<p>This is very normal. The Common Application essays are really like nothing the student has ever done before or will ever do again. Harry Bauld’s book* On Writing the College Application Essay* I think is very good and has some nice examples. Digmedia, a CC poster has some good advice and also has written a book. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/979752-easy-exercise-get-started-terrific-essay.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/979752-easy-exercise-get-started-terrific-essay.html</a></p>
<p>My older son had a terrible time. At one point he wrote a computer program that basically stole lines from sample essays on line. He used the result of the program (pretty awful) as the opening to an essay about how he’d rather write a program than write an essay, but how it was clear from the results of this program that he needed a little more education. By starting with something silly, but in his comfort zone he was able to write a very natural sounding essay. It was not an A+ essay, but it was pretty good for a kid who hated writing.</p>
<p>My younger son bounced around a bunch of ideas. He wrote a couple of essays that he rejected as not good enough for his main Common Application essay, but in the end he found places to use them after all. One of them became the “What your favorite EC” essay. The essay wasn’t about him, which he thought was a problem, but it did show him thinking like an historian in a volunteer activity which I think ended up being a huge plus. I actually liked it better than his “main” essay, but I know why he felt that it wasn’t the right essay for the that.</p>
<p>Finally a Georgetown admissions officer said their favorite essay prompt was the make up your own question option. Don’t be afraid to use it. :)</p>
<p>Another finally, if it’s natural to you, don’t be afraid to be a little lighthearted and amusing. I think it really helped both my kids that they avoided the overly sentimental, stereotypical essays. How my overseas mission trip taught me we are all the same. How I learned perseverance from sports. How I learned winning doesn’t matter. etc. etc.</p>