Your 2023 Summer Admissions Essay Checklist (Complete with Journaling Questions)

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With its humid days and languid nights, it's tempting to blow your summer away on TikTok. You've been working SO HARD keeping your grades up now that you’re fully back at school with a million extracurriculars. Don't you deserve a break? Yes, take the first few weeks to veg out. But now's the time to start working again. Think about it this way: the more you can get done over the summer, the less stressed you'll be first-semester senior year, which is quantifiably THE WORST. Here's my summer to-do list, no matter what grade you're in.

1) Start a Journal
The hardest thing about a personal essay is finding your voice—most high schools focus on the academic essay, which is more stiff and formulaic than the admissions essay. An easy way to discover what you sound like when you're not citing academic sources or analyzing text is to start a journaling practice. Every night before bed, take a few minutes to write about your day or what's worrying you. The relaxing background should let you tap into your personal voice without the pressure of sounding academic. At the very least, you'll have some snippets saved away for the draft writing stage. If you’re feeling stuck, start with this list of questions I make every student answer below.

  • What is your favorite way to spend your free time & why?

  • What is your favorite class and/or extracurricular & why?

  • How would your friends, family, and teachers each describe you & why?

  • In the last 4 years, what are you most proud of & why?

  • What hardships have you overcome (if any) & how did you overcome them?

  • What do you want to be when you grow up & why?

  • What is your family heritage and/or religion & how has it shaped you? 

2) Log In to the Common App
Make your account now, so that you get comfortable with the Common App interface and know all the supplemental questions you'll have to finish by November if you're applying early decision or by January if you're applying regular decision. Add all your prospective colleges to the list so you're familiar with all the non-essay questions as well, since those should be as pristine as the rest of your application. Luckily, the main Common App essay questions are already live so you can waste no time.

3) Strategize Your Supplemental Essays

In addition to the main Common App personal statement, many colleges also ask you to write additional short essays that vary in length from 150-650 words that I call the supplement essays. In the Common App, go through each college’s supplement essay questions and make a master list of every essay question you have to answer, so you can start strategizing your topics for them. Oftentimes, you can group multiple supplements by theme - the community essay, the extracurricular essay, the “why this major” essay, so it helps to list them all out and decide which topic you’ll use for each theme. You don’t want to have the same topic for your Common App and your supplements since the admissions officers will read both - each essay is an opportunity for them to get to know a new side of you. Here’s an example of what one looks like below:

My-Colleges-Common-App.png

4) Write Your Activities Resume
The other writing portion of the Common App is the Activities List. Work with your guidance counselors and get a head start on this to make sure every detail is correct. It may be tedious, but it's an important part of your application. Make sure to include any leadership positions, the number of years per activity, and how many hours per week you spend on each one. Resist the urge to pad your resume with a long list of extracurriculars you dabbled in: admissions officers want to see commitment (and ideally) advancement. Another red flag to avoid is creating some new clubs last-minute as a senior - colleges can see right through that desperate move.

Don’t forget to also include any household chores you do on a daily or weekly basis, like taking care of siblings or working to help pay for expenses. You can also include self-study you’ve pursued in your spare time. All of those count as “extracurriculars” and help give admissions officers the full picture of your background.

5) Draft Your Essays
Now that you have a good sense of how to work with the common app and know your activity history and have gotten used to writing about yourself in your journal, it's time to write your first draft. Before you panic, remember that first drafts are totally no pressure. Keep this mantra in mind whenever you get stuck: “Write now. Revise later.” If you're not sure what your topic should be, start here for some ideas, then try this and this if you're still stumped. Remember to aim for at least 4 draft revisions so give yourself plenty of time to edit and don’t put too much pressure on yourself for the first rough draft - it’s called that for a reason.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on July 2018 and has been updated with new relevant information.