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By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., 5 ways college application essays and high school essays are different.

Are you a high school junior? Your college application is probably your first experience writing a personal statement. From purpose to audience, here’s a quick run-down of how college essays are different than the essays you write for English class. 

High School Essay vs College Essay

1. understand purpose.

A high school essay generally demonstrates to your teacher what you know. An application essay should demonstrate who you are. Colleges want to find out what you're passionate about, and what you would add to the campus community.

2. Know your Audience

When your English teacher grades your essays, she puts them into the context of every interaction she’s ever had with you. Your personal statement is your one chance to speak directly to the admissions committee and demonstrate who you are beyond grades and test scores . Help colleges learn something about you that they cannot discover when reading the rest of your application. (Tip: Don’t treat your essay like a resume !)

Read More: Get Expert Essay Advice From Former Admissions Officers!

3. Show, Don't Summarize

College essay topics are often open-ended. (“Recount a time when you experienced failure.“) But at heart, all college essays are asking you to demonstrate the same things: your ability to reflect and think critically. Summaries are fine for book reports, but when writing your college essay take the opportunity to really examine how an experience taught you something you didn't previously know about yourself, got you out of your comfort zone, or forced you to grow.

4. Authenticity is Key

On a high school essay, it's generally not appropriate to use the first-person. Not only is it fine to make “I” statements in your application essays, but colleges expect your essays to sound like you, too!  Always be yourself in your application, not the candidate you think admissions committees want to see.

5. Originality Counts

When your teacher asks you to analyze the causes of the Civil War, he is going to receive a lot of essays that sound basically the same. But your college essay should be unique and individual to you. College admissions officers tell us that they see many essays about eye-opening travel experiences, the death of a loved one, or “The Big Game.” You can still write about these experiences, but the trick is in the details. No one sees the world quite the way you do, so let your personality shine through.

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Making the Transition from High School to College Essay Writing

In the month before my high school graduation, everything suddenly turned slow. Hallways, filled with Virginia humidity, had a molasses quality to them. I wrote my last high school paper then: an essay on Shakespeare’s Hamlet . In it, I wrote about Hamlet’s idealism and his relationship with his father postmortem; essentially, I made sweeping generalizations and focused on overarching themes. The essay was nothing like my college papers.

In high school, I started my essay process by researching scholarly articles on sites like JSTOR or the MLA International Bibliography . I’d read scholars’ takes on what I was writing about at the time— Hamlet , Wuthering Heights , Emily Dickinson’s poems—and begin to craft an idea, which would then translate into a thesis. To support my argument, I’d include paragraphs from my primary texts. Instead of analyzing the texts myself, I’d quote the analyses of the secondary sources. At the end, I’d gather my citations in a works-cited list, staple the paper together, and turn it in.

In college, my well-oiled routine changed; my papers now consist largely of my own ideas and analysis. I still engage with secondary sources and include works-cited lists and other kinds of bibliographies in my essays. After all, in higher education, where you’re surrounded by academics—who make a living from their original thoughts—crediting sources becomes even more important. But for me, entering the hallowed halls of university meant writing essays in a new way. College is a land of academic freedom. Free from testing standards and unoriginal, rigid curricula, I enrolled in English classes like American Horror and James Joyce’s Ulysses. In these classes, I relearned how to write a research paper. 

My process begins while I’m reading a text for class, weeks before my professor even mentions an essay assignment. I like to annotate the text, underlining passages, jotting down possible essay ideas, categorizing paragraphs thematically, and so on. (I can never sell any of my books secondhand because they’re all crammed with marginalia.) Once the assignment has been introduced, I quickly pull together a few topic ideas and schedule a meeting during office hours to discuss them with my professor. Office hours are an underrated resource: most professors sit and wait in their office during these hours, so why not fill that time with discourse on the latest book you’ve been reading or possible essay topics? At the least, you get a stimulating intellectual conversation, and at the most, you’ll be able to easily ask that professor for a recommendation letter when the time comes.

After I’ve ironed out my topic, I begin by skimming through the text again (yes, the whole text) and picking out small passages to quote. My extensive marginalia now come into play, leading me to the snippets I want to analyze. As an English major, I primarily focus on textual analysis—meaning that I examine words and punctuation in depth, with the help of the Oxford English Dictionary , to connect them to broader themes. Just as in high school, I use peer-reviewed journals from online databases in my papers, but now I avoid relying on them heavily.

So, for example, for my paper in my James Joyce’s Ulysses class, I analyzed quotations from the “Circe” chapter to argue that Joyce was subversively promoting orientalist ideas. Each paragraph focused on a sentence where words and images had secondary meanings linked with orientalist theory. To reinforce my thesis, I tied in works like Edward Said’s Orientalism and Brad Bannon’s article “Joyce, Coleridge, and the Eastern Aesthetic,” from the James Joyce Quarterly . In my papers, I view my secondary sources as a medium that allows me to converse with their authors. So while I agreed with Said’s theory, I also addressed scholars who countered his argument. Likewise, I disagreed with Bannon’s thesis that Joyce was justified in his use of the orientalist aesthetic and laid out my reasons.

This method doesn’t solely apply to papers about literary texts. My final paper for my American Horror class focused on the characters Wendy and Jack in Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining. I used textual analysis to argue that Wendy embodies male, patriarchal characteristics, threatening Jack’s place as the head of the family, thus sending Jack into madness. In film studies, textual analysis involves examining dialogue, costumes, or scenery in vivid detail. For my analysis of the film, I wove in quotations from other sources, such as Barbara Creed’s essay “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection” and Frank Manchel’s piece “What about Jack? Another Perspective on Family Relationships in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining .” Unlike the secondary-source quotations in my high school papers, these quotations did not replace my conclusions but added to them.

But some things don’t change. As in high school, when I finished writing, I gathered my sources in a works-cited list, stapled the paper together, and turned it in.

Works Cited

Bannon, Brad. “Joyce, Coleridge, and the Eastern Aesthetic.” James Joyce Quarterly , vol. 48, no. 3, 2011, pp. 495–510. JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/ 23342956.

Creed, Barbara. “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection.” Screen , vol. 27, no. 1, 1 Jan. 1986, pp. 44–71. doi:10.1093/ screen/27.1.44.

Joyce, James. Ulysses . Random House, 1961.

Kubrick, Stanley, director. The Shining . Warner Bros., 1980.

Manchel, Frank. “What about Jack? Another Perspective on Family Relationships in Stanley  Kubrick’s The Shining .” Literature / Film Quarterly , vol. 23, no. 1, 1995, pp. 68–78. JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/43798713.

Said, Edward W. Orientalism . 25th anniversary ed., Vintage Books, 2003.

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark . New Folger’s ed., Washington Square Press / Pocket Books, 1992.

Steve Colburn 04 October 2018 AT 05:10 PM

Thank you to Alice Yang for a very engaging essay. Does that ever take me back to the transition from High School to college, from underclasswork to upperclasswork, from undergrad work to grad school. It also took me back to my years spent teaching composition, literary analysis, and creative writing workshops. Well done!

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How Different Are College and High School? (Hint: Very)

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Can college really be that different from high school?

I mean, there are classes, textbooks, extracurricular activities, and other students. It sounds a lot like high school to me.

These were the thoughts that ran through my head in the weeks leading up to my departure from my hometown of St. Louis, MO, for Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. I didn’t know a soul at my future school, nor did I have an older sibling to tell me what to expect in college. So, when August rolled around, I pulled up to campus with lots of boxes and no idea what to expect.

Fast forward four years: I survived college, graduated with honors, and landed a job. Now, I want to pay it forward to the next generation of college students (you) with this primer on the differences between high school and college. Maybe you don’t have anybody to bounce ideas off of. Or maybe you’re just looking for a fresh perspective. Either way, this is for you.

I divided this article into two main sections: academics and lifestyle. Each section contains five important differences between high school and college. By the end, you’ll be prepared for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

High School vs. College: Academic Differences

Nobody said college would be easy, but knowing what to expect during your first semester of classes will give you an edge over the students going in without a clue . Here are five major academic differences to expect when you make the transition from high school to college.

1. Time Spent in Class

Your high school class schedule is probably comparable to a full-time job: you’re in the building for about seven hours each day. In college, however, you can expect to spend half that time in class. As a full-time college student, you’ll only spend three or four hours each day in class, which comes out to about 15-20 hours per week.

This might seem like a vacation at first, but there’s a catch: your professors will cram as much material as they can into each class (which can range from 50 minutes to three hours). What’s more, those time gaps will force you to manage your time effectively. You might think you have all the time in the world, but deadlines in college creep up quickly.

2. Workload

I’ll be the first one to admit that I skated by in high school without doing a ton of work. I could squeak out decent grades by skimming books and cramming material the morning of a test. If an assignment was due on a Wednesday, I’d have no problem knocking it out on a Tuesday night.

That all changed in college.

I quickly learned that 15 hours of class time each week doesn’t mean 15 hours of work. You’ll spend a fraction of the time in a physical classroom in college compared to high school. But that extra time takes the form of homework, essays, research, and group projects.

The good thing about college is that you’ll receive a syllabus outlining each assignment and test for the entire semester. So while the workload increases exponentially, you also have plenty of time to prepare yourself.

3. Textbooks

In high school, your textbooks are provided to you at little to no cost. The only decision you have to make is whether you’ll read them or not.

College, on the other hand, is the Wild West of textbooks. Your professor will tell you which books you’ll need, and then it’s up to you how you get them (unless they require you to buy one of those horrible books with a digital access code, forcing you to buy it new).

Let’s be real: textbook publishers don’t care what you learn—they want to make money off book sales. That being said, there’s a variety of ways to outsmart the industry, saving you hundreds or even thousands of dollars over the course of your time in college.

Luckily for you, we have an entire article dedicated to textbook hunting: The Ultimate Guide to Finding Cheap Textbooks .

4. Opportunities to Boost Your Grade

One of the worst feelings in college is having to knock on your professor’s door during the last week of the semester to ask for extra credit. Maybe you’re 0.2% away from an A or even 0.2% away from passing the class. Either way, the best way to avoid this dilemma is to get ahead of your GPA as early as possible in the semester.

In high school, there are many opportunities to keep your grade afloat: daily homework assignments, weekly quizzes, extra credit, test revisions, maybe even credit just for showing up to class.

Unfortunately, most of these opportunities don’t exist in college.

I took several classes where I could count the entire semester’s assignments on one hand. I even had a philosophy class where the only grades were a midterm and a final exam. At first, this was a relief: no homework! The catch was, of course, I only had two chances to earn a good grade.

I knew plenty of students who didn’t realize this, and they were the ones knocking on the professor’s door around finals time. There’s no easy solution to this other than showing up every day, taking notes , and studying effectively.

Struggling to choose a college? This guide will help you out .

High School vs. College: Lifestyle Differences

You’ll spend the vast majority of your time in college outside the classroom. Accordingly, here are five important lifestyle changes to be prepared for when you make the transition from high school to college.

1. Dorm Life

As an only child, I was hesitant to live with three guys I’d never met in my entire life. But as I look back on my four years, I can’t help but notice how dorm life was one of the most fun and transformative parts of my college experience.

Of all the differences between high school and college, living in a dorm is definitely the most drastic—but it’s a change for the better.

Much like you’ll learn all sorts of challenging material in the classroom, living among your peers in close quarters helps you learn the art of social intelligence (which is arguably more important for long-term success than academics).

You may have heard horror stories about unbearable roommates or less-than-sanitary communal bathrooms. There is no foolproof way to prevent these issues. But if you do end up having to deal with them, keep this in mind: it’s all a learning experience .

Dorm life will teach you all sorts of things you didn’t know about yourself, such as your organizational preferences and how well you deal with domestic conflicts. It’s like a practice round for the real world. This might sound stressful, but after a few weeks, you’ll be settled in. All you need to do is enjoy the ride.

Just don’t set the fire alarm off. Especially not at 2 am on a Sunday. People hate that.

For more advice about how to live in the dorms, check out our guide to living on your own .

2. Social Life

Think of making friends in college like an athlete making the transition to the pros: people can talk all day about what the athlete accomplished before the pros, but all that matters is what happens on gameday. Similarly, college is an opportunity to create the social life you want. It doesn’t matter who you were in high school — in college, everyone starts from scratch.

The friends you make in college will be some of your best friends for life. I cringed while I typed that because it’s so cliche, but it’s 100 percent true. I don’t believe in formulas for making friends, but I do have one piece of advice to help you navigate the social scene:

First, establish your core group of friends: those three or four people that you can count on to have your back no matter what. Once you do this, start forming friendships with people from as many other social groups as possible: athletes, computer scientists, and everyone in between.

These friendships don’t need to be as deep as your core friendships — it’s simply the exposure to different types of people that will make you more well-rounded than the students who confine themselves to social bubbles.

I ran track during my first two years at Xavier (until I stepped away due to injuries ) and found my core friends on the team. But I also made friends with writers, partiers, and athletes on other teams. Not only did this enrich my social experience, but it  also broadened my worldview.

Side note: don’t forget about your high school friends — be grateful for them and nurture the connections worth keeping. But don’t let your ties to them limit your opportunities in college.

3. Time Management

Time management in college is a catch-22: you’ll have more independence than you’ve ever had, but you’ll also need to shoulder more responsibilities than you did in high school.

Right now, there’s a good chance your daily schedule is largely decided by your parents, coaches, or teachers. In college, however, all of that control shifts over to you. That includes scheduling classes, meals, workouts , grocery shopping, and even your sleep schedule .

To make this transition easy, create a simple weekly calendar that outlines all of your to-dos. This way, you’ll be in control of your time instead of having to react to all of your tasks on an hour-to-hour basis.

4. Money, Money, Money

Being broke is one of the most common stereotypes associated with college students, but I’m here to tell you: it doesn’t have to be that way .

The most reliable job I had in college was working as a valet at a local hotel: part-time hours, tips, and the opportunity to meet plenty of fascinating people. Did it require a couple 5 a.m. wake up calls? Sure, but sacrificing a few hours of sleep always beats having to borrow money from friends or family.

One of the most exciting parts about transitioning from high school to college is that your opportunities to earn money expand significantly. In fact, we created this guide that outlines more than 100 ways to make money in college .

Unless you have an endless stream of money coming into your bank account, you need that resource.

You may have heard about the freshman fifteen: those extra pounds that students pack on during their first couple semesters in college. While some students think this is unavoidable, it’s really more of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Students will hear stories about how difficult or expensive it is to stay on top of their diet and exercise. Next thing they know, they accept that gaining weight is just part of their transition into college.

I beg to differ.

Getting fit in college may require a different approach than you’re taking in high school, but that’s certainly not an excuse to throw in the towel on your health (which is equally, if not more, important than your studies.)

In terms of exercise, club sports, intramurals, or group exercise classes are effective substitutes for the ways you stayed active in high school. They’re also a surefire way to meet new people.

As far as diet goes, you’re not limited to pizza delivery or cafeteria food. In fact, making your own healthy meals is almost always cheaper than a university meal plan or eating out. For more on that, check out this guide to affording healthy food in college .

Knowing Is Half the Battle

As you can see, there’s no shortage of differences between high school and college. But understanding what’s on the horizon will give you the perspective you need to prepare and put yourself in a position to succeed. Sure, you’ll face challenges — but that’s all part of the process.

Soon enough, you’ll be sharing your own experiences with soon-to-be college students.

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — College Life — Comparing High School and College: Similarities and Differences

Comparing High School and College: Similarities and Differences

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Published: Feb 12, 2024

Words: 591 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, similarities, differences, works cited.

• Cass, David. Successfully Transitioning from High School to College Academics. New York: Uvize Inc, 2011. Print.
• Shulman, James, and William Bowen. The Game of Life: College Sports and Education Values. New York: Princeton University Press, 2002. Print.
• Ricchini, John, and Terry Arndt. Life During College: Your Guide to Success. New York: Life After Graduation, 2005. Print.
• Lawn, Duncan. The Unofficial High School Freshman's Handbook to Success. New York: Lulu.com, 2014. Print.

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Junior and senior essays.

The senior essay is often the longest and most complex paper a student will write during a Yale career. While the Writing Center supports all student writers, we’re especially eager to help as you plan, develop, and revise your senior essay.

The expectations for a good essay vary by department, because different fields have different standards for evidence, analysis, and argument. Below we offer some general good advice for developing a senior essay, followed by a list of some of the additional resources available to help you complete your essay.

Tip #1: Write about something you’re curious about or don’t quite understand. Although this advice applies to any writing project, it’s especially crucial for a long essay. If you don’t begin with something you’re curious about - something you really care about figuring out - you’ll have trouble sustaining interest in your essay, either for yourself or for your readers. Papers you’ve written for coursework can be a great source for topics, if there are issues that were just starting to excite you when it was time to turn in the initial paper. Think, too, about unanswered questions you’ve had from the courses in your major; your senior essay can be an opportunity to explore more deeply an issue that you feel has been neglected. Most advisors will want to begin discussions of your topic as far in advance as possible. If yours hasn’t initiated that conversation, take the first step and set up an appointment today.

Tip #2: Use writing to help shape your research - not just to record your results. The most productive change most students need to make in working on their essay is to begin writing sooner. We don’t mean by this just avoiding procrastination. Even if you begin researching and meeting with your advisor early in the year, you may still be tempted to delay writing until you have a strong sense of your direction, or even an outline. But research shows that taking time to write all throughout the process will help you develop a richer, more complex thesis. Here are some occasions to write that you may not have thought of on your own:

Write about your ideas as a way to find and explore your initial topic.

Don’t just underline and take notes on our early research; take ten minutes to write at the beginning and end of each research session about what you’ve learned and the new questions you’ve discovered.

Write before and after meeting with your advisor. Even if you have a draft or chapter to show, take an extra ten minutes to write about your sense of the project - where it’s going well and where you need help.

It’s possible that you won’t incorporate this writing directly into your final essay, but doing it will help you reflect more effectively on the progress of your research, which will lead to fuller and more satisfying results.

Tip #3: Develop a bigger network of readers. Ideally, you will have the opportunity to meet with your advisor several times in both terms while working on your essay. This is the person who can help you the most with questions of general direction, with focusing on the most productive parts of your topic, and with finding the most relevant research sources. But most professional writers get feedback from several readers before publication, and so should you. One obvious source for additional readers is the Writing Center, which offers several different kinds of tutoring. But showing your work to friends, roommates, and classmates can also be immensely helpful. If you haven’t shared your work with other writers before, let us give you some advice about how to make these opportunities productive: don’t expect student readers to offer solutions. Instead, get your readers to raise questions that you can talk and think through more deeply. Or ask them just to say what they understand and where they get stuck, then use your own judgment about whether your advisor will have the same kinds of questions. Until you’ve tried it, you have no idea how valuable it is just to show your work in progress to someone. Even before they say anything back, the meeting will allow you to think about your own writing differently. If they also give you helpful advice, well that’s just a bonus.

Departmental Guidelines Many departments publish guidelines for senior essay writers. We’ve compiled a few of these below. If your department is not listed, ask your DUS if any guidelines exist. The Writing Center Director, Alfred Guy, is available to help departments create and post advice for their senior essay writers.

History Senior Essay

Residential College Writing Tutors Every residential college has a dedicated writing tutor, and they have experience with senior essays from a wide range of departments. Students who work with a tutor write better essays, and the sooner you start, the better. Go to the tutoring section of this Web site and contact your tutor today.

Workshops for Senior Essay Writers Many departments offer a senior essay colloquium—the Writing Center directors are available to lead discussions about any topic related to developing your essay, including: setting a timetable, soliciting and using feedback, and structuring a long essay. In the past few years, we’ve worked with colloquia in American Studies, Sociology, and African Studies, and we’d love to meet with your group. Ask the coordinator of your colloquium to contact us to arrange a meeting.

Other Yale Resources

The Mellon Seminars

Each residential college organizes a Mellon seminar for senior essay writers. During these seminars, you’ll have the chance to talk about your work in progress with other seniors. Check with the Master’s office in your college for more details.

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What every high school senior needs to know when writing their college essays.

As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the United States, educators have had to adapt as quickly and swiftly as possible. Schools have moved instruction online, extracurriculars have been paused, and standardized tests have been postponed and canceled. Many students are using their time at home and their coming summer vacation to get ahead of the game, and for rising seniors, this means starting on their college essays!

The college essay is a unique and challenging genre. Personal statements submitted via the Common App provide the best opportunity to show yourself as more than a collection of activities and data. However, it is no small feat to effectively convey the best of what you have to offer, in just 650 words, while at the same time using this essay with the rest of your application to create an effective narrative.

The Common App essay deserves careful thought and planning, especially considering that a great essay for one student may be totally ineffective for another. That being said, here are a few pointers to get you started on writing an outstanding Common App essay:

• Plan ahead . We recommend that students start working on their college essays around June before the start of senior year. Great essays take time and effort to produce.
• Brainstorm. It’s OK to not be positive of your college essay topic at the beginning. Brainstorm multiple ideas and talk them over with peers, family members, mentors and professors. Reflect on the feedback to choose your perfect topic. 
• The main goal of your essay should be to SHOW the admissions team about yourself, not TELL them. A good Common App essay gives authentic insight into who you are and how you think. It is not a resume in essay form.
• Tell a story . Essays with a narrative flow tend to read stronger. Set up tension or conflict in the opening paragraph of the essay that is eventually resolved, in one way or another, by the end. 
• Avoid overdone topics like sports competitions, music, or anything along the line of “I once failed, but after hard work, I finally succeeded.” Strong candidates show their maturity and humility. A storyline like “I faced this challenge and learned a lot” is much more compelling. Avoid cliches as much as possible! Believe us, college admissions officers have read them before. 
• Above all, a good essay shows deep insight into yourself and the world around you. This is the most difficult, but also the most important quality of an outstanding essay.

For students that need additional help with their college essays, students and parents are encouraged to reach out to Crimson Education to further discuss the application/essay process and create a plan of action. For those interested, you may schedule a time with a Crimson Advisor here ! In the meantime, students and parents alike are encouraged to utilize our guide on How to Crush Your College Applications ! For a list of upcoming webinars that will offer insight on the everchanging education climate, visit our Events & Webinars calendar . 

In partnership with Mile High Mamas.

Author: Mile High Mamas

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Senior Year: High School vs. College

Gelyna Price

Head of programs and lead admissions expert, table of contents, high school senior year: a tale of two semesters, college senior year: grad school-bound students  , senior year: the joy of learning, second semester: the comparison game.

•  Leaving the Nest and Taking Flight

Stay up-to-date on the latest research and college admissions trends with our blog team.

The second semester of your senior year in high school has a lot in common with your senior year in college.  The first semester of your senior year of high school, however, is really its own ball of wax. This article examines the commonalities and differences, and how to approach each. 

First semester of senior year is the most intense part of all of high school for one reason:  it’s the last semester of high school that colleges can evaluate as part of their application process. 

Academically, that first semester of senior year may feel a whole lot like your junior year in terms of the pressure to get good grades and take A.P. courses.  In terms of your extracurriculars, you might also have greater responsibilities as you rise to a position of leadership (team captain, editor-in-chief, band leader, etc.).

But it’s the looming pressure of college applications that really ratchets up the heat.  You have all sorts of moving pieces to manage:  researching and visiting schools (which is a good reason to do these before senior year), standardized tests and score reports, interviews, letters of recommendation, essays, early and regular decision deadlines, etc., etc.  Your parents may be pushing you, and every adult in your life is going to start asking you The Question: 

 “So, where are you going to college?”  

While you should have worked with your college counselor to determine your safety/target/reach schools , there’s probably always going to be that creeping feeling of uncertainty about your college apps.  The Waiting Game is hard.  (Check out these tips from Empowerly on how to manage the wait.)

The small number of college seniors who plan to go straight to graduate school will experience a redux of that college application process.  These are the college seniors who want to go directly to law/medical/business school, or are ready to pursue an advanced degree (a Master’s or PhD) in their academic field of interest.  (Note that most college grads work for a few years before going back to graduate school, so the actual number of seniors applying directly to graduate school is quite low.)

The stress for these graduate school-bound students, however, is typically significantly less than what you went through with high school college applications.  First, they are applying to specialized programs, so they will only have a limited number of peers to compare themselves to.  Second, graduate study is more about finding the best program for your interests than an impressive, “brand name” school.  Third, if you don’t get into a graduate school program, you can keep applying year after year.

As a high school senior, once you get those college applications in at the end of first semester, everything feels a lot less pressured.  Your courses and extracurriculars are the same, but you’ll be blissfully aware that the hardest part of senior year is behind you.  While there are many good reasons not to get too relaxed during the second semester, the easier tone and pace does somewhat make up for the pressure cooker of the first semester.

Many second semester seniors are able to enjoy their classes more once they aren’t obsessed over their GPA.  Education can be very different when you are there to learn — not just earn a grade.

College seniors are fortunate in that they get to enjoy this feeling of “learning for learning’s sake” during both first and second semester.  Your major in college will require capstone classes for seniors.  These are courses designed to provide you with a more profound and personal exploration of your major, and some are even graded on a pass/no pass basis.  

It is common with these capstone series courses to have small group discussion sections led by faculty members (seminars).  These are designed so that you can really engage in your subject of interest with your fellow majors.  Your major will also typically include a thesis project (which you carry out independently under the supervision of a faculty member), and internships/externships (placements in working environments for which you get school credit).    

There is one unavoidable part of senior year that plays out in both high school and college:  the second semester Comparison Game.

There will always be those seniors that gossip and gloat about who-got-into-which-college.  Today, there is the added vector of social media to broadcast where everyone got accepted.

This same dynamic replays in senior year of college as everyone compares their post-graduation plans.  However, unlike high school – where students will know where they are going to college – a good percentage of college seniors will have little to no idea what they are doing after graduation.  While this makes for a less gossipy dynamic, it also means that those who haven’t yet landed a job may feel insecure when they hear about their peers’ upcoming jobs.  (It can be helpful to remember that you only get accepted to college once, but you have a whole lifetime to keep pursuing the right job.)

 Leaving the Nest and Taking Flight

There are some other small traditions that define the second semester of senior year.  In high school, you’ll have the prom, and in college, you might do a spring break trip with your friends.  At the end of both high school and college, you’ll don a gown and be minted with a piece of paper that says you’re ready for the next stage of your life.  (Graduation ceremonies are infamous for hot sun and long speeches; bring sunglasses and some bubbles for fun.)

The last few weeks of senior year in high school and college do have one final thing in common:  no matter how acutely you may be feeling senioritis, you know that you are on the verge of a major life transition.  You might even catch a fleeting glimpse of your life as a senior and a tinge of something both sad and beautiful.  You may have that heady feeling of knowing one chapter of life is ending, and an even greater one beginning. Your senior year should be a once-in-a-lifetime experience…except that you actually get two chances to get it right!  Enjoy them both.

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College apps can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone. empowerly college counseling is in it with you., related articles.

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50 Differences Between College and High School

From Where You Live to What You Learn, Nearly Everything Has Changed

• Before You Arrive
• Health, Safety, and Nutrition
• Living On Campus
• Outside The Classroom
• Graduation & Beyond
• Homework Help
• Private School
• College Admissions
• Graduate School
• Business School
• Distance Learning
• M.Ed., Higher Education Administration, Harvard University
• B.A., English and Comparative Literary Studies, Occidental College

Sometimes, you need a little reminder of the differences between high school and college . You could need motivation about why you want to go to college  or why you want to stay in college. Either way, the differences between high school and college are vast, stark, and important.

College vs. High School: 50 Differences

In college ...

• No one takes attendance.
• Your instructors are now called " professors " instead of "teachers."
• You don't have a curfew.
• You have a roommate who you didn't know until right before you moved in together.
• It's totally acceptable if your professor is late to class.
• You can stay out all night without anyone caring.
• You don't have to go to assemblies.
• You don't need a permission form to watch a movie in class.
• You don't need a permission form to go somewhere with your school/classmates.
• You can pick what time your classes start.
• You can nap in the middle of the day.
• You can work on campus.
• Your papers are much longer.
• You get to do real science experiments.
• Your goals in your classes are to learn things and pass, not pass an AP test for credit later.
• Group work, while still lame sometimes, is much more involved.
• There's no busy work.
• There are museums and exhibits on campus.
• Campus-sponsored events happen much later at night.
• You can drink at school-sponsored events.
• Nearly every event has some kind of food.
• You can borrow books and other research material from lots of schools.
• Your student ID gets you a discount — and now a little respect, too.
• You'll never be able to get all your homework done.
• You can't turn in fluff and expect to get credit for it.
• You don't get an A just for doing the work. You now have to do it well.
• You can fail or pass a class depending on how you do on one exam/assignment/etc.
• You're in the same classes as the people you live with.
• You're responsible for making sure you still have enough money in your account at the end of the semester.
• You can study abroad with much less effort than you could in high school.
• People expect a much different answer to the "So what are you going to do after you graduate?" question.
• You can go to grad. school when you're done.
• You have to buy your own books — and lots of them.
• You have more freedom to choose the topics about things like research papers.
• A lot more people come back for Homecoming/Alumni Weekend.
• You have to go to something called "language lab" as part of your foreign language class.
• You're no longer the smartest person in the classroom.
• Plagiarism is taken much more seriously.
• You'll learn how to write a 10-page paper on a 10-line poem.
• You're expected to give money back to your school after you graduate.
• For the rest of your life, you'll always be a little interested to see where your school ranks in the annual rankings done by newsmagazines.
• The library stays open 24 hours or more extended hours than High School.
• You can nearly always find someone on campus who knows more than you about a subject you're struggling with — and who is willing to help you learn.
• You can do research with your professors.
• You can have class outside.
• You can have class at your professors' houses.
• Your professor might have you and your classmates over for dinner at the end of the semester.
• You're expected to keep up on current events — and connect them to what you're discussing in class.
• You really do need to do the reading.
• You'll attend classes with other students who want , instead of have , to be there.
• How are College Academics Different from High School?
• How to Reduce Academic Stress
• How to Pass a College Class
• 10 Things You Should Know Before You Start College
• How to Fail a College Class
• What to Do If You Miss Class in College
• College Student Guide to Thanksgiving Break
• Reasons to Go to Class
• Why Do College Books Cost So Much?
• 7 Ways to Make Friends in College
• Cures and Strategies for Senioritis
• How to Start a New Semester Strongly
• 8 Tips for Students Starting College
• The Ultimate College Graduation Checklist
• How Important Is a College GPA?
• Should I Drop a Class?

College vs. High School: Differences and Similarities

Many students can’t wait for high school to end and college to start which is associated with freedom, friends, living without parents and a chance to take control over your life. Most people admit that in college they’ve entered adult life.

We won’t talk about adulthood here – as it’s not the time for tedious matters – we are going to compare the differences and similarities of life in high school and college instead. What should you expect from each? What are the main challenges of each? Is college academically hard? Let’s go straight to business.

Comparing Two Milestones of Student Life

So, you want to move out of your parents’ house as quickly as possible to have fun and attend parties, as you’ve heard these are the only things college students do. However, this is not actually true.

Obviously, there are a lot of differences between studying in high school and in college. To help you figure out what they are, we’ve prepared the lists that are divided into categories determined by different spheres and aspects of both academic levels.

Studying Process

While high school studying process might seem difficult, many students find studying in college more challenging due to lack of self-motivation.

High School:

• You attend all the scheduled classes
• You have a lot of classes a day
• You are obligated to be in school and do your homework
• You schedule your classes the way you want
• You choose classes which you long to learn
• Attending classes and completing assignments are your responsibility
• You spend most of your time on homework
• Commonly your course grade is defined by one single exam or assignment

You might be also interested to know more about the differences between high school and college finals.

Lifestyle and Social Sphere

It’s hard to be objective when it comes to comparing college vs. high school social life because getting into a college can be too overwhelming to keep a clear mind. Parties, adulthood, numerous new friends, tight budget, anxiety, new everyday routine – all of these things are like an avalanche for a freshman.

High school:

• You need to get up early in the morning to be able to get to school right on time for your first class
• You live with your parents
• You know everyone in your class
• You have a schedule assembled by your teachers and parents
• Studying at home for 2-4 hours a week might be enough – the rest of your spare time you spend as you wish
• You try to look “cool” and often feel embarrassed
• You get to know a lot of new people from different parts of the country (or the world)
• You can stay up all night – anyway, getting up the next day will be only your problem
• You can schedule your weeks as you want to
• You spend less time in class, but you have to study more in the dorm or in the library
• You can visit events and parties without someone’s permission
• Everyone is too busy to pay attention to your outfits
• Establishing a friendship with your roommate is highly recommended

Teachers and Professors

It’s not a secret that most of the time in college you spend on trying to force yourself to complete your assignment. You will also need to learn how to contact your professor and how to find his or her office hours in a gigantic schedule.

• Teachers closely follow the books
• Teachers help to be right on time with all of your assignments
• Teachers try to motivate and engage you
• Teachers provide you with assigned material
• Professors follow the books they wrote and academic works or personal experience
• No one will hunt you down for attendance, but you will have problems if you skip the classes
• You are the only one who can motivate yourself – it’s not your professor’s business
• Professors treat you like a grown-up and expect responsible and deliberate behavior from you

Food is almost the last thing a student thinks about when imagining studying in college. But it’s a very significant issue which almost in all cases requires basic cooking skills.

• Your parents provide you with healthy dishes
• You can eat in a school cafeteria during a school year
• You rarely or never cook for yourself

Just find something more nutritious than a pack of chips. These Tricks for Cooking Healthy College Meals on a Budget can help you.

So, we’ve already defined some differences between these two life stages. Let’s make an overall comparison of student life in high school and college.

College vs. High School

Life in college has so many opportunities, which were banned for students during high school years. But it is also accompanied by many difficulties students face for the first time in their lives.

High School

• You don’t know what time-management is
• You need to learn how to take care of a plant in your room
• Teachers try to encourage you to learn
• You are banned from many events
• You wish you had more spare time
• You are anxious about specialization choice
• Sometimes you lie you’re sick
• Everyone attend high-school because they are obligated to
• You think that college level is the end of learning
• You believe that tests are the worst part of studying
• You think that college students spend the whole time at the parties
• You can’t wait to get into a college
• You wish you were older
• You need to work on your time management skills
• You need to learn how to plan your budget
• You need to learn how to take care of yourself
• Self-motivation is your main task
• Parties are not as fun as one says
• Studying takes a lot of spare time
• You choose college classes which you are interested in
• You have no time to be sick
• Those who attend college do that because they want to and chose to
• You know that you have a lot more things to learn after college graduation
• You need to perform actually in-depth researches
• You think that high-school students are kids
• You can find a part-time job
• You need to learn how long human can live without sleep

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Nevada Today

This isn’t 13th grade: Getting ready to succeed in college with the help of NevadaFIT

Learn about 5 key differences between college and high school and get tips on how you can navigate the transition and be prepared to succeed in college..

Congratulations! You did it. You successfully completed your K-12 education, and you are on to the next step: college. College is different from high school and to be successful in this new environment, it is important that you understand the differences.

At the University of Nevada, Reno, you do not have to navigate this on your own. The University is here to support you, beginning with your first required class called NevadaFIT . The program begins with a move-in and a weekend of events and activities called NOW Weekend (NevadaFIT Orientation Welcome), which includes an Opening Ceremony at Mackay Stadium on August 15. NevadaFIT classes take place August 16-20 and the experience is meant to ease your transition by addressing the five key differences between high school and college below.

#1. Academics are accelerated

In high school: A class was typically spread out over the entire school year and frequent assignments allowed for continuous feedback before final grades were assigned.

In college: The pacing and rigor of your classes is accelerated, and a year-long high school course is equivalent to a college semester. In many cases, a few big projects, essays or exams make up your grade, and preparation and attendance in your classes is left up to you.

During NevadaFIT, students attend classes with tenured faculty, complete homework, take exams and get feedback on their progress. By the end of the week, you will know what to expect from some of the most difficult classes you will have during your first semesters.

#2. You set your own schedule

In high school: You followed a daily routine that included meal breaks, sports or P.E., and frequent class meetings to help you stay on top of your workload.

In college: You must organize your own schedule. This means finding time to fit in well-balanced meals, study, work a part-time job and get enough sleep. Many students must find ways to exercise without the guidance of a coach or instructor. Classes meet two or three times a week. It is easy for college freshmen to let an aspect of their wellness slip when life gets hectic, which is why it is so important for you to think through your daily schedule in advance.

During NevadaFIT, students are busy from about 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day. This includes meals at the Wolf Den , study breaks with peers in your major at the Knowledge Center , fitness classes at the E. L. Wiegand Fitness Center , and social events at the Joe Crowley Student Union .

While you won’t have a schedule designed for you once the school year begins, NevadaFIT will expose you to a routine and connect you with resources that can support you in these efforts. NevadaFIT students will also get an iPad at NevadaFIT this year and will learn how to use this technology to stay organized and engage with campus.

#3. You will meet many new people

In high school: Cohort sizes were typically in the hundreds and any given classroom did not usually have more than 30 students. You may have known your classmates well because you grew up with them.

In college: Cohort sizes are typically in the thousands, and you may have a lecture or two with over a hundred students in attendance. Students come from many different cities and many different backgrounds and experiences. While you may come to college with friends and acquaintances, you might not have classes with them because you do not share the same major.

During NevadaFIT, you will be organized into groups of seven students in the same college called “Packs,” led by an upper-class mentor in the same field of study as you. You will attend classes with your Pack, do projects and assignments together, and reflect and discuss your experiences. Because you are in the same college, you will likely have shared classes with your Pack group during the school year, and these new friends can continue to be a resource for you.

#4. You are responsible for you

In high school: You had significant parent/guardian or teacher supervision, especially when you started to struggle in your classes or needed additional support.

In college: Good news: You are on your own! Bad news: You are on your own. If your grades are slipping, your parents/guardians will not be notified. Your professor will not chase you down for your missing essay. Your advisor will not save you a spot in that class you were really hoping to take next semester. It is your responsibility to seek out support when you are struggling with your classes, when you feel overwhelmed, when you need to take care of campus business or when you want to get involved in student organizations.

NevadaFIT connects you to the people and resources that can support you both inside and outside the classroom. You will attend skill sessions on financial literacy; diversity, equity and inclusion; and wellness. You will learn how to make appointments with tutors and academic advisors . You will get to know campus and locate all the facilities that you will need to interact with during the school year.

#5. You will have many opportunities to grow

In high school: Course offerings were limited.

In college: You will get to learn so much about yourself, your interests, your goals and your passions.

By the end of NevadaFIT, you will be more confident in your major selection and you will have formed bonds with faculty and classmates who share similar interests. Many NevadaFIT participants are still friends with the peers they met in NevadaFIT and have returned every year to work as a mentor for the program.

Since the program is required for all incoming freshmen, students will be automatically enrolled in the bootcamp that corresponds with their major. NevadaFIT is just a taste of the kind of experience we hope you will have as a member of the Wolf Pack family. We can’t wait to meet you this fall!

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Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 177 college essay examples for 11 schools + expert analysis.

College Admissions , College Essays

The personal statement might just be the hardest part of your college application. Mostly this is because it has the least guidance and is the most open-ended. One way to understand what colleges are looking for when they ask you to write an essay is to check out the essays of students who already got in—college essays that actually worked. After all, they must be among the most successful of this weird literary genre.

In this article, I'll go through general guidelines for what makes great college essays great. I've also compiled an enormous list of 100+ actual sample college essays from 11 different schools. Finally, I'll break down two of these published college essay examples and explain why and how they work. With links to 177 full essays and essay excerpts , this article is a great resource for learning how to craft your own personal college admissions essay!

What Excellent College Essays Have in Common

Even though in many ways these sample college essays are very different from one other, they do share some traits you should try to emulate as you write your own essay.

Visible Signs of Planning

Building out from a narrow, concrete focus. You'll see a similar structure in many of the essays. The author starts with a very detailed story of an event or description of a person or place. After this sense-heavy imagery, the essay expands out to make a broader point about the author, and connects this very memorable experience to the author's present situation, state of mind, newfound understanding, or maturity level.

Knowing how to tell a story. Some of the experiences in these essays are one-of-a-kind. But most deal with the stuff of everyday life. What sets them apart is the way the author approaches the topic: analyzing it for drama and humor, for its moving qualities, for what it says about the author's world, and for how it connects to the author's emotional life.

Stellar Execution

A killer first sentence. You've heard it before, and you'll hear it again: you have to suck the reader in, and the best place to do that is the first sentence. Great first sentences are punchy. They are like cliffhangers, setting up an exciting scene or an unusual situation with an unclear conclusion, in order to make the reader want to know more. Don't take my word for it—check out these 22 first sentences from Stanford applicants and tell me you don't want to read the rest of those essays to find out what happens!

A lively, individual voice. Writing is for readers. In this case, your reader is an admissions officer who has read thousands of essays before yours and will read thousands after. Your goal? Don't bore your reader. Use interesting descriptions, stay away from clichés, include your own offbeat observations—anything that makes this essay sounds like you and not like anyone else.

Technical correctness. No spelling mistakes, no grammar weirdness, no syntax issues, no punctuation snafus—each of these sample college essays has been formatted and proofread perfectly. If this kind of exactness is not your strong suit, you're in luck! All colleges advise applicants to have their essays looked over several times by parents, teachers, mentors, and anyone else who can spot a comma splice. Your essay must be your own work, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting help polishing it.

And if you need more guidance, connect with PrepScholar's expert admissions consultants . These expert writers know exactly what college admissions committees look for in an admissions essay and chan help you craft an essay that boosts your chances of getting into your dream school.

Check out PrepScholar's Essay Editing and Coaching progra m for more details!

Links to Full College Essay Examples

Some colleges publish a selection of their favorite accepted college essays that worked, and I've put together a selection of over 100 of these.

Common App Essay Samples

Please note that some of these college essay examples may be responding to prompts that are no longer in use. The current Common App prompts are as follows:

1. 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. 2. 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? 3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? 4. 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? 5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. 6. 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?

7. 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.

Now, let's get to the good stuff: the list of 177 college essay examples responding to current and past Common App essay prompts. 

Connecticut college.

• 12 Common Application essays from the classes of 2022-2025

Hamilton College

• 7 Common Application essays from the class of 2026
• 7 Common Application essays from the class of 2022
• 7 Common Application essays from the class of 2018
• 8 Common Application essays from the class of 2012
• 8 Common Application essays from the class of 2007

Johns Hopkins

These essays are answers to past prompts from either the Common Application or the Coalition Application (which Johns Hopkins used to accept).

• 1 Common Application or Coalition Application essay from the class of 2026
• 6 Common Application or Coalition Application essays from the class of 2025
• 6 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2024
• 6 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2023
• 7 Common Application of Universal Application essays from the class of 2022
• 5 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2021
• 7 Common Application or Universal Application essays from the class of 2020

Essay Examples Published by Other Websites

• 2 Common Application essays ( 1st essay , 2nd essay ) from applicants admitted to Columbia

Other Sample College Essays

Here is a collection of essays that are college-specific.

Babson College

• 4 essays (and 1 video response) on "Why Babson" from the class of 2020

Emory University

• 5 essay examples ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) from the class of 2020 along with analysis from Emory admissions staff on why the essays were exceptional
• 5 more recent essay examples ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) along with analysis from Emory admissions staff on what made these essays stand out

University of Georgia

• 1 “strong essay” sample from 2019
• 1 “strong essay” sample from 2018
• 10 Harvard essays from 2023
• 10 Harvard essays from 2022
• 10 Harvard essays from 2021
• 10 Harvard essays from 2020
• 10 Harvard essays from 2019
• 10 Harvard essays from 2018
• 6 essays from admitted MIT students

Smith College

• 6 "best gift" essays from the class of 2018

Books of College Essays

If you're looking for even more sample college essays, consider purchasing a college essay book. The best of these include dozens of essays that worked and feedback from real admissions officers.

College Essays That Made a Difference —This detailed guide from Princeton Review includes not only successful essays, but also interviews with admissions officers and full student profiles.

50 Successful Harvard Application Essays by the Staff of the Harvard Crimson—A must for anyone aspiring to Harvard .

50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays and 50 Successful Stanford Application Essays by Gen and Kelly Tanabe—For essays from other top schools, check out this venerated series, which is regularly updated with new essays.

Heavenly Essays by Janine W. Robinson—This collection from the popular blogger behind Essay Hell includes a wider range of schools, as well as helpful tips on honing your own essay.

Analyzing Great Common App Essays That Worked

I've picked two essays from the examples collected above to examine in more depth so that you can see exactly what makes a successful college essay work. Full credit for these essays goes to the original authors and the schools that published them.

Example 1: "Breaking Into Cars," by Stephen, Johns Hopkins Class of '19 (Common App Essay, 636 words long)

I had never broken into a car before.

We were in Laredo, having just finished our first day at a Habitat for Humanity work site. The Hotchkiss volunteers had already left, off to enjoy some Texas BBQ, leaving me behind with the college kids to clean up. Not until we were stranded did we realize we were locked out of the van.

Someone picked a coat hanger out of the dumpster, handed it to me, and took a few steps back.

"Can you do that thing with a coat hanger to unlock it?"

"Why me?" I thought.

More out of amusement than optimism, I gave it a try. I slid the hanger into the window's seal like I'd seen on crime shows, and spent a few minutes jiggling the apparatus around the inside of the frame. Suddenly, two things simultaneously clicked. One was the lock on the door. (I actually succeeded in springing it.) The other was the realization that I'd been in this type of situation before. In fact, I'd been born into this type of situation.

My upbringing has numbed me to unpredictability and chaos. With a family of seven, my home was loud, messy, and spottily supervised. My siblings arguing, the dog barking, the phone ringing—all meant my house was functioning normally. My Dad, a retired Navy pilot, was away half the time. When he was home, he had a parenting style something like a drill sergeant. At the age of nine, I learned how to clear burning oil from the surface of water. My Dad considered this a critical life skill—you know, in case my aircraft carrier should ever get torpedoed. "The water's on fire! Clear a hole!" he shouted, tossing me in the lake without warning. While I'm still unconvinced about that particular lesson's practicality, my Dad's overarching message is unequivocally true: much of life is unexpected, and you have to deal with the twists and turns.

Living in my family, days rarely unfolded as planned. A bit overlooked, a little pushed around, I learned to roll with reality, negotiate a quick deal, and give the improbable a try. I don't sweat the small stuff, and I definitely don't expect perfect fairness. So what if our dining room table only has six chairs for seven people? Someone learns the importance of punctuality every night.

But more than punctuality and a special affinity for musical chairs, my family life has taught me to thrive in situations over which I have no power. Growing up, I never controlled my older siblings, but I learned how to thwart their attempts to control me. I forged alliances, and realigned them as necessary. Sometimes, I was the poor, defenseless little brother; sometimes I was the omniscient elder. Different things to different people, as the situation demanded. I learned to adapt.

Back then, these techniques were merely reactions undertaken to ensure my survival. But one day this fall, Dr. Hicks, our Head of School, asked me a question that he hoped all seniors would reflect on throughout the year: "How can I participate in a thing I do not govern, in the company of people I did not choose?"

The question caught me off guard, much like the question posed to me in Laredo. Then, I realized I knew the answer. I knew why the coat hanger had been handed to me.

Growing up as the middle child in my family, I was a vital participant in a thing I did not govern, in the company of people I did not choose. It's family. It's society. And often, it's chaos. You participate by letting go of the small stuff, not expecting order and perfection, and facing the unexpected with confidence, optimism, and preparedness. My family experience taught me to face a serendipitous world with confidence.

What Makes This Essay Tick?

It's very helpful to take writing apart in order to see just how it accomplishes its objectives. Stephen's essay is very effective. Let's find out why!

An Opening Line That Draws You In

In just eight words, we get: scene-setting (he is standing next to a car about to break in), the idea of crossing a boundary (he is maybe about to do an illegal thing for the first time), and a cliffhanger (we are thinking: is he going to get caught? Is he headed for a life of crime? Is he about to be scared straight?).

Great, Detailed Opening Story

More out of amusement than optimism, I gave it a try. I slid the hanger into the window's seal like I'd seen on crime shows, and spent a few minutes jiggling the apparatus around the inside of the frame.

It's the details that really make this small experience come alive. Notice how whenever he can, Stephen uses a more specific, descriptive word in place of a more generic one. The volunteers aren't going to get food or dinner; they're going for "Texas BBQ." The coat hanger comes from "a dumpster." Stephen doesn't just move the coat hanger—he "jiggles" it.

Details also help us visualize the emotions of the people in the scene. The person who hands Stephen the coat hanger isn't just uncomfortable or nervous; he "takes a few steps back"—a description of movement that conveys feelings. Finally, the detail of actual speech makes the scene pop. Instead of writing that the other guy asked him to unlock the van, Stephen has the guy actually say his own words in a way that sounds like a teenager talking.

Turning a Specific Incident Into a Deeper Insight

Suddenly, two things simultaneously clicked. One was the lock on the door. (I actually succeeded in springing it.) The other was the realization that I'd been in this type of situation before. In fact, I'd been born into this type of situation.

Stephen makes the locked car experience a meaningful illustration of how he has learned to be resourceful and ready for anything, and he also makes this turn from the specific to the broad through an elegant play on the two meanings of the word "click."

Using Concrete Examples When Making Abstract Claims

My upbringing has numbed me to unpredictability and chaos. With a family of seven, my home was loud, messy, and spottily supervised. My siblings arguing, the dog barking, the phone ringing—all meant my house was functioning normally.

"Unpredictability and chaos" are very abstract, not easily visualized concepts. They could also mean any number of things—violence, abandonment, poverty, mental instability. By instantly following up with highly finite and unambiguous illustrations like "family of seven" and "siblings arguing, the dog barking, the phone ringing," Stephen grounds the abstraction in something that is easy to picture: a large, noisy family.

Using Small Bits of Humor and Casual Word Choice

My Dad, a retired Navy pilot, was away half the time. When he was home, he had a parenting style something like a drill sergeant. At the age of nine, I learned how to clear burning oil from the surface of water. My Dad considered this a critical life skill—you know, in case my aircraft carrier should ever get torpedoed.

Obviously, knowing how to clean burning oil is not high on the list of things every 9-year-old needs to know. To emphasize this, Stephen uses sarcasm by bringing up a situation that is clearly over-the-top: "in case my aircraft carrier should ever get torpedoed."

The humor also feels relaxed. Part of this is because he introduces it with the colloquial phrase "you know," so it sounds like he is talking to us in person. This approach also diffuses the potential discomfort of the reader with his father's strictness—since he is making jokes about it, clearly he is OK. Notice, though, that this doesn't occur very much in the essay. This helps keep the tone meaningful and serious rather than flippant.

An Ending That Stretches the Insight Into the Future

But one day this fall, Dr. Hicks, our Head of School, asked me a question that he hoped all seniors would reflect on throughout the year: "How can I participate in a thing I do not govern, in the company of people I did not choose?"

The ending of the essay reveals that Stephen's life has been one long preparation for the future. He has emerged from chaos and his dad's approach to parenting as a person who can thrive in a world that he can't control.

This connection of past experience to current maturity and self-knowledge is a key element in all successful personal essays. Colleges are very much looking for mature, self-aware applicants. These are the qualities of successful college students, who will be able to navigate the independence college classes require and the responsibility and quasi-adulthood of college life.

What Could This Essay Do Even Better?

Even the best essays aren't perfect, and even the world's greatest writers will tell you that writing is never "finished"—just "due." So what would we tweak in this essay if we could?

Replace some of the clichéd language. Stephen uses handy phrases like "twists and turns" and "don't sweat the small stuff" as a kind of shorthand for explaining his relationship to chaos and unpredictability. But using too many of these ready-made expressions runs the risk of clouding out your own voice and replacing it with something expected and boring.

Use another example from recent life. Stephen's first example (breaking into the van in Laredo) is a great illustration of being resourceful in an unexpected situation. But his essay also emphasizes that he "learned to adapt" by being "different things to different people." It would be great to see how this plays out outside his family, either in the situation in Laredo or another context.

Example 2: By Renner Kwittken, Tufts Class of '23 (Common App Essay, 645 words long)

My first dream job was to be a pickle truck driver. I saw it in my favorite book, Richard Scarry's "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go," and for some reason, I was absolutely obsessed with the idea of driving a giant pickle. Much to the discontent of my younger sister, I insisted that my parents read us that book as many nights as possible so we could find goldbug, a small little golden bug, on every page. I would imagine the wonderful life I would have: being a pig driving a giant pickle truck across the country, chasing and finding goldbug. I then moved on to wanting to be a Lego Master. Then an architect. Then a surgeon.

Then I discovered a real goldbug: gold nanoparticles that can reprogram macrophages to assist in killing tumors, produce clear images of them without sacrificing the subject, and heat them to obliteration.

Suddenly the destination of my pickle was clear.

I quickly became enveloped by the world of nanomedicine; I scoured articles about liposomes, polymeric micelles, dendrimers, targeting ligands, and self-assembling nanoparticles, all conquering cancer in some exotic way. Completely absorbed, I set out to find a mentor to dive even deeper into these topics. After several rejections, I was immensely grateful to receive an invitation to work alongside Dr. Sangeeta Ray at Johns Hopkins.

In the lab, Dr. Ray encouraged a great amount of autonomy to design and implement my own procedures. I chose to attack a problem that affects the entire field of nanomedicine: nanoparticles consistently fail to translate from animal studies into clinical trials. Jumping off recent literature, I set out to see if a pre-dose of a common chemotherapeutic could enhance nanoparticle delivery in aggressive prostate cancer, creating three novel constructs based on three different linear polymers, each using fluorescent dye (although no gold, sorry goldbug!). Though using radioactive isotopes like Gallium and Yttrium would have been incredible, as a 17-year-old, I unfortunately wasn't allowed in the same room as these radioactive materials (even though I took a Geiger counter to a pair of shoes and found them to be slightly dangerous).

I hadn't expected my hypothesis to work, as the research project would have ideally been led across two full years. Yet while there are still many optimizations and revisions to be done, I was thrilled to find -- with completely new nanoparticles that may one day mean future trials will use particles with the initials "RK-1" -- thatcyclophosphamide did indeed increase nanoparticle delivery to the tumor in a statistically significant way.

A secondary, unexpected research project was living alone in Baltimore, a new city to me, surrounded by people much older than I. Even with moving frequently between hotels, AirBnB's, and students' apartments, I strangely reveled in the freedom I had to enjoy my surroundings and form new friendships with graduate school students from the lab. We explored The Inner Harbor at night, attended a concert together one weekend, and even got to watch the Orioles lose (to nobody's surprise). Ironically, it's through these new friendships I discovered something unexpected: what I truly love is sharing research. Whether in a presentation or in a casual conversation, making others interested in science is perhaps more exciting to me than the research itself. This solidified a new pursuit to angle my love for writing towards illuminating science in ways people can understand, adding value to a society that can certainly benefit from more scientific literacy.

It seems fitting that my goals are still transforming: in Scarry's book, there is not just one goldbug, there is one on every page. With each new experience, I'm learning that it isn't the goldbug itself, but rather the act of searching for the goldbugs that will encourage, shape, and refine my ever-evolving passions. Regardless of the goldbug I seek -- I know my pickle truck has just begun its journey.

Renner takes a somewhat different approach than Stephen, but their essay is just as detailed and engaging. Let's go through some of the strengths of this essay.

One Clear Governing Metaphor

This essay is ultimately about two things: Renner’s dreams and future career goals, and Renner’s philosophy on goal-setting and achieving one’s dreams.

But instead of listing off all the amazing things they’ve done to pursue their dream of working in nanomedicine, Renner tells a powerful, unique story instead. To set up the narrative, Renner opens the essay by connecting their experiences with goal-setting and dream-chasing all the way back to a memorable childhood experience:

This lighthearted–but relevant!--story about the moment when Renner first developed a passion for a specific career (“finding the goldbug”) provides an anchor point for the rest of the essay. As Renner pivots to describing their current dreams and goals–working in nanomedicine–the metaphor of “finding the goldbug” is reflected in Renner’s experiments, rejections, and new discoveries.

Though Renner tells multiple stories about their quest to “find the goldbug,” or, in other words, pursue their passion, each story is connected by a unifying theme; namely, that as we search and grow over time, our goals will transform…and that’s okay! By the end of the essay, Renner uses the metaphor of “finding the goldbug” to reiterate the relevance of the opening story:

While the earlier parts of the essay convey Renner’s core message by showing, the final, concluding paragraph sums up Renner’s insights by telling. By briefly and clearly stating the relevance of the goldbug metaphor to their own philosophy on goals and dreams, Renner demonstrates their creativity, insight, and eagerness to grow and evolve as the journey continues into college.

An Engaging, Individual Voice

This essay uses many techniques that make Renner sound genuine and make the reader feel like we already know them.

Technique #1: humor. Notice Renner's gentle and relaxed humor that lightly mocks their younger self's grand ambitions (this is different from the more sarcastic kind of humor used by Stephen in the first essay—you could never mistake one writer for the other).

My first dream job was to be a pickle truck driver.

I would imagine the wonderful life I would have: being a pig driving a giant pickle truck across the country, chasing and finding goldbug. I then moved on to wanting to be a Lego Master. Then an architect. Then a surgeon.

Renner gives a great example of how to use humor to your advantage in college essays. You don’t want to come off as too self-deprecating or sarcastic, but telling a lightheartedly humorous story about your younger self that also showcases how you’ve grown and changed over time can set the right tone for your entire essay.

Technique #2: intentional, eye-catching structure. The second technique is the way Renner uses a unique structure to bolster the tone and themes of their essay . The structure of your essay can have a major impact on how your ideas come across…so it’s important to give it just as much thought as the content of your essay!

For instance, Renner does a great job of using one-line paragraphs to create dramatic emphasis and to make clear transitions from one phase of the story to the next:

Suddenly the destination of my pickle car was clear.

Not only does the one-liner above signal that Renner is moving into a new phase of the narrative (their nanoparticle research experiences), it also tells the reader that this is a big moment in Renner’s story. It’s clear that Renner made a major discovery that changed the course of their goal pursuit and dream-chasing. Through structure, Renner conveys excitement and entices the reader to keep pushing forward to the next part of the story.

Technique #3: playing with syntax. The third technique is to use sentences of varying length, syntax, and structure. Most of the essay's written in standard English and uses grammatically correct sentences. However, at key moments, Renner emphasizes that the reader needs to sit up and pay attention by switching to short, colloquial, differently punctuated, and sometimes fragmented sentences.

Even with moving frequently between hotels, AirBnB's, and students' apartments, I strangely reveled in the freedom I had to enjoy my surroundings and form new friendships with graduate school students from the lab. We explored The Inner Harbor at night, attended a concert together one weekend, and even got to watch the Orioles lose (to nobody's surprise). Ironically, it's through these new friendships I discovered something unexpected: what I truly love is sharing research.

In the examples above, Renner switches adeptly between long, flowing sentences and quippy, telegraphic ones. At the same time, Renner uses these different sentence lengths intentionally. As they describe their experiences in new places, they use longer sentences to immerse the reader in the sights, smells, and sounds of those experiences. And when it’s time to get a big, key idea across, Renner switches to a short, punchy sentence to stop the reader in their tracks.

The varying syntax and sentence lengths pull the reader into the narrative and set up crucial “aha” moments when it’s most important…which is a surefire way to make any college essay stand out.

Renner's essay is very strong, but there are still a few little things that could be improved.

Connecting the research experiences to the theme of “finding the goldbug.”  The essay begins and ends with Renner’s connection to the idea of “finding the goldbug.” And while this metaphor is deftly tied into the essay’s intro and conclusion, it isn’t entirely clear what Renner’s big findings were during the research experiences that are described in the middle of the essay. It would be great to add a sentence or two stating what Renner’s big takeaways (or “goldbugs”) were from these experiences, which add more cohesion to the essay as a whole.

Give more details about discovering the world of nanomedicine. It makes sense that Renner wants to get into the details of their big research experiences as quickly as possible. After all, these are the details that show Renner’s dedication to nanomedicine! But a smoother transition from the opening pickle car/goldbug story to Renner’s “real goldbug” of nanoparticles would help the reader understand why nanoparticles became Renner’s goldbug. Finding out why Renner is so motivated to study nanomedicine–and perhaps what put them on to this field of study–would help readers fully understand why Renner chose this path in the first place.

4 Essential Tips for Writing Your Own Essay

How can you use this discussion to better your own college essay? Here are some suggestions for ways to use this resource effectively.

#1: Get Help From the Experts

Getting your college applications together takes a lot of work and can be pretty intimidatin g. Essays are even more important than ever now that admissions processes are changing and schools are going test-optional and removing diversity standards thanks to new Supreme Court rulings .  If you want certified expert help that really makes a difference, get started with  PrepScholar’s Essay Editing and Coaching program. Our program can help you put together an incredible essay from idea to completion so that your application stands out from the crowd. We've helped students get into the best colleges in the United States, including Harvard, Stanford, and Yale.  If you're ready to take the next step and boost your odds of getting into your dream school, connect with our experts today .

#2: Read Other Essays to Get Ideas for Your Own

As you go through the essays we've compiled for you above, ask yourself the following questions:

• Can you explain to yourself (or someone else!) why the opening sentence works well?
• Look for the essay's detailed personal anecdote. What senses is the author describing? Can you easily picture the scene in your mind's eye?
• Find the place where this anecdote bridges into a larger insight about the author. How does the essay connect the two? How does the anecdote work as an example of the author's characteristic, trait, or skill?
• Check out the essay's tone. If it's funny, can you find the places where the humor comes from? If it's sad and moving, can you find the imagery and description of feelings that make you moved? If it's serious, can you see how word choice adds to this tone?

Make a note whenever you find an essay or part of an essay that you think was particularly well-written, and think about what you like about it . Is it funny? Does it help you really get to know the writer? Does it show what makes the writer unique? Once you have your list, keep it next to you while writing your essay to remind yourself to try and use those same techniques in your own essay.

#3: Find Your "A-Ha!" Moment

All of these essays rely on connecting with the reader through a heartfelt, highly descriptive scene from the author's life. It can either be very dramatic (did you survive a plane crash?) or it can be completely mundane (did you finally beat your dad at Scrabble?). Either way, it should be personal and revealing about you, your personality, and the way you are now that you are entering the adult world.

Check out essays by authors like John Jeremiah Sullivan , Leslie Jamison , Hanif Abdurraqib , and Esmé Weijun Wang to get more examples of how to craft a compelling personal narrative.

#4: Start Early, Revise Often

Let me level with you: the best writing isn't writing at all. It's rewriting. And in order to have time to rewrite, you have to start way before the application deadline. My advice is to write your first draft at least two months before your applications are due.

Let it sit for a few days untouched. Then come back to it with fresh eyes and think critically about what you've written. What's extra? What's missing? What is in the wrong place? What doesn't make sense? Don't be afraid to take it apart and rearrange sections. Do this several times over, and your essay will be much better for it!

For more editing tips, check out a style guide like Dreyer's English or Eats, Shoots & Leaves .

What's Next?

Still not sure which colleges you want to apply to? Our experts will show you how to make a college list that will help you choose a college that's right for you.

Interested in learning more about college essays? Check out our detailed breakdown of exactly how personal statements work in an application , some suggestions on what to avoid when writing your essay , and our guide to writing about your extracurricular activities .

Working on the rest of your application? Read what admissions officers wish applicants knew before applying .

The recommendations in this post are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, high school vs college: what are the major differences.

I'm currently a junior in high school and was wondering about the differences between high school and college. What should I expect in terms of academics, social life, and overall experience?

Hey there! I'll try to break down some of the major differences between high school with respect to different areas:

The academic structure in college is quite different from high school. In college, you have more flexibility in creating your own schedule and choosing the courses that align with your interests and career goals. Additionally, you'll likely experience larger class sizes, particularly in the introductory courses, which could also involve lectures. College courses tend to be more in-depth and faster-paced than high school classes, so you'll need to develop effective study habits and time management skills. Professors also expect greater self-motivation and independence, as they won't be as closely monitoring your progress as high school teachers might.

Social Life:

College offers a broader range of social experiences than high school, as you'll encounter students from diverse backgrounds and different parts of the country (or the world). Many colleges offer hundreds of student clubs and organizations, enabling you to explore interests you might not have considered or known about previously. The friendships you form in college may differ from high school connections, as you'll be sharing communal spaces like dorms, dining halls, and study areas. It's important to maintain a balance between academics and your social life.

Overall Experience:

Your overall college experience is shaped by multiple factors, such as academics, extracurricular activities, social life, and personal growth. Living away from home may require you to develop self-discipline, responsibility, and life skills (cooking, laundry, etc.). Additionally, college offers numerous resources, like academic advising, career centers, and tutoring services, to help you navigate through your academic journey and prepare you for your future career. Take advantage of these resources to make the most of your college experience.

In summary, college life can be a major change from high school—academically, socially, and personally. As you transition to this next phase, be prepared for increased independence, new friendships, and opportunities to discover yourself and shape your future.

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Difference Between High School and College Essays

Transitioning from high school to college can feel like an empowering experience. You may go to a distinct country to pursue your studies. You will meet new people, but also delve deeper into subjects you have a genuine interest in and want to find out more about. So, as a high school student who started preparing for college, you might think about the difference between college and high school essay.

You might wonder how you could discover more about what follows in your life. Teachers from high school are not the same as the ones you will meet at college. Their expectations and requirements are distinct. So, want to find out more about college writing vs high school writing? Continue reading below to discover the main differences that will help you manage your expectations when you start college.

• 1 The Hallmarks of Highschool Writing
• 2 The Hallmarks of College Writing
• 3 Differences Between Highschool and College Writing
• 4 Final Thoughts

The Hallmarks of Highschool Writing

As a high schooler, you are probably familiar with the tasks you get. You have to write essays on topics already provided by your teacher. You also get a list of detailed requirements and guidelines that help you write the essay. High school writing is among the first experiences you have with academic writing at a basic level.

You are taught how to create an outline, follow a structure, and write a clear and compelling essay. High school writing might seem complicated at the moment, but having all the guidelines from your teacher helps you form your skills. These are the first experiences you get with writing, experiences that might feel challenging but put the basis of your skills. Skills you will expand and hone during college.

The Hallmarks of College Writing

The transition from high school to college can feel complicated for some, especially when you take a look at the tasks you get. Indeed, college is the time when you deepen your knowledge of a specific subject. And for this, you need to explore it in depth. College essays are more demanding than high school essays and if you are a first-year, you might feel stressed and overwhelmed to write powerfully. Indeed, expectations change a lot and during college, you need to write more and more complex essays. Even students who excelled at high school writing consider to buy essays online for college . To buy college essays comes with benefits, such as showing you how a compelling and powerful college essay is written.

You see what a plagiarism-free essay looks like, one that is suited to many academic degrees. Online, you can easily buy college essays that will inspire you to start your own. They teach you how to convey the message and they also come with the motivation you need to start working on your tasks.

Differences Between Highschool and College Writing

College vs high school essay? What is the difference between them? Do they have something in common? Let’s discover together. As with any piece of paper or type of writing, there are both differences and similarities between them. The differences reside in the structure of the papers. While in high school papers, the structure is quite simple and it follows a simple and basic outline, papers in college are more complex.

You do not have to adapt the topic to the structure of the paper, as is the case with high school papers. You have to adapt the structure depending on the topic which may change your approach a little bit. There is also a difference when it comes to the audience of your paper and also the language and vocabulary you use.

While in college they are more complex and addressed to the professor, in high school they have a broader audience in mind. And maybe one of the greatest differences is the length of the essays . In high school, they are shorter than in college. A high school essay might have a maximum of 1000 words, while a college one can reach 10 pages.

Final Thoughts

The transition from high school to college can feel challenging, overwhelming, and stressful. It can scare many high school students as they were not expecting to have such complex tasks. And indeed, college essays vs high school essays are pretty distinct. They are similar as they are both written papers, but the requirements, essay structure, and length differ.

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Senior High School And College Life: What's The Difference?

Textbooks, classes, PE, extracurricular activities, and terror teachers. Can college really be that different from senior high school? If you are an incoming senior high school student or an SHS graduate who wants to have a peek at what college life is all about, keep reading!

Let’s dissect some ways in which senior high school and college differ. Nobody said SHS and college would be easy, but knowing what to expect during your first semester of classes will help you achieve a smoother transition than jumping in without a clue. Let’s get started:

What is Senior High School in the Philippines?

Senior High School (SHS) is the last two years of the K to 12 program that includes Grades 11 and 12. It was implemented in the Philippines in 2011, shifting from the 10-year basic education curriculum to the Kinder to 12 Program (K-12).

SHS consists of four career tracks: Academic, Arts and Design, Sports, and Technology Vocation and Livelihood (TVL). Under these four tracks, there are eight learning strands: Accountancy Business and Management (ABM), Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), General Academic Strand (GAS), Home Economics, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Agri-Fishery Arts and Industrial Arts.

Kung plano mong kumuha ng college degree, you need to complete senior high school dahil isa ito sa mga requirements for college enrollment. Aside from that, the strand you’ll take in senior high school is designed to build foundational knowledge and skills for the college course you’ll take in the future. For example, if you’re eyeing Engineering courses , STEM is definitely the best path to take.

Pwede ka rin magtrabaho agad straight after senior high school! Depending on the job you’re applying for, SHS graduates can pursue entry-level jobs in various industries. O ‘di kaya magsimula ng sarili mong business. It depends on the future you want to create for yourself!

As early as senior high school, choosing the right track will help set the right foundations for your future course. To help guide you in this journey, we introduce Gabay ! It’s a content platform created for SHS students like you.

Take a quiz to get course recommendations, get access to exclusive content to learn more about your course, and attend events that can equip you with important skills to succeed in your student life–all features to get prepped up and ready for college. Sign up here!

What is C ollege in the Philippines?

College offers a wide number of specialized courses in the sciences, liberal arts, business, and many other fields. Aside from being one of the primary job requirements when looking for a job, a college degree opens greater career opportunities compared to non-graduates. Higher job positions require higher eligibility criteria, and a college degree offers you more flexibility in where you choose to work. Not sure which college degree is right for you? Answer this quiz to find out!

While not all degrees offer a direct route to a particular job (e.g. philosophy, political science, or social sciences), many programs are created with a more specific career path in mind like those in education and engineering. Unlike SHS programs that you can complete within two years, a college degree usually takes four to five years.

Now that we’re done with the academic specifics, here’s what sets college apart from senior high school when it comes to student lifestyle and other extracurricular activities:

Campus Life: What's the difference?

For many college students, dorm life is a big part of transitioning from senior high to college. It allows you to move from living at home with your family into becoming independent as an adult. Taking your first steps into the “real world” can be both exciting and challenging for college students. From meeting new people, organizing your dorm room to hearing horror stories, dorm life is a whole new experience that can teach you valuable life skills you may not learn inside the classroom.

Social life

Since college offers different degree programs, magkakaroon ka ng chance to meet different types of people from different fields. This can give you a broader perspective about life. The friends you make in college might even become some of your best friends for life!

Being broke is one of the most common stereotypes about college students. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, you can get reliable jobs to support your studies and gain job experience even while studying in college.

You don’t even have to look that far! Inside the campus, you can try working as a student assistant. You can also apply for scholarships offered by college orgs. Pwede ka rin makakuha ng extra allowance by helping out a fellow student through tutor services. Basta tapos ka nang gumawa ng sarili mong modules, marami kang pwedeng pagkakitaan. Check out these side hustles !

Time management

In college, you’ll have more independence than when you were in senior high school. But here’s the catch: you’ll also need to shoulder more responsibilities. In college, you’ll have the freedom to choose your class schedule. College students often have vacant hours in between classes that can run throughout the day. Some schools even have classes late in the evening!

To make your college transition easier, create a weekly calendar that outlines all of your to-dos so you can keep track of your day-to-day activities and prevent last-minute cramming (which is very common among college students by the way).

Knowing what’s ahead of you is winning half the battle. Moving from senior high to high school is no easy feat, but it’s all part of the process. Be excited! Learning the ins and outs of college life is what makes the journey more fun and worthwhile. Plus, kasama mo naman ang Bukas!

Learn more about Bukas and how we make education affordable for thousands of Filipino students like you. Apply for a tuition installment plan in your upcoming intake, and join our growing community for more tips and advice about all things student life. A better tomorrow awaits. Sa'yo ang Bukas!

Written by: Karl Nucum

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50 Engaging Narrative Essay Topics for High Schoolers

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What’s Covered:

Narrative essays vs. analytical essays, how to pick the right narrative essay topic, elements of a strong narrative essay, engaging narrative essay topics for high schoolers, where to get your narrative essay edited for free.

Narrative essays are an extensive form of writing that gives readers the opportunity to follow along as a person goes through a journey or sets of experiences. Rather than providing analytic insight, narrative essays simply share a story and offer a first-person account. These essays may seem easy to write at first, but it takes a certain finesse to write a narrative essay that is interesting, cohesive, and well-researched. Whether you’re looking for a unique topic to write about, or just want some new inspiration, CollegeVine is here to help! These 50 narrative essay topics are engaging, unique and will have you writing in no time.

A narrative essay is a great way to express your personal experiences and opinions, but it is important to remember that this type of essay is different from an analytical paper. In a narrative essay, you do not need to provide background information or explain your thoughts and feelings; instead, you simply tell a story. It’s important to avoid too much telling in your writing; instead, use creative details and vivid imagery to make readers feel as if they are actually right there with you.

Where You Will Encounter Narrative Essays

This type of essay is typically encountered in high school, where students may be required to write personal statements to prepare for their Common App essay . Narrative essays are also commonly seen in AP Language and Composition. Therefore, it’s important you are aware of the style because you are bound to have a narrative essay assignment.  

Of course, before you start writing, it is important to pick the right essay topic. There are many factors involved in the process of picking the perfect narrative essay topic for your story.

You should always choose a topic that you are passionate about, since writing on something you care about will make the process much easier. Not only will it be more interesting to create your paper around something that truly interests you, but it will also allow you to fully express yourself in your essay. You also want to be sure that the topic has enough material to work with. If your chosen topic is too short, you will not have enough content to write a complete paper. For example, if you are writing about your experience getting lost at the mall, make sure that you have enough information to work with to craft an engaging narrative. 

The best topic for an engaging narrative essay is one that focuses on showing versus telling, has a clear structure, and provides a dialogue. These elements come together to form an engaging narrative essay. Regardless of what subject you pick, any topic may be turned into a fascinating, A+ worthy narrative using the tips below.

Show, Don’t Tell

To write a good narrative essay, it’s important to show, not tell. Instead of simply informing your audience, show them what you mean. For example, instead of saying “I was nervous,” you could say “My heart began to race and my stomach filled with butterflies.” Also make sure to use sensory details, such as sights, sounds and tastes, and include a personal reflection at the end of your narrative. 

Begin with a Strong Opening Line

A good narrative essay will begin with an attention-grabbing opening line. But make sure to avoid common clichés, such as “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Instead, come up with something original and specific to you and your situation. For example: “My pre-calc teacher was obsessed with circles. I mean, he even used circular note cards.” Or, “It all started the day my mom brought home a guinea pig.”

Follows a Three-Act Structure

A strong narrative essay follows the same three-act structure as other essays. But in order to make it interesting, you’ll need to come up with a creative way to break things down into sections. For example, using the guinea pig example from above, you could write the following:

• Act 1 – Introduction: The day my mom brought home a guinea pig.
• Act 2 – Conflict: The day I had to say goodbye to my beloved pet.
• Act 3 – Conclusion: Looking back at how much I miss him now that he’s gone.

Conclude with Personal Reflection

To conclude your narrative essay, you’ll want to explain what this specific experience taught you or how you’ve changed. For example, upon realizing that her pre-calc teacher was obsessed with circles, the writer of the previous example begins to notice circular shapes everywhere. Another way to conclude your narrative essay is by touching on how this experience impacted you emotionally. For example, after losing his guinea pig, the writer explains how much he missed it.

Use Dialogue

Include a conversation in your essay to make it come alive. For example, instead of simply saying that you met a new friend, talk about how you introduced yourselves or what they were wearing when you met them.

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The following list of 50 narrative essay topics is divided into categories. This will make it easier to find a topic that fits your writing style.

1. What is a childhood song that still sticks with you today?

2. Your first day of Kindergarten

3. Talk about a time when you’re siblings looked up to you

4. Describe the best birthday party you’ve ever had

5. Talk about the best day you ever spent with a childhood friend

6. Explain your first childhood hobby

7. Describe your first halloween costume

8. A family vacation gone wrong

9. Your first family reunion

10. Describe a tradition that is unique to your family

11. Describe your family to a person who’s never met them before

12. What frustrates you most about your family

13. If you could only keep one memory of your family, what would it be and why?

14. Describe a time your family embarrassed you in public

15. The most beautiful place in the world

16. Your favorite season and why

17. If you were a part of nature, what element would you be? Why?

18. When you go outside, which of your senses are you most thankful to have?

19. Describe the first time you witnessed a tornado 

20. Write a poem about your favorite season

21. Describe yourself as one of the four seasons

22. Describe a time in which you felt connected with nature

23. Describe the first time you played an instrument and how you felt

24. What major event would be much worse if music was removed, and why?

25. If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

26. What would a life without music look like?

27. If you could master one instrument, what would it be and why?

Relationships

28. What if you had never met your best friend?

29. Describe a time when you fixed a broken relationship

30. Talk about a movie that defined a relationship for you

31. Describe your first date

32. Describe the first time you made a friend

33. Describe your relationship with your parents

Self Reflection

34. Have you ever fooled someone? If so, describe what happened and how you felt about it

35. What is the worst thing you’ve done to someone else?

36. Write about the difference between how things seem and how they really are. 

37. Have you ever been embarrassed in some way? If so, describe the situation and how it affected you as well as those around you

38. Have you ever witnessed something really beautiful? Describe it

39. Is your glass half empty or half full?

Overcoming Adversity 

40. Have you ever been very afraid of something but tried your hardest to appear fearless? If so, describe that experience

41. When have you ever succeeded when you thought you might fail

42. What are your secret survival strategies?

43. Describe the last time you were stressed and why?

44. Describe a time when you were discriminated against

45. The most memorable class you’ve had and why

46. Your favorite study abroad memory

47. Describe your kindergarten classroom

48. Describe your first teacher

49. The first time you experienced detention

50. Your first field trip

Hopefully these topics will get you thinking about a personal experience that could make for a thoughtful and engaging narrative essay. Remember, a strong narrative essay must contain relatable details and a clear flow that keeps the reader entertained and engaged to read all the way to the end.

If you need some additional guidance on your narrative essay, use CollegeVine’s free peer review essay tool to get feedback for free!

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