I got into every school I applied to because… My extracurriculars and my essays and my major and my grades and my teacher recs were all aligned. What does that mean? It means that my common app personal statement essay captured the WHY behind the WHAT I do. My WHAT is my intended major, the classes I took, my extracurriculars. My essay explained WHY I’m so invested in my passion areas, HOW I grew my talent/skillsets over the years, and WHERE I’m going in terms of career. think of it this way—your application forms the spiderweb of YOU. and at the center of it all is your common app essay, holding the whole thing together. On the fringes are your supplemental essays, your honors/awards list, your activities list, your rec letters, your test scores, your grades. your comm app doesn’t have to cover all the things that you do—that’s much too ambitious, and that’s what the activities list is for anyway. No, it’s job is much more important: to help us understand your heart behind the blood sweat and tears you pour into your various passion projects. What gets you out of bed each day? What motivates you? If it’s an artistic passion, how did you get into it? If it’s helping a certain community, why that community? if you have a heart for something, how did you develop that? did someone model it for you? did you go through a pain point and decide to help others in similar positions? your personal statement is all about the WHY. want to read the essays that got me into every school? Follow me, comment ESSAY and I’ll DM them to you! Follow me for more tips/tricks on getting into your dream school. - @cassandracollegecoaching