COLLEGE ESSAYS

2019-20 SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY GUIDE
What do the 2019-20 supplemental essay prompts really mean, and how should you approach them? College Essay Advisor's experts are here to break them all down.

CEA ESSAY GUIDE

COMMON COLLEGE ESSAY QUESTIONS

• Why did you choose us?
• What are your career goals & how can we meet them?
• How would you describe yourself as a human being?
• Why do you think you would be a good fit at our school?
• What person in your life has had the most impact on you?
• If you can spend a day with someone, living or dead, who would it be and why?
• What is the best advice you have ever received and why?
• How would your friends describe you?
• Create your own questions and answer it.
• What captivates you?
• What is a book you love?

COLLEGE ESSAY TIPS

• Answer the question & answer honestly
• Watch the humor & content
  
  • Your humor may not match the readers
• Show to an English teacher you like
• Write it yourself 
  
  • Not someone else’s ‘significant editing’
• Use the essay for multiple schools/scholarships
  • Be sure to make the necessary subtle changes
• Don’t repeat yourself
  • List of accomplishments & achievements will already be on the admission application
• Write only on weekends
  • You have enough on your plates academically
• Don’t exceed the word limit
  • 302 words for a 300 word essay is not okay
• Write about YOU!
  • Not the influence or the life-changing event
• The challenge essay tips
  • Challenge is not always a crisis
  • Challenges can be too personal
  • Do not overwrite
  • Do not skimp on resolution and reflection--most important
  • Avoid “My challenge is writing this essay”
• Sell yourself
  • What do you bring to the college?
  • What do you value?
  • How do you perceive the world?
  • What’s your role in the world?
  • What’s the nature of your interactions with the world?
• Write about something important to you or that makes you unique
  • An experience; life-changing event; book; a person; etc.​