There’s no question that the “college application essay” is hard to write. Not because it’s long —650 words is just over a page of text. And not because the prompts are hard — there are 7 prompts from which to choose and the last one is “topic of your choice.” And it’s not hard to write because you don’t know the material — it’s about you!! But it is hard to write because you don’t your audience, you don’t know if you’ve picked the topic or approach, you don’t have a lot of experience writing about yourself, and because the stakes are relatively high.
We’ll be posting tips and strategies all summer about how to approach this momentous task, but let’s start with some great advice from the admissions office at UVA. Read, reflect, and start writing!