Did you know that most teens struggle to write their college essays not because they’re lazy but because they don’t know what to write about?
Do you write about the sports injury?
The overseas volunteer experiences?
The club you love being a part of?
Your love of music?
There are lots of topics to choose from, and it’s gets confusing.
Instead of talking about what creates a great college essay, let’s address the most
common mistakes I’ve seen in my 10+ years of working with teens.
MISTAKE #1: Trying to talk about that “serious” thing.
The mental health, the injury, the sticky family situation, the failed class.
I don’t recommend writing your essay on any of these. (Save them for the “Additional
Information” section.)
Use your college essay to share another side of you. The quirky interests, the humor, the determination.
MISTAKE #2: Making vague, overly generalized statements.
Every student makes this mistake.
I’ll give you an example. Most teens claim they “work hard” and leave it at that.
But what does that mean? Did you:
1. Do 30-min intense workouts 2x/day to help build muscle strength? There were days when your body hurt so much you were struggling to walk?
OR
2. Coordinate with different departments for your theatre production to ensure everyone was on the same page? That was 80+ hours spent in theater during Tech Week, and then the night before the first performance, one of the sets collapsed.
Both are “hard work” situations, yet each paints a very different picture of the atmosphere, stress levels, and skills gained.
That’s what you want your essay to do.
Be specific.
MISTAKE #3: Choosing a cliché topic or word choices.
Clichés can be topics or word choices.
A few topics that come up repeatedly:
1. Mental health: Anxiety, late ADD/ADHD diagnosis and how it impacted you.
2. Sports: Injuries, victories, teamwork, determination, the “not quitting” attitude.
3. Working hard in a challenging class: Getting the help you needed or putting in
the effort on your own.
4. Someone you admire: You’ll probably spend too much time talking about them and not enough time talking about the person actually going to college: you.
5. Volunteer trips abroad: Too many teens – without realizing it – approach the topic with a “these poor folks, they don’t know how bad they have it. Good thing we came to save you from yourselves”-tone.
6. Moving to a new location: How awkward it was being the new kid when everyone else already had their friend groups, adjusting to a new town/state. There are also clichéd words and phrases teens tend to use like:
1. “Life-changing”
2. “Eye-opening”
3. “I realized I am so fortunate to have the privileges and life I do”
4. “I am passionate about”
5. “I’ve learned that in life…”
6. “It was a wake-up call”
7. “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”
MISTAKE #4: Listing out your resume in paragraph form
Squeezing in as many of your activities as possible into your college essay and describing them is not serving you.
Here’s the thing:
The admissions officers already have a list of your extracurriculars. So now, it’s time to tell them something they don’t already know about you. Or make the connection as to why you picked certain activities.
A few years back, a student of mine had a list of activities that indicated that he loved the stage. A cappella, jazz band, orchestra, debate.
Just from his activities, a reader would conclude that this teen is extroverted, highly energetic, and a strong speaker.
What the reader wouldn’t realize is that he was painfully shy in 9th grade. Determined to overcome his shyness, he signed himself up for public-facing activities.
Had he simply listed his activities, we never would’ve understood the true level of commitment this teen was putting into his growth.
So, think of why you chose the activities you did. What about them appealed to you when there were dozens of others to choose from?
MISTAKE #5 Thinking AI can do a better job talking about you than YOU.
The question comes up in every presentation I do: Can we use ChatGPT to help us write our college essays?
No.
Here’s why:
1. AI is currently incapable of producing unique writing pieces. Even if you upload your previous works onto AI as samples of tone, writing style, etc., it still converges to a style of its own.
Words and phrases repeat across its responses. As does sentence structure. So, while you think you’re getting a “unique” piece of writing, what you’re getting is the same as the thousands of other teens who did the same. And when your audience is an admissions officer – someone whose job literally requires them to read hundreds of teen essays every year – it’s safe to say
they’ll catch the AI writing patterns in your essay. Now you’ve violated plagiarism policies, and your application doesn’t look so
appealing anymore.
2. I’m a strong believer that a person should do their own work. Asking for and getting help is okay and even encouraged. It means you have
guidance and support as you learn or work towards a goal. You still have to show up and put in the reps.
But to entirely offload such a massive project – like your college essay – to anyone, including AI is unethical. I love that even my worst writing students are proud of their college essays. It gives them a confidence in their own abilities. A lesson they carry with them into college and further.
Thats why I’m hosting a 2-Week College Essay Intensive this July.
Teens will work in a virtual small-group setting to pull together one of the most meaningful parts of their applications.
The details:
July 6–18 – MWF or TThS from 9AM-11AM.
6 students per cohort max
Detailed feedback + 1-on-1 breakout sessions for additional help
Plus, my accountability guarantee:
If a student attends every session and applies the feedback provided, I’ll refund the full $500 tuition.
To find out more about College Essay Intensive, click here.
The goal isn't to create pressure—it's to create momentum and help teens start senior
year with one of the biggest application tasks already well underway.
If you'd like to learn more or reserve a spot, I'd love to help. You can email me directly at
[email protected] .
Talk soon,
Priyanka Shingala
Let's Talk College, LLC