@lookingforward -You are right - the essay needs to ‘reveal’ something the college wants/respects/values.
And as much as the common app essay is important - for those colleges with supplements, especially the Why this college supplements - those are even more important
I am so happy to see this thread. I am so tired of hearing that the essays have to be perfect because they are the difference maker for high stats, unhooked kids at competitive schools. Its so much pressure! I am going to embrace the “good enough” mantra!
My kids did not do the common application…but they still had to do essays. I have to say, I really, really liked both of my kids’ essays. They were not outstanding but they were the voice of each kid…and told a good narrative about them. Very specific and very much “them”.
Both had comments about their essays hand written on letters of acceptance…so I guess the adcoms agreed.
I think @lindagaf has it right . Hit those 3 criteria. Collectively they make another criteria, is it memorable. These AOs are reading thousands of essays. Likely spend less then 3 or 4 minutes per essay unless something catches their attention. Catch them early and be memorable.
Not all of us are saying it’s unimportant. Any point in your complete app and supp that trips can set you back (at top colleges.)
And adcoms don’t need an attention grabber to look for the qualities and traits they want. This isn’t a writing contest or graded.
@knightcub Good enough is never good enough for me, lol
I actually love my d19’s common app essay. I have no idea whether it will strike a chord for any admissions officers. But it’s so her.
I told her to write about a specific subject she can spend hours at a time talking about and thinking about. She chose an aspect of it that she felt she could easily write something descriptive and interesting by focusing on. The words flowed. She edited it down the to word limit and then took it for some tweaking at a school SAT boot camp. There were only very minor grammar type edits made. She is happy with her essay. My feeling is that it definitely conveys who she is and how she thinks. If AOs at some her of colleges don’t like it, then she isn’t a good fit for them anyway.
No one was entirely happy with my D’s essay - she worked on it too long and had too much she wanted to say. If she could have submitted a book, she’d have been fine but the word limit had her editing it down but she wanted to keep her favorite pieces… and I think continuity suffered. Whatevs, admissions went fine regardless. As @mom2twogirls said, if the college AO didn’t like the essay, the college probably wouldn’t have been right for her anyway.
I think that very few essays are outstanding. If an essay doesn’t HARM the application, that is good enough! I see essays as essentially neutral, at best, except for those rare ones. That said, likability is really important. I have suggested to many essay-writers to reconsider saying that they plan to cure cancer, for instance 
Son2 had a good enough common app essay, but his supplemental essays were great. At a certain point it was just time to quit messing with it. The supplemental essays were more fun and let him express himself more freely.
Both kids had stronger essays for the State U. The prompt fit them better. They were accepted into selective programs for the State U and got a little money.
Having helped with college essays professionally for a long time, I can say that very few people can really judge how good an app essay is unless they’ve read thousands of them, and even people who have read thousands of them can still be terrible at it. And that’s even before we get into the slippery issue of subjectivity!
Thanks for all your responses. After reading all of your opinions I reread D’s essay again. I looked for the 3 things Lindagaf mentioned and the other things mentioned. I actually didn’t hate it. Funny how the first 20 times I read it I wasn’t thrilled with it, but now I am looking at it less critically. Maybe you all put things into perspective for me. Thanks so much. It’s so helpful to hear from objective people when it comes to this college stuff.
I never read either of my kids’ essays. They chose not to share them with me and the applications were theirs not mine. Both got into their top choice schools. And both are far better writers than I am.
@FallGirl Wow! That’s amazing that you had such restraint. Never in a million years could I NOT look at that essay, and my D is better writer than me too.
This is so helpful. I’ve been struggling with not liking Twin A’s essay. It is very boring and leaves out so much interesting information about her. I think I need to let it go though. She is a serious kid so it’s her I suppose.
I know, my son’s essay was descriptive but would never stand out. I told him to write about something quirky but he thought that was too cringy. I think the schools where he’s applying will either take him or not based on stats. We’ll see!
@milee30 – LOL sounds like a constipated senior citizen.
:))
I probably won’t even look at my senior’s essay. I put DH in charge of that - he may not know what a “good” essay is in 2018, but at least he won’t get annoyed with our son or try to re-write it like I inevitably would. I think we’re aiming for passable since son is not a great writer and doesn’t like talking about himself. (He’s applying to academic safeties and maybe one low match so I think it will be fine).
DH did try to make D1’s essay opener more academic. I told her to breathe and make her own best decision. Help them understand this is a narrative, not a school paper that gets graded on meeting the prompt and having sort of structure a teacher expects (the dreaded thesis statement.) More like writing to a friendly adult (albeit, a stranger.) They want to be able to envision who you are, for their community. At the same time, watch for them admitting things the college may not want. Real examples: I don’t like my peers, I start my homework at midnight. Lol.
My DD’s was terrible and I only saw it after she had submitted it. The English teacher gave her a C on it.
She submitted the infamous “bedroom essay.” One of the prompts was to write about a place where you feel your best and colleges were overloaded with essays about kids’ bedrooms, including hers.
Still, her writing skills are above average and at least that showed. She was 7/8 in admissions.