The personal essay is an essential component of your application. How compelling it is — or isn't — can make or break your acceptance.

The essay form is a response to minds, art, communities and culture, understood through a writer’s body, intellect and being.

Mo Marie Lauyanne Kouame, 18, dreams of being an aerospace engineer and building spacecraft. This fall, she applied to MIT, Princeton, and Columbia. For one college essay, she wrote about being ...

A University of Oklahoma student received a zero on a psychology essay after using her religious beliefs to discuss gender norms. The graduate student instructor said the grade was for not properly ...