Other than keeping track of different deadlines, requirements, and pieces of paper, the hardest part of a college application is writing the essay. However, if you focus on the process, you’ll usually end up with a winning product.

Use our checklist to walk through the process — and let us know if you don’t end up with your best essay ever.

PLAN / PREWRITE / BRAINSTORM

• Whatever you call it, start by thinking and jotting down your thoughts. No idea is too small, big, dumb, boring, outlandish, etc.
• Think about what the committee won’t learn from the rest of your application — what can you add or further explain that will show who you are, and why you’ll fit in at that school?

WRITE A DRAFT

• Try not to think of it as “Writing The Essay.” Just write something.
• Set a timer and just write stuff without worrying about spelling or commas or even making sense.
• Get everything out that you can. If you think of more details, add them. Put them in the margins or on sticky notes.

RE-READ AND REVISE

• This is not editing. Revision means to look again. Read what you wrote and start identifying the good and the bad.
• Search for the best story in all of that writing — the truest, the most authentic, the most “you.”
• Go back and re-read the prompt. Does this story address the prompt? If not, how can you use what you have but reshape it to do so? (This step is crucial, but it is often skipped.)
• Ask someone else to read it. What questions do they have? What details are missing? Fix whatever problems come to light.

EDIT AND SHAPE

• Check for cliche language or generalities.
• Strengthen your verbs. Replace most uses of “is” or “was” with a stronger verb. When you have a word count, every word counts.
• Consider your first sentence. Does it pull the reader in? Avoid restating the question as a sentence, or asking a “Have you ever…” question. Jump right in with an interesting description, provocative statement, or bit of dialogue.
• Make it sound like you! You can totally use dialogue, idioms, other languages, or unique family expressions.

PROOFREAD. MORE THAN ONCE

• Get some outside eyes on your essay and run it through Grammarly. Your English teacher will probably be happy to read it for you!
• Read your essay out loud, from the last sentence to the first one. Don’t read the sentences backwards, just the essay. This thwarts your internal auto-correct and helps you see errors you might have missed otherwise.

CAUTION : DO NOT USE AI TO WRITE YOUR ESSAY

Admissions committees don’t even like to read essays that sound like they were written by parents or tutors; how much less will they enjoy essays written by machines? And, yes, they really can tell. You’d be shocked, actually, at how easy it is to tell. In many cases, this will result in an automatic “no.”

Things you can use AI for: giving you some ideas for topics; helping you find stronger verbs than “is” or “was;” some overall essay feedback (such as, “needs more description”); and proofreading an essay (just be sure a human also looks at it).

For more information on AI, check out "Are the Robots Taking Over?"