Just about every college application will include an essay. Whether it’s the Common Application Personal Statement or university-specific prompts, personal narrative writing is a key piece of a student’s application. It’s also the only piece that lets the student display who they are at this moment in their life, and lets them reflect on their high school journeys with their own creative process.
2024-2025 Common Application Personal Statement Prompts:
Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
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?
Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.
Personal narrative writing is an individual’s first-person story that ideally shows some kind of value or growth through their perspective of one or more events, and it’s quite different from the kind of essays most students write in school. We are finding that when some students begin the process of writing their personal statements and other essays for college applications, many of the personal narrative devices are foreign to them. What’s really key about college essay writing is showing who you are and what values you will bring to a college, and this perfectly aligns with the personal narrative style of writing. It’s about highlighting your college-ready values (responsibility, creativity, compassion, or teamwork, for example) and presenting an accurate representation of yourself on the page.
While it shouldn’t be full of slang or grammatical errors, your college essays should be written in your ‘voice,’ and can even use specific dialogue in some situations. It’s a creative endeavor, and the colleges are looking for a bit of your style along with your values, so don’t be afraid to add in your personality! Because our college essay specialist Brayden Sunseri recommends writing and revising through multiple drafts, when you’re starting out he suggests including all the sensory details you remember, adding in your side embellishments and comments, and dropping in the clever remark. You can always go back and cut things out later if you decide they don’t work.
Another core piece of any personal narrative writing, but particularly the college essay, is to ask yourself, what story are you telling? It’s important that it’s personal, as the name would imply, but also that it had an effect on you in some way, maybe moved you emotionally, or shifted your perspective on something. This makes it much easier to generate those same emotional notes for your reader. Brayden says, “I find the key to finding the right topic is to highlight some kind of growth, or something the writer cares about. Because the goal is to show your authentic self, being passionate about a subject is plenty good reason to write about it. Just about any topic works when framed in a way that shows growth, and shows your college-ready values.”
Many colleges give supplemental essays with specific prompts, often open-ended questions, or questions about their college, and it’s important to answer the prompt clearly and completely—don’t try to cram in another essay or story if the prompt is asking a different question. These questions will still be personal narrative writing, so all the same tips and guidelines apply: use your creative writing devices (see tips below) and show off your personality and values, and you’ll be well on your way to a strong college essay.
3 Ways to Bring Personality to Your Personal Statement:
Dialogue
Just about every story you read has dialogue, and the college essay should be no exception. It's a great way to show you're in the middle of your story, provide a bit of structure, and dialogue can break up and guide your reader through different moments or sections. “Your dad got that new job and we’re moving,” my mom said gently. I was shocked. “Are you serious? I just made the team!”
Imagery
Humor
Yorumlar