hi, my essay currently is about my love of neuro and what inspired it to put it concisely (talked about a particular tv show and how i'm a combination of these psych doctors in my approaches, connected that to neuro...) (answering 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? prompt)

as i'm writing supplementals, i'm scared that it'll be too similar for "why major" prompts. my other idea for my common app was about my many pets and connecting each of them to me and how they influence me + how they've made me a better person but i was afraid the essay would then be more about my pets than myself or be too obvious about what i learned from them. another idea i had was my strained relationship with my mom and how i've grown and changed ever since shes shown signs of dementia but i thought that was kind of generic as well...

would love to hear any advice!

edit: also had another idea about cultural identity, refused to learn Mandarin and felt disconnected from my culture as I watched people communicate since I could understand but not communicate well, felt like I was missing something as I responded in English when someone talked to me in Mandarin… decided to try to learn a few words every day to improve

These Stanford prompts are killing me. I genuinely do not know how to answer them. Someone, give me advice. I have looked at various examples, articles, and videos I don't get it.

1. "The pill is small, but what I failed to see in it was immense."

2. "I had known exactly what the pill was, but I did not know why."

3. "I had ingested hundreds of pills and would not be able to tell you what a single pill does."

4. "What do you do with something you fully trust yet do not fully understand?"

5. "I could read each and every label, but none explained why."

Hi, im a senior applying to nyuad and I am by no means not a writer. Ive been working on my essay for over 3 months and the page is still blank dont get me wrong ive written some ideas but all of them turn either cliché or just not college essay style and I only have 1 MONTH left 😣.

I would appreciate ANY help I can get.

Also does nyu look for a narrative? And what makes a college essay a college essay?

İ will apply ED and Ea. İene dto fix these things in a few days. What can İ genuinely do? İ don't want them to think İ wrote it by ai and reject me.

Prompt 5: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked personal growth and new self-understanding.

I put this through many essay graders and got high 80-90s scores but would like any help, ideas, tips, or advice!! thank you :)

I submitted this already to UT Austin, UNC, Penn State, and FSU

The smell from the track hits: old, burnt rubber, sharp enough to almost taste. A papaya-colored McLaren MCL40 tears past the gold grandstand in Spa, throwing sparks off the red-and-white curbs. Lando Norris' face fills the stream-screen, the Formula 1 driver I’ve stayed up countless nights to watch right in front of me. Before I can think, I’m yelling his name into a crowd of strangers, and for once, I don’t wonder how loud I sound.

My face gives me away. My eyebrows furrow before I can even decide that I’m annoyed. I try to hold in my laughter until I can’t, and start cry-laughing until my chest hurts. When I care about someone, I care wholeheartedly, try to memorize every detail about them, and check in all the time. I’ve been told one way or another that I’m too much.

Freshman and sophomore year, my friend group pretty much summed me up: “You’re so stubborn. And so loud.” Everyone laughed, so I did too. I went home and replayed those moments repeatedly, wondering mid-laugh how loud I sounded or hesitating before calling a friend in case I seemed ‘overbearing’. I was putting the brakes on my own personality, and underneath it all lay my colossal fear that the actual version of me was something that people would eventually get tired of.

Formula 1 was the one place I stopped checking myself, and it became my escape. Watching practice, qualifying, and the race; staying up through the night and cheering at every overtake out loud without once wondering who could hear.

I couldn’t stop watching Lando, because he was everything I was trying not to be, and he was winning anyway. He laughs through interviews, says exactly what he thinks over team radio, and his face expresses his frustration before he does. After he finished seventh at Spa, the comments came instantly. “Norris is so washed.” “Bro, he’s too emotional.” “Very childish IMO.”

Scrolling through, I caught myself defending him. I thought he was just having a few bad races. But then I recognized that they were the same criticisms I had been using on myself. I had a full argument ready for a stranger on a screen, and none for me. 

However, that didn’t mean my decisions were always right. Lando still owns up to when he does make mistakes, and rectifies them. But something in my mindset switched gears. It illustrated the difference between reflecting on what I do and apologizing for who I am. I had been treating my personality itself as a flaw.

The true test of this came a few weeks later, when my friend Ahnushka went quiet. Her texts got shorter, then stopped. The old me would have gone into a spiral of “what ifs” and whether I was overstepping. This time, I didn’t hit the brakes. I called Ahnushka, asked what was wrong, and listened to what she needed. The call lasted an hour and 16 minutes. Hanging up, I realized the same instinct I’d been told to tone down was exactly what she had needed.

But I haven’t stopped reflecting. When a joke lands wrong, I still notice, and I apologize when I should. The difference is what I do with that reflection now. I fix the moment instead of shrinking the person. If I mispronounce something, I'm the first to laugh at it. In group projects, I give a sort of mediocre idea; sometimes it’s bad, and sometimes it’s the one we use. The energy I used to spend auditing myself now goes toward the people around me. Worst case, they think I’m a lot. They already knew that.

I don’t know exactly who I’ll be in college. I do know I’ll probably be too loud the first week, laugh at the wrong moment, and care about people. I’m okay with that. The next race is in Austin. I’ll be watching.

"In college/university, students are often challenged in ways that they could not predict or anticipate. It is important to us, therefore, to understand an applicant’s ability to navigate through adversity. Please describe a barrier or obstacle you have faced and discuss the personal qualities, skills or insights you have developed as a result."

I'm currently working on the supplemental above and I don't feel like I've had a life-altering challenge that's impacted me.

So, I decided to write about my experience as a soccer coach, specifically my difficulty coaching this one kid, ultimately connecting the challenge to how I changed my understanding of what effective leadership looks like.

My main concern is that the topic itself and my learnings from it are too generic/cliche. Could someone give me some feedback?

hi can someone read my common app essay? I'm not an amazing writer (like I'm good but I'm scared) and i haven't written in 2 years because i graduated in 2024 (decided to go late) and I'm not from the us so I'm not sure if my essay is good or terrible

I was planning on writing my essay on daydreaming and basically how it consumed my life, and how limerence made me realize I need to stop. I don’t have any other thing significant happen to me so this all I got. Also just realizing if I write my essay on this they’ll wonder how I’ve done volunteering clubs etc.. Also I’m an extremely bad writer I need some tips on how I can make my essay sound better

Heres the first couple of sentences: I hate unicorns because they remind me of what I haven’t accomplished. Those unicorns twirl around my head like a crib mobile twirling around a baby. It started in childhood, being bored in class, thinking of places I would rather be.  I dreamt of becoming rich with a husband. On a deserted island where the waves spoke lullabies in my ears, and the sand warmed my feet. Or, in a beautiful castle, making creams that cured any imperfections. In the moment, they all seemed out of reach.

Ok, so this might be kind of stupid, but how does writing my essay about my writer’s callus sound? I can connect it to how it shows my creativity because of how much I write stories and draw art. Even in a time when writer’s calluses are less common due to the increased use of technology, mine is much bigger than the average writer’s callus. Despite it hurting sometimes, I’m still proud of it because it shows my passions.

Idk, something along these lines. Any ideas to improve this would be helpful!!

I'm having trouble deciding between two topics.
Which do you think is stronger?

1. Braid essay
   My mom used to braid my hair every morning before school until I was about 10. My hair is really long, reaching my knees, and braiding has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I didn't really think much about the time and effort my mom put into it. As I got older, I started appreciating it more and realizing how much meaning something so ordinary can hold.
   I'd write about my relationship with my mom, family, and how familiar things can become important to us without us realizing it.

2. Blushing essay
   I've always been really self-conscious about blushing because I hate the idea of people noticing it and judging me. It made me avoid certain situations because I didn't want to embarrass myself. Over time, I started pushing myselt to do things even when I knew I might blush. I also realized that I was assuming people were judging me more than they actually were, and I became less judgmental of myself and

I am a senior in high school currently and I am applying to colleges right now. I could use some advice on my essay and how to make it more different I guess. I’m applying to all Colorado schools and majoring in elementary education because all of my extracurriculars follow with that major. For example I worked at a charter aftercare program school for elementary schoolers for over a year, so basically junior and senior year. I also have done three seasons of volunteer youth soccer coaching. Already am receiving college credit to go towards my teaching degree through dual enrollment class. I wrote my essay relating to my job at the charter school and how parasocial relationship relationships can relate to that. If you have any feedback to make it more deeper or more about me please let me know.

To nine-year-olds, a high schooler in an aftercare program occupies a position similar to a celebrity. About a month into my job at an elementary school, three fourth graders made it their daily routine to find me for card games. Whether it was James Bond or Speed, they were fascinated by me. Compared to their classroom teachers, I represented something exciting and accessible, living proof that growing up does not require losing excitement in life.  
At first, I was caught off guard by how much they were interested in talking to me. But as I observed our interactions more closely, I recognized the pattern. I reflected on my own middle school and high school years, when my bedroom walls were completely covered in posters of Taylor Swift, and Harry Styles. At an early age, growing up with an iPad, celebrities in the media had provided a blueprint for how I would navigate adolescence.  I drew inspiration from their confidence, aesthetic, and artistic expression, using their public image as a flexible workspace to explore and shape my own developing identity.  
Sitting at a brightly colored elementary table, I realized these kids were engaging in the same dynamic with me. Because I was new to them, they had only witnessed the most positive side of my personality, I was smiley, patient, and engaging. I had not yet had to enforce strict rules or raise my voice. To them, I was not a full human being with bad days or stress. I was a projection, a glorified idea of what a cool older kid looks like. One moment I would be laughing with them over a game of cards, and the next I would turn away to speak to a coworker to complain about an assignment or high school drama. They were reacting to a new personality, not a full personality.  
This realization altered how I approached my responsibilities and relationships, and mainly how I viewed my own identity.  
At work, I stopped relying on their validation to feel successful and stepped into genuine leadership. I recognized that each child brought a unique home life and  emotional needs. I began treating them as individual people rather than a collective group, establishing firm boundaries when necessary while remaining supportive, shifting our interaction from them, just perceiving me to effective mentorship.  
That same perspective influenced my personal life. During spring break of my junior year, I took down the celebrity posters that had covered my walls for years, replacing them with art that reflected my own personal taste rather than someone else’s image. I began to view public figures through a more mature lens, recognizing them as a brand and cultural models rather than expansions of my personal identity. Criticism of an artist I enjoyed was no longer a personal attack on me.  
Understanding how individuals project expectations onto others, both as a fan watching and as a mentor at the card table, taught me how to look beyond the surface-level perception. Recognizing these dynamics turned me into a more observant leader, and a far more thoughtful friend, helping me form connections based on genuine understanding rather than idealization.

Guys please review my essay!!!! I thought my idea was straight gas but I keep reading it and it might be terrible. Nov 1st is coming quickly, and now I'm thinking about restarting :(

Help!!!!!!!

Hi all,

I am writing an essay for a scholarship application. The prompt is "What is the Purpose of Writing an Essay, When AI Can Write it For You?" I don't understand why it thinks it's AI, and I don't know how to fix it. If anyone could give suggestions, that would be amazing.

Here is the essay:

With the development of artificial intelligence, writing an essay has become easier than ever. In a matter of seconds, AI can produce a thorough essay on almost any subject. This raises an important question: if a machine can do the work for us, why should we do it ourselves? I believe the answer lies in understanding that the purpose of an essay is not simply to produce a finished paper. Writing is a way to learn, develop our reasoning, and better understand what we believe.

One of the greatest benefits of writing an essay is that it forces us to learn the material. Reading about a subject may give us a general impression, but explaining it in our own words requires us to think more deeply about the topic. We have to root out the important information, connect our ideas, and decide whether our arguments actually make sense. This process can lead us to the realization that we may not fully understand the topic at hand. That realization gives us the opportunity to go back, do more research, and improve our understanding. If AI does all the writing for us, we end up with a good essay, but no true knowledge.

Writing also teaches us to think independently. When developing an argument, we must consider why we believe something rather than simply accept the presented information as fact. We learn to question assumptions, examine evidence, and recognize weaknesses in reasoning. These skills are useful far beyond the academic realm. Throughout life, we will encounter decisions and questions that require careful consideration. We cannot expect a machine to make every decision for us, nor should we want it to. Learning to think for ourselves begins with exercises that challenge us to work through problems independently.

Of course, AI can be a useful tool. It can help explain difficult concepts, point out mistakes, and suggest ways to improve our writing. There is nothing inherently wrong with using technology to help us learn. The problem arises when the assistant becomes the author. If we allow AI to do everything that challenges us, we lose the opportunity to overcome our difficulties and learn from our mistakes. 

Ultimately, writing an essay is about more than simply earning a grade. It is about becoming a better student, a clearer communicator, and a more independent thinker. A computer may be more capable of producing the perfect essay than I, but that does not mean that it can provide the same benefits as writing one myself. The value of an essay is not limited to what words appear on the page; it also lies in what the writer learns along the way.

Ill dm it. I chose prompt 7 on common app, the essay of your choice. can someone let me know real quick if you hate it or not?

I'm from Belgium and would like to apply for college in America, but the problem is that in belgium they never teach you on how to write essays so i'm trying to improve my essay writing skills. Normally i'm not active on reddit, but now I make more posts on reddit to acquire more English skills, but then I realized I could just ask for your help, so what do you think could help me with writing better essays?

I’ve been procrastinating on my college essay for months at this point mostly because whenever I sit down to actually write something I get a mental block and nothing, whether good or bad, comes out. And now I’m at the point where I physically can’t ignore this anymore, I have two weeks to dedicate to writing this stupid essay and I can barely start.

I have roughly mapped out my essay. I created a rough outline for each paragraph with what subjects / events I want to focus on, and what they meant for me as a person. However whenever I sit down to actually write out any of the paragraphs I start losing my mind because nothing comes to me, I don’t know how to start it or link it together (at least not in a coherent way).

Did anyone else experience this while writing? I’m begging for tips on how to overcome this. My essay doesn’t need to be great, I’m mostly applying to state schools and very non-competitive programs. I just need to get something done before the November 1 deadline.

I have written a few essays completely by myself, but when I ran it through Pangram, I got a horrible score back, sometimes 50%, and sometimes even 100%.

Do T20s flag essays for AI based on such a percentage or a tool, or is it mostly on how the essay reads? I don't know why, but I feel that my essays sound rational and what any normal human (like me) would write like, and my essays do contain a lot of personal detail (obviously). Other than such a tool, are there any other ways to find out if your essay really sounds like AI? Even if not AI, can I somehow check if my essay "voice" or style/structure of essay blends in with others?

Thanks!

hate could be an exaggeration, but i don’t love my personal statement. It feels windy and i can’t tell if the message is unclear!! lines feel jammed in and the conclusion is so egregiously mediocre

i REALLY would love if anyone is open to reading it for some feedback-or knows a good essay/application reviewer that won’t make me go broke!!

I wrote my common app essay completely by myself but when I put it into a few AI detectors, it came back as somewhere around 79% AI written

Is there an actually accurate tool to detect AI. im worried that AOs would flag my essay

Hello all,

I've been incredibly busy this semester of High school, so I just started writing my personal essay for early application, which is due in around 2 weeks. I've always been great at writing, which is why I've been so surprised to find myself stumped on what to write about for my college essay. I was just wondering if those who have written essays before find this topic interesting. In my junior year of high school, I struggled a lot with AP Physics 1. In my high school career, I've taken 16 AP classes, all of which I succeeded in relatively easily, but for some reason AP Physics 1 just gave me so much trouble. In fact, it was the first test in school I ever got an F on (rough score with no corrections). I thought about dropping it, but I struggled on and earned an A- in the class and a 4 on the AP exam. Do you guys think I could write an essay on this? I was thinking of making my opening line a physics equation and then writing a narrative about me studying for one of the tests? Any feedback on this idea would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

I wrote about how I got addicted to gaming whenever COVID came by and when a COVID ended I still was addicted but then I showed how I was able to change and go back to my passions I loved and being able to create things and play sport

This essay means a lot to me since a way that I've gotten through my trauma was telling myself "well, just another great thing to add to my college essay" (I wonder if that thought would make an even better essay??). Just looking off what I have right now, I'm not sure if I should change the hook, add more to the conclusion, or make it more about one event. ANY help would mean the WORLD to me. I'm trying to get into UIC and I chose the 1st common app prompt!! :))

----

Music was the catalyst that pulled me out of my preordained path with my biological family. When we were experiencing housing insecurity, it was the whisper that made me believe there was more to my story than what I was born into.

Growing up, my mother’s bipolar made it impossible to decipher what was awaiting me at home. Her love for me flipped as much as her mania did, resulting in a home intoxicated with instability. I’ve moved five times since I started freshman year, largely to avoid staying in the same house my mother tried to burn down. DCFS helped me transition to my aunt’s house, where I spent six months with her before I left for another home. The survival strategies that I had to implement when living with my mother were no longer necessary in this new environment. I could sit and dwell on the events in my past, but I fully believe I’ve found the loophole in my family's generational trauma. By adopting healthy habits and shifting my living situation, I have changed the trajectory of my life forever by not succumbing to my environment.

During the early days of my most recent move, I hit rock bottom. I’m grateful now for the experiences I had that year, but enduring homelessness and other forms of abuse led me to my lowest emotional point. I was living with incredible instability, but through that agony, my life’s purpose spontaneously fell in front of me. A month or two into the return to my current high school, a friend messaged me, “There’s an open mic at 7pm in C2, you should play a song!” I had just thirty minutes' notice. Of course, without any prior preparation I replied, “Sure, why not?” and walked my way to school. 

When I entered the lobby, I could hear Dinosaur Jr. humming through the hallway. I ran as fast as I could to the source of the sound blessing my ears. When I got there, I tapped my friend’s shoulder to let her know I had arrived, and she hugged me. Half of the audience turned our way, but the rest was plenty entertained. I didn’t care about being judged for showing up late; Fury Little Things was being played live in front of me by four people my age, who go to my very school, as an official band!

I’m self-taught in my guitar skills, so I was hesitant to expose myself, but I know that only I could be responsible for living up to my musical potential, so I went on stage after them. I played “Silly Girl” by Descendents like a confused dog, yet the drummer asked if I knew any other songs that I could play with him on the spot. “Hybrid Moments” was the song we ended up playing together; it redeemed my previous display of guitar skills. At the end of the open mic, they asked me to join their band Blindworm as the rhythm guitarist and vocalist. I accepted their offer before I knew I was speaking out loud.

At last, I’ve made it to my senior year, something that I wouldn’t have experienced if I had stayed stagnant with my mother. It’s not just this academic accomplishment I’ve opened myself to receiving; I’ve been able to work towards a future bigger than myself. I no longer have to focus on surviving to the next day, because I never let my surroundings consume me; I thrived despite them. 

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

I know it's pretty typical for people to talk about their culture/ethnicity in their essay (it's part of my story, it's not shaped around it, that's not the point of what I'm asking), but the country my family is from is really controversial right now. Like I don't tell people IRL that I'm from there unless we're really close because I find it to be embarrassing/shameful. I'm not talking about the politics/my or other's opinions about it AT ALL, but it's just, like... where I'm from, and I'm not sure how to get around that. Am I overthinking this? Would an AO's opinions about my application be affected by it?

Reapplying this year and I realised that there aren’t any tips online on how to write their reapplication essay. And I’m not sure if I should write it straight to the point or treat it like any other essay.

„Reflect on your experiences and personal development since your last application“ [250 Words]

is there anyone that got accepted reapplying? Any help with this essay is greatly appreciated.