How Personal Should a College Essay Get?

Short answer: If you’re asking whether you’ve shared too much, you have.

Longer answer: A college admissions essay is a tool. Its job is to help an admissions officer make an informed decision about whether to admit you. That means showing the strongest, most interesting version of what you do, how you do it, and why you do it.

It is not a diary entry. It is not a therapy session.

Save the deeply personal for those. What goes in the essay is what you’d want a smart stranger to know about you before deciding whether you’ll thrive at their school.