<p>My daughter looked at a few of those college essay books to get a feel for the variety… try the library. Then she looked at all her activities, and we did discuss them. Specific instance is better than a generalization. One thing to keep in mind is to perhaps have the essay be about something that isn’t as obvious from the rest of her academic/EC application. For example, my D was a dancer, and strong academic student… but she wrote her essay about her interest in rock climbing which otherwise wouldn’t have been very obvious from her application - and in fact played a bit against type for a dancer. It doesn’t have to be the MOST important thing in their life in other words, just something that makes a decent story and reflects on their personality.</p>