What advice would you give about essays?
Write them early and write them well. Have them reviewed by a (language arts) teacher and someone else who will give you a straight answer on whether or not you are answering the prompt sufficiently or writing to your best ability. I started writing my essays the day after I finished school (I was very antsy to apply), and that gave me the entire summer to get them to be their best, allowing me to submit my app the same day it opened.
I think essays are a very underrated piece of your college applications. Don’t skim out on them, because at some schools, they may be the make or break factor.
Best of luck to you in the fall!
Agree with the above advice. Also remember that this is a great opportunity to tell the colleges something about you that may not be seen in the rest of your application so think carefully about what you want to write about.
While I agree with the above to write your essays well, never rush to write your essays. PREPARE early, thinking of the possible things you could write about. However, never prematurely transfer your thoughts/ideas on paper without being somewhat coherent. Outlining is an awesome example to start your essay(s).
Also, do not have your essays checked by more than 3 qualified people. Peoples’ own ideas to approach your personal topic will be quite different. Remember that it is YOUR essay, not others.
Finally, read, reread and read your essay again. I have seen many, many threads here on CC that complained about a glaring error the students did not catch on. Yes, many of them are insignificant and will be looked over. However, an error is always one too many.
I will be glad to look over your essays.
Please note there is a section of the forum for essay talk and advice
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/
The best advice I can give is to start with stories rather than themes, messages, or qualities you wish to convey.
Write narratives, and don’t worry for a while what they’ll “show” about you. Just write the most interesting things that you’ve experienced. There probably aren’t very many truly fascinating ones. Once you’ve got some, think of them like ingredients. Combine, mix, match, and look for a common thread, pull themes from the experiences–what can these stories illustrate about you, about the kind of person you are? Remember: the personal statement is not about what you’ve done or what you’ve learned–although you can of course do and learn things in the essay–it’s about who you are.
I’d also advise you to start long and revise down to required word counts rather than starting with the word count in mind. The best essays I’ve seen have started at 900-1500 words and then, through careful and merciless revision, have found their wan back to the 500-700 range.
Good luck.
The best thing you can do is tell a story about yourself and show people who you are. Narrate the scene and break it down descriptively. Those adcoms have to imagine what you are telling them and feel the emotion or realness you felt when you were living that scenario.
(One more thing: do NOT write about “habitual” experiences, a la “I’m the type of person who always…” or “Whenever…happens, I tend to…”; write about specific instances that illustrate aspects of who you are.)
Ok,I read that @BaseballBucky submitted his app on the first day…if the deadline is 8th November and I’m submitting my app on 23rd September,is it going to hurt my chances?
I know this is extremely stupid but I don’t have anyone to guide me through the application process…
At most schools, early submission doesn’t confer an advantage.
Yeah submitting well before the first available date will not hurt you at all! That’s just the kind of person I am; I wanted to stop fretting about applications and just have them all taken care of by the start of the school year 
They barely matter at all. Don’t stress it too much.
Thank you people!!one last thing…everyone in my area is resorting to private counselors to help them with their applications?is it wise to do so,or is it a waste of money?they typically charge around $750-800 in my country.
It really depends on the quality of the person and how you will utilize him/her. There are conflicting points of view on this; there is no clearcut answer (it’s a waste – it’s not a waste). If the counselor is reliable and not a total swindle, I guess it couldn’t hurt to fork down the money if you can afford it.
Why do people always say make a story? Is it that effective to write a story instead of a piece that illustrates who you are? curious…
Yes. Personal Statement essays are narrative-based. People remember narratives. Adcomms are people. Boom.