Samples of College Application Essays

This page features some of the sample college essays available within Inline, from Common App essays to college supplemental essays (like "Why College X" essays) and short answers. Take a look to see the wide range of excellent essays that top schools are used to seeing, and get inspiration for your own application!

Get Inline to access our "Inline INTEL," which analyzes the sample essays and gives insight into how those essays would be evaluated by an admissions officer.

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Common App Challenge Belief Sample 1

I was “born again” as agnostic in 10th grade. This shift in my religious beliefs posed a challenge to everyone around me. I grew up in a Catholic household.

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Common App Lose Track of Time Sample 1

Almost three years ago, I raced up the winding staircase of the New England Conservatory to the third floor, hoping for help from my new clarinet teacher.

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Common App Obstacles/Setback Sample 1

Beads of sweat pooled at the end of my nose. I watched as they wavered, finally falling, hitting my blue mat and exploding. I turned and observed the girl next to me.

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Creative Sample 1

Where I'm From*I am from shin guards from Tide and OxiClean.

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Dreams Goals Sample 1

My path to engineering is a relatively straight line through a series of summer experiences starting with a visit to an orphanage in Soweto during a family vacation.

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Dreams Goals Sample 2

For me, it all starts with a visit to an orphanage in Soweto during a family vacation when I was in elementary school.

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Dreams Goals Sample 3

I love experimenting and I especially love designing and carrying out my own experiments. I came back to school this fall ready with experiments designed to demonstrate the relationship between a bubble’s diameter and its expansion before it pops.

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Dreams Goals Sample 4

He clutched my hand and refused to let go. He repeated his request that I take him with me.

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Favorites By Category

Those that I have grown with: Harry Potter Series: Still angry I didn’t get my letter when I turned 11. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: I have grown with the main character.

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Favorites Sample 1

Amidst the piles of Elle and Entertainment Weekly that sit atop my coffee table, the one subscription that I always read backwards and forwards is Reader’s Digest.

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