by Marie Todd
Get Feedback on Your College Essays
When you feel you have taken the draft of your college essay as far as you can on your own, share it with a few carefully chosen friends, mentors, and/or family members that you trust. Ask these individuals to keep the following questions in mind as they read your essay and to offer you their feedback afterward:
- What words and phrases jumped out and stayed with them?
- How did the essay make them feel?
- What else are they curious to know about you based on the essay?
- Does the essay feel cohesive and compelling?
Remember that what people enjoy reading is subjective; not everyone will have the same response to your essay. Each person’s personal experience will influence their feedback.
Your goal is to grab and hold the interest of your ultimate audience — the adcom members – so pay special attention to any points that are made by multiple readers of your draft. If more than one person flags the same issue or, conversely, tells you that they especially like a certain part, you’ll know exactly what you need to fix and what you should be proud of and try to replicate. Your draft readers will let you know where you need to add details or context, which elements might be confusing and need clarification, and where you might have overly long sentences.
Keep in mind that your reader will not know your backstory, so don’t skimp on including sufficient detail to ensure that the points in your essay are clear. Even if your essay draft is still too long and exceeds the school’s word limit, make sure you include everything that you feel is important. You can cut anything that turns out to be extraneous later.
We hope that if your draft readers point out problems or issues with your essay, they do so in a constructive and supportive way. Try not to take anyone’s criticism of your writing personally. It surely will not be meant that way. Your friends and family want to see you succeed, so their suggestions are intended only to help you present yourself to the adcom in the best possible light.
Marie Todd has been involved in college admissions for more than 20 years. Marie has both counseled applicants to top colleges and evaluated more than 5,000 applications for the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; College of Engineering; School of Kinesiology; School of Nursing; and Taubman College of Architecture. Want Marie to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch.
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