Avoid This College Essay Mistake

Why Five-Paragraph Essays Don’t Work for Personal Statements

In high school, you’ve been trained to write essays a highly structured way.

• Introduction

• Three body paragraphs

• Conclusion

It works great for English class. But when it comes to your personal essay for college applications that format will hurt you.

It's Easy To Avoid This College Essay Mistake

College application essays aren’t academic arguments. They’re personal stories. But few high school teachers provide guidance on how to write a personal narrative. 

That leaves a lot of students confused. You know that college essays matter. But you have the right tools. So one of the first things I tell my students is that one college essay mistake is easy to avoid. To write a great college essay, you have to forget the five-paragraph format.

The Key Ingredients of a Personal Narrative

A strong college essay blends:

• What you did

• Why you did it

• How you experience the things that matter to you 

That last part — who you are — is what colleges actually care about. In other words, your personal statement isn’t about reciting your résumé or flexing your accomplishments.It’s a story that reveals character, values, and growth.

How To Begin

Start by asking:

• What do I want the reader to understand about me?

• What matters to me?

  
  

The best college essays revolve around a clear message. That message becomes the thread that ties your story together.