It’s application season, which means you may be scrambling to finish college admissions and scholarship essays. Here are some tips on how to begin your writing.
First, look at this year’s Common App essay prompts and see if you can find any inspiration on how to start your essay. This year, they are:
1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
4. Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.
If you need further inspiration on how to start your essay, try and start with something unexpected! Using an unusual (but appropriate) hook or going straight into describing an interesting image may get your creativity flowing and allow you to open your mind to all sorts of ideas to include in your writing.
The next tip is don’t be afraid of being vulnerable in your essay! Colleges want to know about you as a person, and they can’t decide that you will do well at their school unless you share with them. Vulnerability can be shown when you write about what’s really important to you and why it’s important, it can be shown when you write about something that’s happened to you and how it has shaped you, and it can be shown through many other ways. Don’t be scared to be truthful and vulnerable in your writing!
It is also worth consulting the resources available to you. These include the teachers in the English department and the counselors here at Sain Joseph High School. They can help provide guidance during this process.
These are a few of the many tips on how to begin your college admissions and scholarship essays. Good luck with your writing.