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The purpose of a personal essay is to position yourself as the prime candidate to be picked for admission.

Why are personal essays needed?

Personal essays allow the school to gauge you and your abilities on a non-academic basis. It is easy for us to see how well you’ve done in school, but personal essays provide a secondary window for the admissions counselors to get to know you better and gauge your potential to thrive. It helps to bring depth and understanding to a transcript, allowing you to offer more than your GPA and test scores.

What should I include in my essay?

Your personal essay should begin by capturing attention. This is where you make yourself stand out from the crowd. Tell us something unique about yourself! Expand on this and other parts of your story. A funny story is great, but keep it short. Finally, let the reader in on something important about yourself that they couldn’t glean from your application. Remember, the purpose of the essay is to show that you’re able to communicate well, and to help the reader understand you, your ambitions, and how you’d fit into the school’s environment. A well-structured and grammatically-correct essay will go a long way, but don’t fret over absolute perfection . . . this isn’t a thesis paper!

How long should the essay be?

As long as you feel you need to showcase yourself! However, multiple page essays generally contain more information than the admissions counselors need. Remember to highlight yourself and achievements in a thoughtful and deliberate way. A concise essay which clearly defines you is perfect!

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More students than ever are applying to schools for undergraduate degrees. Ivy League schools still have acceptance rates in the single digits. Most other four-year colleges and schools still admit only two of every three applicants.

So what can you do to increase your odds of catching the admissions counselor’s attention? How can you stand out?

Personal essays are always great places to stand out. Admissions counselors want to get to know you, to see if you would be a good fit for the community at the school, and to see what you can add to the campus community. The best ways to do this are through your application, transcripts, and personal essay.

Take your time creating your application. Make sure you stay above the minimum word count for responses, but below the maximum. Find ways to present yourself in as many quality words as possible.

Don’t skip the extracurricular activities section. List all that you participated in throughout your high school career. This section and your transcripts show the counselors what kind of drive you had both inside and outside of school. In high school, take as many Advanced Placement or challenging courses as you can, and take them seriously.

Not only do schools want students who can take the challenge of college-level academics, they also want students who can get the most out of the school’s resources, and students who give back to the school. Colleges are looking for students who want to use their higher education to become leaders and enact change.

This is exactly how North Park sees its role in higher education, to prepare students for lives of significance and service.

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