Are you looking to write a college application essay that will knock the socks off of admissions officers at your highly selective school of choice? Look no further! We at Ivy Coach are the application essay experts, and the following advice has been helping ambitious high schoolers earn admission to elite universities for decades. So, without further ado, here are ten of the most important things to remember while writing those tricky application essays:

Tips for Writing Great College Admissions Essays

1. Your singular admissions hook is your golden ticket.

Before your pen hits paper, you should strategically craft a singular admissions hook to guide your writing. Your hook should be about how you want to change the world through your unique cause, artistry, or intellectual passion. These days, Yale and Harvard are populated by experts and specialists, not the dreaded well-rounded applicant. After brainstorming your hook (with the help of one of Ivy Coach’s former elite college admissions officers, of course!), you’re ready to start writing.

2. Don’t boast or brag. You have to win admissions officers over to your team!

No one wants to root for the applicant who is full of themselves. Let your extracurricular section do all the talking. Instead, focus your Personal Statement and supplemental essays on the heartfelt personal journey that has gotten you where you are today.

3. Be careful not to show your socioeconomic status if your family is wealthy.

Admissions officers want to root for the underdog who has succeeded academically and personally despite adversity, not the student with access to many exclusive opportunities. Conveying your privilege makes you seem less diverse and less admissible!

4. Show, don’t tell!

This tip will serve you well as you enter the college of your dreams. Admissions officers and faculty alike hate to read essays that tell rather than show. Did you accomplish something you are incredibly proud of? Excellent! Write about how this experience has transformed you as a learner and person. Don’t simply state that it happened.

5. Avoid “third rail” essay topics.

Service work, illnesses, grandparents, music, sports, and travel. What do these things have in common? They are all cliche topics that admissions officers are sick of reading about. You may think you have something unique to say and ignore this advice, but believe us — you don’t! A highly personal topic that tells the story behind your singular admissions hook is always preferable to one of these done-to-death subjects.

6. Research, research, research!

If you find yourself copying and pasting sentences from an essay used for one application to another, you’ve already given admissions officers reasons to doubt your honesty. This one is especially true of those Why Colleg essays that call for institutional specifics. Don’t be afraid to hop on your dream school’s website, student newspaper archives, and so many other resources at your disposal to get a feel for its unique culture, history, and traditions. We promise that your sentence about “walking along the beautiful green lawn” with the “latte from the campus cafe” isn’t going far enough.

7. Colleges are not looking for hard workers

Don’t write about how hard you’ve worked to achieve the grades you’ve gotten or the accomplishments you’ve carried out. All you’re doing is indicating that you must work harder than your peers to achieve the same things. Admissions officers want to admit students who do what they do with ease. Let your stellar grades do the talking and focus on that singular hook!

8. Be positive, funny, and collaborative.

No one likes a Debbie Downer (although SNL’s Rachel Dratch, who played Debbie Downer, did go to Dartmouth College!), least of all elite college admissions officers. Spice up your writing with an upbeat tone that is not scared to crack jokes and take an optimistic stance towards life. You’ll have to play nice once you’re on campus, so don’t come across as the misunderstood loner.

9. Rely on trusted admissions experts, but not AI.

No one should write their essays in isolation. Turning to trusted admissions experts and services like Grammarly to editorialize your work ensures that you have communicated your ideas as successfully as possible. On the other hand, don’t you dare open that ChatGPT tab! Colleges will know if you’ve phoned it in with AI. It’s not worth it. There are AI detection services out there! And anyway, surely you can do a better job than a computer!

10. Put your faith into Ivy Coach to help optimize your essays!

Ivy Coach has been helping students pen the most competitive application essays possible for decades. Our team of former elite college admissions officers knows what places like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford are looking for, and our track record shows it!

If you would like to optimize your child’s odds of admission to a highly selective college, fill out our complimentary consultation form and we’ll be in touch.