Everyone offering writing help lmao. I wrote some really good common app essays and have particularly good advice about the short essay (talk about extracurricular or work experience):
Pick something you care about, not something you think you need to explain. If you're involved in some niche club and you're worried that the little one-liner about it in the "extracurricular" section isn't enough, that does not mean you need to write about it to clear anything up. Write what you actually want to write about.
Focus on ONE event or tightly woven sequence of events. Do NOT speak about the extracurricular or job at all in general except the minimum needed to give context (which might even be 0 if it's a straightforward activity). Focus only on that day, that hour, maybe even that minute. Write it like a short story not like an essay. Anything too formulaic like "I do A because B and as a result C happened which made me feel D" turns boring really quickly. Especially if it's about a last second touchdown/basket/home run/etc or a mission trip to Africa.
Preferably pick something that is both general and detailed enough to be memorable (but if your obvious main thing is super standard, like a major sport, you should probably still do that - see tip 1). You ideally want the reader to think of you as "the kid who _____" and there to be no other kid that descriptor could be about. That's how you're memorable. Still somewhat general so that the reader can relate within the 250 (200? I forget how long lol) word space you have. For example, I was the kid who sang in a barbershop-ish group for old ladies in nursing homes and giving them roses. If you're the basketball player, be the one who introduced X tradition or gave a teammate nickname Y, etc. Not just a basketball player who plays basketball.
Show. Not tell. You don't need to outright tell them how x made you feel or why y has impacted you til today. Demonstrate that with words in the context of the story.
Having a killer first sentence is very hard, since you need to establish some sort of context upfront usually. But your last sentence better be good. Ending with a piece of dialogue from someone involved can be good if it's a good quote. (In mine, it was one of the old ladies turning to her husband and complaining that he never gives her flowers anymore.)
Pick something you care about, not something you think you need to explain. If you're involved in some niche club and you're worried that the little one-liner about it in the "extracurricular" section isn't enough, that does not mean you need to write about it to clear anything up. Write what you actually want to write about.
Focus on ONE event or tightly woven sequence of events. Do NOT speak about the extracurricular or job at all in general except the minimum needed to give context (which might even be 0 if it's a straightforward activity). Focus only on that day, that hour, maybe even that minute. Write it like a short story not like an essay. Anything too formulaic like "I do A because B and as a result C happened which made me feel D" turns boring really quickly. Especially if it's about a last second touchdown/basket/home run/etc or a mission trip to Africa.
Preferably pick something that is both general and detailed enough to be memorable (but if your obvious main thing is super standard, like a major sport, you should probably still do that - see tip 1). You ideally want the reader to think of you as "the kid who _____" and there to be no other kid that descriptor could be about. That's how you're memorable. Still somewhat general so that the reader can relate within the 250 (200? I forget how long lol) word space you have. For example, I was the kid who sang in a barbershop-ish group for old ladies in nursing homes and giving them roses. If you're the basketball player, be the one who introduced X tradition or gave a teammate nickname Y, etc. Not just a basketball player who plays basketball.
Show. Not tell. You don't need to outright tell them how x made you feel or why y has impacted you til today. Demonstrate that with words in the context of the story.
Having a killer first sentence is very hard, since you need to establish some sort of context upfront usually. But your last sentence better be good. Ending with a piece of dialogue from someone involved can be good if it's a good quote. (In mine, it was one of the old ladies turning to her husband and complaining that he never gives her flowers anymore.)
