helps cultivate empathy and creates a sense of intimacy.
• Avoiding Clichés : Steer clear of recounting dramatic events that, while memorable, may not lead to deep, nuanced reflections. Instead, focus on experiences that truly contributed to your personal growth, offering unique and thoughtful insights.

This structure is effective when the anecdote is not only memorable but also reveals significant personal growth and understanding.

The "What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger" Structure

This structure is all about overcoming adversity , often framed as a three-act drama:

• ACT 1: The Challenge : Start by presenting a provocative question, dilemma, conflict, or challenge in your life. This sets the stage for the reader and introduces the struggle or hardship that serves as the essay’s focal point.
• ACT 2: The Transformation : This act delves into the process of inner transformation, growth, or reflection. It explores how you navigated the challenges, the steps you took to address them, and how these experiences shaped important personal attributes. This is where you bring the reader through your journey, revealing the depth and nature of the adversity and your response to it.
• ACT 3: Moving Beyond and Gaining Wisdom : Conclude by showing how you overcame the adversity and what you learned from the experience. Highlight the wisdom gained, how it informs your future aspirations, and how it has contributed to a more mature self or perspective on life.
• Key Considerations : The "overcoming adversity" narrative is timeless, but it requires careful handling. To avoid clichés and ensure your story resonates, focus on authenticity and nuance. Be sincere and offer a detailed, intimate, and honest account of your journey. Show how the experience reshaped you in a meaningful and compelling way.

Vignette or Montage Structure

Think of this structure like a nonlinear mix of short video clips or a photo montage. It mirrors the disjointedness of our memories, where seemingly unrelated moments, anecdotes, or events come together to form a cohesive theme in your life.

Each vignette stands alone, not connected by chronology or topic, but when combined, they create an impressionistic and layered narrative.

The key to this structure is ensuring that each vignette is tied to a common theme , allowing the separate pieces to coalesce into a meaningful whole. This structure may help a writer foreground attributes such as creativity and imagination.

The Thinker: Reflective Structure

This structure blends recounting past experiences or influences — such as an event, a book, or a trip — with reflections on their significance from a present-day perspective.

• Focus on Present Beliefs : The essay centers on a current conviction, value, commitment, or belief, showing how it has been shaped by past experiences.
• Intellectual Exploration : It offers a deeper intellectual or philosophical exploration, revealing how extended reflection has helped you build connections between different experiences and ideas.
• Add Nuance and Depth : Enhance this structure by incorporating honesty and vulnerability, sharing how you navigated a life dilemma or philosophical doubt. This adds depth to your reflections and highlights your growth.

This structure is effective when you want to demonstrate how your past has influenced your present beliefs , showcasing your capacity for deep thought and introspection.

Additional Creative Structures to Choose From

There are a whole host of creative structures that may appeal to your creative side or prove to be a good fit for a particular prompt and how you want to respond to it.

Circular Structure :

The essay begins and ends with a similar idea, image, or event, creating a sense of closure and emphasizing the cyclical nature of the experience or the lesson learned.

Braided Structure :

Multiple storylines or themes are interwoven throughout the essay, with each thread contributing to the overall message or insight. The threads may converge or contrast with each other by the end.

Parallel Narrative Structure :

Two or more narratives are told side by side, either contrasting or complementing each other. This structure is often used to highlight connections between different experiences or themes.

Question-and-Answer Structure :

The essay is framed around a central question or a series of questions that the author seeks to answer through their reflections and experiences. This structure often lends itself to a conversational tone.

Frame Story Structure :

The essay begins with an introductory narrative (the “frame”) that sets the stage for the main story or stories within it. The frame is revisited at the end to provide closure or reflection.

Fragmented Structure :

The narrative is broken into non-linear segments or fragments, jumping between different times or events. This structure often reflects the complexity or disjointed nature of memory and experience.

List Structure :

The essay is organized as a list, with each item on the list representing a different memory, thought, or aspect of the central theme. This structure allows for flexibility and creativity in presentation.

You can use these structures alone or combined, depending on your particular story and the specific prompt, purpose, and context for your essay!

3 Tips on How to Structure Your College Application Essay

Common App Essay Guide Part 2: Structure

Part IV. Revising and Polishing College Essays With a Rubric

The rubric below uses a 3-point scale to evaluate key components of a college admissions essay. Use to gauge your progress when you get into the work of revising your essay drafts.

The "Content and Ideas" category can also be used as a guide while developing content for the initial draft and outline.

Content and Ideas

3 (Excellent) : The essay presents a compelling and original story or theme, offering deep insights into the applicant's personality, experiences, and values. It effectively addresses the prompt and demonstrates the applicant's readiness important aspects of college life and learning.

2 (Satisfactory) : The essay provides a clear and relevant narrative or reflection with some insights, but may lack depth or originality in certain areas. It addresses the prompt adequately but may not fully showcase the applicant’s potential.

1 (Needs Improvement) : The essay lacks focus or depth and may not clearly address the prompt. The content may feel generic, overly personal, or unsuitable for an admissions essay.

Organization and Structure

3 (Excellent) : The essay is well-organized with a strong hook and a clear, logical flow. The structure complements the content and purpose, making the essay engaging and easy to follow.

2 (Satisfactory) : The essay has a basic structure that is generally clear but may have some organizational issues. The flow is adequate, though it could be improved to enhance engagement.

1 (Needs Improvement) : The essay lacks clear organization, making it difficult to follow. The structure may be disjointed, with a weak hook and unclear transitions between ideas.

Wording, Voice, and Tone

3 (Excellent) : The essay has a strong, authentic voice that reflects the applicant’s personality. The tone is consistent, engaging, and appropriate for the content, helping to create a connection with the reader.

2 (Satisfactory) : The essay’s voice is clear but may lack some authenticity or consistency. The tone is generally appropriate but may not fully engage the reader or complement the content.

1 (Needs Improvement) : The essay’s voice is weak or inconsistent, and the tone may feel detached or inappropriate. It does not effectively convey the applicant’s personality or engage the reader.

Grammar, Punctuation, and Mechanics

3 (Excellent) : The essay is free from grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors, demonstrating careful editing. The mechanics support the essay’s structure, voice, and tone.

2 (Satisfactory) : The essay has a few minor errors but they do not significantly detract from the overall quality. The mechanics are generally sound but may need some polishing.

1 (Needs Improvement) : The essay contains multiple errors that affect readability and clarity. The mechanics need significant improvement to support the essay effectively.

Adherence to Guidelines

3 (Excellent) : The essay adheres fully to length and formatting guidelines and is completely relevant to the prompt and purpose.

2 (Satisfactory) : The essay meets most guidelines but may slightly exceed length or have minor formatting issues. It is generally relevant but may not fully align with the prompt.

1 (Needs Improvement) : The essay fails to adhere to length or formatting guidelines and may not be fully relevant to the prompt or purpose.

Part V. College Essay Formatting & Submission: The Nuts and Bolts Stuff

The main focus of your college essay is the content. The format and structure should make the essay easy to read to maintain this focus.

A title to your college essay is generally not required and takes from your word count. It can also confine your essay to a single meaning, so if you decide to use titles, use them with care. Keep your font double-spaced with a line space between the paragraphs to keep the essay easy on the eyes.

When the word count is not given, staying around 600 words is a safe bet. While it’s important to share about yourself in your essay, oversharing could make you stand out from your competition — in the worst way possible!

Uploading Your Essay

If you are copying and pasting your essay into a text box, here are some necessary actions to take to ensure your essay will be received as intended.

• Make sure that your essay is transferred over completely and without transfer errors . Formatting on a different program initially and then using the copy/paste function could cut your essay off, change your word count, alter the paragraph structure, and overall change the initial way you meant your essay to be read.
• The smaller details, such as bold and italics, may not be possible depending on the platform . As the point of the essay is the text, not including bold/italics only makes for a more straightforward read — it might just be a blessing in disguise!

When attaching a document, you’ll need to be  more precise with your formatting, but here are a few rules of thumb to follow:

• 1” margin is the standard, and difficult to go wrong with.
• An easy-to-read font, such as Times New Roman and Arial, is the way to go . The last thing you want is for the admissions officers to have difficulty reading your essay due to a complicated font.
• Download your college essay in an accepted format according to the submissions site.

These are just general guidelines... Always review all explicit instructions and requirements for layout, submission, and length for each particular school and essay.

Final Thoughts

The college essay format can feel like uncharted territory for many young scholars, presenting unique challenges and often becoming a stumbling block in the application process. However, you should find this resource abundantly helpful as you navigate the writing process. By understanding the distinct elements of the college essay format and thoughtfully applying the tips and insights we've just shared, you can apply strategies used by top applicants to top schools. Remember, the college essay is an opportunity to showcase your authentic voice and personal experiences in a way that sets you apart.

If you’re looking for additional guidance, consider signing up for a free consultation with a Crimson admissions advisor. They can provide personalized feedback, connect you with essay writing mentors, and help you refine your essay to make a lasting impression.

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About the Author

Keith Nickolaus

Keith Nickolaus is a former educator with a passion for languages, literature, and lifelong learning. After obtaining a B.A. from UC Santa Cruz and exploring university life in Paris, Keith earned his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and then worked for 16 years in K12 education before setting up shop as a freelance writer.

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