r/Essay_Tips_Tricks

i’m currently trying to build my college essay, and i know that i definitely want to write it about these things:

I am the younger sister and my older sister is pretty much prefect at everything she does

and i’ve kinda never had anything for myself

for example, we are both girls, so i didn’t have that, and we already look pretty much the same

i’ve only ever done sports that she’s been in and the only elective i’ve taken is one of the million that she took

i love her so much and don’t want to make this essay seem like im literally just 💩 talking her, but i have no idea what i could compare myself to in order to get my essay flowing

any help or suggestions are welcome!! 🙏

Hey!! I'm trying to finalize my essay-- I have already worked it to be a final draft, however I would love a little feedback from other Redditors. If you have time and are willing to read it, please dm me and I would love for you to read/critique my essay.

Hello po! Can someone read mine and give me an honest comment or suggestion?

Kinakabahan po kasi ako, especially kapag nakakabasa ako ng mga posts na “essay that got me into Ateneo.” I can’t help but compare my essay to the ones I see online, and sometimes I feel like mine isn’t as beautiful or flowery. 🥹

I feel like my essay is unique naman because of the experience I wrote about, pero I’m not sure if I was able to write it well or if the flow makes sense huhu. I’d really appreciate any honest feedback or suggestions po. Thank you! 🥹

I used to evaluate personal essays, so I've spent a lot of time reading the finished product, but I've been thinking lately about what the process is actually like on the other side.

Has writing your essays/profiles changed the way you think about yourself or your experiences at all? Has it been useful, stressful, surprisingly enjoyable, completely miserable? Do you feel like the essays you're producing actually sound like you?

Genuinely curious what the experience has been like for people going through it right now.

Just finished my first draft and would love some honest feedback on the story, voice, flow, and whether it actually feels memorable/personal.

Happy to exchange essays and give feedback in return. Prefer sharing through DMs for privacy. Thanks! :)

Idk what to make my college essay about so i brainstomed this. Is it buns or am I overthinking??

my name really shaped me, kind of making me who I am almost. My last name is Cake, yes like the dessert. And throughout all my life teachers, doctors, receptionists, and so much more have always commented on it. They tell me WOW, is that your real name? WOW, like chocolate and vanilla cake. This is the funny part about it but what really makes me motivates is when people recognize my last name. They ask me about my older cousins, who were perfect students, and track stars. Because of being reminded of this so often, it has always motivated me to be the best I can be, so one day, I can be the one remembered because of my last name. Now, today, I am a junior in high school, and every first day of school my younger siblings come home and tell me that their teachers asked them "How is __ doing, she was such a good student, I hope your just like her." And this is exactly what pushed me even harder, because of me, because of the work I put in, now the people after me have better opportunities, better chances, and so do I, as I strived so hard.

• changing lives through the same focus, connection and care
• connection with family, trying hard, focus, determination and helping others
• Ingredients it takes to make a cake
• talk about the ingredients (my interests, hobbies, intended major - nursing) that you need to make CAKE both literally and metaphorically which in turn makes up me
• Include better, sprinkles, something like that

Hello! I'm a rising senior this year, and I was working on reviewing my Common App essay. I was just wondering if anyone could review my essay. It's only the early version, so it may be a bit bad. I tend to write in a stream of consciousness, but I have been finding a lot of conflicting advice on social media, so I was wondering if anyone could review it and give me some feedback.

Hi everyone!

I feel like this is the single most important advice I got when writing my essays, show don’t tell. It seems trivial, even obvious, but that central theme got me into Harvard and Stanford. How’s it going for folks? Anything y’all are struggling with in particular?

P.S.I’m going to be coaching some students through their college process this fall/just proofreading essays. No set price, I’ll work with you. Feel free to DM me if you’re interested!

Argumentative essays have a specific structure that I've always found harder to get right than other types. It's not just making a point, it's making it in a way that anticipates counterarguments, addresses them properly, and builds toward a conclusion that feels earned rather than just stated. I kept getting feedback that my arguments were one-sided or didn't engage with the opposing view seriously enough.

I decided to try a custom argumentative essay writing service not to get something to submit but to study how a properly constructed argumentative essay handles the parts I was consistently getting wrong. Specifically the counterargument section and the way strong claims are qualified rather than overstated.

Before any writing started they asked about the specific claim I was arguing, what the strongest counterarguments were likely to be, and what evidence the course had given me to work with. That intake process matters more for argumentative writing than for other essay types because the whole structure depends on understanding both sides of the position.

What came back showed me things I hadn't been doing. The concession paragraph was placed earlier in the essay than I'd been putting it, which made the subsequent rebuttal stronger. The thesis was qualified in a way that made it more defensible rather than less bold. Each piece of evidence had a sentence after it connecting it explicitly back to the central claim rather than just sitting there.

I wrote my own version from scratch using it as a structural reference. Got the best feedback I'd received for argumentative writing specifically. If you've been stuck on this format and need write an argumentative essay for me type help, studying a well-constructed example first changed more for me than any guide I'd read. The argumentative essay writer service I used is the one I keep going back to for this kind of work.

I have been reading quite a few college essay drafts recently and there is one thing I keep noticing.

A lot of people actually have a really good story. The problem sometimes comes after the story, when they immediately start explaining what the reader was supposed to learn from it.

For example, someone tells a genuinely personal story about failing at something, trying again and approaching the situation differently. Then at the end they write something like, “This experience taught me the importance of perseverance.”

But do you actually need that sentence?

If I could already see the change through your story, I probably understood that without being told.

I have also noticed something similar when people are trying to get their essays under the word limit. They sometimes remove the small personal details first and keep the parts explaining their achievements, qualities and lessons.

Personally, I think those little details are often the best parts.

The random conversation you still remember. Something slightly embarrassing you did. Your initial reaction to a situation. A tiny detail that probably means nothing to anyone else but means something to you. Those are usually the moments where I start feeling like I am actually getting to know the person writing the essay. One thing you can try with your own draft is highlighting every sentence where you say things like “I learned,” “I realized,” “this taught me” or “I understood.”

Temporarily remove those sentences and read the paragraph again. Does the story already communicate the same thing? If it does, maybe you don't need to explain it.

Obviously reflection is still important. I am not saying an essay should just tell a story without explaining why it matters. I just think there is a difference between reflecting on an experience and explaining the moral of your own story.

Sometimes giving the reader a little more credit can make the essay feel much more natural.

Has anyone else noticed themselves doing this while writing their personal statement?

There's a specific kind of paralysis that comes from trying to write well on the first pass. Every sentence gets evaluated before it's finished, anything that doesn't sound right gets deleted, and thirty minutes later you have half a paragraph and a growing sense that the whole thing isn't going to work.

The problem is that first drafts aren't for reading. They're for thinking. The purpose of a first draft is to get the argument out of your head and onto the page in any form, so you can see what you actually have and start working with it. Trying to make it good while it's still forming is like trying to evaluate a building while the foundations are being poured.

What changed things for me was treating the first draft as a completely separate document from the essay. The first draft is private, ugly, allowed to be wrong. The essay comes later, in the editing stage, when you can see the whole thing and make real decisions about structure and argument. Once I separated those two stages mentally the first draft became much easier to start and much faster to get through.

The other thing worth knowing is that most good sentences in a final essay weren't written during the drafting stage anyway. They were written during editing, when you read something clunky and find a better way to say it. The drafting stage just gives you the clunky version to improve.

I need someone to review my common app essay and my extracurriculars

1- writing about my speech impediment from when I was younger and how it led me to want to be a speech pathologist

2- how my childhood best friend gave me a two dollar bill and said to keep it forever and I did but then a decade later I accidentally gave it away to a guy plating the guitar
I would tie this to letting things go such as childhood ect.

3- how my sister was prayed for a lot because my mom really struggled to have kids after me and had many miscarriages, I can talk about the non profit organization she created and how that inspired me, and talk about the struggle I saw my family go through.

I whave no idea what to write about they all don’t seem good enough help

Originally the topic I wanted to go with was how in loved reading books and how it gave me a wide perspective(main subject)+ i wanted to incorporate the values (kindness,etc) of the characters I’ve read about into my own life. Someone already said it was too generic though which it might be.

Now I have 2 other ideas:
#1: Hook is how I’ve never been just a guest in an African party. There’s a certain standard of respect especially for African teenagers, so often times I’ll be recruited into the kitchen to help serve the food or I’ll be staying after a party to help clean up even though I was just a regular guest who was invited as a daughter of the friend of a friend. I would then talk abt how I always feel acknowledged/belonging bc of that and that I’ve noticed it outside of African communities too. It’s impacted me bc I value the appreciation from the acts of service and I learned that all it takes to build a community, where even strangers acknowledge each other and help one another, are acts like even just holding the door open for someone.
(I hope I explained that well enough 😅)

#2: Hook is “I wish I could say I’m sorry to you for fully exhausting the 650 word allowance, but I’m not.” Then talk abt how I’ve always had the tendency to write a lot because it’s important to me to share my perspective and understanding of something/i have ideas in my mind that I want to write out. Expand into how I’m usually quiet but I say what needs to be said and how I thought being quiet was a weakness but I’ve realized when I do speak ppl know it’s important (as said by others).
(I plan to hopefully blend those ideas better)

I’m leaning more to 2 rn and I already have a half fished draft that I can share.