Many students and parents are under the misconception that they have to write about something traumatic to stand out in college application essays. That isn’t true. This guide explains why, and illustrates what you can do instead with example essays and analysis.

Si tu eres un estudiante indocumentado aplicando a distintas universidades, aprende los cuatro aspectos más importantes que necesitas saber acerca del proceso de aplicación para la universidad.

Compartiendo tu experiencia como indocumentado en tu ensay puede ser una magnifica idea. En este bloque College Essay Guy te guía a través de como enfocar en tu ensayo la experiencia vivida como indocumentado.

Esta guía completa cubre todo lo que necesitarás para hacer una lluvia de ideas, organizar y escribir un ensayo de presentación sobresaliente para las solicitudes universitarias.

Try these values-focused college essay topic brainstorming exercises to stand out when applying to college through the common app.

Getting your personal statement right is a crucial part of the application process. Learn how to format your personal statement, and find examples.

A high-quality personal statement can help you to stand out during the application process. Learn more about the personal statement and how it’s used.

Learn how to brainstorm, outline, and write a college essay about overcoming challenges.

We’ll cover what good transition sentences look like and how to write a great transition sentence in your college essay.

This ultimate guide covers everything you’ll need to brainstorm, outline, and write an outstanding personal statement for college applications.

In this guide, we’ll teach you two different essay formats to outline and structure the perfect college essay (aka structures) to help write your best college application essay.

There’s nothing wrong with writing your personal statement about a challenge you faced. Before you get in too deep though, consider these insightful points about narrative (challenge-based) essays plus other essay types that could be a better fit for you.

Learn to write a successful personal statement by reading and analyzing these awesome personal statement examples for the college application.

Use these outstanding college essay examples to learn how to write your personal statement and supplemental essays for the college application.

Should you write about coronavirus in your college essay, or in the Common App? Both? Neither? We’ll break down step-by-step how to write about coronavirus/COVID-19 in your college application.

Learn how to navigate which common app essay prompt to use for writing your personal statement when applying to college. Which common app prompt is best? How do you choose? Learn more here.

Learn how to write a college essay, step-by-step. Find a topic, structure your essay, write and revise a college essay all with our best guide.

This guide will show you everything you need to know about the UCAS personal statement, including how it’s different from the US personal statement, exercises for brainstorming your college essay, and UCAS essay examples to get inspired.

How do you start a college essay? In this post, we’ll discover ways to start a college essay, with tips and examples for making your college essay beginning stand out.

Should you consider coming out in your college essay? Here are tips and advice for coming out when writing your college application essays, plus example essays of students who chose to come out in their personal statement.

Looking for some amazing college essay topics and ideas? We’ve got all the brainstorming exercises and sample topics to help you generate you write an amazing college application essay.

How do you start a personal statement introduction in a way that grabs the reader? Click here for great ideas and tips for making your personal statement introduction amazing.

Learn to write a successful common application essay by reading and analyzing these awesome common app essay examples from winning applications.

After the 2023 Supreme Court decision on race in college admissions, many colleges changed their essay prompts to more directly ask about diversity. This guide walks students through how to approach these prompts, with key brainstorming exercises and example essays.

After the 2023 Supreme Court decision on race in college admissions, many colleges changed their essay prompts in response, leading in many cases to new essays and approaches needed. This guide walks through what the patterns in changes were, and offers a list of schools that changed.

This guide covers how to write the SUNY Stony Brook supplemental essay prompt with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Texas A&M supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to apply to colleges in Texas using the ApplyTexas application, and includes step-by-step guides, deadlines, and essay examples.

This guide covers how to write the Haverford College supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Fordham University supplemental essay prompt with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the American University supplemental essay prompt with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Worcester Polytechnic Institute supplemental essay prompt with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Tuskegee University supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Bucknell University supplemental essay prompt with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Pomona supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Penn State supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the University of Richmond supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Villanova University supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Claremont McKenna College supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Pepperdine University supplemental essay prompt with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the George Washington University supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to apply to Spelman College with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to apply to Florida A&M University (FAMU) with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Wellesley College supplemental essay prompt with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Howard University supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Swarthmore College supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Vassar College supplemental essay prompt with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Harvey Mudd College supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Emory University supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Tulane University supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Amherst College supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Babson College supplemental essay prompts with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

This guide covers how to write the Syracuse University supplemental essay prompt with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

Looking for a way to edit and revise your UC Essay (Personal Insight Question)? Here are 6 ways to add insight into your University of California PIQ’s.

Determine how good your Personal Insight Questions are and learn how to edit and improve your UC essays.

Applying to colleges via the Common Application and the University of California application? Wondering if you can just copy and paste your responses from one app to another, and be done with it? The short answer: We wouldn’t recommend it.

This guide covers how to write the UC essay prompts (or PIQs) with exercises and essay examples to help you along the way.

What is the EOP application? When are they due? We’ll cover everything you need to know to submit an EOP application.

Discover how to write the University of California’s Additional Comments and Academic History section for your college application.

Write an awesome UC activities list for your UC application using our step-by-step guide, an UC activities and awards worksheet example, a sample uc app, and advice for listing coursework other than a g and educational preparation programs.

Check out our epic, updated directory of 2024 UC essay examples that worked, AKA UC personal insight questions examples AKA UC personal statement, to see how some others have approached the UC prompts and get into that sunny University of California school of your dreams.

This guide explains the basics, like what STEM is, but also gets into nuance regarding why STEM is important, and how to decide whether to pursue a STEM major or a career in a STEM field.

Did you know that programs exist to help you find a job to pay for college or grad school? This guide explains how it works.

Grad schools have varied deadlines, depending on the school, type of degree, forms of enrollment, and more. This guide talks you through both what to understand and how to approach your grad school application deadlines.

Because the differences between Master’s and PhD programs can sometimes feel inscrutable, this guide talks you through key distinctions to understand as you make education and career decisions.

It might feel a little (or maybe a lot) unclear what exactly the differences are between externships and internships—this guide talks you through everything you need to know.

Student debt is a major concern in America. So this guide explains how you can pursue different forms of financial aid for grad school.

Explore law school personal statement examples. Discover how to write a law school personal statement by reading some examples that got their writers into their dream law schools. Use our brainstorming exercises and content outlines to learn to show your best side through your personal statement while directly addressing what law schools are looking for.

A guide explaining in detail how to get into University of Michigan and breaking down UMichigan’s admission requirements, to help students understand how to apply and be accepted.

A guide explaining in detail how to get into Northwestern University and breaking down Northwestern’s admission requirements, to help students understand how to apply and be accepted.

Read about Cornell’s acceptance rate (7.3%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of Cornell University, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

Read about ASU’s acceptance rate (89.8%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of Arizona State University, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

Read about Tulane’s acceptance rate (11.5%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of the University of Tulane, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

Read about UC Irvine’s acceptance rate (28.9%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of UC Irvine, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

Read about the University of Michigan’s acceptance rate (17.7%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of the University of Michigan, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

Read about US Davis’ acceptance rate (46.3%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of the University of California Davis, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

Read about UCSB’s acceptance rate (25.8%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of the University of California Santa Barbara, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

Read about the University of Florida’s acceptance rate (31.1%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of UF, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

This guide explains all you need to know about GRE scores and their impact on admissions.

A guide to the MCAT, including what it is, what it covers, and why it’s important for your med school applications.

A guide explaining in detail how to get into Cornell and breaking down Cornell’s  admission requirements, to help students understand how to apply and be accepted.

A guide to clarify the value of an MBA, including the pros and cons of getting an MBA and the potential ROI of MBA programs.

A guide explaining in detail how to get into UPenn and breaking down UPenn’s  admission requirements, to help students understand how to apply and be accepted.

Find a college admissions counselor or understand what to look for in a college admissions consultant (including whether you need one) by considering a few of these following college admission factors. Get college admission help from our expert advisors.

Read about Rutgers’ acceptance rate (66.9%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of Rutgers University, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

Read about Boston College’s acceptance rate (19%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of Boston College, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

Read about Clemson’s acceptance rate (43%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of Clemson University, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

Read about Yale’s acceptance rate (4.6%), or the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Better understand your odds of getting in, check out the demographics of Yale University, and get some helpful tips for applying and writing your essays along the way.

An explanation of how attendance plays into college admissions, so students and families can better understand how the application process works.

A guide explaining in detail how to get into Brown and breaking down the Brown admission requirements, to help students understand how to apply and be accepted.

Because standardized testing has many confusing details and raises a lot of questions for students and families, we’ve built CEG’s Crash Course to Standardized Testing.

A guide + examples and analysis to the often-confusing process of how to brainstorm and write a college essay (AKA personal statement).

Try these values-focused college essay topic brainstorming exercises to stand out when applying to college through the common app.

Determine how good your Personal Insight Questions are and learn how to edit and improve your UC essays.

Looking for some amazing college essay topics and ideas? We’ve got all the brainstorming exercises and sample topics to help you generate you write an amazing college application essay.

The Essence Objects Brainstorming Exercise is a perfect way to get your creative juices flowing before sitting down to write your college essays. In this exercise from College Essay Guy, you will reflect on your life and generate a ton of content to bring your Personal Statement to life.

College Essay Guy walks you through the feelings & needs brainstorming exercise to learn how to add detail and structure your college application essay or personal statement.

College Essay Guy goes over how to write a great college essay and the five tips for revising a college essay. Will your essay pass The Great College Essay Test? Find out in this blog.

Here’s another brainstorming exercise from College Essay Guy that helps you connect to your own life and present it in a way that will delight colleges in your essays, applications, and interviews.

Get inspired and get writing your college admissions essay right now with advice on brainstorming, co-creating, and fueling inspiration.

A little helpful advice for getting over that procrastination bump and producing high-quality B+ work by rewriting patterns in behavior.

Five easy, actionable steps to turning your first college essay draft into a refined Outline 2.0 by reading out loud, finding your thesis sentences, and more.

Brainstorm 21 moments in your life that helped define who you are as a person in order to dig up content for your college essay.

Because of the complex challenges they can face, this guide covers several critical things trans youth and their counselors and caregivers should understand regarding both high school and college applications.

After the 2023 SCOTUS decision, it’s especially important that counselors at schools with predominantly low income and/or underrepresented students uplevel their school profile. This guide talks you through how.

After the 2023 Supreme Court decision on race in college admissions, many colleges changed their essay prompts to more directly ask about diversity. This guide walks students through how to approach these prompts, with key brainstorming exercises and example essays.

After the 2023 Supreme Court decision on race in college admissions, many colleges changed their essay prompts in response, leading in many cases to new essays and approaches needed. This guide walks through what the patterns in changes were, and offers a list of schools that changed.

¿Dinero gratis, alguien? Aquí hay cinco recursos y consejos para obtener becas y ayuda financiera para la universidad. College Essay Guy cree que la universidad puede ser asequible para cualquiera. Empieza con los cinco recursos y ve cuánto dinero podría obtener para su educación.

Learn about the Cal State application requirements, deadlines, where to log in, and answers to frequently asked questions for students and college counselors.

This guide covers how to create a school profile for U.S and international students and teaches students how to create one for their school if they don’t have a college counselor.

Highlights and need-to-know information from the 2022 University of California Counselor Conference

Essential Guide to the Common Black College Application for College Counselors and Independent Educational Consultants

Essential Guide to the Coalition Application for College Counselors and Independent Educational Consultants

Essential Guide to the Common Application for College Counselors and Independent Educational Consultants

This post covers important college counseling advice and resources from around the web.

Essential Blogs, Podcasts and Organizations from around the web for high school college counselors and independent educational consultants.

Here are our favorite books for college counselors and independent educational consultants that cover the college search and application process and high schoolers’ overall development.

A quick guide for high school counselors on creating a school profile for college admissions

High school teachers guide for learning how to write a recommendation letter for college plus expert samples

Here are 30 ways to advocate for equality and justice during your journey through high school, college, and life itself. Make sure to check my podcast episode that inspired this blog post - “30 Ways to Center Justice & Equity Today”.

Learn how to write a letter of recommendation for high school admissions counselors with my complete guide and real-world examples.

Test anxiety. Many students struggle with it. Are you one of them? Here are 25 practical ways to reduce your testing anxiety in and out of the classroom. Learn how to manage your testing anxiety with College Essay Guy.

The LGBT+ community is stronger when allies rally together to create support and empowerment. Here are 10 ways you can use campus pride as an ally for LGBTQ students at your school.

Free money, anyone? Here are 5 resources and tips for getting scholarships and financial aid for college. College Essay Guy believes college can be affordable for anyone. Start with the 5 resources and see how much money you could get towards your college education.

If you’re an undocumented student applying to college, here are the biggest 4 things you need to know about your college application process— courtesy of College Essay Guy.

¿Dinero gratis, alguien? Aquí hay cinco recursos y consejos para obtener becas y ayuda financiera para la universidad. College Essay Guy cree que la universidad puede ser asequible para cualquiera. Empieza con los cinco recursos y ve cuánto dinero podría obtener para su educación.

This article covers 7 ways you as a parent can support your child if you’ve ever thought “how can I help my student write their college essay?”

Here it is - a complete college application and admissions timeline. This one-stop show will show you how to prepare for college, when to start applying for college, and so many more details you haven’t thought of (yet)

Test anxiety. Many students struggle with it. Are you one of them? Here are 25 practical ways to reduce your testing anxiety in and out of the classroom. Learn how to manage your testing anxiety with College Essay Guy.

The LGBT+ community is stronger when allies rally together to create support and empowerment. Here are 10 ways you can use campus pride as an ally for LGBTQ students at your school.

Planning a college visit is an exciting and informative experience for students. In order to get the most out of your college visit, here are my top tips for planning a college visit.

Free money, anyone? Here are 5 resources and tips for getting scholarships and financial aid for college. College Essay Guy believes college can be affordable for anyone. Start with the 5 resources and see how much money you could get towards your college education.

If you’re an undocumented student applying to college, here are the biggest 4 things you need to know about your college application process— courtesy of College Essay Guy.

Save money on professional college consulting by doing the research yourself using these incredibly useful websites and links.

If you're an undocumented student applying to college, learn the 4 biggest things you need to know about your college application process.

了解如何制作大学申请时间表，以及在准备申请大学的前几年和大学入学开始前的夏天应该做哪些事情。

在美国寻求经济援助？本指南涵盖了国际学生在美国申请奖学金和经济援助时应该知道的5个最重要的建议。

查看这个每个国际学生在申请美国大学之前都应该了解的申请要求清单。

本指南涵盖了国际学生在申请美国大学时常犯的 10 个错误。

作为国际学生,申请与获得经济援助并非易事。此指南让你在经济援助的过程了解你需要做的每一步。

This guide covers what students need to know in order to assess whether they might want to attend college or university in Canada, including admissions requirements, differences between the Canadian and American systems, and how to apply.

This guide covers everything international students need to know about credential evaluations for U.S. colleges and universities.

This guide covers what students need to know in order to assess whether they might want to attend university in the United Kingdom, including admissions requirements, differences between the UK and American systems, and how to apply.

This guide covers what students need to know in order to assess whether they might want to attend university in the Netherlands, including different types of universities, admissions requirements, differences between the Dutch and American systems, and how to apply.

This guide for international students covers how to build a college list that fits your financial needs on Auxilia.

A complete checklist for what to do after international students are accepted to college in the U.S.

Check out this checklist of U.S. college application requirements every international student should know before applying.

This guide covers how to create a school profile for U.S and international students and teaches students how to create one for their school if they don’t have a college counselor.

Why international students applying from outside the U.S do not need to convert their GPA to the 4 point scale.

This post contains 5 reasons why you should consider applying to graduate school abroad, plus an application timeline for the year you apply.

This post covers how important college interviews are to international students applying to highly selective U.S. colleges and universities.

This post covers 5 places students can look to obtain financial aid to pay for graduate school outside of the U.S.

A college application and admissions checklist for international students applying to college outside of the United States

This guide covers 10 common mistakes international students make when applying to college and universities in the United States.

This guide helps students decide if and when they need to take an English proficiency exam for applying to colleges and universities.

Acceptance rates and average GPA/Test scores: why they're important and why they can be misleading (particularly for international students and students who need financial aid)

This guide describes how likely international students are to receive a full scholarship to universities in the United States.

This guide covers tips and resources for attending university in 5 countries that cost less than 10,000 dollars per year.

This guide covers how much it actually costs to go to college for international students, including tuition, room and board, and even several hidden costs most students miss.

Looking for financial aid in the U.S.? This guide covers the 5 most important tips international students should know when searching for scholarships and financial aid in the US.

This guide will cover what foundation programs are, who needs to complete a foundation year, and how to apply.

This guide discusses how to do international college list research using the NACAC guide to international university admission.

In this guide, learn how to research and choose the colleges and universities outside of the United States to apply to.

This guide contains tips and resources for how to research universities outside of the US and find the college that’s right for you.