What Colleges Want in a College Essay (And What They Don’t)
If you’re applying to college this year, you’ve probably been bombarded by ads from admissions consultants promising to reveal what colleges “want to hear.” Supposedly all you need to do is follow their secret strategies and you’ll unlock the door to your dream school — even if your grades or test scores aren’t perfect. Some consultants tell you to craft a “pointy” profile (a hyper-focused specialty); others claim to know exactly what to say in your application to get into Harvard, Stanford, or Yale.
This kind of advice isn’t just misleading — it’s harmful. No one knows exactly what colleges look for in a college essay, and anyone who claims otherwise is selling a formula that can backfire. Nevertheless, admissions officers are looking for something when they sit down to read your essay. It’s just not what most people think.
The Problem with What Colleges “Want to Hear”
There are a couple of reasons you shouldn’t trust anyone telling you they know what colleges want to hear. The first is obvious: admissions officers are just individuals with their own tastes and values, and you have no idea which admissions officer will be reading your file on a given day. As with any kind of application, an element of luck is involved, and it’s impossible to control the process (as much as you might like to).
But let’s imagine that you did know who was going to read your file, and a college counselor told you (and everyone else attending their seminar) exactly what to say to impress that person. Do you really think the admissions officer would be impressed if they read the same thing in hundreds of application essays? Of course not. They’d rule those applicants out right away.
The fact is, the college essay can’t be hacked. The whole point of writing a personal statement is to stand out from other applicants; if you listen to counselors who tell you what to say, you’ll sound just like all the applicants following their advice.
What Colleges Look for in a College Essay
None of this is to suggest that admissions officers don’t have preferences. When they sit down to read a big stack of application essays, they are looking for something. It’s not another “pointy” essay emphasizing a student’s extreme specialization; it’s not a clichéd statement about overcoming a major challenge; and it’s not a “humble brag” about a dozen related achievements.
It’s a breath of fresh air. It’s an idea or experience or interpretation they haven’t encountered before.
If you’ve ever sat down to grade 100 college papers, you’ll know what I mean. Every time a grader or admissions officer does their job, they’re hoping someone will surprise them — because that’s what makes the process worthwhile.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking: with all the ideas out there, it’s impossible to say something unique that will come as a surprise to the person reading your file. Well, I’m going to prove you wrong.
A Real College Essay
After nearly a decade of helping students with their college essays (and then witnessing the results), I’m convinced there’s one thing that makes college admissions officers sit up and take notice: authenticity.
I don’t mean “authenticity” in the vague, overused sense; I’m saying that when you sit down to write your college essay, you need to describe your real, lived experience, being as specific as possible. The details you think don’t matter are often the ones that bring your story to life — and make it uniquely yours.
Your lived experience overlaps with that of other candidates in all sorts of ways, of course, but no one has lived your life. If you stop and think carefully about the moments that have shaped you, you will uncover experiences that no one else has had.
Then, if you reflect honestly on those experiences and try to uncover how they’ve shaped you, you’ll come up with an interpretation of your experience that no one else could have imagined.
One of my students told me there was nothing interesting about him — until he happened to mention that his desk was obsessively organized, with a place for every object. As he described it, he realized he approached math — his favorite subject — in exactly the same way.
Another student was a champion swimmer, but admitted he was bored most of the time he was in the water — and ended up writing a thoughtful essay on the benefits of boredom.
The problem isn’t that most students don’t have a story to tell. It’s that they don’t think the things they’ve experienced are significant. All they need is for someone to listen to them and take them seriously, and they’ll always come up with a fascinating story to tell.
How to Write a College Essay (Without Making the Usual Mistakes)
The first thing you should do is stop paying attention to anyone who encourages you to be inauthentic. Don’t listen to consultants telling you what colleges “want to hear.” Don’t read college essay examples that stress you out and convince you you’re not good enough. In general, don’t let anyone take the focus away from you.
Instead, take a moment to stop, breathe deeply, and reflect. I know you’ve probably been focused on excelling up to now, and that’s how you got your good grades and impressive extracurriculars. But if you want to do well on the college essay, you have to do the opposite. You need to create space to think.
So instead of opening your laptop and getting started right away, go for a walk. Better still, have a conversation with someone you really trust — a friend, a family member, or a college essay coach — and try to open up about what makes you different from other people.
Be prepared to sit with uncertainty for a while; it’s necessary if you’re going to come up with a good topic. Take all the time you need, and eventually you’ll realize something about yourself that’s true and distinctive.
If you can come up with an authentic idea, the writing will proceed naturally — and you’ll avoid the college essay mistakes that keep most applications from standing out. The admissions officer reading your file won’t mind if your essay contains a grammatical error or two; they’ll be excited and surprised to read a real essay after ploughing through clichéd submissions all day.
Need help choosing a prompt?
Conclusion: Your Story Is Enough
You don’t need to guess what colleges want to hear — and you don’t need a perfect story, either. What you do need is the courage to reflect honestly on your own experience, and the patience to shape that reflection into a thoughtful college essay that genuinely impresses admissions officers. If you can do that, you’ll already be ahead of the crowd. And you’ll avoid the common mistakes that keep so many college essays from making an impression.
If you’d like support figuring out what your story might be, I’d be happy to help.
Ready to write an essay that actually sounds like you?
The best essays don’t follow formulas — they reflect your real, lived experience. If you want help figuring out what to say (and how to say it), I’d love to support you through the process.
More Resources on College Essays
Want to dive deeper into my approach? Below are some of the most-read articles I’ve written on what makes a great college essay — and how to avoid the common traps.
My approach to coaching isn’t gimmicky — it’s thoughtful, honest, and built around helping you sound like yourself (at your best).
Even top students fall into predictable traps. This guide offers five common mistakes and how to avoid them.
Not sure if you need coaching? This article helps you figure out what kind of support (if any) is right for you.
Tips for writing compelling UC PIQ responses that sound like you — not like everyone else applying.
Most high-achieving students approach the college essay the wrong way. Here’s why that strategy backfires — and what to do instead.
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