stressedout

^ + any hints or tips you guys might have to start me off.
cause right now i have nothing... how did you guys do it?

Vivi

Do you have prompts we can look at?

dchow08

stressedout, let's start out simple.

Could you tell me about any activities you do, or that you've done for a long time, that you think is important to you?

For example, I play chess, and I've played it since I was in elementary school. I played in elementary school, stopped in middle school, but played in tournaments in high school.

This doesn't have to be your essay topic, just something to think about. It's okay to post here in the discussion for everyone to see, if you're comfortable with that. I just want to get your brain going for a bit...

JteH

I guess this relates to the topic.

Where do we find our prompts? How much do we write? Do all colleges take the same prompt?

dchow08

http://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/DownloadForms.aspx

Click the PDF for the application, and it has the essays for common app.

Generally about 500 words is good. Not all colleges take the same prompt. If you choose to use the common app, you can pick one, fill it out, and turn it in for each of the colleges. Some colleges have their own apps. Look on the college websites to find out which application your colleges use.

JteH

^ I'm afraid link doesn't work.

Vivi

What prompts you use will depend on which college(s) you're applying to. Many state universities do not use CommonApp, and some of the higher colleges don't either (MIT for example). Which college(s) are you aiming for? Check their admissions websites; it'll have all the information for the essays you need to write and forms to fill out.

ADad

Good advice here:

U.Va. Office of Admission Essays

JteH

My bad, browser problems, link works now.