what kind of essay do colleges want

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What Do Colleges Look for in an Essay? Examples & Tips

What is a College Essay?

The college essay is an essential element of the college application process. It presents an opportunity for students to personalize their college application, beyond grades and scores. It can also be one of the more nerve-wracking parts of the application process. 

If you are reading this article, you are like applying to college and taking the process seriously. The quality of the college you attend will have a big effect on your entire life, and taking a few hours to make your application the best it can possibly be may be the most lucrative time investment you will ever make.

What do colleges look for in an essay from applicants?

So, what do colleges look for in an essay? The answer is similar to what colleges look for in an applicant. To hit the right notes, you need to consider the perspective and even the mission statement of the college, which of course values intelligence, a good work ethic, and the type of personality that will represent the school. 

Therefore, the core aspects that admissions officials at any institution look for in an essay are:

·         Intelligence

·         Strong communication skills

·         Ambition and goals

·         Creativity

·         Proactivity and self-direction

·         Interest in education and self-betterment

These elements are not based on any abstract moral consideration–colleges want students who will make their institution stronger. They will look for evidence of these traits in your personal essay, as grades only reflect a few of these core aspects and abilities. 

Beyond these considerations, remember that an admissions officer (an actual human being) will read your essay and respond to it both rationally and emotionally. In many cases, that emotion is boredom. Keep in mind that these officials read hundreds of application essays each admissions season. But if your essay can successfully win them over, then you’ll be getting a letter that begins with a “We are delighted to announce…”

Qualities Colleges Look for to Include in Your Essay

Most achievements that colleges are looking for will be reflected in your college application, and therefore, these have been left off of the list below. The achievements showing your passion and drive, as well as your internal and external motivations, will be the ones to include in your application essay. 

Challenging extracurricular activities

Colleges want to see students who stretch themselves beyond the limits of the classroom. The kinds of activities you choose say a lot about your personality and even your morals. Whether or not you stick with your chosen undertakings exhibits your ability to commit to important projects in the long term.

Volunteer and work experience

Any experience you have that shows true commitment, leadership qualities and an interest in community is beneficial to your application. Include the organizations or companies you worked for and what your responsibilities were at each one. If you received any promotions or special recognitions, be sure to mention those as well.

Talents and passions

More colleges are moving away from accepting students who did the most “stuff” to looking for those who focus their energy in specific areas that they’re passionate about. Schools want to see what makes you special and how hard you’re willing to work at the things you care about.

Obstacles or challenges you have overcome

One of the most important aspects of a good college student is their ability to learn from mistakes and overcome challenges in order to achieve success. This is especially true for Common App Essay prompts . In your essay, focus on what exact difficulties or challenges you faced, how you overcame them, and what you learned from this experience. After all, admissions officials are more impressed by a student who came from an adverse situation and still achieved success than they are with a student who had every advantage handed to them and skated by on position and intelligence.

What is a well-written essay?

Admissions officers read a lot of essays, and a well-written one can make a refreshing change. Students should check their essays to make sure they clearly meet these criteria:

• Does the essay provide a direct answer to the essay question?
• Does it have a strong opening paragraph that captures the reader’s interest?
• Does it put forth a comprehensive argument or narrative? Does the student make a point and stick to it?
• Does it have a natural style that’s comfortable for the student and appropriate for the subject matter?
• Did the student use effective word choice, syntax, and structure?
• Does it contain correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling?
• Is it succinct? Did the student pay attention to the recommended length?

How to Write About Positive Qualities in an Application Essay

The rule of thumb here is always “Show–don’t tell.” When writing a college essay, skip generalized information. Instead, provide real, specific examples to support your statements. Your attention to detail will help make you more memorable to an admissions officer who has to read hundreds, if not thousands, of essays. 

For example, instead of “I love hiking,” you could say, “After reaching the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, I decided my next adventure would be climbing Mt. Everest.” What’s the difference between these two sentences? The first says you like something, while the second one illustrates that you do—but not only that, it also shows your level of commitment and your desire for challenge. Of the two example sentences, which do you think maximizes your use of words and would be more interesting to admissions officers?

Bad example: Claim without proof My teacher once told me that I was the most skilled and intelligent student she’s ever taught, and I believed her. When I set a goal, there’s no stopping me. I’ll work at it until it’s achieved—even if it’s to my own detriment.

Good example: Showing with concrete evidence In sophomore year, I decided to set a goal to raise more money for Relay for Life than any other student involved. I asked my neighbors, family, teachers, and even my paster, who sat through my 20-minute prepared speech about why donating to this campaign would be the best use of his money. I spoke to community groups. I did three straight weekends of door-to-door fundraising. And in the end, my efforts paid off—I succeeded in raising over $500 more than any other student.

Showing initiative and ambition

Initiative and ambition are top qualities that colleges look for in an applicant. Students who exhibit these traits will bring a positive and driven attitude with them to college, where it will help them contribute to the campus and succeed in their academic endeavors.

The college essay should always show how you took some kind of action—it shouldn’t just include things that happened to you as a passive individual. For example, rather than simply writing about how it was emotionally difficult when your older sibling got sick, discuss specific coping strategies you developed during that time or ways that you contributed to helping your sibling and family.

Showing self-reflection and growth

Personal growth is one of the most popular topics to write about since it represents what the admissions essay is all about: helping the college gain better insight into your personality and character. Some schools ask targeted questions — “What was the most challenging event you have ever faced, and how have you grown from it?” — while others leave the topic open: “Describe an event that has had great meaning for you. Explain why and how it has affected you.”

One of the most successful strategies is to use a past event as a lens through which you can assess who you were and the person you became, how you have grown and changed, and your transformation. Most children are curious, but were you the one who asked your teacher what caused the change of seasons of the year and then created a solar system model and explained the concept to your classmates? Though you may think that your topic needs to be bold and unique, this is not necessary to craft an effective essay. Instead, success lies in painting an accurate and vivid picture of yourself — one that will show admissions officers that you have much to offer their school.

Structure your essay with a clear beginning, middle, and end

When you include the basic plot elements of setting, introduction, conflict, and resolution, not only will your essay be more fun to read, it will be easier to write. And when writing is easier, you are usually having more fun and pouring more of yourself into your writing. You will find that this often translates into a more compelling story as well since passion and interest are hallmarks of any good story told to a friend or included on the page of an adventure or romance novel. When structuring your narrative arc, include the lessons you have learned from these experiences: How did you change? What did you learn? What did/do you plan to do differently because of these experiences? Anyone can write about how they won first place in a competition or spent a fantastic vacation in Europe. The important stuff is not in the itinerary, but rather in the diary–what you learned from the experience and how it impacted you.

Essay Introduction #1: Focus on Your Personal Qualities

One approach when beginning your application essay is to start by describing positive character traits you possess and then showing examples of times you demonstrated those traits.

Starting with your qualities A student wants to show that he is determined and tenacious. He thinks about times when he went above and beyond what was necessary to succeed in high school. He thinks of how he became the only student at his school to participate in three or more AP classes while also being involved in multiple sports and extracurricular activities. He also thinks of his volunteer work with his church at a local homeless shelter, where he made friends and connections with shelter guests and high-profile members of the community. These are the qualities around which his essay is focused.

Essay Introduction #2: Focus on a Personal Story

Another way to approach your essay topic is to start with a story and then work show examples that demonstrative your positive qualities.

Starting with a story A student’s sibling has been fighting cancer for the past three years, and he feels that this is an important experience that has shaped who he is today. He considers how the difficulties of this experience have changed him and help distinguish him from other applicants. 

From introducing his story at the beginning of his essay, this applicant can tie in the positive qualities he exhibits with the finer details of his personal story: 

• He is independent, as he needed to deal with taking care of a loved one in a serious and sustained way that his peers did not need to deal with.
• He is focused, as dealing with regular medical emergencies has not deterred him from achieving good grades and being part of his community.
• He is empathetic, as he understands personally how hard times can impact people.

Whatever essay topic you choose, your essay should provide admissions officers concrete evidence that you are an ideal candidate for their school. Your essay should have a memorable introduction that grabs the reader’s attention and guides the rest of your essay.

Repeat Your Qualities in the Essay Conclusion

Although your essay introduction is crucial in starting your essay off in a clear and impactful direction, how you end your essay is also important as it is the last thing that will remain in the reader’s mind. One surefire way to write a strong essay conclusion is to repeat the important qualities you discussed earlier. Recall details about your personal story or repeat the qualities you introduced at the beginning of the essay. Here is an example of what a good conclusion can capture what colleges are looking for in an essay: 

Concluding your essay by repeating your qualities During my high school years, my qualities of leadership, initiative, and hard work have help shape me to become the strong student I am today. As the head of our school’s volunteer group, I showed that even a teenager can make a big impact. As a student achieving high grades in all three of my AP courses, I demonstrated my dedication to education about all. Finally, as a daughter of working-class immigrant parents, I have used my value of hard work to achieve things my parents never thought possible. These values have contributed to making me the conscientious and successful student and person I am now, and they will surely continue to assist and guide me in my academic and professional career.

Interesting Essay Topics to Write About

There are hundreds of resources available online about writing college essays (including How to Write the Common App Essay ). And while you can find dozens of interesting and fruitful essay topics that have worked, here are just a few more that are not too specific and can be molded to fit your unique profile and personal story. 

1. A unique extracurricular activity or passion 

2. An activity or interest that contrasts heavily with your profile

3. A seemingly insignificant moment that speaks to larger themes within your life 

4. Using an everyday experience or object as a metaphor to explore your life and personality 

5. An in-the-moment narrative that tells the story of an important moment in your life

Additional Tips for Writing an Essay Colleges Will Love

Choose a strong essay topic.

First, whichever structure you will use, you need to ask yourself what you actually want to accomplish in life (esp. in terms of career) . This gives you your goals. You need to choose a program that helps you reach these goals—otherwise, you should seriously reconsider whether you should even be applying!  

If you are using the “Story” structure…

The story is going to be your topic, so make it an engaging tale… but remember you are not here to show that you are the next Shakespeare. There are three ways to go here: a story/description about yourself that shaped who you are and shows who you are. A story/description of something completely different that inspires you or is a metaphor for who you are.

If you are using the “Conveying passion for a subject” structure…

In this case, you have your topic (the subject you are passionate about), but remember the essay should be about what it means to you (don’t get bogged down in describing the subject itself). Use each subsequent paragraph to illustrate how you show passion for the subject or topic you have chosen. Be sure to use concrete details within the paragraph, but begin each paragraph with a “mini-thesis statement” that gives the reader a clear and concise summary of how you demonstrate your passion in a particular way.

Engage the Reader with Your Essay’s Narrative

The admissions officer will not be interested in a mere list of your personal qualities, extracurriculars, or accomplishments. This information is included elsewhere in your application. Instead, focus on showing who you are in your essay through a narrative that includes concrete details. 

But how can you plan the topics included in your narrative essay? First, grab a pen and jot down important experiences that spring to mind. Your experience could be something negative that eventually turns out to be positive or vice-versa. The most intriguing part of a negative experience is how you handled it and, hopefully, came out on top. Give your reader a setting to help them feel like they’re a part of your story and experience this moment of change with you.

Focus on what you care about most

Consider this a kind of brainstorming exercise. Close your eyes and imagine what drives you, motivates you, excites you, and inspires you to pursue great things (or at least fantasize about doing them). This might include a hobby, a genre of music, an important person in your life, a pivotal memory or experience, a book—anything meaningful that you consider part of your identity or that defines you. 

Start by listing these items and creating a word web of other relevant or secondary aspects of this one idea, person, object, or experience. Write some brief sentences about exactly why it is important to you. Once you have your list and a few sentences written, it should be a bit easier to narrow your topic to just one or two things at most.

Essay Editing for College Application Essays

One thing all schools look for in an essay is a document that is free of errors in grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and style. Admissions essay editing services are ideal for international students who struggle with English or simply want to take their essays to the next level. Students should take care to choose a company that’s reputable and employs highly qualified editors .

Check out Wordvice’s array of professional English editing services and proofreading services , including essay editing services, to learn how our editors can improve your essays and help you get into your dream school.

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By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., crafting an unforgettable college essay.

Most selective colleges require you to submit an essay or personal statement as part of your application.

It may sound like a chore, and it will certainly take a substantial amount of work. But it's also a unique opportunity that can make a difference at decision time. Admissions committees put the most weight on your high school grades and your test scores . However, selective colleges receive applications from many worthy students with similar scores and grades—too many to admit. So they use your essay, along with your letters of recommendation and extracurricular activities , to find out what sets you apart from the other talented candidates.

Telling Your Story to Colleges

So what does set you apart?

You have a unique background, interests and personality. This is your chance to tell your story (or at least part of it). The best way to tell your story is to write a personal, thoughtful essay about something that has meaning for you. Be honest and genuine, and your unique qualities will shine through.

Admissions officers have to read an unbelievable number of college essays, most of which are forgettable. Many students try to sound smart rather than sounding like themselves. Others write about a subject that they don't care about, but that they think will impress admissions officers.

You don't need to have started your own business or have spent the summer hiking the Appalachian Trail. Colleges are simply looking for thoughtful, motivated students who will add something to the first-year class.

Tips for a Stellar College Application Essay

1. write about something that's important to you..

It could be an experience, a person, a book—anything that has had an impact on your life. 

2. Don't just recount—reflect! 

Anyone can write about how they won the big game or the summer they spent in Rome. When recalling these events, you need to give more than the play-by-play or itinerary. Describe what you learned from the experience and how it changed you.

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3. Being funny is tough.

A student who can make an admissions officer laugh never gets lost in the shuffle. But beware. What you think is funny and what an adult working in a college thinks is funny are probably different. We caution against one-liners, limericks and anything off–color.

4. Start early and write several drafts.

Set it aside for a few days and read it again. Put yourself in the shoes of an admissions officer: Is the essay interesting? Do the ideas flow logically? Does it reveal something about the applicant? Is it written in the applicant’s own voice?

5. No repeats.

What you write in your application essay or personal statement should not contradict any other part of your application–nor should it repeat it. This isn't the place to list your awards or discuss your grades or test scores.

6. Answer the question being asked.

Don't reuse an answer to a similar question from another application.

7. Have at least one other person edit your essay.

A teacher or college counselor is your best resource. And before you send it off, check, check again, and then triple check to make sure your essay is free of spelling or grammar errors.

Read More: 2018-2019 Common Application Essay Prompts (and How to Answer Them)

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What Do Colleges Want to See In An Essay?

Writing a college essay that satisfies the application requirement is relatively easy. Crafting an essay that can be the tipping point in the application process, though, is quite another matter. And, for students in search of a “winning essay,” finding creative solutions often proves to be a vexing challenge.

So, what is it that admission officers are looking for? More importantly, what makes the difference between a good essay and one that is truly impactful?

While they want to see evidence of good technical skills—have you mastered the basics of good writing(?)— admission officers are particularly interested in learning more about you.

• Are you creative?
• Can you think critically and reflectively?
• Are you comfortable taking risks—will you settle for a “safe” approach to your presentation or will you risk making yourself vulnerable in telling your story?

Your academic record and extracurricular profile will reveal the facts of your life. Rather than repeating them, the essay should serve as an effective complement that reveals the person behind the numbers. Reliance on such insight during the credential review process will be especially critical this year as the “data” normally associated with applications is limited due to the coronavirus.

Coming up with a compelling essay, though, can be a challenge largely because the inspiration for such essays is hard to find! I’ve often maintained that the actual drafting and editing of an essay is easier than landing on messaging that will carry the day. If you expect to sit down and crank out a winning 650-word essay on a Saturday afternoon, good luck.

Brainstorm Your Essay: Here's How to Start

Crafting good essays— really good essays —starts with reflection (brainstorming).

• What do you care about most in life—and why?
• What word would best describe you—and why?
• If you could interview anyone in the world, who would it be—and why?
• Can you recall a revelation or “aha” moment—how did it change your perspective?

The key is to tap into an intensely personal perspective, to reach beyond the superficial to a deeper understanding of who you are and the life experiences that define you.

Brainstorming in this manner can require a certain amount of courage because it might take you to times in your life that you’d rather forget. Your ability to process them, however, is important to establishing your sense of self. In the end, your ability to make yourself vulnerable is what will make you—and your message—strong.

Tap into Your Emotions

When talking with students, I listen for voice inflections that reveal an emotional response. Excitement, frustration and even anger are often indicators of a deeper, underlying story that the student either fails to recognize or is uncertain about how to approach.

Notice that, in the previous section, each question has two parts. Exploring the “why” and “how” of a response is essential to greater understanding. If you focus only on the “what,” “when” and “where” of a story, you fall short of revealing the sense of humanity that readers want to see.

Conceptualize Your Story

Once you determine the story or message you want to convey, focus on creating an appropriate concept for the telling of your story. Will it be a conversational narrative? A metaphor? Do you want to employ drama or self-effacing humor? I’ve even read poems that powerfully and/or playfully conveyed the character of the author!

In the case of prose, put the reader at the point of revelation with you at the outset of the essay. Share the emotion of the moment. Then, create a narrative that reveals the contextual backstory and, finally, the lessons learned or the resolve taken from the situation.

It might be helpful to approach this step of essay development as an artist would approach an empty canvass. After all, your final “work product” will be your creation, your art. The last thing you want is for your essay to look like a five-paragraph essay written for an English or History class! As an artist, you want to create an impression with your work. What will your art say about you?

Don't Overthink Your Essay Topic

The questions of topic and concept are particularly relevant this year given the unique, life-changing circumstances introduced by COVID 19. The fact that many students will understandably reflect on the impact of the coronavirus in their lives has led to rampant speculation that the topic would not be a good one for college essays—add it to the list of “taboo” essays.

You might be surprised to know that admission officers don’t agree. They don’t see taboo topics, but they do see taboo approaches—generic essays on the same topic that could have been written by anyone. The events of the past year have presented challenges unlike any other. Has time stood still for you? Or have you found opportunities to reimagine yourself—to explore new interests or to respond to needs in your community? The manner in which you responded will define the approach you take to your essay. Whether yours is an essay drawn from a COVID 19 experience or something completely unrelated, if the story is intensely personal and artfully presented, you’ll be fine.

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The Ten Most Common Types of College Essays and How to Approach Them

It’s time for high school senior to get started on their college essays! Beyond the personal statement, which is required for The Common App, most schools require college specific supplements. If your student is applying to 10-12 schools, that could mean writing upwards of 30 supplemental essays. Before you and your student freak out about having to write 30 essays, fear not — you will discover that most schools ask a variation of a few different questions. And, once students craft their answers, they will be able to adapt them for each school. 

1. The Personal Statement

This essay, sent to all schools via The Common App , is your student’s chance to introduce themselves to the admissions committee, tell your story, and what makes you unique beyond your grades and scores.

2. Why “This School” Essay

These essays are looking for details that show in depth knowledge of the school, program curriculum, school life, and how it might be a good fit for your student. It’s a good idea for your student to mention specific courses they are interested in taking and programs in which they’d like to be involved. 

Ex: Please describe why you are interested in attending Tulane University (50-800) – Tulane

3. Academic Interest Essay

These essays require your student to write about an area they wish to study. Since 80% of students change their major at least once, don’t worry that your student will be required to study what they write about. 

Ex: For applicants to Columbia College, please tell us what from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) attracts you specifically to the areas of study that you previously noted in the application. (200 words or fewer) – Columbia University

4. Community Essay

There are lots of versions of this essay question, but in general colleges want to understand the impact you have made on your community (be it family, activity, job, school etc) to better understand what type of community member you will be at their college.

Ex: Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it (300 words) – Michigan

5. Interest/Activity Essay

Colleges want to know how your students spent time outside of school and how you have been challenged and grown from the experience. Depth and longevity are key. Besides sports and school sponsored activities this essay includes anything meaningful or time consuming for your student, e.g.part-time jobs, family responsibilities, hobbies, etc.

Ex: Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (150-400 words) – Vanderbilt

6. Personal Challenge Essay

These essays ask students to discuss a challenge and how they have overcome it (It doesn’t matter what the challenge is)

Ex: Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement? – UC PIQ

7. Social Consciousness Essay

These essays include questions about how you have embraced, faced, taken action or been exposed to issues of social justice, diversity and inclusion. 

Ex: Villanovans are known for “holding doors open” because inclusion is at the core of who we are. Take us on a journey through your background and describe how your life experience has shaped your understanding of the word “inclusion” (250 words). – Villanova

8. Interpersonal Essay Questions

These essays often ask students to describe themselves as a roommate and seek to understand how they would fit into the campus life. 

Ex: Virtually all of Stanford’s undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate – and us – get to know you better (250 words)  – Stanford

9. Totally Unique Essays

Some schools like University of Chicago and Georgetown have out-of-the-box and often wacky questions designed to understand how students think. 

Ex: What can actually be divided by zero? —Inspired by Mai Vu, Class of 2024 (1 or 2 page response) – University of Chicago

10. Program Specific Essays

If you plan to apply to a specialized college or program within a university like Business, Film, Performing Arts, Music, Engineering, you should be prepared for specific questions, requirements and possibly a portfolio supporting your interest. Double check the admission requirements pages for these additional essays. 

Ex: Choose a current event or issue in your community and discuss the business implications. Propose a solution that incorporates business principles or practices. The review panel will look for creativity, drawing connections, and originality. Please limit this response to approximately 500 words. – Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

We hope this early insight into college applications help you and your student plan meaningful and fulfilling experiences that will serve as the foundation for their essays. 

If you would like to schedule a free thirty minute consultation to discuss the college admissions process, please contact [email protected] ..

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College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
• All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
• Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
• If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
• Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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What Type Of Student Do Colleges Want?

Do you know how to improve your profile for college applications.

See how your profile ranks among thousands of other students using CollegeVine. Calculate your chances at your dream schools and learn what areas you need to improve right now — it only takes 3 minutes and it's 100% free.

Here at CollegeVine, we pride ourselves on guiding students to make informed and empowered decisions about their educational futures. Sometimes, this guidance is through a formal mentor program. Other times it’s through a one-time, free consultation, and still more times it’s through thoughtful search queries here on our blog.

One of the questions that we hear time and time again is “What do colleges really want in a student?” Do they want to see good grades? Do they want strong test scores and impressive extracurriculars? How about teacher recommendations? Let’s be honest; it’s very rare that a student has perfect grades, perfect test scores, flawless extracurriculars, and superb teacher recommendations. In fact, it’s a fact of life that no one’s perfect.

So, if you’re applying to colleges, you might wonder where to focus your energy. What few, key traits are colleges really looking for, and where do they look to find evidence of them? How much do test scores or grades actually matter?

In this post we outline how to frame your thinking around what colleges want. There’s no easy answer, but with our insight, based on the experiences of thousands of students, you’ll learn what colleges look for as they evaluate candidates. Here are a few questions to get you started.

Do colleges want specialized applicants or well-rounded ones?

Students often wonder if they should specialize in a particular subject area or extracurricular activity. They may question if having a single, well-defined area of focus will make them a more attractive college applicant. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer, you can get a better idea of what the colleges you’re applying to look for by asking yourself if the college itself, or the particular program you’re applying to, is specialized.

If you’re applying to a specialized college or program, there is a high degree of likelihood that they are looking for candidates who have expressed some interest and aptitude in this field in the past. For example, if you want to study engineering at MIT, it would be smart to take some high-level STEM courses during high school and to reinforce this interest with some relevant extracurricular activities. Similarly, if you want to study business at UPenn, you should have classes and activities that are reflective of this goal.

That being said, there are very few colleges that will overlook a student’s failures in one area in favor of their specialized pursuits of another. For example, if you perform poorly in English class or drop out of all your activities after junior year in order to focus on your STEM curriculum, you will not come off as a student capable of succeeding in multiple fields and might even look like someone who does not follow through on commitments. As you can see, the line between specialized and well-rounded is a tough one to walk.

To learn more about what colleges want from specialized or well-rounded candidates, check out these posts:

• Well-Rounded or Specialized?
• Why Are Students Getting Rejected From Every College?
• Your Comprehensive Guide to Extracurriculars
• Can You Be An Engineer Without Taking AP Physics: How the Classes You Take Affect Your Chances at Admission

Which is better: high test scores or high grades?

Sometimes students wonder if they should focus more on test prep or more on getting their grades up. They want to know which data point is viewed as more reflective of their academic aptitude or given more weight in the college application process. Unfortunately, again, there is no simple answer.

In fact, most selective colleges think of both of these metrics as reflections of your abilities, and a big discrepancy between them can sometimes be cause for concern. For example, if you perform poorly on your standardized tests but do well in classes, colleges might wonder if your academic performance in school is only due to particular resources or support that you have access to, and they may wonder how capable you actually are on your own. If the reverse is true, they might think that you simply don’t try very hard during school despite having a lot of potential as evidenced by your test scores.

Ultimately, competitive colleges want to see both high grades and strong test scores, but don’t worry if they aren’t perfect. Excelling in other areas, like extracurriculars, is also important.

To learn more about how colleges view grades and test scores, check out these posts:

• Which Section of the SAT and ACT is Most Important?
• Should You Retake Your Standardized Tests?
• Can I Get Into a Top College With a C on My Transcript?
• The Relationship Between Grades and Standardized Test Scores
• Can a Good SAT/ACT Score Offset a Bad GPA?

What personal qualities do colleges look for?

Personal qualities and who you are as a person is an increasingly important metric in college applications . Although it might be more difficult to show on a piece of paper, being kind, caring, generous, and committed are all important factors in your college admissions.

This increasing importance is due in large part to Harvard’s recent Making Caring Common campaign, which strives to encourage selective college admissions to place more emphasis on personal qualities and less on academic performance. In short, many colleges are increasingly looking for students who strive to make the community around them a better place.

You can demonstrate your personal qualities through extracurricular involvement, personal essays, and recommendations. This is an area that you really can’t fudge; it has to be authentic for it to really shine through. Get involved in several causes or activities during your freshman year, then pursue those that really resonate with you on the personal level so that your experiences are relevant to who you are and speak to an honest and authentic commitment.  

To learn more about Making Caring Common, see these posts:

• 5 Takeaways From Harvard Ed School’s “Making Caring Common”
• 4 Common Misconceptions About Making Caring Common

How likely are you to actually attend?

Admissions committees also sometimes consider how likely you are to attend the school should you be accepted. This means that expressing interest in a college you really want to attend is a good idea. Visit the college. Meet with faculty or coaches in your areas of interest. Seek out admissions representatives at college fairs.

Anytime you meet with an individual, whether it’s on campus or at a college fair, be sure to get their contact information and follow up with a quick email to thank them for their time. This will not only show that you’re thoughtful and appreciative, but also serve to reinforce your interest and hopefully make you a more memorable candidate.

Another way to express interest is to apply Early Decision. Many colleges now accept a significant portion of their incoming freshman class through early decision because it essentially guarantees that they will be accepting students who are excited to attend.

To learn more about Early Decision or expressing interest in a college, see these posts:

• How to Express Interest in a College
• How to Decide Where to Apply Early
• EA vs ED vs REA

Ultimately, there is no magic formula to determine who will get accepted to a specific college. Some colleges have different priorities for accepting students and others are looking to fill a particular niche in their student body that varies from year to year, making predictions even harder. Sometimes, you just never know how you will stack up to the rest of the applicant pool. What you can control, though, is how dedicated you are during your high school years. By performing to the top of your abilities and pursuing extracurriculars that you truly care about, your values and personality will shine through on your application.

Curious about your chances of acceptance to your dream school? Our free chancing engine takes into account your GPA, test scores, extracurriculars, and other data to predict your odds of acceptance at over 500 colleges across the U.S. We’ll also let you know how you stack up against other applicants and how you can improve your profile. Sign up for your free CollegeVine account today to get started!

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Best College Essay Help — 2024

May 10, 2024

In today’s hyper-competitive admissions landscape, the stakes have never been higher, and college essays are more important than ever. They’re also more scrutinized and more mysterious than ever. On one hand, students are told to “be themselves” and “tell their stories.” On the other, they’re receiving messaging that certain stories might not be the right ones to tell . It makes sense, then, why college essay coaches and essay consulting businesses are seemingly everywhere, and why a quick search of “college essay help” yields a dizzying number of options. But does the college essay really require professional guidance? And if you do need assistance, how do you even begin to differentiate providers?

Firstly, we want to make one thing clear: there are many outstanding college essay coaches who bring a high level of expertise to the table. That said, we believe our approach to college essay coaching is the “best” for many types of students, offering an optimal balance of hands-on guidance and autonomy. Our students work hard, and their results speak for themselves .

Wondering what sets College Transitions apart from other online essay coaching services? In today’s post, we’ll discuss our essay coaching model, our coaching staff, and our essay coaching philosophy.

Ready to speak with a College Transitions counselor about college essay help?

Fill Out a Free Consultation Request

Why procure college essay help?

See if any of the following sound familiar:

• Does a blank page send you into a panic mode?
• Are you struggling to think of a topic (or narrow them down)?
• Do you have trouble with a specific part of the writing process, like brainstorming or revision?
• Does the number of essays you’ll need to write sound completely overwhelming to you?
• Have you received so many pieces of advice about the college essay that your head is spinning?
• Are you trying to revise your essay but aren’t sure what to do next?
• Are you an excellent writer who wants to take your work to the next level?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you will likely benefit from professional assistance. Although stellar resources abound online for free (which you should absolutely take advantage of), none of those resources are going to be tailored to your specific needs . Thus, if you’ve taken your essay writing process as far as you can on your own, enlisting an essay coach could save you hours of time, lower your stress level significantly, and even enable you to enjoy the writing process.

What is College Transitions’ essay coaching philosophy?

At the core of our essay coaching philosophy is the belief that you should emerge from the college essay process as a stronger writer and thinker. We want our students to produce essays that complement and strengthen their applications and leave our program with new writing skills that will benefit them in college and beyond.

Why College Transitions essay coaching?

Facts: The best college essays tell a compelling story, demonstrate one or more positive attributes, and are written in your authentic voice. Although this may sound like a tall order, it’s one that we at College Transitions are no stranger to fulfilling.

How do we accomplish this? By supporting your unique needs and giving you the tools that you need to produce your best possible work, whether that’s close attention to your ideas, a deep dive into narrative structure, detailed grammar explanations, or all of the above. Accordingly, we assess ability level at the beginning of the process and aim to push you to the next level in your writing.

Best College Essay Writing Help – Continued

Although the essay process will be tailored specifically to each student, you can expect that:

• Your coach will deliver feedback in a way that lets you make your own decisions and retain your authentic voice. They’ll accomplish this by focusing on areas of concern step-by-step, asking open-ended questions, and aiming to be in a conversation with you about your writing.
• Your coach will provide thoughtful, actionable suggestions related to three major areas: content, structure, and syntax.
• Your coach will guide you through a brainstorming process before you start writing.
• Your coach will help you understand each college’s prompts and tailor your essays accordingly.
• Your coach will be highly responsive, responding to any emails in 24 hours and providing written feedback on submitted essays within two days.
• Your coach will be in frequent communication with you throughout the essay writing process to help you stay on track for your deadlines.

Who are College Transitions’ essay coaches?

College Transitions’ essay coaches are highly trained professionals who have at least four to five years of teaching or tutoring experience at the high school and/or college level. The vast majority of our coaches have worked with students on their writing for between ten and fifteen years in a diverse array of roles, from classroom instructors and writing center consultants to private tutors, editors, and curriculum designers.

Every one of our coaches holds at least a bachelor’s degree, and nearly all hold master’s or doctoral degrees in English, writing, or education. Many of our coaches are also published writers or researchers, and our staff includes award-winning novelists, journalists, short story authors, and poets.

Most importantly, our coaches are experts in both teaching and supporting college essays. College essays are a very specific type of personal writing that require a special type of knowledge and guidance. As such, we ensure that our coaches are familiar with college essay conventions and are adept at guiding all skill levels to their best possible work.

Our Collaborative Approach

For years, we’ve taken a team-based approach to the college admissions process. Such a collaborative approach enables students to benefit from the expertise of at least two professionals: an admissions counselor and an essay coach. They work together to ensure that all parts of your application are as strong and cohesive as possible.

Moreover, you’ll work with the same primary counselor and essay coach for the duration of the college admissions process. Our coaches work with individual students rather than individual essays, which enables your coach to become deeply familiar with your story, your writing style, and your unique circumstances.

Why does this make a difference? Getting to know you will enable your coach to provide personalized, thoughtful suggestions, whether that is reminding you of an experience that could be a great topic for a supplemental or noticing patterns that deserve further attention.

The Benefits of Our Virtual Model

We work with all our students 100% virtually and one-on-one in a model that we have honed relentlessly over the past decade. We deeply understand that building trust in a remote environment requires responsiveness, a value that is at the core of our counseling and essay coaching services. Accordingly, our essay coaches tailor the entire process to your needs, whether that means facilitating weekly video chats, helping you organize a writing schedule, or being a “hands-off” presence who is there to assist if and when you need it.

Frequently Asked Questions — College Essay Help

Do you offer “essay-only” coaching packages.

Yes! In addition to several types of counseling & essay coaching packages, we also offer essay-only support.

Do you write essays for students?

Absolutely not. Not only is this unethical, it’s detrimental to your admissions prospects. Admissions officers can easily spot essays written by parents, professionals, and AI software. If they do, you likely have little to no chance of acceptance at that particular university.

With an appropriate level of guidance, College Transitions students choose their own topics and write and revise their own essays. Moreover, they tend to become more independent as the process moves along. This level of choice and autonomy should be standard for any solid essay coaching provider.

How many drafts do students typically complete of each essay?

It depends, but most students complete 5-8 drafts of their Common Application personal statement and 2-4 drafts of each supplemental essay.

Do you only work with specific types of students?

We work with all types of students! Our students hail from every region of the country, apply to a diverse range of colleges, and hail from myriad backgrounds and identities. We also regularly work with students who are high-achieving, neurodiverse, or English language learners.

Best College Essay Writing Help — Final Thoughts

We sincerely believe that you will find the best college essay coaches for your needs right here at College Transitions. Again, we invite you to get to know us more through our website and/or by filling out a Consultation Request .

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The Types of Colleges: The Basics

Find the right college for you., sorting out colleges by their types.

Is a college the same thing as a university? What does "liberal arts" mean? Why are some colleges called public and others private? Knowing the basics in regard to different types of colleges is imperative to making the right decision.

Public and Private Colleges

Public colleges are funded by local and state governments and usually offer lower tuition rates than private colleges, especially for students who are residents of the state where a college is located.

Private colleges rely on tuition, fees, and non-government funding sources. Generous financial aid packages for students are often available thanks to private donations.

For-Profit Colleges

For-profit institutions are businesses that typically offer career training. Although these colleges offer a variety of degree programs, it's wise to exercise caution when applying to a for-profit school. The degree programs often come at a higher cost, meaning students graduate with more debt. Credits earned may not transfer to other colleges so be sure to check with the admissions office at each institution.

Four-year and two-year colleges

Four-year institutions are referred to as undergraduate colleges. Four-year colleges specifically offer bachelor's degree programs. These include universities and liberal arts colleges.

Two-year colleges offer certificate programs that can be completed in under two years. They also offer two-year associate degrees. These include community colleges, vocational-technical colleges, and career colleges.

Liberal Arts Colleges

These institutions offer numerous courses in liberal arts in areas such as literature, history, languages, mathematics, and life sciences. Most of these institutions are private and offer four-year bachelor's degree programs. These colleges prepare students for a multiplicity of careers as well as graduate studies

Universities

Universities are larger institutions that offer a wider variety of academic majors and degree options. These schools provide bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. Most universities contain several smaller colleges, such as colleges of education, engineering, or health sciences. These colleges can prepare you for a wide range of careers or for graduate study.

Community Colleges

Community colleges offer two-year associate degrees that prepare undergraduates for four-year institutions offering bachelor programs. They also provide career-specific associate degrees and certificates. Community colleges are an affordable option because of their low tuition costs. 

What is the difference between a college and a university?

A college is a smaller school that may offer a wide variety of educational programs or more focused specializations for those seeking undergraduate degrees. Standing alone or as part of a larger institution, a college is often a private institution with a lower student population and smaller class sizes. On the other hand, a university is a larger school offering both undergraduate and graduate-level degrees. Because they’re a component of a university's doctoral programs, such institutions also serve as research facilities for educational advancement.

Vocational-Technical and Career Colleges

Vocational-technical and career colleges offer specialized training in a particular industry or career. Areas of study include the culinary arts, firefighting, dental hygiene, and medical-records technology. These colleges usually offer students certificates or associate degree programs.

Colleges with a Special Focus

Some colleges focus on a specific interest or student population. These include:

• Arts colleges
• Single-sex colleges
• Religiously affiliated colleges
• Specialized mission colleges

Arts Colleges

Conservatories and colleges of this variety focus on the arts. In addition to regular coursework, these institutions provide training in areas such as photography, music, theater, sculpture, drawing, or fashion design. Most of these schools offer associate or bachelor's degrees in the fine arts or a specialized field.

Single-Sex Colleges

Some private colleges are specifically for men or women.

Religiously Affiliated Colleges

Some private, higher-education institutions are connected to a religious faith. Such connections may simply be historic in nature. Others incorporate religious study into day-to-day student life.

Specially Designated Colleges

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) focus on educating African American students. Colleges and universities are designated Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) when at least 25% of the full-time undergraduate students are Hispanic. HBCUs and HSIs may offer programs, services, and activities targeted to the underrepresented students they serve.

What is better, a university or a college?

Those who prefer a more intimate experience with a greater connection to faculty may prefer a college. However, a university may be better for those looking for a broader range of programs and more learning facilities. The ultimate answer will depend on your personal preferences and the school in question. Both colleges and universities can provide a rewarding educational experience.

What to Do Now That You Know About the Different Types of Colleges

Now that you’re familiar with the types of institutions available, you should decide which one will suit your future goals. It’s often helpful to create a vision board of what you plan to achieve before deciding how you plan to achieve it. Take some time to think about your trajectory while keeping the knowledge of these various types of schools in mind. If you need direction after you assess your needs, you may find it helpful to talk to your school's guidance office, a college recruiter, or a college alum to work through any other questions you might have.

Embarking on a journey through higher education can be both exciting and challenging. Using the information presented here should help you sift through your options so the decisions you make today will serve you better in the future. For more help finding the right colleges for you, check out College Search .

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More From Forbes

4 ways college degrees are still relevant in 2024.

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4 Ways College Degrees Are Still Relevant in 2024

The popularity of college degrees has certainly taken a hit. The recent sentiment is that college education costs have become exorbitant, and earning one doesn’t guarantee success in your career after graduation. With college degrees costing roughly $36,436 per student per year and more and more companies no longer requiring college degrees for hiring, it’s easy to see why. After all, if Elon Musk says you don’t need it, then you’re better off without a diploma, right?

Well, not quite. Because even though college degrees are no longer a requirement for many top companies, they still hold a lot of merit and weight. As for me, I loved my four years at UC Irvine and would not change a thing even if I could. Here are four ways college degrees are still relevant in 2024.

You Learn More Than Just The Subject Matter

One of the most common arguments against getting a college degree is that with the rise of online education and e-learning platforms, there’s no reason to spend thousands of dollars and four years of your life (not to mention 20 years to pay off student loans ) to educate yourself.

While alternative modes of learning are a welcome development, they alone don’t make college degrees worthless. Because in a university environment, you learn more than just your coursework.

In college, you learn everything from time management to people skills as you navigate various academic challenges and social situations. You’re taught not only the core subjects of your degree, but you’re also acquainted with the other fields that inform it. If you love learning, then a college degree can be of great value to you.

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Three ukrainian helicopters landed near the front line. a russian drone was watching—and a russian strike force was ready., fallout dethroned in amazon prime video s top 10 list by a new offering, college is the time to explore.

The structured environment of a university fosters personal growth and development in ways that are difficult to replicate through self-directed online learning or even trade school. Given the structured format, this can seem counterintuitive at first.

However, the pre-planned curriculum is already designed with exploration in mind, as you can choose electives, minors, and even double majors that complement your primary area of study. These choices allow you to tailor your education to your interests and aspirations, encouraging exploration within a structured framework.

Outside the classroom, you can also join sports teams, clubs, and extracurricular activities, further enhancing personal growth and development. In the long term, any of these experiences can open you up to opportunities down the road.

While it is true that half of college graduates end up in fields they didn’t major in, the various activities that they partook in along the way likely led them to the career they eventually settled in.

College Gives You Excellent Networking Opportunities

Perhaps the greatest advantage of pursuing a college degree (and getting into a good school) is the networking opportunities you can take advantage of during and after your life on campus. Despite their up and down relationship, it was while studying at Harvard that Mark Zuckerberg met his friend Eduardo Saverin , whose initial investment of $15,000 helped start Facebook.

Meanwhile, Google was created by Stanford alumni Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who met each other on campus. It was also on the same campus that Even Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy met. They later established Snapchat.

Successful entrepreneurs and inventors come from all kinds of backgrounds, and universities definitely don’t have a monopoly on success. But it’s clear that pursuing a college degree puts you in the company of people with similar ambitions, passions, and intellect. The connections you make during your college years can prove to be invaluable assets throughout your life and career.

They (Still) Help You Get a Job

It’s true that many of the world’s top companies no longer require college degrees, but that doesn’t mean you can just get those jobs straight after graduating from high school. Recruiters only bypass the college degree requirement in order to prioritize work experience and demonstrable work experience, both of which are easier to obtain with a college degree.

This is because, as a fresh graduate, a college degree allows you to leverage some of the pull and reputation that your alma mater may have. In the absence of prior work experience, a college degree serves as a form of credential and validation of your abilities and demonstrates your commitment to learning and ability to complete a rigorous form of study successfully.

At the end of the day, the decision to pursue higher education will come down to what the student wants and prioritizes. If you already know exactly what you want to do and can get hands-on experience in that field, college may not be right for you!

But if you are like the majority of young adults and want some time to explore different paths, socialize with others, and spend time learning different fields you enjoy, enrolling in college could be your path. Good luck!

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Watch CBS News

Some students want their colleges to divest from Israel. Here's what that really means.

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: May 11, 2024 / 11:33 AM EDT / CBS News

College endowments, usually a sleepy part of a university's operations, are now front and center in the campus protests that are spreading across the nation, with students holding up signs with slogans such as "Disclose! Divest!" and "Divest from death now!"

These demands are central to the student protesters' efforts, with many of the students condemning what they see as their universities' financial support for  Israel's war in Gaza . At Brown University, for example, student protesters  charge that the school's $6.6 billion endowment will remain "complicit" until it divests "from Israel and the military-industrial complex."

The push for schools to divest from Israel is putting a spotlight on the world of college endowments, while also raising questions about the effectiveness of divestment as a tool to enact change. To be sure, colleges aren't strangers to calls for divestment, with student protesters in the 1980s demanding that institutions  pull money  from companies doing business in apartheid-era South Africa. More recently, college students have pushed universities to cut their financial ties with the  fossil fuel industry . 

But divestment often is neither a simple nor a quick process, experts say. Endowments are funded by donors, who often direct their money to be used for specific goals, such as providing scholarships for students from certain states or to fund summer study programs. 

For instance, Columbia University, whose campus has  become a lightning rod in the pro-Palestinian protest movement, has an endowment worth $13.6 billion  that encompasses  6,200 funds . 

"An endowment isn't a monolith. They are typically comprised of many different funds, which each have different goals and purposes," noted Todd Ely, associate professor at University of Colorado Denver's School of Public Affairs and an expert on endowments. "From the perspective of endowments, the big objective is to preserve and grow the endowment," which allows the university to fund programs, support faculty and provide student scholarships.

Ely added, "That is why it becomes so challenging — the primary objective of an endowment manager isn't to respond to political and social pressure."

What does "divest" actually mean?

"Divestment" in itself simply describes the action of selling or disposing of an investment or asset. But the term has taken on another layer of meaning as college students, activists and others have used the strategy to advance their political and ethical agenda.

For instance, the protesters believe that eliminating investments in businesses that operate in or otherwise support certain countries or industries, colleges can help bring about change while ensuring they align with students' values. 

The student protesters "don't want to be part of, or have their tuition dollars go to, an institution that is profiting from" what they see as immense human rights abuses, noted Kelly Grotke, a founding partner of Pattern Recognition: A Research Collective, who researches and consults with students, alumni groups, faculty, and others on divestment and endowments. 

What are endowments, and how big are they?

Endowments are funds provided by donors to a university or college that can be earmarked for specific goals, like supporting an endowed chair for a faculty member or providing scholarships for students; or which can be used for unrestricted spending. 

In principle, endowment funds exist in perpetuity, with the university typically spending a smaller amount each year than its annual return. In that way, the endowment can continue to grow. For instance, in its most recent fiscal year, Columbia's endowment spent about 5.2% of its funds , although its trailing 10-year return is 8%. 

The current focus on college endowments comes as universities amass ever larger pools of capital. Roughly 700 college and university endowments manage a total of about $840 billion in assets, according to a recent  study  from the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund. 

While not an apples-to-apples comparison, an earlier Government Accountability Office  report  found that about 1,900 higher-education institutions in 2008 had a combined $400 billion in endowment holdings.

Are college endowments invested in Israel?

It's unclear given that endowments typically don't disclose their investments — a lack of transparency that has become a sticking point for many students protesting the war in Gaza.

The calls for colleges to divest from Israel aren't actually new, but are picking up supporters as the war continues. The movement stems from 2005, when some Palestinian groups launched the "boycott, divestment and sanctions" (BDS) campaign that was joined by some students and academic groups, according to Carleton University political science professor Mira Sucharov in The Conversation. 

BDS has focused on divesting from Israel, as well as urging consumers to avoid buying goods or services from the country, she noted.

Part of the difficulty of determining whether an endowment is invested in Israel, either directly or indirectly, is the changing nature of how colleges invest their funds, Grotke said. Today, a large chunk of endowments is invested in so-called "alternative investments," which describe strategies outside the typical mom-and-pop style of buying stocks and holding them for the long term. 

Alternative investments include hedge funds, private equity firms, venture capital and other vehicles that are typically cloaked in secrecy because their managers don't want to tip off rivals to their strategies. Typically, investors agree to invest their funds for a period of time, which can stretch for several years, making it impossible to withdraw money.

"There is so much privacy in what is being held, especially in alternative funds," Grotke said. "If you are dealing with an index fund, you can go in and see what's in there. You can't do that with an alternative fund."

Are colleges agreeing to divest?

Only one U.S. college, Evergreen State College, has agreed so far to divest any holdings linked with Israel. A few others, including Brown and Northwestern University, have said they will disclose their investment exposure to Israel. But even that might not provide much clarity, Grotke noted.

For instance, in the text of its deal with pro-Palestinian protesters, Northwestern said it will "answer questions from any internal stakeholder about specific holdings, held currently or within the last quarter, to the best of its knowledge and to the extent legally possible."

"That is language to get around disclosure," Grotke said. The agreement "will potentially exclude any divestment because of those contractual relationships" with alternative investment managers.

She added, "Because of the complexity of finance, they will want to look like they will cooperate, but they might not be able to."

Northwestern didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Does divestment work?

That's up for debate, experts said. 

On one hand, the pressure on colleges to divest from the fossil fuel industry has "pushed a lot of new conversations in endowments about how to think about the climate change and carbon risk," said Georges Dyer, co-founder and executive director of the Intentional Endowments Network, which works with endowments on strategies such as low-carbon investments. 

But, he added, "A big part of the debate is what impact does divestment have."

Research on previous divestment efforts isn't encouraging, at least in terms of whether selling assets negatively impacts targeted countries, industries or companies. For instance, one analysis of the anti-apartheid divestment push in the '80s found that it "had little discernible effect either on the valuation of banks and corporations with South African operations or on the South African financial markets."

But that may not be the whole point, said Grotke, noting that the anti-apartheid movement succeeded in "raising awareness of human right abuses" in South Africa. 

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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Elite Colleges Walked Into the Israel Divestment Trap

By Gary Sernovitz

Mr. Sernovitz is a managing director of Lime Rock Management, a private equity firm that invests in oil and gas and clean energy companies and whose investors include colleges and universities.

“ Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest ” is a frequent chant ringing through pro-Palestinian college protests. Of all the actions one could advocate in the war between Israel and Hamas, protesters at Columbia listed, as their first demand, that it divest from companies and institutions that, in their view, “profit from Israeli apartheid.”

Israeli companies aren’t the only target. A proposal Columbia students put forward in December calls for divestment from Microsoft, Airbnb, Amazon and Alphabet, among others. Microsoft is tagged for supplying cloud software services to Israel; Airbnb is targeted for posting rentals in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, listings the platform said it would remove in 2018 . The company reversed this policy months later to settle lawsuits.

Administrators at some universities, including Brown and Northwestern , have agreed to talks with students about divestment as part of agreements to end campus encampments. Other schools have said point blank that they will not accede. The University of Michigan Regents, for one, in March reaffirmed “its longstanding policy to shield the endowment from political pressures and base investment decisions on financial factors such as risk and return.”

“Longstanding” is a debatable term, as it was only three years ago that the regents decided the endowment should stop investing in funds focused on certain fossil fuels (which affected the firm I work at). Before the war in Gaza, it had been pretty easy for universities to make compromises around divestment demands, but those expedient choices are haunting them now. Every investment in elite schools’ endowments is up for debate.

College endowment managers no doubt feel beleaguered that pressing moral questions regularly end up on their desks. For that desk is already covered with spreadsheets on another question: how to generate returns for universities that are nonprofits, unfathomably expensive, and desperate to not be just finishing schools for the rich. Last fiscal year, endowments over $5 billion provided 17.7 percent of their university’s budgets . This school year, Williams College charged $81,200 in tuition and fees . But spending per student was $135,600. The endowment helps make up the difference.

Yet activists view endowments with a sense of ownership. They are part of a community that owns this money. They also go after endowments because they lack better targets. It says something about the authority of ideas in our age that students lobby institutions dedicated to the advancement and propagation of knowledge mainly over what they do with their excess cash.

The mother to all divestment movements was the one that aimed at apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s and ’80s. (In 1981, Barack Obama g ave his first public speech at a divestment rally at Occidental College.) It largely worked: Over 100 colleges in the U.S. eventually agreed to at least partly divest from companies that did business in the country. Years later, many believe divestment played some role in ending apartheid in South Africa.

From 2020 to 2022, as evidence of climate change grew increasingly unavoidable, student demands for divestment from fossil fuels claimed more victories, especially at the Ivy League and other colleges with large endowments — and not coincidentally large groups of activist students telling them what to do with them. Schools’ exposure to oil and gas investments was often less than 5 percent of their endowment, so finding a way to wind down investing, in some form, in the sector was easy to do.

Every divesting institution found its own path, some more logically consistent and sincere than others. I watched some of this unfold firsthand as some schools stopped investing in our oil and gas funds while others invested in our clean energy funds. But almost all the schools succeeded in minimizing real disruption to the endowment and inducing student activists to move on.

Unlike the effects of the South Africa movement, the early impact of oil and gas divestment by colleges and others has been negligible, or even counterproductive: Oil and gas companies have needed little external financial capital , and hostility to the divestment movement has led Republican-led states such as Florida to restrict E.S.G. investing , which focuses on environmental, social and governance factors. (Note that Florida’s State Board of Administration manages almost exactly the same amount of money as the 10 largest private college endowments combined.)

What the fossil fuel divestiture did establish, however, was that university leaders can be made to concede that their endowments will, in certain circumstances, be guided by the school’s collective values, and that current students can shape those values. And by getting endowments to not invest in the sector in some way , the protesters hardened an abstract moral judgment: that the oil and gas business, and the faceless bureaucrats who work for it, are wrong . Divestment champions hope the symbolic removal of an industry’s “social license” can take on its own power, emboldening government policymakers to regulate that industry or dissuading students from seeking jobs in it.

Now the reason for divestment is Israel rather than oil. For many students it’s part of the same conversation , as I saw in a scrawled word salad sign on display at Tulane’s pro-Palestinian encampment: “From the Gulf to the sea, no genocide for oil greed.”

University leaders could follow the same playbook as they did on fossil fuels and find ways to symbolically divest without disrupting their endowments in any notable way. Based on the size of G.D.P., not investing is Israel directly would be like not investing in Colorado. And despite the chants that charge otherwise, many endowments appear to have little to no direct exposure to Israel or to many of the American companies protesters want to blacklist.

But there’s a key difference between avoiding fossil fuels and shunning Israel. The institutions that divested from oil and gas made sure to describe it as financially prudent, albeit sometimes with shallow investment logic. This time, Israel’s social license is the only thing that is on the table. And if Israel is on the table, what other countries should lose their social license? How many years must pass since what some believe to be a country’s settler colonialist period or messy wars that kill innocent civilians to make it investable?

And if divestment against Israel is carried out, when should it end? Oil and gas divesting is meant never to end; oil and gas consumption is meant to end. Divestment from South Africa ended with apartheid. So university leaders will be forced to ask an often heterogeneous group of students what would earn Israel its social license back. A cease-fire? A new Israeli government? A two-state solution? The end of Israel as a Jewish state?

The effort to identify every investment with ties to Israel is also fraught. Columbia activists could find information only on pocket-change-size ownership of certain companies, such as $69,000 of Microsoft stock. So protesters are also demanding that colleges disclose all their investments, presumably so students can research the morality of each one. However, some firms that manage parts of an endowment’s money, particularly hedge funds, don’t report individual holdings to investors: asking them for it is like asking for the secret recipe for Coke.

But even if an endowment could provide a list of every underlying investment, it would likely then be inundated for more calls to divest, for more discovered connections — however small — to Israel, and for reasons related to other offenses discoverable with an online search. Why would there not be a Taiwanese student group demanding divestment from China, to dissuade an invasion? Other students demanding divestment from Big Tech, citing students’ mental health? Others demanding divestment from all of it, the hedge funds and private equity funds whose asset managers are not exactly healing American income inequality?

The answer, of course, is that endowments can’t be in the moral adjudication business — and they should never have headed this way. This does not mean that investing should be a returns-at-any-cost exercise. But it does mean that the real world does not always provide objective answers to how to balance benefits and consequences of companies providing products and services: Carbon emissions are bad, but energy consumption is necessary. Microsoft software for the Israeli government may displease you, but Microsoft saying it won’t sell software to Israel would displease others — and probably get itself banned from working with New York State agencies .

Listen to the protesters on divestment. They will not stop. They will not rest.

But neither will the markets. They open every morning, Monday through Friday, and university budgets’ demands on endowments never go away. Tuitions are rising . Costs always go up . Colleges should debate deep moral issues and discuss the hard compromises to solve the world’s ills. But we should move those efforts to the lecture halls, away from the investment offices. Divesting is an easy chant. Investing is hard enough as it is.

Gary Sernovitz is a managing director of Lime Rock Management, a private equity firm that invests in oil and gas and clean energy companies and whose investors include colleges and universities. He is also the author of “The Counting House,” a novel about the travails of a university chief investment officer.

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