Are the things colleges look for any different?
Are you talking about with respect to admission essays or writing involved in coursework/research in under and grad school?
As a 21+ year old graduate school applicant colleges will expect that you have a lot more knowledge and maturity than a 17 year old college applicant . You will also have a lot more focus.
admission essays
are you applying to grad schools?
to masters or PhD programs?
If you are applying to grad programs repost this question on CC’s graduate school forum
No one answer will be valid for every type of grad school. However my D’s grad school essays were pretty targeted about the career/degree she was applying to while the undergrad essay questions were much more open-ended. I’d say to just pay attention to the prompts on each application and provide the best answer you can.
I agree with all of the answers here. My personal statements for grad school focused on my background, why I wanted to go to grad school, what I hoped to do with a Ph.D., where my research interests lie, and specifically why I wanted to attend the grad school I was applying for. Some schools asked for a research statement where I summarized my research experience, publications, and explained the type of research I was looking for.