Colleges, generally speaking, want to admit academically bright and talented students, ones who have the potential to do great things, both while in college, and afterwards. The entire trick of admissions, then, is figuring out which students really match the ethos of a college, and who will be able to do great things with their help. In order to assess this, colleges ask for any number of things from applicants. One item, not often requested but still somewhat regularly seen, is a writing sample. This is not an essay written specifically for your application, but rather one you’ve written already for a course in high school, submitted unchanged and unedited.
This requirement often creates a great deal of concern or consternation for students, as it is so different from the supplemental essays other colleges ask for. The biggest problem is often one of choice paralysis, which of the essays you’ve done is the best, and best shows off your potential to admissions officers? In this article, we’re going to go through why colleges ask for these essays, how you should pick one to send, and what makes for a good writing sample. Let’s jump right in!
Why do Colleges Ask for Writing Samples?
This is not the most common practice; is the only school which requires it outright, though others allow it or offer it for special programs (Amherst allows it in place of a supplemental essay, for example, and requires a graded paper in place of a supplemental). That said, the schools who do employ it seem to find it quite valuable when it comes to assessing a student’s potential.
We’ll focus on Princeton here, though with some notes on the University of Houston’s Honors Program as well. The goal of Princeton’s requirement is to assess the student’s skill as an argumentative academic writer. Indeed, they specifically point to this paper requirement as a replacement for the writing section on the SAT and ACT.
Colleges, especially liberal arts college programs like Princeton, require a lot of writing from their students. This is a core part of the liberal arts educational model, and it makes sense that when considering students for admissions, they would want to make sure that students are comfortable with this requirement, and adroit at producing the written word.
This also explains why an Honors Program like the one at the University of Houston asks for it. These honors programs are designed to mimic the liberal arts model exemplified by schools like Princeton, so they too want to be sure the students they admit are comfortable with written language. These essays take a different form from standard supplements, and showcase a different set of writing skills.Ìý
Choosing Which Essay to Submit to Princeton
Princeton is at the very least specific about what they want from a graded paper, but there’s a lot of wiggle room left in their specifications. Your paper:
- Should come from an English, Social Studies, or History class
- Have been written in the last three years of high school
- Should be expository writing, not creative writing
- Be one to two pages in length
- Should include the instructor’s grade along with any comments they made
The University of Houston’s Honors College is slightly more exacting; they want a literary analysis essay, while this can come from any class, generally only English courses require literary analysis papers. For Princeton, though, you are likely to have a significant number of papers to choose from, which brings up the important question of which essay best represents your academic skills.
This doesn’t necessarily have to be the essay which got the best grade (though of course we advise against submitting one which failed). You should submit a paper that you wrote recently, and which shows off your skill for argumentation and evidence, your ability to craft the written word into interesting argumentative forms. This can be a paper from a test or a homework paper, but you should choose one that is well polished and refined.
Note that you should absolutely not choose a paper which you used AI to help you write, even if your high school didn’t catch it (or didn’t penalize you if they did). Princeton is a school with a very strict , and any violation of it in this essay, if detected, will be a major negative on your application, likely resulting in it being discarded outright.
If you, for some reason, have no essays from a Social Studies, English, or History class, then you are allowed to submit one from another class. The on Princeton’s site goes over other edge cases like this as well, especially for non-traditional students.
If you come down to several papers, all of which fit the requirements, read them again, and try to determine what the writing shows about you. Not your beliefs, but how you construct and evidence an argument, how you structure your thoughts and prove a point rhetorically. This is really what Princeton is looking for, how you are able to express yourself fluently through the written word.
Creating a Good Writing Sample for Princeton
If you know ahead of time that you’re going to apply to Princeton, then congrats, you get to do something very clever, and produce your writing sample intentionally ahead of time. You can look over upcoming assignments and essay-based tests and pick one that best suits your writing style and skills.
If you are considering doing this, we recommend picking an essay where several drafts are done or encouraged, so you have a chance to work through and improve your writing several times. You can also discuss your intentions with your teacher; indeed, we advise doing this, attending any extra study or preparation sessions the teacher offers to help draft and polish your essay.
Note that the actual topic of the essay does not matter to Princeton (so long as you aren’t doing something like arguing for cannibalism or other outre topics). This can be from any of the classes they prefer, we advise one where you have a good relationship with the teacher, and a strong understanding of the subject matter, as this will help you in writing a well-reasoned essay.
When writing this essay, we recommend following a full and in-depth planning and writing process, even if the class doesn’t require it. Decide what you are arguing, and the structure the essay will follow. Each paragraph should contribute its own piece to the broader argument, and each point should be evidenced. They don’t need a super-long research paper (and likely don’t have time to read one), but do want to see the absolute peak of your writing abilities.
Teacher feedback matters, but that exists in large part as a verification that this is an essay you wrote for class and turned in, a way to ensure that this is a typical representation of your work. You do not need to ask your teacher to heap effusive praise on this essay; asking for honest feedback on earlier drafts and working hard to implement it is a much better way to get good comments on a final draft.
As a final note, and one we’ve brought up before, don’t use AI in crafting this paper. It can be tempting, especially if you are pressed for time or worried about the strength of your writing, but it is counterproductive. Your high school teachers want to read your own words and ideas, and admissions officers are the same. Submitting something drafted with AI will not produce a good writing sample.
Our Experience With Writing Samples
At our core, ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø excels at helping students write essays. We help with every aspect of college preparation and admissions, but each year, it is the essays which take the most time, and which students are most worried about. We bring this experience to bear on the writing samples as well, especially when students are getting started early.
We don’t write essays for you of course, but we help with drafting and polishing, coaching you through the process of drafting an essay. Creating an argument through text is a skill, one which high schools endeavor to teach, but are not always able to with the time and resources allotted to them. By working one-on-one with students, we are much better able to help them craft solid pieces.
Not all of our students want to apply to Princeton of course, but over the past few years, our acceptance rate to Princeton has been about twice the average; there is variance year to year of course, but we have been quite pleased as to how well our students have performed.
Final Thoughts
Colleges want to understand who you are, as both a person and a student, and have only the narrow window the application provides to examine you through. Princeton, with its strong focus on academic rigor and character, makes sense as a school that cares about your past writing, and wants to focus on admitting students who will be able to handle the coursework requirements of the school. While most colleges don’t require this kind of writing sample, we hope that this article has helped you understand the ones that do, and what they’re looking for from it.
If you are looking for help with your own application to Princeton, or aren’t quite confident in your own writing skills as of yet, then ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø can help. Our mentors are all expert writers, with long experience guiding students through the process of turning ideas into tangible, excellent writing. Schedule a free consultation today to learn more, we’re always happy to hear from you.
