I'm brainstorming ideas for my Common App essay and wanted some honest feedback. My idea right now is to write about how I stopped painting after moving to a new state from another country and starting at a new school. I went to 2 high schools, one 9-10th grade and the other 11-12th grade. During those first few months, I felt like something was missing, and I assumed it was just because I was in a new environment. Months later, I picked up a paintbrush for the first time in a while, and I realized that what I'd been missing wasn't just familiarity but it was also a part of myself. (I have always loved painting and it was always something I would do but for some reason I stopped). The essay wouldn't really be about painting but it would be more about rediscovering my identity, learning that belonging starts with staying connected to the things that make me who I am, and how that changed the way I approached new experiences. I was thinking the essay would be written in a way that showed officers that I am easily adaptable or something, idk. Does this sound like a strong Common App topic? And how can I improve and make it stand out to admission officers?
I sat in on a Coalition for College panel where four admissions officers shared insights about the essay writing process. Here are my key takeaways from the conversation.
The speakers: Karen Kristof (Colorado College), Heather Hawker (Miami University), Rachel Horowitz (Olin College of Engineering), and Chris Gray (University of Tampa).
On AI: none of them use AI detectors because they are AI detectors. This was unanimous. They read so many essays that AI writing jumps out at them: too stiff, too formal, "detached from being human," giving an "ick." They felt they didn’t need to use AI detectors because of how obvious it is when someone has used AI to write their essay. Gray noted that at U. Tampa each essay gets read by 8–9 people, so it gets caught. They also pointed out this isn't a new problem: copied and templated essays were a thing long before AI.
You don't need trauma. You don't have to dig up the hardest thing that ever happened to you. As Kristof put it, if you've had a hard life and want to write about surviving it, that’s great. They would love to hear about that. But if your life has been pretty good, that’s not inherently a problem. It's completely fine to write about something simple and meaningful to you. One of her favorite essays was simply about a student who read 91 books in 8 months, no trauma or hardship involved.
If you do write about something painful, process it first. If you do choose to write about something traumatic, they recommend waiting until you’ve had some time to process the experience first. Kristof shared a concern that she doesn’t want to be worried about whether you're okay by the last line. It's fine to still be working through something, but the essay should demonstrate growth and resilience. If you don’t feel you’re in a place to speak to that, that’s ok, but it might be best to find something else to write about.
Focus on ONE thing. Don't try to cram 18 years into 650 words. Hawker said the trap is trying to tell them everything instead of answering, "what's the one thing you want me to know about you?" Horowitz's version: weak essays summarize an experience ("I hiked, I kayaked, I camped, I loved every minute"). Strong ones zoom way in on a specific thing: what did you see, hear, feel, and learn from one specific moment (“I inflated the kayak and set off on an adventure that in hindsight was beyond my skill level. Perhaps trying to face my fear of the unknown in this way was more risky than I realized…”).
If you write about universal topics, make them uniquely yours. Sports injuries are far more common than students realize. Or stories about building legos or computers when applying to an engineering program (Horowitz said Olin gets flooded with Lego and robotics essays). This doesn’t mean you can’t write about injuries, legos, or robotics. But it does mean you need a...
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im a rising senior and last year i wrote my college essay in english class. now that applications are opening up soon, im looking at my essay and wondering if its interesting enough. i wrote mine on why i want to go into journalism. i thought it was a good topic initially, but im worried that everyone is gonna write their essay on why they want to go into their career of choice :/ is this a bad essay topic?
