College-Entrance Essay

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Editing and Submitting College-Entrance Essays

Editing College-Entrance Essays

If you were interviewing with a college-entrance officer, you wouldn't want your clothes to be rumpled and stained, your hair to be standing on end, and a bit of something to be hanging between your teeth. No, you'd use a mirror, a brush, a toothbrush, an iron—whatever it takes to make a good impression. In the same way, you want your college-entrance essay to be free of distracting and embarrassing errors before you submit it. These activities will help.

Editing to Fix Sentence Shifts

For the most part, you should stick to a specific tense (past or present) and a specific person (first or third) in your essay. Unnecessary shifts can be distracting or even confusing:

Shifting Tense and Person

Now, I had a choice. I can quit and rappel to the rocks below or keep climbing and reach the top. My friend Big Jake, who'd caught me in my trust fall on Day One, is at the bottom of the cliff as my anchor. Karl and Josiah were climbing next to me. Counselor Jones waits at the summit. The climber looked for handholds and footholds in stone, pauses to set a carabiner and thread a safety line, grabs a shoulder of rock, and pulls himself higher. Then I squeezed the brake and sat in the harness, trusting Big Jake with my weight while Karl and Josiah rose beside me. The three climbers nod. No reason to talk. All of them had plenty of work ahead. With muscle and grit and courage, we head to the top.

Consistent Tense and Person

Now, I had a choice. I could quit and rappel to the rocks below, or I could keep climbing and reach the top. My friend Big Jake, who'd caught me in my trust fall on Day One, was at the bottom of the cliff as my anchor. Karl and Josiah were climbing next to me. Counselor Jones waited at the summit. I looked for handholds and footholds in stone, paused to set a carabiner and thread a safety line, grabbed a shoulder of rock, and pulled myself higher. Then I squeezed the brake and sat in the harness, trusting Big Jake with my weight while Karl and Josiah rose beside me. We nodded. No reason to talk. All of us had plenty of work ahead. With muscle and grit and courage, we would get to the top.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Revising College-Entrance Essays

Of course, online college applications provide a space for you to write your response to the prompt, so it's tempting to draft an essay and hit "submit." But this essay is really important, impacting your future. You definitely want to take your time revising, making the work as strong as possible. Your essay is your first impression with the school. Make it a good one. These revision strategies can help.

Revising to Target the Prompt

First, you need to make sure you have answered the prompt. A brilliant essay that talks about rock climbing will not score well when the prompt asked for a definition of leadership. You can use your PAST analysis of the prompt to check your response. Turn each answer into a question, and use them to analyze your response.

Write an essay that introduces us to who you are. Tell us about a particular life experience, talent, commitment, or interest you have. Explain how your presence will enrich life on campus.

Purpose: Why am I writing? (Do I introduce myself and tell how I will enrich life on campus?)
Audience: Who will read my writing? (Do I address admissions officers, providing the information they need to know about me?)
Subject: What am I writing about? (Do I focus on a particular life experience, talent, commitment, or interest I have?)
Type: What form should my writing take? (Do I compose my answer as an essay?)

Target your response.

Review your PAST analysis of the prompt, turning your answers into questions. Then use these new questions to check your response, making sure it is on target. Revise as needed.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Writing a College-Entrance Essay

You've done a lot of reflecting on who you are and who you want to be in the future. You've researched a few schools that can help you achieve that future and have gathered details about your qualifications. It's time to start the application process. Remember that last word: process. You probably won't be able to complete everything all at once. Online applications allow you to log in, save work, and return as you get the pieces pulled together. Fill out what you can, supply your transcripts, and arrange for whatever fees you might have.

Most importantly, take some time analyzing the college-entrance prompt and writing your response. Do your work in a separate document and go through revisions and edits before pasting everything back into the application. The following activities will support you as you draft your response.

Writing to Analyze the Prompt

Before you can write a college-entrance essay, you need to understand what the college wants you to write about and why. Carefully read and analyze the prompt by asking the PAST questions about it:

Write an essay that introduces us to who you are. Tell us about a particular life experience, talent, commitment, or interest you have. Explain how your presence will enrich life on campus.

Purpose: Why am I writing? (to introduce myself, telling how I will enrich life on campus)
Audience: Who will read my writing? (admissions officers)
Subject: What am I writing about? (a particular life experience, talent, commitment, or interest I have)
Type: What form should my writing take? (an essay)

Analyze the college-entrance prompt.

Copy the college-entrance prompt. Then write answers to each of the PAST questions.

College-entrance prompt:

Purpose: Why am I writing?
Audience: Who will read my writing?
Subject: What am I writing about?
Type: What form should my writing take?

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Prewriting for College-Entrance Essays

Thinking about your next step after high school can be overwhelming. You may suffer "paralysis by analysis"—too many options and too little direction. You can find some direction by thinking about yourself—strengths, experiences, hopes, and dreams.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Reading a College-Entrance Essay

Before you try your hand at writing a college-entrance essay, you should review a sample writing prompt and the essay that one student wrote in response. Note how the student uses the PAST strategy to analyze the prompt and develop an on-target response.

Reading a Student Model

Read the following prompt and the student's PAST analysis.

College-Entrance Writing Prompt

Our school motto is "Preparing the students of today to be the leaders of tomorrow." Leaders come in many forms, large and small. Write an essay that tells what leadership means to you and describes how you have shown leadership in your school and community. Provide specific examples and write about how you will show leadership when you join our campus community.

By Anonymous (not verified), 12 March, 2026

Warm-Up for College-Entrance Writing

Heading from high school to an even higher education can be a daunting prospect. You'll go from being the oldest and most experienced student to the youngest and least experienced. You'll also need to find the right school to help you achieve your goals. Finding that school—and making sure that school finds you—is a process.

One key part of the process is the college application. You'll provide all kinds of information about yourself, including your high school transcripts, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, and intended field of study. On most applications, you'll be asked to write one or more essays focusing on some aspect of your life or education and how it relates to your goals. Providing an on-target response begins with understanding the college-entrance prompt.

What Is a College-Entrance Prompt?

Listen to "What Is a College Entrance Writing Prompt?"

Your browser does not support the audio tag.

Hide audio

A college-entrance prompt is a brief set of instructions telling you what to write about on a college application. To analyze a prompt, you can use the PAST questions:

Purpose: Why am I writing? (to explain, to define, to narrate, to show?)
Audience: Who will read this? (admissions officers, fellow freshmen, college community?)
Subject: What am I writing about? (leadership, community service, education, vision?)
Type: What form should my writing take? (personal essay, biographical essay, reflection?)

In this unit, you'll learn to use the PAST mnemonic to analyze any college-entrance prompt or any other writing assignment you receive. First, though, you should warm up your thinking by reflecting on your goals after high school.

Thinking About the Past and Future

Before you start applying to schools, you should think about your past and future. A reflection chart can help you track how you are changing over time.

College-Entrance Essay