Essay Anxiety: What to Know about the Writing Component (and a few college trend updates)
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
June 22, 2026
Essay anxiety is real. Students are under the impression that it’s essential to come up with an original essay topic that no admissions committee has ever heard of. And it needs to satisfy their English teacher’s rubric for an “A” on the college essay assignment that just about every 11th or 12th-grade teacher assigns, too.
I’m here to clear a few things up!
A college essay is not the same as an English paper, and an admissions officer is not reading it the way an English teacher would.
An English teacher is often evaluating the writing itself: the sophistication of the language, the effectiveness of literary devices, the organization of ideas, and the strength of the analysis.
An admissions officer, on the other hand, is reading to learn about the person behind the application. They are asking questions such as: Who is this student? What motivates them? What values do they hold? What might they contribute to our campus community?
Strong writing certainly matters. The primary goal of a college essay is to reveal character, self-awareness, growth, and perspective.
My job, as a college counselor, is to ensure that by the end of the process, students have an essay that showcases their values and unique qualities, while helping admissions officers envision the positive contributions they will make both inside and outside the classroom.
As I mentioned in an earlier email, colleges are looking to balance their academic programs. This means they are looking for candidates in addition to the highly competitive majors of business or engineering. Competitive colleges need students to be admitted into a variety of majors, otherwise they run the risk of losing funding, cutting back on faculty, and missing out on exceptional students like yours!
Having a school-by-school strategy when it comes to selecting a major is essential.
Additionally, many colleges are facing increased uncertainty around enrollment, as historically reliable yield rates have become less predictable. In response, some public universities have begun offering Early Decision. The University of Michigan introduced this option in fall 2025, and both the University of Florida and Florida State University have recently followed suit.
If you want to better understand these issues, please reach out!
Best,
Tami
