A school's application will have either individual questions or prompts (you can choose from 7 prompts on the Common Application) to respond to. Most essays have a word count of 500 to 650 words. Some schools require supplemental essays and they can have word counts of 100 to 250 words or more.

Read the prompts or questions carefully, but how you interpret them is up to you. We recommend writing as much as you can on your subject and then cutting back. It’s always easier to cut back on your writing than to write more.

No subject is inherently a good choice or a bad choice for an essay. Put aside what you think an admission counselor/committee wants to hear and write as well as you can about something you know well, care about and can reflect on.

Ask yourself how have your academic interests (art, music, theatre, math, science, etc.), interests outside of school, leadership, community service or other activates have shaped or influenced you? For each topic think about it and reflect on it for a deeper meaning.

Thousands of students write essays discussing leadership, taking initiative, problem solving, community involvement, etc. but many don’t write about them with any depth of thought. Remember to reflect on the experience.

Ask yourself about the meaning you gained from your experiences and how you have grown from them.

Be careful with humor and clichés: What might seem funny or bitingly ironic to you might not seem that way to someone who doesn’t know you. Don’t allow clichés to speak for you.

But at the same time don’t be afraid to use humor, it always catches a reader’s attention if used in the right way.