College Essay Format Common App Writing Guide 2024
College Essay Format Common App Writing Guide. essays for college admission follow a simple format that includes an opening paragraph, a lengthier body section, and a closing paragraph. Keep in mind that the exact format can vary from one college application to the next.
College essays are an entirely new type of writing for high school seniors. Should you double-space or single-space? Do you need a title? You don’t need to include a title, which will only take up extra space.
Common college essay prompts
Over 1000 colleges use Common App essay prompts, which means you may be able to write one essay for several college applications. Some past Common App college essay prompts—which are announced publicly each year—include the following topics:
- Tell about a topic, concept, or idea that is so captivating to you that you lose all track of time.
- Share a story about your background, interest, identity, or talent that makes you complete as a person.
- Write about something that someone has done for you that you are grateful for, and how gratitude has motivated or affected you.
- Describe a time when you faced a setback, failure, or challenge and what you learned from it.
College Essay Format Writing Guide 2024
How long should my college essay be?
Colleges and the application systems usually give you specific word count maximums. The most popular college application systems, like the Common Application and Coalition Application, will give you a maximum of 650 words for your main personal statement, and typically less than that for school-specific supplemental essays. Other systems will usually specify the maximum word count—the UC PIQs are 350 max, for example. Kamerpower.com
Do I need a title for my college essay?
You don’t need one. In the vast majority of cases, students we work with don’t use titles. The handful of times they have, they’ve done so because the title allows for a subtle play on words or reframing of the essay as a whole. So don’t feel any pressure to include one, they’re purely optional.
If you’re attaching a doc (rather than pasting)
If you are attaching a document rather than pasting into a text box, all the above still applies. Again, we’d recommend sticking with standard fonts and sizes, Times New Roman, 12-point is a standard workhorse. You can probably go with 1.5 or double spacing. Standard margins.
Regarding things like italics and bold
Keep in mind that if you’re pasting text into a box, it may wipe out your formatting. So if you were hoping to rely on italics or bold for some kind of emphasis, double check if you’ll be able to.
Regarding font type, size, and color
Keep it simple and standard. Regarding font type, things like Times New Roman or Georgia (what this is written in) won’t fail you. Just avoid things like Comic Sans or other informal/casual fonts. Size? 11- or 12-point is fine. Color? Black. Going with something else with the above could be a risk, possibly a big one, for fairly little gain.
Should I Use College Essay Templates?
College essay templates can be found online. This template contains instructions on how to format a college application essay and what to write in each paragraph. We strongly recommend that you do not use templates. Your essay will look trite and boring. You have to think of many ideas on your own. Instead of using templates for your college essay, we encourage you to conduct research.
Decide on a logical order.
The most effective outlines are usually the most simple ones. For instance, a good story has a beginning, middle, and end. Likewise, your essay will have an introduction, body, and conclusion. Unless the college requests a specific admission essay format, use the format you’ve been using to write essays in high school that you’re likely to be the most comfortable with. If you’re stuck on how to open your essay, write the middle of your story first. Then, go back and write a compelling introduction.
Should I indent or us paragraph breaks in my college essay?
Either. Just be consistent. The exception here is if you’re pasting into a box that screws up your formatting—for example, if, when you copy your essay into the box, your indentations are removed, go with paragraph breaks.
If I use PDF format
It is worth using the PDF format to leave the essay view intact. It allows you to preserve all characters. Moreover, no one can edit your text. It is a great tactic, but it is worth making sure you are legally allowed to deliver the document this way. Some schools may not be ready to receive PDF essays.
Additional College Essay Formatting Tips:
- Avoid writing sentence by sentence without transitions. Add linkage between the sentences and paragraphs.
- Find someone you trust to read your essay and give you constructive feedback. It could be a trusted teacher, parent, school counselor, or college student. It is best to choose someone familiar with the purpose of the college essay.
- Do not include the title if it is the same as the essay prompt. This way, you will waste your word count;
- Use a real example. Add events and vivid details from your life. It will add color and persuasiveness to your personal statement. Your example shows that you embody the traits valued by the university.
- Don’t let anyone else write this essay for you. No one will tell about you the way you tell yourself. In addition, you will not be able to answer later during the interview.
- Do not write a wall of text. It makes your essay format college paper look like a mess. Divide the main body into several paragraphs.
What format should your common app essay be?
- As for the paragraphs, make an indentation for the first line in each paragraph (use a tab).
- Fonts should be standard (Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial are among the frequently used ones).
- The margins are usually 1 inch.
- Line spacing can be single or double-spaced.
- The text should be left-aligned (instead of the title, which is centered).
- The font size 12 is the best choice to make the text readable.
Unconventional College Essay Structures
Unconventional essay structures tend to be higher risk, as it’s easier to turn off the admissions officer, but they’re also higher reward if executed correctly using the two categories below.
Linguistic techniques
These linguistic techniques are often hybrid, where you write some of the essay with the linguistic variation, then write more of an explanation in English. You could also play with the actual language and sentence structure of your essay, writing it:
- In iambic pentameter.
- Partially in your mother tongue.
- In code or a programming language.
Playing with essay format
Instead of choosing a traditional narrative format, you might take a more creative route to showcase your interests, writing your essay:
- With a creative visual format (such as creating a visual pattern with the spaces between your sentences forming a picture)
- As a two-sided Lincoln-Douglas debate.
- As a movie script.
- Using song lyrics
- As a legal brief
Conventional College Essay Structures
There are three traditional college essay structures. They are:
- Narrative told over an extended period of time.
- In-the-moment narrative.
- Series of anecdotes, or montage.
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