Expert College Essay Tips & Strategies – IvyWise Blog

UCLA is part of the University of California system, which is comprised of 10 campuses throughout the state. Students applying to UCLA must use the UC application — the University of California system does not use the Common App or Coalition Application. The application process includes several personal statement prompts, or what UC refers to as personal insight questions. Keep reading to learn more about these prompts and tips for responding to them.   

The Common Application has announced the personal statement essay prompts for the 2025-26 admissions season.

College application essays are a critical aspect of the admissions process, offering an opportunity to showcase your individuality beyond the standard application forms and test scores. A well-crafted essay can highlight your unique personality, experiences, and aspirations, providing college admissions officers with a more holistic view of who you are.

The Common Application is officially open, and many college-bound high school students are hard at work on their college applications. In addition to the main Common App essay, many schools might also require supplements that include some thoughtful — and downright quirky — essay prompts and short answer questions.

If you’ve been paying attention to education or technology news lately, you’ve likely heard a lot about ChatGPT, the new tool from OpenAI that generates astonishingly human-like text based on prompts and questions submitted by the user. We have been getting a lot of questions about this tool and how it should or should not be used in the college application process. Because this is a new advancement and I am far from a technological expert, I thought it would be best to pose these questions to the tool itself.

In eighth grade, my English teacher Mrs. Houlihan told me that I was the only student in my class who knew how and when to use a comma. That feedback stuck with me, not just because it made me feel like the greatest student of all time (which, let’s be honest, I totally was), but because it made me realize the awesome power of the comma. For such a tiny piece of punctuation, the comma packs a mighty punch, in that using it correctly or incorrectly is one of the most glaring signs that a writer either does or does not know what they’re doing.

Few things are scarier to students than submitting their college application only to find grammar and spelling mistakes afterward. This can lead to panicked calls to counselors and colleges, asking to resubmit their essays or correct an error. While small grammar and spelling mistakes won’t kill your college admission chances, they can lead to a lot of additional headaches for already stressed-out students.

The questions typically address certain aspects about the school or the applicant’s intended major, and while they’ve tended to grow a little quirky over the years, one question that typically pops up is some form of the “why [this college]?” prompt.

With colleges receiving more applications than ever before and admissions rates dwindling each year, many college-bound students are deciding to hedge their bets and apply to as many schools as possible in order to secure sufficient offers of admission. There have been reports over the years of students applying to dozens of colleges ­— sometimes 30, 40, even 50. But is this really beneficial? How much is too much when it comes to college applications?

The Common Application opens on August 1, and for many rising seniors this is the perfect opportunity to get a head start on their college applications before the start of the school year. However, before students dive into their college application essays, they need to know what’s true, and what’s false, about these common application essay myths.