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College Essays

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Figuring out your college essay can be one of the most difficult parts of applying to college. Even once you've read the prompt and picked a topic, you might wonder: if you write too much or too little, will you blow your chance of admission? How long should a college essay be?

Whether you're a terse writer or a loquacious one, we can advise you on college essay length. In this guide, we'll cover what the standard college essay length is, how much word limits matter, and what to do if you aren't sure how long a specific essay should be.

How Long Is a College Essay? First, Check the Word Limit

You might be used to turning in your writing assignments on a page-limit basis (for example, a 10-page paper). While some colleges provide page limits for their college essays, most use a word limit instead. This makes sure there's a standard length for all the essays that a college receives, regardless of formatting or font.

In the simplest terms, your college essay should be pretty close to, but not exceeding, the word limit in length. Think within 50 words as the lower bound, with the word limit as the upper bound. So for a 500-word limit essay, try to get somewhere between 450-500 words. If they give you a range, stay within that range.

College essay prompts usually provide the word limit right in the prompt or in the instructions.

For example, the University of Illinois says :

"You'll answer two to three prompts as part of your application. The questions you'll answer will depend on whether you're applying to a major or to our undeclared program , and if you've selected a second choice . Each response should be approximately 150 words."

As exemplified by the University of Illinois, the shortest word limits for college essays are usually around 150 words (less than half a single-spaced page). Rarely will you see a word limit higher than around 650 words (over one single-spaced page). College essays are usually pretty short: between 150 and 650 words. Admissions officers have to read a lot of them, after all!

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Weigh your words carefully, because they are limited!

How Flexible Is the Word Limit?

But how flexible is the word limit? What if your poignant anecdote is just 10 words too long—or 100 too short?

Can I Go Over the Word Limit?

If you are attaching a document and you need one or two extra words, you can probably get away with exceeding the word limit by such a small amount. Some colleges will actually tell you that exceeding the word limit by 1-2 words is fine. However, I advise against exceeding the word limit unless it's explicitly allowed for a few reasons:

First, you might not be able to. If you have to copy-paste it into a text box, your essay might get cut off and you'll have to trim it down anyway.

If you exceed the word limit in a noticeable way, the admissions counselor may just stop reading your essay past that point. This is not good for you.

Following directions is actually a very important part of the college application process. You need to follow directions to get your letters of recommendation, upload your essays, send supplemental materials, get your test scores sent, and so on and so forth. So it's just a good general rule to follow whatever instructions you've been given by the institution. Better safe than sorry!

Can I Go Under the Word Limit?

If you can truly get your point across well beneath the word limit, it's probably fine. Brevity is not necessarily a bad thing in writing just so long as you are clear, cogent, and communicate what you want to.

However, most college essays have pretty tight word limits anyways. So if you're writing 300 words for an essay with a 500-word limit, ask yourself: is there anything more you could say to elaborate on or support your points? Consult with a parent, friend, or teacher on where you could elaborate with more detail or expand your points.

Also, if the college gives you a word range, you absolutely need to at least hit the bottom end of the range. So if you get a range from the institution, like 400-500 words, you need to write at least 400 words. If you write less, it will come across like you have nothing to say, which is not an impression you want to give.

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What If There Is No Word Limit?

Some colleges don't give you a word limit for one or more of your essay prompts. This can be a little stressful, but the prompts generally fall into a few categories:

Writing Sample

Some colleges don't provide a hard-and-fast word limit because they want a writing sample from one of your classes. In this case, a word limit would be very limiting to you in terms of which assignments you could select from.

For an example of this kind of prompt, check out essay Option B at Amherst :

"Submit a graded paper from your junior or senior year that best represents your writing skills and analytical abilities. We are particularly interested in your ability to construct a tightly reasoned, persuasive argument that calls upon literary, sociological or historical evidence. You should NOT submit a laboratory report, journal entry, creative writing sample or in-class essay."

While there is usually no word limit per se, colleges sometimes provide a general page guideline for writing samples. In the FAQ for Option B , Amherst clarifies, "There is no hard-and-fast rule for official page limit. Typically, we anticipate a paper of 4-5 pages will provide adequate length to demonstrate your analytical abilities. Somewhat longer papers can also be submitted, but in most cases should not exceed 8-10 pages."

So even though there's no word limit, they'd like somewhere in the 4-10 pages range. High school students are not usually writing papers that are longer than 10 pages anyways, so that isn't very limiting.

Want to write the perfect college application essay?   We can help.   Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will help you craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay to proudly submit to colleges.   Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now:

Implicit Length Guideline

Sometimes, while there's no word (or even page) limit, there's still an implicit length guideline. What do I mean by this?

See, for example, this Western Washington University prompt :

“Describe one or more activities you have been involved in that have been particularly meaningful. What does your involvement say about the communities, identities or causes that are important to you?”

While there’s no page or word limit listed here, further down on page the ‘essay tips’ section explains that “ most essay responses are about 500 words, ” though “this is only a recommendation, not a firm limit.” This gives you an idea of what’s reasonable. A little longer or shorter than 500 words would be appropriate here. That’s what I mean by an “implicit” word limit—there is a reasonable length you could go to within the boundaries of the prompt.

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But what's the proper coffee-to-paragraph ratio?

Treasure Hunt

There is also the classic "treasure hunt" prompt. No, it's not a prompt about a treasure hunt. It's a prompt where there are no length guidelines given, but if you hunt around on the rest of the website you can find length guidelines.

For example, the University of Chicago provides seven "Extended Essay" prompts . You must write an essay in response to one prompt of your choosing, but nowhere on the page is there any guidance about word count or page limit.

However, many colleges provide additional details about their expectations for application materials, including essays, on FAQ pages, which is true of the University of Chicago. On the school’s admissions Frequently Asked Questions page , they provide the following length guidelines for the supplemental essays: 

“We suggest that you note any word limits for Coalition or Common Application essays; however, there are no strict word limits on the UChicago Supplement essays. For the extended essay (where you choose one of several prompts), we suggest that you aim for around 650 words. While we won't, as a rule, stop reading after 650 words, we're only human and cannot promise that an overly wordy essay will hold our attention indefinitely. For the “Why UChicago?” essay, we suggest about 250-500 words. The ideas in your writing matter more than the exact number of words you use!”

So there you go! You want to be (loosely) in the realm of 650 for the extended essay, and 250-500 words for the “Why UChicago?” essay.

Help! There Really Is No Guidance on Length

If you really can't find any length guidelines anywhere on the admissions website and you're at a loss, I advise calling the admissions office. They may not be able to give you an exact number (in fact, they probably won't), but they will probably at least be able to tell you how long most of the essays they see are. (And keep you from writing a panicked, 20-page dissertation about your relationship with your dog).

In general, 500 words or so is pretty safe for a college essay. It's a fairly standard word limit length, in fact. (And if you're wondering, that's about a page and a half double-spaced.) 500 words is long enough to develop a basic idea while still getting a point across quickly—important when admissions counselors have thousands of essays to read!

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"See? It says 500 words right there in tiny font!"

The Final Word: How Long Should a College Essay Be?

The best college essay length is usually pretty straightforward: you want to be right under or at the provided word limit. If you go substantially past the word limit, you risk having your essay cut off by an online application form or having the admissions officer just not finish it. And if you're too far under the word limit, you may not be elaborating enough.

What if there is no word limit? Then how long should a college essay be? In general, around 500 words is a pretty safe approximate word amount for a college essay—it's one of the most common word limits, after all!

Here's guidance for special cases and hunting down word limits:

If it's a writing sample of your graded academic work, the length either doesn't matter or there should be some loose page guidelines.

There also may be implicit length guidelines. For example, if a prompt says to write three paragraphs, you'll know that writing six sentences is definitely too short, and two single-spaced pages is definitely too long.

You might not be able to find length guidelines in the prompt, but you could still hunt them up elsewhere on the website. Try checking FAQs or googling your chosen school name with "admissions essay word limit."

If there really is no word limit, you can call the school to try to get some guidance.

With this advice, you can be sure you've got the right college essay length on lockdown!

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Hey, writing about yourself can even be fun!

What's Next?

Need to ask a teacher or friend for help with your essay? See our do's and dont's to getting college essay advice .

If you're lacking in essay inspiration, see our guide to brainstorming college essay ideas . And here's our guide to starting out your essay perfectly!

Looking for college essay examples? See 11 places to find college essay examples and 145 essay examples with analysis !

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?   We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download them for free now:

Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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How To Write An Essay

How to Write an Essay

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How To Write An Essay

‍ Start by thoroughly analyzing the question to grasp its essence. Define your central argument or thesis. Support your argument with a combination of solid evidence, logical reasoning, and references to scholarly works. Ensure the essay is well-organized, presenting ideas coherently. Maintain clear and concise writing throughout. Finally, accurately cite all sources and evidence used, adhering to appropriate academic referencing standards.

All you need to know about essay writing is right here. So, let’s take some consistent baby steps.

Read through our guide until the end, and in time, you’ll become an exceptional essay writer, and the process will become automatic and natural to you. ‍ ‍

Pre-writing Tips

Get to know pre-writing tips to help you figure out how to write a good essay. Before you start writing, consider all of the following without skipping any steps:

  • Truly understand your task : Make sure you grasp what the essay task is asking.
  • Brainstorming : You can try to use techniques like mind mapping and freewriting to let yourself generate ideas in a free flow.
  • Create an outline : You’ll save yourself some time and effort by outlining. This helps you structure your ideas and main points.
  • Consider your audience : Make sure you remember who you’re writing for.

Lay the groundwork for your essay writing by considering the points above. If you want a smoother process, then work smart and not hard. 

Learning The Importance of Essay Structure

Structure and adaptation are important when it comes to figuring out how to write a good essay.

Organizing Your Essay Writing Process Effectively

Make sure that your college essay is well-structured. This is crucial, and it ensures you are presenting your arguments as logically and comprehensively as possible. You need your ideas to flow smoothly and to engage your audience. 

By organizing your essay, you convey your ideas logically and creatively. This boosts your power to not just inform but to persuade as well. Master how to write an essay in an organized manner, and you've already mastered half of it.

Adapt To Different Prompts

Adapting to various prompts involves fitting your writing to the specific requirements. Do this by remembering these tips: 

  • Analyze the prompt.
  • Identify the essay type and topic.
  • Tailor your writing style, tone, and approach to the criteria.

If you need help to write an essay don't forget Studyfy, since you'll find plenty of writing help on the platform.

Picking Your Topic

Picking the right topic is a crucial element in how to write a compelling essay. The right topic captures your audience’s interest easily. Moreover, the right topic also resonates with YOU. Still confused? If you need help writing an essay, you know where to go.

And please, do be mindful of the following: 

  • Consider what you’re interested in and what you already have prior knowledge of.
  • Take into account who your audience is.
  • Take into account the essay’s purpose and aim.
  • Make sure that your chosen topic is actually manageable to write but also allows for in-depth analysis and exploration.

Creating A Good Title

If you want to draw your audience in from the get-go and if you want to come off strong, after choosing your topic, you’ll want to create a captivating title. It should be engaging and relevant. Does this confuse you? You can send a “ write my essay ” order on Studyfy right now, and it’s off your hands and into an expert’s hands.

Here are a few pointers to remember: 

  • Create a title that’s relevant to your essay’s thesis but is also capturing/engaging. The first impression you give to your readers can set the whole tone for how they take in your essay.
  • Be concise but also descriptive. Find the good middle. 

Building Your Thesis, Body, and Conclusion

Writing an essay can be rewarding once you get the hang of it. If you learn and apply effective ways to construct and write its parts, you can truly create something impressive. The three central pillars of your essay are your thesis, body, and conclusion.

Whether you're writing admissions essays, five paragraph essay, argumentative essays or other types of college essays, the paragraph structure is very similar for any particular topic.

Like acts of a play, each part is vital. We’re going to learn the exact ways in which you can write great theses, bodies, and conclusions. Read carefully. 

Crafting a Compelling Central Argument - Guiding Your Essay's Direction

Good essay writing means starting with an effective and well-thought-out thesis statement. Think of your thesis statement as a compass. It serves to guide your writing. It needs to be clear and have conviction. Remember these pointers when making one: 

  • Zero in on the best potential “core” idea : After brainstorming, you should have a list of ideas you can sift through. Find the best one with the most potential to develop.
  • Take a stance while being informative : Thesis statements should represent your stance. They don’t merely inform. It needs to open up to debate or a perspective you want to prove/convey in the entirety of your essay. 
  • Be precise and engaging : Be specific but engaging at the same time when writing your thesis statement.
  • Remain flexible : When you write, remember that the topic has a chance of evolving or changing. Your thesis should reflect/change with it. If you need to refine it as you write, you should. Just make sure it’s relevant/related to what you’re writing.

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How To Write A Great Academic Essay Body: The Main Arguments

  • Start with a Topic Sentence, setting the paragraph's focus like a mini-thesis.
  • Elaborate on the Topic Sentence.
  • Present Supporting Evidence.
  • Examine and Interpret the Evidence.
  • Establish how it supports your main argument.
  • Conclude with a Transition to the next point.

Your body paragraphs are where you’ll develop your arguments that support your thesis. This is where you will present evidence and examples in a cohesive and impactful way through your writing. Always reference back to your thesis statement so as not to go off-topic. Remember these pointers: 

  • Arrange your points logically : This means ensuring each paragraph transitions seamlessly to the next. By structuring logically, you strengthen your arguments and persuasiveness, and you remain coherent. You convey your ideas smoothly to the reader. 
  • Develop each point completely : You should finish exploring and developing a point in its wholeness. Use evidence, present strong examples, and show the reader your unique stance/thoughts on the argument. 
  • Use transitions : For seamless reading, use academically approved transition words, like “Furthermore” or “Additionally.” 

The foundation of learning how to do an essay properly is by understanding that each part of the essay is a cohesive whole. To provide context means to glue the first sentence to the main argument and, for example, tie the main stages with transitional phrases.

How To Write An Essay: Ending with Impact

Another crucial element of how to write essays effectively is writing a strong conclusion. You should reinforce your thesis statements and your main points in this part. Here is what you need to remember: 

  • Revisit your thesis statement : Rephrase, reiterate and showcase your developed arguments.
  • Emphasize key findings and thoughts : Rewrite and recap the key points in your college essay to help your audience retain your core arguments.
  • Conclude with a strong thought : Conclude with a call-to-action, idea, or provocative question that encourages the reader to explore the topic of your essay even after they’ve read your entire paper.
  • Keep it concise : Be concise and focused in your conclusion. Don’t introduce new information. 

Bonus Tips: Improving Your Style and Argumentation

We’ve gone through all the main information you’ll need for essay writing, but you should know some of these additional tips to truly step up your writing game. Another way to step up your writing game is to consider Studyfy’s admission essay writing service and other writing services. Let’s dive deeper into bettering your style and arguments.

Becoming A Master Persuader

To become a true master at essay writing and never need help with writing an essay, you’ll want to practice the art of persuasion. You want to sway and influence your readers by engaging them deeply in your arguments. Remember these points: 

  • Analyze your audience : When tailoring your voice and writing for your audience, you should also tailor your ARGUMENTS to them so they resonate. Try to speculate your audience’s perspectives, values, beliefs, and thought patterns. This will give you a deeper insight when developing your arguments. 
  • Use strong opening sentences : Make sure to grab your readers’ attention right from the start. 
  • Persuasive language : Using words and sentences that foster a sense of importance and urgency and ignite curiosity. Integrate persuasive language throughout your essay, like call-to-actions, emotional appeals, rhetorical questions, inclusive language, and testimonials. 

Appeal to Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

When writing an essay, a good way to strengthen your argumentation is to appeal to ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic) in your readers. Take a look at these pointers: 

  • Establishing credibility (appealing to ethos) : Use reliable sources, cite experts, use strong evidence, and use testimonials. By showing your audience you're backing up your arguments with credible facts, you strengthen your persuasion power. 
  • Connect on an emotional level (appealing to pathos) : When you have their heart, you have them. Use vivid language, relatable anecdotes, and examples, and tap into the power of emotion.
  • Logical reasoning is powerful (appealing to logos) : Using facts and logical points to present clear data and statistics can strengthen your argument significantly. An argument that has solid evidence is hard to deny. 

Bonus Tips: Empowering Your Writing Skills

When pondering on how to make an essay better, it’s important to look beyond the obvious advice. In this section, we remind you to go above and beyond. Let’s find out some additional techniques that you can apply to your essay writing to improve it even further.

Infusing Your Voice Into Your Writing

Overwhelmed by the amount of things you need to learn for essay writing? You can always pay for essay services and get a professional’s help any time. Now, to infuse your voice into your essay writing, take note of these pointers:

  • Be authentic and share your perspective : Your beliefs, experiences, and values should not be completely avoided when writing. If relevant to the topic, your stance can provide a fresh and new angle on your essay, and it can help your essay stand out.
  • Do not be afraid to be creative : Play with language by using metaphors, descriptive language, similes, and other literary tools. It makes your writing memorable and enjoyable when done right.

Cross-Referencing

If you need help with writing an essay to make it better, try to integrate interdisciplinary concepts into your writing. Cross-referencing other fields like history, psychology, science, and literature to provide deeper insights into your arguments can strengthen your essay. Ensure your references add to your arguments, and don’t go off-topic.

Develop Flexibility In Perception

Another way to empower your writing skills and determine how to write an excellent essay is to view and present arguments and statements from different angles. This niche skill is invaluable. If you learn how to master it, you can be a very persuasive writer. Find ways to examine and defend both sides of a topic. Present counter-arguments, and so on.

This requires a lot of practice to use effectively but is easily one of the best things you can develop in essay writing and life. Usually, an argumentative essay is a successful essay if its body paragraphs create a basic structure of opposing context for a specific topic. Your writing process and your introduction paragraph can open the way for the entire essay to delve into opposing topics.

Make sure to do proper research, develop a good idea about what the topics are different or similar to, and, for example, explain your main thesis in a few paragraphs. A clear thesis makes the main body almost write itself - in any type of essay, including an argumentative essay.

Bonus Tips: Remaining Ethical In Writing

Remaining ethical and upholding integrity and credibility in your essay writing is key to passing academia since your professors will double-check your work to make sure you haven’t engaged in cheating. How do you write an essay while remaining ethical? Let’s find out.

How To Avoid Plagiarizing

You’ll need to avoid plagiarizing completely. The degree of punishment you can get for plagiarizing will vary from institution to institution, with some proving to be more lenient while others will be less forgiving. Need help? Try Studyfy’s custom essay writing service and get an expert writer to help you.

 Remember these points to save yourself the grief: 

  • Remember : Plagiarism isn’t only copying text; it’s also using other people’s data, ideas, concepts, and so on without properly crediting them. 
  • You SHOULD paraphrase : Master paraphrasing by reinterpreting the information you’ve examined. Use your own words. 
  • Improve research and note-taking skills : If you research effectively and take notes on the data you collect, it will be easier to distinguish your original ideas from your resources.

Essay Checklist

If you’ve read everything thoroughly and applied what’s been stated in our guide, you should be much better at writing essays. To further improve your experience, here’s an essay checklist you can use to make sure you’ve done everything you need to. 

Remember to focus on the formatting issues as well, including common mistakes, passive voice, too much everyday experience, and ambiguous word choice.

Checklist Item

  • Strong and Clear Thesis Statement
  • Effective Introduction
  • Well-developed Arguments
  • Evidence and Support
  • Paragraph Structure
  • Transitions
  • Strong Conclusion
  • Correct Citations and References
  • Plagiarism-free
  • Editing, Proofreading, and Revision
  • Complied With Word Count
  • Correct Formatting

Did you like our article?

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Which key elements make up a strong essay structure?

A strong introduction that grabs the audience and introduces the thesis statement effectively. A body that presents ideas and arguments that support the thesis. A conclusion that sums up the main points of the essay and reintroduces the thesis in light of the arguments stated. This is how to write an essay in English effectively.

How do I write a clear and strong thesis statement?

If you’re asking yourself, “How do I write an essay that has a strong thesis statement?” We remind you to narrow your ideas and zero in on a key idea. This idea should be specific, and it should be an idea that you can fully develop and explore.

This blog is here to provide guidance and ease the essay writing process - we're here for you from the moment you start writing to the moment you reach the central point and reach the next paragraph.

What can I do to ensure my essay is engaging and persuasive?

Be sure your introduction is compelling and uses strong, active verbs. Your arguments should be presented logically, and you should back them up with strong evidence. Make sure to use persuasive language like rhetorical questions, analogies, metaphors, inclusive words, call-to-actions, etc. Varying sentence structures will keep readers interested.

To keep the reader on the hook, most essays use clever paragraphs, a clear thesis, a robust main body, and a polished final draft.

What’s the best way to write an essay?

The best way to write a college essay is to be prepared. Read our guide thoroughly and give yourself enough time to write the whole essay. Don’t start at the last minute. 

When you begin writing, your writing process is in its first draft. What's important is that you remember that an essay outline is not the final essay, and your college essay can change and adapt as you go. Whether an introductory paragraph, main points or conclusion paragraph, make sure to catch the reader's attention and lead with concrete examples.

And don't forget to focus on editing. Double-check the line spacing, structure, outline, number of paragraphs, word choice, and the cohesion of the final paragraph.

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How to Write Your College Essay: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide

Getting ready to start your college essay? Your essay is very important to your application — especially if you’re applying to selective colleges.

Become a stronger writer by reviewing your peers’ essays and get your essay reviewed as well for free.

We have regular livestreams during which we walk you through how to write your college essay and review essays live.

College Essay Basics

Just getting started on college essays? This section will guide you through how you should think about your college essays before you start.

  • Why do essays matter in the college application process?
  • What is a college application theme and how do you come up with one?
  • How to format and structure your college essay

Before you move to the next section, make sure you understand:

How a college essay fits into your application

What a strong essay does for your chances

How to create an application theme

Learn the Types of College Essays

Next, let’s make sure you understand the different types of college essays. You’ll most likely be writing a Common App or Coalition App essay, and you can also be asked to write supplemental essays for each school. Each essay has a prompt asking a specific question. Each of these prompts falls into one of a few different types. Understanding the types will help you better answer the prompt and structure your essay.

  • How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges
  • Personal Statement Essay Examples
  • How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity Essay
  • Extracurricular Essay Examples
  • Tips for Writing a Diversity College Essay
  • Diversity Essay Examples
  • Tips for Writing a Standout Community Service Essay
  • How to Write the “Why This Major” Essay
  • How to Write a “Why This Major” Essay if You’re Undecided
  • How to write the “Why This College” Essay
  • How to Research a College to Write the “Why This College” Essay
  • Why This College Essay Examples
  • How to Write The Overcoming Challenges Essay
  • Overcoming Challenges Essay Examples

Identify how each prompt fits into an essay type

What each type of essay is really asking of you

How to write each essay effectively

The Common App essay

Almost every student will write a Common App essay, which is why it’s important you get this right.

  • How to Write the Common App Essay
  • Successful Common App Essay Examples
  • 5 Awesome College Essay Topics + Sample Essays
  • 11 Cliché College Essay Topics + How to Fix Them

How to choose which Common App prompts to answer

How to write a successful Common App essay

What to avoid to stand out to admissions officers

Supplemental Essay Guides

Many schools, especially competitive ones, will ask you to write one or more supplemental essays. This allows a school to learn more about you and how you might fit into their culture.

These essays are extremely important in standing out. We’ve written guides for all the top schools. Follow the link below to find your school and read last year’s essay guides to give you a sense of the essay prompts. We’ll update these in August when schools release their prompts.

See last year’s supplemental essay guides to get a sense of the prompts for your schools.

Essay brainstorming and composition

Now that you’re starting to write your essay, let’s dive into the writing process. Below you’ll find our top articles on the craft of writing an amazing college essay.

  • Where to Begin? 3 Personal Essay Brainstorming Exercises
  • Creating the First Draft of Your College Application Essay
  • How to Get the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay
  • What If I Don’t Have Anything Interesting To Write About In My College Essay?
  • 8 Do’s and Don’t for Crafting Your College Essay
  • Stuck on Your College Essay? 8 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block

Understand how to write a great hook for your essay

Complete the first drafts of your essay

Editing and polishing your essay

Have a first draft ready? See our top editing tips below. Also, you may want to submit your essay to our free Essay Peer Review to get quick feedback and join a community of other students working on their essays.

  • 11 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your College Essay
  • Getting Help with Your College Essay
  • 5 DIY Tips for Editing Your College Essay
  • How Long Should Your College Essay Be?
  • Essential Grammar Rules for Your College Apps
  • College Essay Checklist: Are You Ready to Submit?

Proofread and edited your essay.

Had someone else look through your essay — we recommend submitting it for a peer review.

Make sure your essay meets all requirements — consider signing up for a free account to view our per-prompt checklists to help you understand when you’re really ready to submit.

Advanced College Essay Techniques

Let’s take it one step further and see how we can make your college essay really stand out! We recommend reading through these posts when you have a draft to work with.

  • 10 Guidelines for Highly Readable College Essays
  • How to Use Literary Devices to Enhance Your Essay
  • How to Develop a Personalized Metaphor for Your College Applications

The Write Practice

Essay Writing Tips: 10 Steps to Writing a Great Essay (And Have Fun Doing It!)

by Joe Bunting | 118 comments

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Do you dread essay writing? Are you looking for some essay tips that will help you write an amazing essay—and have fun doing it?

essay tips

Lots of students, young and old, dread essay writing. It's a daunting assignment, one that takes research, time, and concentration.

It's also an assignment that you can break up into simple steps that make writing an essay manageable and, yes, even enjoyable.

These ten essay tips completely changed my writing process—and I hope that they can do the same for you.

Essay Writing Can Be Fun

Honestly, throughout most of high school and college, I was a mediocre essay writer.

Every once in a while, I would write a really good essay, but mostly I skated by with B's and A-minuses.

I know personally how boring writing an essay can be, and also, how hard it can be to write a good one.

However, toward the end of my time as a student, I made a breakthrough. I figured out how to not only write a great essay, I learned how to have fun while doing it . 

And since then, I've become a professional writer and have written more than a dozen books. I'm not saying that these essay writing tips are going to magically turn you into a writer, but at least they can help you enjoy the process more.

I'm excited to share these ten essay writing tips with you today! But first, we need to talk about why writing an essay is so hard.

Why Writing an Essay Is So Hard

When it comes to essay writing, a lot of students find a reason to put it off. And when they tackle it, they find it difficult to string sentences together that sound like a decent stance on the assigned subject.

Here are a few reasons why essay writing is hard:

  • You'd rather be scrolling through Facebook
  • You're trying to write something your teacher or professor will like
  • You're trying to get an A instead of writing something that's actually good
  • You want to do the least amount of work possible

The biggest reason writing an essay is so hard is because we mostly focus on those external  rewards like getting a passing grade, winning our teacher's approval, or just avoiding accusations of plagiarism.

The problem is that when you focus on external approval it not only makes writing much less fun, it also makes it significantly harder.

Because when you focus on external approval, you shut down your subconscious, and the subconscious is the source of your creativity.

The subconscious is the source of your creativity.

What this means practically is that when you're trying to write that perfect, A-plus-worthy sentence, you're turning off most of your best resources and writing skills.

So stop. Stop trying to write a good essay (or even a “good-enough” essay). Instead, write an interesting  essay, write an essay you think is fascinating. And when you're finished, go back and edit it until it's “good” according to your teacher's standards.

Yes, you need to follow the guidelines in your assignment. If your teacher tells you to write a five-paragraph essay, then write a five-paragraph essay! If your teacher asks for a specific type of essay, like an analysis, argument, or research essay, then make sure you write that type of essay!

However, within those guidelines, find room to express something that is uniquely you .

I can't guarantee you'll get a higher grade (although, you almost certainly will), but I can absolutely promise you'll have a lot more fun writing.

The Step-by-Step Process to Writing a Great Essay: Your 10 Essay Writing Tips

Ready to get writing? You can read my ten best tips for having fun while writing an essay that earns you the top grade, or check out this presentation designed by our friends at Canva Presentations .

1. Remember your essay is just a story.

Every story is about conflict and change, and the truth is that essays are about conflict and change, too! The difference is that in an essay, the conflict is between different ideas , and the change is in the way we should perceive those ideas.

That means that the best essays are about surprise: “You probably think it's one way, but in reality, you should think of it this other way.” See tip #3 for more on this.

How do you know what story you're telling? The prompt should tell you.

Any list of essay prompts includes various topics and tasks associated with them. Within those topics are characters (historical, fictional, or topical) faced with difficult choices. Your job is to work with those choices, usually by analyzing them, arguing about them, researching them, or describing them in detail.

2. Before you start writing, ask yourself, “How can I have the most fun writing this?”

It's normal to feel unmotivated when writing an academic essay. I'm a writer, and honestly, I feel unmotivated to write all the time. But I have a super-ninja, judo-mind trick I like to use to help motivate myself.

Here's the secret trick: One of the interesting things about your subconscious is that it will answer any question you ask yourself. So whenever you feel unmotivated to write your essay, ask yourself the following question:

“How much fun can I have writing this?”

Your subconscious will immediately start thinking of strategies to make the writing process more fun.

The best time to have your fun is the first draft. Since you're just brainstorming within the topic, and exploring the possible ways of approaching it, the first draft is the perfect place to get creative and even a little scandalous. Here are some wild suggestions to make your next essay a load of fun:

  • Research the most surprising or outrageous fact about the topic and use it as your hook.
  • Use a thesaurus to research the topic's key words. Get crazy with your vocabulary as you write, working in each key word synonym as much as possible.
  • Play devil's advocate and take the opposing or immoral side of the issue. See where the discussion takes you as you write.

3. As you research, ask yourself, “What surprises me about this subject?”

The temptation, when you're writing an essay, is to write what you think your teacher or professor wants to read.

Don't do this .

Instead, ask yourself, “What do I find interesting about this subject? What surprises me?”

If you can't think of anything that surprises you, anything you find interesting, then you're not searching well enough, because history, science, and literature are all brimming   over with surprises. When you look at how great ideas actually happen, the story is always, “We used  to think the world was this way. We found out we were completely wrong, and that the world is actually quite different from what we thought.”

These pieces of surprising information often make for the best topic sentences as well. Use them to outline your essay and build your body paragraphs off of each unique fact or idea. These will function as excellent hooks for your reader as you transition from one topic to the next.

(By the way, what sources should you use for research? Check out tip #10 below.)

4. Overwhelmed? Write five original sentences.

The standard three-point essay is really made up of just five original sentences surrounded by supporting paragraphs that back up those five sentences. If you're feeling overwhelmed, just write five sentences covering your most basic main points.

Here's what they might look like for this article:

  • Introductory Paragraph:  While most students consider writing an essay a boring task, with the right mindset, it can actually be an enjoyable experience.
  • Body #1: Most students think writing an essay is tedious because they focus on external rewards.
  • Body #2: Students should instead focus on internal fulfillment when writing an essay.
  • Body #3: Not only will focusing on internal fulfillment allow students to have more fun, it will also result in better essays.
  • Conclusion: Writing an essay doesn't have to be simply a way to earn a good grade. Instead, it can be a means of finding fulfillment.

After you write your five sentences, it's easy to fill in the paragraphs for each one.

Now, you give it a shot!

5. Be “source heavy.”

In college, I discovered a trick that helped me go from a B-average student to an A-student, but before I explain how it works, let me warn you. This technique is powerful , but it might not work for all teachers or professors. Use with caution.

As I was writing a paper for a literature class, I realized that the articles and books I was reading said what I was trying to say much better than I ever could. So what did I do? I quoted them liberally throughout my paper. When I wasn't quoting, I re-phrased what they said in my own words, giving proper credit, of course. I found that not only did this formula create a well-written essay, it took about half the time to write.

It's good to keep in mind that using anyone else's words, even when morphed into your own phrasing, requires citation. While the definition of plagiarism is shifting with the rise of online collaboration and cooperative learning environments, always  err on the side of excessive citation to be safe.

When I used this technique, my professors sometimes mentioned that my papers were very “source” heavy. However, at the same time, they always gave me A's.

To keep yourself safe, I recommend using a 60/40 approach with your body paragraphs: Make sure 60% of the words are your own analysis and argumentation, while 40% can be quoted (or text you paraphrase) from your sources.

Like the five sentence trick, this technique makes the writing process simpler. Instead of putting the main focus on writing well, it instead forces you to research  well, which some students find easier.

6. Write the body first, the introduction second, and the conclusion last.

Introductions are often the hardest part to write because you're trying to summarize your entire essay before you've even written it yet. Instead, try writing your introduction last, giving yourself the body of the paper to figure out the main point of your essay.

This is especially important with an essay topic you are not personally interested in. I definitely recommend this in classes you either don't excel in or care much for. Take plenty of time to draft and revise your body paragraphs before  attempting to craft a meaningful introductory paragraph.

Otherwise your opening may sound awkward, wooden, and bland.

7. Most essays answer the question, “What?” Good essays answer the “Why?” The best essays answer the “How?”

If you get stuck trying to make your argument, or you're struggling to reach the required word count, try focusing on the question, “How?”

For example:

  • How did J.D. Salinger convey the theme of inauthenticity in  The Catcher In the Rye ?
  • How did Napoleon restore stability in France after the French Revolution?
  • How does the research prove girls really do rule and boys really do drool?

If you focus on how, you'll always have enough to write about.

8. Don't be afraid to jump around.

Essay writing can be a dance. You don't have to stay in one place and write from beginning to end.

For the same reasons listed in point #6, give yourself the freedom to write as if you're circling around your topic rather than making a single, straightforward argument. Then, when you edit and proofread, you can make sure everything lines up correctly.

In fact, now is the perfect time to mention that proofreading your essay isn't just about spelling and commas.

It's about making sure your analysis or argument flows smoothly from one idea to another. (Okay, technically this comprises editing, but most students writing a high school or college essay don't take the time to complete every step of the writing process. Let's be honest.)

So as you clean up your mechanics and sentence structure, make sure your ideas flow smoothly, logically, and naturally from one to the next as you finish proofreading.

9. Here are some words and phrases you don't want to use.

  • You  (You'll notice I use a lot of you's, which is great for a blog post. However, in an academic essay, it's better to omit the second-person.)
  • To Be verbs (is, are, was, were, am)

Don't have time to edit? Here's a lightning-quick editing technique .

A note about “I”: Some teachers say you shouldn't use “I” statements in your writing, but the truth is that professional, academic papers often use phrases like “I believe” and “in my opinion,” especially in their introductions.

10. It's okay to use Wikipedia, if…

Wikipedia is one of the top five websites in the world for a reason: it can be a great tool for research. However, most teachers and professors don't consider Wikipedia a valid source for use in essays.

Don't totally discount it, though! Here are two ways you can use Wikipedia in your essay writing:

  • Background research. If you don't know enough about your topic, Wikipedia can be a great resource to quickly learn everything you need to know to get started.
  • Find sources . Check the reference section of Wikipedia's articles on your topic. While you may not be able to cite Wikipedia itself, you can often find those original sources and cite them . You can locate the links to primary and secondary sources at the bottom of any Wikipedia page under the headings “Further Reading” and “References.”

You Can Enjoy Essay Writing

The thing I regret most about high school and college is that I treated it like something I had  to do rather than something I wanted  to do.

The truth is, education is an opportunity many people in the world don't have access to.

It's a gift, not just something that makes your life more difficult. I don't want you to make the mistake of just “getting by” through school, waiting desperately for summer breaks and, eventually, graduation.

How would your life be better if you actively enjoyed writing an essay? What would school look like if you wanted to suck it dry of all the gifts it has to give you?

All I'm saying is, don't miss out!

Looking for More Essay Writing Tips?

Looking for more essay tips to strengthen your essay writing? Try some of these resources:

  • 7 Tips on Writing an Effective Essay
  • Tips for Writing Your Thesis Statement

How about you? Do you have any tips for writing an essay?  Let us know in the  comments .

Need more grammar help?  My favorite tool that helps find grammar problems and even generates reports to help improve my writing is ProWritingAid . Works with Word, Scrivener, Google Docs, and web browsers. Also, be sure to use my coupon code to get 20 percent off: WritePractice20

Coupon Code:WritePractice20 »

Ready to try out these ten essay tips to make your essay assignment fun? Spend fifteen minutes using tip #4 and write five original sentences that could be turned into an essay.

When you're finished, share your five sentences in the comments section. And don't forget to give feedback to your fellow writers!

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Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

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14 Best College Essay Services for 2024 (40 Services Reviewed)

Research conducted by Emily Kierkegaard , PhD, and expert-reviewed by Kevin Wong, PrepMaven Co-founder

Not sure which college application essay coaching and editing service is the best? We compared the top 40 services, created in-depth reviews for 14 of them, and narrowed it down to the 4 best that will help guide you through the process of writing amazing college application essays.

What is the Best College Essay Service?

  • PrepMaven  – best college application essay service overall
  • College Essay Mentor  – best for individual consultants
  • The College Essay Guy  – best for unlimited essay assistance
  • College Vine  – best of the big platforms

The best of the rest:

Individual essay consultants:

  • College Essay Editor  – small editing team
  • Allison Karpf  – former English teacher helping students
  • Your College Vision  – former journalist with more affordable rates
  • The College Guru  – good on paper but unresponsive
  • Sofia Zapiola – budget-friendly application assistance

Mid-size teams:

  • Lotus Learning  – focus on health sciences

Large platforms:

  • Study Point  – larger platform with mystery editors
  • Ivy Select  – larger platform with mystery editors
  • Empowerly  – larger platform with mystery editors
  • BeMo  – expensive and aggressive with wrong expertise

starting to write college essay

Schedule a college essay consultation

Best College Application Essay Services in 2024

#1 – prepmaven.

Our Verdict — Best College Essay Assistance Overall Price: $79–349/hour (minimum $510 package) PrepMaven’s one-on-one college essay assistance is the best option overall. Founded by brothers and Princeton grads Greg and Kevin, almost all of PrepMaven’s essay coaches have Ivy-League experience, primarily from Princeton and Harvard. All essay coaches also undergo a thorough training program in PrepMaven’s methods, developed by professional writers with deep understanding of the college admissions process, for helping students to discover the most compelling stories for their essays. Unlike other services, PrepMaven offers college essay assistance at several different price points. At the most accessible rate, students can work with current Ivy-League undergraduates who specialize in writing and have recently aced the college application process. At higher rates, students can work with coaches who are both Ivy-League grads and professional writers (screenwriters, journalists, editors) with many years of experience helping students to craft compelling essays. Interested students can even work directly with founders Greg and Kevin, who have over 15 years of experience helping students through the entire essay-writing process. PrepMaven’s services combine many of the best features of other good options into one, and it’s hard to beat their experience.

Sign up for PrepMaven’s college essay help now

Any student wanting college essay help, at any point in the process, with a range of budgets.

At a glance:

  • Cost: $79–349/hour (minimum $510 package)
  • Writing coach qualifications: Princeton graduates and professional writers (or current Princeton students); all trained

What we like:

  • Ivy League experience —most of their writing coaches are Princeton grads or current students, with some from Harvard and other Ivies
  • Different pricing options to meet different families’ circumstances
  • More flexible and greater capacity to take on new students compared to individual consultants

Sign up for PrepMaven’s college essay help

Princeton University

#2 – College Essay Mentor

Our Verdict — Best of the Individual Consultants Price: unknown but high Some college essay consulting services consist of just one expert. Of these individual essay consultants, Chris Hunt at College Essay Mentor is our favorite. He combines writing experience as a journalist for the Economist and the Wall Street Journal with personal experience as a graduate of Dartmouth. However, he only works with a small number of students each year, and students need to apply to work with him — he only accepts students with top grades and test scores who are already strong applicants for top schools. Chris offers the option for one-time written feedback, but this only gives big-picture generalizations. (And written-only feedback is always limited.) In order for help with the essay process, students need to purchase a complete essay package.

Students with top grades and test scores who want to work with a one-person business, who have a sizable budget, and who are ready to get started early.

  • Cost: $210 for a one-time written essay feedback (big picture only), then $110 per draft feedback; pricing for essay process packages unknown
  • Essay coach qualifications: professional journalist, Dartmouth grad
  • Professional writing experience as a journalist
  • Extensive experience working with college applicants
  • Partners with Debra Felix, former Director of Admissions at Columbia, for full application review

What we don’t like:

  • One-on-one work is limited to very high-achieving students, who need to apply with a resume : “I limit my one-on-one work to students who I believe will be strong applicants to elite universities. As a rule, this means having high grades in challenging classes, a test score of ACT 34+ or SAT 1500+, and substantial activities outside of the classroom.”
  • Works with a limited number of students (60 per year), so often no availability
  • All-or-nothing packages don’t allow students to work with Chris for just a few hours or for part of the essay-writing process
  • Secretive about pricing (he’ll only give pricing details once he’s reviewed the student’s resume and agreed to work with them), but we expect the minimum cost of working one-on-one to be several thousand dollars

#3 – The College Essay Guy

Our Verdict — Best for Unlimited Essay Assistance Price: $4900 for application to 3 schools, $8050 for application for 10 schools We’re fans of Ethan Sawyer, the original “college essay guy”— his book, College Essay Essentials , is a great guide to the essay-writing process. Ethan doesn’t work directly with many students these days, but he now has a team of consultants who help students follow his principles. Their assistance is really all-or-nothing — they prefer to work with students from the very beginning of the process, and their minimum package is $4900, which includes assistance with essays for three schools. If students are applying to ten schools (a more realistic number for students aiming at competitive colleges), the fee is a hefty $7400.

Students who want unlimited help through the entire process, who have a sizable budget.

  • Cost: $4900 (supplemental essays for 3 schools) – $7400 (supplemental essays for 10 schools)
  • Essay coach qualifications: mix of Ivy grads and former teachers, some writers/screenwriters; all trained
  • Great free resources about the essay-writing process
  • Their Matchlighters Scholars Program gives back to the community by providing admissions consulting for select qualifying students
  • All-or-nothing packages have a high minimum fee and don’t work for students who want just a few hours of feedback or help with just part of the process

#4 – College Vine

Our Verdict — Best of the Big Platforms Price: $140–180/hour There are plenty of large platforms with large stables of part-time tutors and coaches available to work with students. Of these big platforms, we think CollegeVine has the best offerings. Compared to other large companies, CollegeVine provides more information about their tutors, and students can pick individual tutors to work with from their roster. However, this model is really just a way of finding individual tutors to hire. Tutors don’t receive any training and don’t share a common approach, so it’s a mixed bag. Their rates are fairly high for part-time tutors who don’t have specific expertise and training in college essay consulting. Because CollegeVine is really just a marketplace where individual tutors can find students, the quality and price will vary widely.

Students who want to work with a big company, or those who want a quick session or two to go over their essays.

  • Cost: Typically $140–180/hour
  • Essay coach qualifications: no specific qualifications, but a few are Ivy League graduates
  • Possible to select individual editors to work with from their roster.
  • Easy to schedule ad-hoc sessions with a tutor through the website.
  • No training or common approach for tutors
  • Editors are part-time , with no option to work with full-time college admissions experts
  • Relatively expensive for this level of expertise

College Essay Editing Alternatives (that Didn’t Make the Cut)

Individual essay consultants, #5 – college essay editor.

Our Verdict — Small Editing Team Price: Roughly $5,950 for applications to 10 schools College Essay Editor comprises two graduates of Stanford. This means that they have personal experience applying to highly competitive schools. One member of the team also has a college counseling certification, which is a good background for college essays. Based on their website, they appear to focus on the editing and proofreading phase of the essay-writing process. This can be helpful to students, but we recommend working with a service who can help students to uncover their values and brainstorm really great material that allows them to really shine—and if this doesn’t happen at the beginning of the process, it’s much harder to add in later on.

  • Cost: $195/1000 words for proofreading, $495/1000 words for 3 rounds of editing and proofreading, or $595/1000 words for unlimited rounds of editing and proofreading; for the purposes of comparison, complete applications to 10 competitive colleges would be around 9,650 words, or $5950.
  • Writing coach qualifications: Stanford graduates, one of whom has college counseling certification
  • Editors are graduates of Stanford University , and one is a member of NACAC, the national association of college counselors
  • They focus on editing and proofreading only , not on the crucial earlier steps of brainstorming and strategy
  • Small team with very limited availability
  • All asynchronous editing so you won’t be able to cultivate a real relationship with your essay coach.

#6 – Allison Karpf

Our Verdict — Former English Teacher Helping Students Price: $385/hour or $3850 package for application to one school Another option for students looking to hire an individual consultant is Allison Karpf. Allison is a former high school English teacher and a graduate of UC Berkeley who also holds a Masters of Education from Stanford. Her rates are definitely on the higher side, especially for someone who doesn’t have a professional writing background, but she does have extensive experience working with students to craft their essays.

  • Cost:  $385/hour or $3850 unlimited counseling (includes supplemental essays for one college)
  • Essay coach qualifications: former high school English teacher; Berkeley grad, Stanford MEd
  • Lots of experience helping students improve their college essays
  • Very quick to respond to client requests
  • No professional writing experience or Ivy-Plus undergraduate experience
  • High rates relative to other options
  • Limited availability , since she works alone

#7 – Your College Vision

Our Verdict: Former Journalist with More Affordable Rates Price: $180/hour, or packages starting from $3500 Laurie Lande is another individual consultant who helps students through the essay-writing process. She comes recommended by other consultants like Chris from College Essay Mentor . Laurie did not herself attend a highly competitive school, so she doesn’t have that personal experience of going through the selective admissions process, but she does have a professional writing background as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong.

  • Cost: $180/hour or packages starting at $3500
  • Essay coach qualifications: journalism background
  • Affordable pricing , relative to other options
  • Not a graduate of a highly selective school

#8 – The College Guru

Our Verdict — Good on Paper but Unresponsive Price: unknown Yet another individual essay consultant is Geanine Thompson from The College Guru. Geanine attended Dartmouth as an undergraduate and also holds an MBA from Duke. She also has a professional writing background as an assistant book editor at Berkley Publishing Group. Like Greg and Kevin at PrepMaven , she combines experience in the business world and at Wall Street firms with experience in education.

  • Cost: unknown
  • Essay coach qualifications: former assistant book editor; Dartmouth grad, Duke MBA
  • Dartmouth graduate and former book editor
  • Not responsive to emails and client requests

#9 – Sofia Zapiola

Our Verdict — A budget-friendly, personal essay editor. Price: $80/hour Yet another individual essay consultant is Sofia Zapiola, who offers a mix of essay editing and college application counseling services.

  • Cost: $80/hour
  • Essay coach qualifications: M.A. from Harvard; certificate in College Counseling from UC San Diego.
  • Individual approach, budget-friendly rates, commitment to working within families’ budgets.
  • Very few testimonials, so it’s difficult to evaluate how effective she is.

student writing college essay on laptop

Mid-size Teams

#10 – lotus learning.

Our Verdict — Expensive for Tutor Background Price: $165/hour Founded by a Harvard grad who is a former teacher and veteran of the publishing industry, Lotus learning offers college essay help in the Boston area. They have a small team of tutors, mostly recent grads from good but not Ivy-Plus colleges, and mostly with focus in health sciences.

  • Cost: $165/hour (minimum 8 hours)
  • Essay coach qualifications: tutors are recent grads, but not Ivy-Plus schools
  • Reasonable pricing with flexible packages
  • Essay editors aren’t graduates of Ivy-Plus schools and don’t have professional writing experience

Large platforms

#11 – study point.

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: Rates Between $60 and $120/hr Study Point is a larger essay editing service. They claim to have several decades of experience helping students to craft their college essays, but they do not give information about who their essay coaches are and what qualifications they might have.

  • Cost: $60-120/hr, depending on tutor experience
  • Essay coach qualifications: unknown
  • Larger company with several decades of experience
  • Unclear who the essay coaches are
  • Lack of statistics about their results

#12 – Ivy Select

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: unknown Ivy Select makes a lot of big promises on their website about having the best college essay consultants in the business, but they offer no information on who these consultants are, or on their backgrounds. They also brag that each consultant “only” works 20 students in one application cycle, but in our experience, that’s quite high.

  • Long list of impressive (but anonymous) testimonials
  • Only work with “top students”
  • No information on their website about who the editors are
  • Each essay coach works with up to 20 students at one time

#13 – Empowerly

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: High, from $6000/year Empowerly has over 60 college counselors who each work with an average of 5 students per year, in order to have more time to devote to each student. Their counselors come from “different educational backgrounds,” and while they do not provide specific biographical details we can assume that most of their essay coaches did not attend highly selective schools.

  • Cost: typically from $6000/year
  • Essay coach qualifications: college counselors
  • Counselors work with just a few students per year
  • You have to upgrade to “Empowerly Elite” to guarantee a counselor with a more selective educational background
  • No professional writing experience

#14 – Prepory

Our Verdict — Expensive but with Good Expertise Price: $325/hr Prepory is a college application and career counseling service that offers a comprehensive program for college applications at any stage of the process (including as early as 9th grade). They make a lot of impressive claims about the expertise of their coaches, but it’s quite difficult to actual find much information about their essay coach qualifications.

  • Cost: $325/hr
  • They have a comprehensive college application program that begins as early as 9th grade.
  • Limited information about essay coaches
  • High prices

Top 40 College Essay Services Considered

  • College Essay Editor
  • The College Essay Guy
  • College Vine
  • College Essay Mentor
  • Study Point
  • Allison Karpf
  • The College Guru
  • Lotus Learning
  • Summit Prep
  • Sofia Zapiola
  • Ivy Global / New Summits
  • College Essay Solutions
  • Your College Vision
  • Essay Edge*
  • ServicEscape*
  • PapersForge*
  • QuickWriter*
  • JustEditMyEssay*
  • JustDoMyEsssay*
  • ExpertWriting*
  • SpeedyPaper*
  • GradeMiners*

* A number of services will edit essays directly for students, or even write portions of the essay for students. We do not condone this. Admissions officers can tell when essays have been written or edited by adults and this can have severe consequences. We have excluded these services from our reviews.

student writing college essay

Why are college application essays important?

Can a great college essay alone get you into Harvard?

No. You’ll need your grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities (as well as letters of recommendation and interview) to be outstanding.

But can a mediocre essay be the reason you didn’t get into Harvard?

Yes. There are thousands of amazingly-qualified students who graduate from high school each year. Great grades and test scores might be a prerequisite for admission to a competitive college, but they alone aren’t enough.

Harvard University

College essays are a key component of a student’s application . When done well, they transform a collection of numbers—GPA, class rank, SAT or ACT scores , number of AP classes taken, AP scores—into a glimpse of a real, individual person.

Essays do many things. Good college essays can highlight extracurricular achievements which otherwise would be overlooked in a sterile list. Strong essays often indicate the student’s future plans —how they plan to leave a mark on their college campus and on the world. They can shine a light on unique challenges that a student may have had to face on their journey.

College admissions officers only have a few minutes to spend on each application. College essays need to be original, interesting, and memorable . They need to grab the attention of the admissions officer and persuade them that this is the student out of hundreds or thousands of other similarly-qualified applicants who should be admitted.

College admissions essays are usually unlike any other kind of writing that students have done before. They’re a combination of memoir and marketing pitch, and they need to be creative but also highly strategic. That’s a tough assignment!

What’s more, students are left to figure this assignment out on their own. A thoughtful and generous high school English teacher may provide guidance or offer to read essays and give feedback, but these teachers are responsible for many students, and they’re (usually) not experts in admissions strategies.

There’s another reason college essays are especially important from 2024 on. After the recent Supreme Court decision, the application essay has become one of the main ways that you can communicate how your racial identity has affected your life.

In fact, the New York Times published an article about how important it can be for students to discuss race in their college application essays!

Princeton University

Why work with a college essay service?

You may want to consider a college essay service if:

  • You have no idea where to start in order to write your college application essays
  • You feel overwhelmed by all of the different ideas you have and don’t know what would be the most strategic for college admissions—and what topics to definitely avoid for college essays
  • You don’t know how to craft a compelling stor y
  • You’re not sure how to edit and refine what you’ve written
  • You have a hard time keeping yourself on track and want an external structure to hold you accountable
  • You’re tired of conflict between students and parents about college essays
  • You’re aiming at a competitive college (not just the Ivy League!) and know that you need your essays to be outstanding
  • Your grades, test scores, and extracurriculars aren’t exceptional, so you need your essay to make your essay stand out from the pack
  • You’re unfamiliar with the US college admissions process (a common situation for international students and first-generation families in the US)

Any of these are strong reasons to consider working with a college essay service!

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of the free advice on college’s website isn’t always very clear. For example, NYU’s admissions Senior Assistant Director of Admissions says that “There is no right or wrong way to answer as long as your answer is genuine to you.”

While that’s true, that doesn’t offer much guidance on how to actually write the essay!

Though many college applicants might not mention it, more and more students are using professional college application consultants. Research at the University of Chicago has shown that over a quarter of high-achieving seniors employed private specialists to help with the college application process.

In fact, according to NPR , some companies are even offering college admissions counseling to their top employees as an incentive–that’s just how important professional help can be in the current landscape of college admissions.

It’s important to note that a good college essay service will not write your college application essays for you . This is unethical and illegal. That’s not just coming from us: take it from a school like Princeton, whose website insists on the importance of writing your own application essays.

A good college essay service will guide you through each step of the process , teaching you how to self-reflect and write well while sharing insider insight about admissions strategy .

Yale University

What makes a good college essay service?

We strongly believe that students need to write their own college essays , and we do not condone plagiarism or “buying” a college essay.

However, writing college application essays requires a completely new set of skills that is rarely taught in high school!

Writing a personal essay is much more creative than simply writing a good paper for English class. It requires a compelling narrative and a great deal of writing craft . A good essay service will teach how to do this kind of writing.

There are many college essay services that will provide only written feedback to students, usually in the form of comments added to an essay draft. (Remember, it’s important that students write their own essays, so avoid any college essay service that will make edits directly to an essay document .)

Written comments can be an effective component of good essay coaching. However, writing college essays is a deeply personal process , and it’s incredibly difficult to guide a student through the process of self-reflection, brainstorming, and planning purely through written comments.

In addition, a great college essay coach will teach students how to do this entire process of brainstorming, planning, outlining, writing, and revising . It’s difficult to learn why an essay coach is advising certain changes through written comments alone.

For these reasons, look for a college essay service with live, one-on-one services , not just written feedback. These days, it’s easy to work with the best college essay consultants in the country over Zoom!

college essay coaching service online

Students need to reflect on their goals, their passions, and what drives them to be the person they are. This requires a great deal of self-awareness and self-analysis . An experienced college essay coach can help draw these ideas out of students through tested introspection techniques and brainstorming exercises .

On top of all of that, students need to be cognizant of which traits and accomplishments will be most appealing to colleges , and which stories will be cliche and boring. Personal statements and supplementary essays need to fit together to tell a cohesive story, and they need to work together with the rest of the student’s application (extracurriculars, grades, and other accomplishments).

In other words, there’s a great deal of strategy here! An experienced college essay service can help students decide how to present themselves in the best possible light .

Furthermore, most students don’t know how to edit effectively . A really top-notch college essay service will also teach students how to edit their own writing —how to reorder sections for better flow, cut unnecessary words to meet a word count, eliminate passive verbs, and make their writing vivid and exciting. Our students are routinely amazed by how transformative this step can be, and how much they learn by doing it together with the essay coach.

Finally, the best college essay services can also help students to make a writing plan and keep them on track , so that parents don’t have to be involved directly.

Ready to work on your college essays? Schedule a free 15- to 30-minute consultation with Jessica or one of our founders.

Best overall: PrepMaven’s tutors offer the highest quality at the best price. With three tiers of tutors, they make it easy to work with an Ivy League undergraduate for as little as $79/hr. Or, families can work with education professionals or Ivy League graduates from $150/hr. PrepMaven’s track record means that you can be sure every hour is being spent productively, so that you can expect real results from the work.

Best for individual consultants: College Essay Mentor. In theory, College Essay Mentor would offer an unparalleled level of individual attention and guidance: his website boasts of some very impressive results. You might find it hard to actually schedule with him, however, since he’s very selective about his clients.

Best for unlimited essay assistance: The College Essay Guy might not offer that personalized attention you get from live, face to face essay coaching, but they do offer unlimited essay editing for up to 10 schools (if you’re comfortable paying a hefty package price).

Best of the big platforms: College Vine will always be a bit of a gamble. Because it’s a tutor marketplace, your results (and costs) will really depend on how lucky you get with your consultant. From our research, however, many of their essay coaches look to have solid track records.

Ready to work on college essays with one of our experienced writing coaches? Schedule a free test prep consultation with Jessica (Director of Tutoring) or one of our founders to see what would be the best fit for your family.

It’s always best to start early and not wait until the last minute to write your college essays! Remember that essays can be used to earn scholarships as well as college admission, so a few months of writing now can pay off with up to $300,000 in tuition saved later. 

We work with students at all stages of the writing process, from I-have-no-idea-what-to-write to final edits. To start working with an Ivy-League writing coach today, set up a quick free consultation with our team.

Schedule a free college essay consultation

Ivy League schools

Top College Essay Posts

  • 14 Best College Essay Services for 2023 (40 Services Reviewed)
  • Qualities of a Successful College Essay
  • 11 College Essays That Worked
  • How to Answer the UC Personal Insight Questions
  • How Colleges Read your College Applications (A 4-Step Process)
  • How to Write the Princeton Supplemental Essays
  • The Diamond Strategy: How We Help Students Write College Essays that Get Them Into Princeton (And Other Ivy League Schools)
  • What is the College Essay? Your Complete Guide for 202 4
  • College Essay Brainstorming: Where to Start
  • How to Write the Harvard Supplemental Essays
  • How to Format Your College Essay

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Emily graduated  summa cum laude  from Princeton University and holds an MA from the University of Notre Dame. She was a National Merit Scholar and has won numerous academic prizes and fellowships. A veteran of the publishing industry, she has helped professors at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton revise their books and articles. Over the last decade, Emily has successfully mentored hundreds of students in all aspects of the college admissions process, including the SAT, ACT, and college application essay. 

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How Much Does it Cost to Write My Essay?

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  • Cost & Pricing

essay write how much

Content Writer At Gradehacker

  • Updated in July, 2023

If you are thinking about working with an academic writing service but aren’t sure how much it costs to write your essay, here you’ll find our pricing guide and what factors influence the cost.

How Much Does it Cost to Write my Essay?

The starting cost of an essay writing service can range between $55 and $60 per page . 

The factors that affect the price are:

  • Level of education
  • Number of pages
  • Time until deadline

In this blog post, you’ll find more information on why each of these factor impact the cost of your paper and what else this essay writing service includes.

You can also find this information in our video:

This guide was created to help you clearly understand how the pricing for our essay service works if you are an undergrad or graduate student. Not only will you know exactly what you will pay , but you will also understand all the factors taken into account for a legitimate and honest experience with an essay writing service.

You can also use our pricing calculator to get a faster-estimated price. Just fill out the fields that meet your specific need.

6 Factors That Affect Gradehacker's Pricing

Sometimes cheap essays can cost you a bad grade, which is worse than paying a few extra bucks. College essays can’t be generalized and automated since they are actually custom papers.

Each has its own requirements and instructions depending on:

  • The variety of topics
  • Type of your essay assignment
  • Your academic career

So we believe having an automated standard price is not the best approach for getting a high-quality essay.

That’s why we are going to share with you the process Gradehacker uses to decide the price of essays based on students’ academic writing requests!

  • The Level of Your Class (Undergrad, Graduate or Nursing)
  • Number of Pages
  • Spacing Format (Single vs. Double Spaced)
  • Time Until Deadline

To ensure you can be confident and empowered to decide whether our reliable service with expert writers is a good fit for you, let’s go into more detail about each of these variables.

Is your essay for an undergraduate, graduate or nursing class?

The starting price per page is $55 for an undergrad essay and $60 for a graduate or nursing essay.  

This is extremely important as the topics and level of research for an undergraduate level are not as demanding as it is for a graduate level ; that’s the main reason the price is different.

Let’s say you need an essay about the digestive system, an introductory undergraduate biology assignment.

In that case, the topic complexity will be more simple than for a graduate class.

Now, what if you get the same subject for a master’s class? Obviously, the topic complexity and amount of research for sources that your essay will need will be higher.

That’s why the final price of an essay in Gradehacker will differ depending on the degree level you are pursuing.

How many pages does your essay need?

For our essay writing service, we have a starting fair price per page, as mentioned above. This means that the more pages your essay has, the lower the cost per page.

There will be tiered discounts per page after certain milestones, such as needing more than 4, 7, or 10 pages.

Sounds good, right?

With our paper writing services, you can rest assured that your work will be handled by experienced writers who deliver high-quality content on time and within your budget.

Is your essay single or double-spaced?

Now, let’s keep thinking about that digestive system essay topic.

Depending on the spacing formatting, the number of pages will vary even if it has the same amount of words.

Here’s an example:

If your essay needs to be written in a double-spaced format, your document will have 8 pages . But if your college paper is single-spaced, the number of pages would be slightly over 4.

Think about it as some sort of optical illusion experience. You may think there is less content because your document has fewer pages, but it’s about the same if you compare the word count.

Our professional paper writers will help you effectively convey your ideas and meet your word count requirements while maintaining the desired formatting.

Having Problems Writing?

Whether it’s a 4-page nursing essay, book review, or complex research paper, submit your request and see how we can help you!

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What if your essay’s requirements are in terms of word count and not pages.

If your essay has a specific word count and not a number of pages, our Student Success team can still figure out the best reasonable price for you!

For our academic writing services, we have an internal tool that allows us to convert a specific word count to pages. This tool also considers other important aspects to reach an accurate page number.

Here’s the link to the site Wordcounter and we invite you to use it so you can see exactly where we get the page numbers. Just enter the font used, the spacing of the paper, and the font size.

In this sense, let’s suppose you have a 975-word complex assignment due soon. We put this into Wordcounter, which would tell us that those 975 words equal 4 pages of double-spaced content, with Time New Roman font size 12.

As you see, Wordcounter is a helpful internal tool that helps us determine the page count based on word count, font size, and spacing, and it also allows us to assess the cost associated with different kinds of papers accurately.

What happens if your essay’s requirements are given as a range of pages?

If your essay has a range of pages instead of a specific number, we find the average between the minimum and the maximum pages allowed.

We do this to ensure the best results for you so that you don’t receive any work with just the minimum requirements.

In our experience, we have found that going over the minimum is always beneficial for students to get high-quality papers. That’s why we provide the average pricing when you have a wide range of pages.

So, for example, you need an argumentative essay with a minimum of 6 pages and a maximum of 12 pages; we would calculate the average between these two limits. 

In this case, it would be 9. Therefore the price of having that essay on time will be offered based on those 9 pages.

With our paper writing services, we don’t want to offer you cheap essays!

We strive for reasonable prices where you can trust you’ll have direct communication with our highly skilled writers and top-notch papers.

Do you need your paper in 72 hrs or less?

Based on our experience as a professional essay writing service, we know there’s always the possibility of needing a last-minute essay.

Maybe you forgot or thought you could squeeze it into your schedule, but life got in the way of the deadline.

You can always submit a request for review in these cases to find out if the short time frame will work.

Our team will review it, and if accepted, which is usually the case , an express service premium of 15% is added to the final price.  

This premium is due to having to prioritize these last-minute types of essays that have a limit of 5-6 pages , but you’ll be able to have your flawless papers on time.

For example, let’s say that under normal circumstances, your essay has a price of $150. If you need it in 72 hrs or less, the price will end up being $172.50

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Now that you know all this, you can see that this detailed pricing chart makes sense.

We prioritize time delivery and student-friendly prices. We understand the significance of meeting deadlines and offer the assurance that your essay will be delivered within the specified timeframe.

Is my Essay Plagiarism-Free?

The answer to this question will always be YES .

When purchasing an essay service, hundreds of students feel understandable anxiety about the authenticity of the content or sources their essay could have.

Many of them think plagiarism risk is extremely high, and we recognize it’s a problem for many essay writing services platforms .

To address this concern, we have an entire team of essay writers processing and reviewing every written project by our Editor-in-Chief.

Our Editor will check your original paper for formatting, grammar, and spelling, and, most importantly, will have a plagiarism report.

Most professors accept essays with a plagiarism score of 30% or less , but we believe that is entirely too high and thus aim to have less than 10%, with most of our custom papers having less than 5%!

And if issues like this one concern you when you’re considering hiring an essay writing service, we have a guide on how to avoid their most common problems, and that includes how you can ensure to receive plagiarism-free papers!

What is my Guarantee?

Sometimes things don’t go as planned, but this doesn’t mean we will not give you our best effort. To make you feel confident about our work with you, we offer a customer satisfaction guarantee.

Your A or B or free guarantee

We commit to achieving an A or B grade , but in case this is not accomplished (although very rarely), and your essay gets a C or lower grade, our team will take full responsibility and follow our money-back guarantee policy for those situations!

They’ll reach out to you and offer the following options:

  • A full refund to your original payment method
  • A credit in the full amount paid plus an additional 10% for any future request

Are Essay Writing Services an Investment?

Absolutely!

Look at the bigger picture: If you work with an academic service, not only do you have more time to focus on your other responsibilities, but you also get to advance faster in your program and earn your diploma sooner!

And as you know, a college degree can provide an opportunity for a better job or promotion.

You will have your investment back once that occurs. Paying for help on your essay is one step to ensuring that your initial investment won’t be lost just because you failed an assignment.

Sometimes you may think that all your coursework relies entirely on your shoulders. Non-traditional students’ life is not easy. That could be true in an ideal world where everyone has plenty of time to do it all.

Student life is difficult, so worrying about a perfect essay shouldn’t feel like the end of the world when you can get help from a team of professional writers and study consultants with many years of experience.

Having Doubts on How we Can Help You?

You can book a meeting with our team and have all of your questions answered!

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When life keeps asking for more and more of you, looking for alternatives for your academic assignments is not only smart but needed.

We hope you have a clear picture of how our pricing works and feel ready to submit your request to get help with your paper.

And if you still have doubts, don’t hesitate to reach out to us! You can book a meeting with our team with no compromise or cost! 

However, if you want to explore other essay-writing companies or want to learn what tips you can use to write outstanding essays, check our these blogs:

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PaperHelp Review 2023: How Good Is This Paper Writing Service?

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Once your paper is completed, it is checked for plagiarism with powerful plagiarism detection software (e.g., Copyscape and Copyleaks) to make sure it is 100% original and will pass any checker, including Turnitin.

We do not check completed papers with Turnitin because it saves all works to the database, making them unoriginal if submitted once again.

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Can somebody detect that I've used an essay writing service?

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To request a refund, contact the Support Team via email or live chat. They are always more than happy to help out. Please note that this option is available within 14-30 days, depending on the paper’s length.

I'm not sure that your writers can deal with my topic?

We have a vast pool of qualified experts across 50 subject areas. All of them have 4+ years of academic writing experience, so rest assured they will be able to deal with your topic.

Still hesitating? Please contact our 24/7 support team to discuss your project in more detail and get a free quote.

Do you deal with large papers like research papers, dissertations, etc.?

Yes, we have experts in huge papers of any complexity, including:

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To see the complete list of papers we can prepare for you, click here .

Do you write all types of papers?

Yes. We can help during the entire study period and post-study life — from preparing admission essays to assisting with graduation papers and resumes. Also, our services are not limited to writing. We provide editing, proofreading, and paraphrasing services too.

If you haven't found your type of work on the order page, just select "Other" and specify what exactly you need to be done. Then, we'll check your paper details and find an appropriate expert for you.

Is your writing service legal?

Yes, of course. GradeSmiths is a registered company with a 12-year history of delivering academic assistance services to English-speaking students worldwide that works following existing laws. Our main goal is to help students improve their writing skills and academic performance.

Over 50k students trust us, 42% of whom come by friend's recommendation.

How fast can your service complete an essay?

Our experts can write a high-quality 275-word or 1-page essay for you within just 1 hour. However, if your essay is 550+ words long or 2+ pages, it will take them 3 hours to complete it to a high standard.

What happens after I pay?

Once the payment is done, you get access to the personal customer area, where you can track order progress, add more instructions for the writer or ask them order-related questions.

In your customer area, you can also communicate with the support team, request revisions, add extra services like additional pages or excel sheets to your order, rate your writer, and much more.

Can I add additional instructions after the order has been placed?

Yes, sure. You can do it on the order page in your customer area. The writer will check them out and follow too.

Want to talk to my writer. Can I?

Yes, definitely. You will be able to communicate with the writer through messages in your account after the payment is done and the writer is assigned. Usually, it takes up to 15 minutes.

Please note you will receive an email notification once the writer is assigned.

To send a message to your writer, go to the corresponding order page and type your message in the chat window located in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

How much does paper writing help cost?

The price for writing your paper greatly depends on your study level, type of work, deadline, and number of pages needed. For example, a college essay due in 7 days will cost you $7.00 per page, while a Ph.D. dissertation due in 30 days will cost $6.19 per page.

If you want to get the best price, simply place your order in advance. Close deadlines require more resources. Therefore, they are more expensive.

To calculate the price of your order, click here .

What free options do you have?

At GradeSmiths, every paper comes with the following freebies:

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Our professional aid is accessible to everyone. We strive to help students on any budget. For this purpose, we offer regular discounts and seasonal deals to all customers. In addition, every newcomer gets a special 15% discount on the first order, while regular customers receive loyalty bonuses they can spend on future orders.

How can I pay?

You can pay for your order using a debit or credit card by Visa, MasterCard, or Maestro. The payment will be processed via a secure checkout page, and no card data will be saved.

Meet Your Perfect Essay Writing Service – GradeSmiths

GradeSmiths is an essay writing service that helps students in the USA and from all over the world to write better essays and other types of high school, college, and university research papers. Our writers are experienced and competent enough to cover all subjects and meet any deadlines.

GradeSmiths’s essay writing service is perfect for students who want to improve their GPA, not wasting too much time and money. Those who’ve tried professional essay writing services once confirm that living up with the workload becomes easier. So, if you have the money to spend on a quality custom essay, GradeSmiths is the perfect writing website for you.

– How much does it cost me to write an essay? We know that this question is important for you. That’s why we guarantee the best price to write an essay brought to you by the Essay Writer service. Our prices start from only $10.52 per page, including the extras. If you’re on a budget, then our essay service is exactly what you need to ace your task for an affordable price.

Team up with the essay writing industry’s finest writers and fulfill your academic goals easier as if you’ve been doing all the homework on your own. Also, get better grades and enjoy your student life to the maximum with GradeSmiths!

7 Easy Signs You Need an Expert Essay Writer Right Now

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Get rid of nasty academic issues – hire an academic essay writer with confidence and kiss academic problems goodbye! Our service will meet all your needs and save a good sum of money.

No.1 Essay Writer Website in 2022

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To any college writing problem, there’s a sound solution to be found. Which is, as far as our service is concerned, hiring a skilled essay writer online is the best way out. The great news is that with the help of our competent essay service, all your writing hardships disappear for good. Our expert essay writers, qualified editors, and smart proofreaders work day and night to help you to fulfill your college goals. Choose any of the 35+ subjects that we cover, 50+ types of assignments, and any urgency, including our super-quick 1-hour deadline, to ensure a positive and rapid GPA growth. Order professional essay writing help on GradeSmiths today!

Text us “write my essay for me” – we will take care of the project and improve your academic record. Please, ask any emerging questions. Support managers operate 24/7 to provide you with timely answers and help you with any essay writing emergency. Our service is available all day and night if you have any essay writing emergencies that need urgent academic treatment.

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Viewpoints can differ dramatically. The situation is highly surreal, but as a safeguard, your rights for repayment are protected by our Refund policy. Proven plagiarisms, poor quality, and insufficient research are among the main reasons to request reimbursement.

We Have Pro Essay Writers

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On top of that, editors and proofreaders help students with their academic papers. They double-check every essay for conformity with directives, originality & quality adherence, formatting standards. In case your essay writer has made a mistake, an assigned editor will see and fix it. In the end, you are assured of receiving a 100% mistake-free and unique essay.

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How Our Essay Writers Service Works

On GradeSmiths, we have a rule that we never break – write only plagiarism-free essays. Every essay writer has to write from scratch. Otherwise, they won’t be working for our service.

All college essay writers you’ll be working with when making orders on our website are real human experts, each across their subject field. Some writers are experienced and educated enough to write essays in several disciplines. We neither rewrite old essays nor take stuff from the internet, simply changing a title and switching paragraphs’ places. Quite the opposite!

Our professional paper writers deliver 100% original scholarly documents, e.g., essays, which live up to the initial order instructions that you provided when making an order. This way, it’s safe to say that our essays are one-of-a-kind – no two similar papers could ever be found if written by our authors.

In general, when writing essays, our writers stick to the following protocol:

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Note that free revisions (14-30 days) are already included in the price. GradeSmiths’s online essay writing service is designed in a way to leave you nothing but to enjoy the rest of your day while one of the service’s writers takes care of your homework.

GradeSmiths’s essay service makes college life easier. Simply make an order now and see for yourself!

Our Guarantees

Why is our essay service so special? Besides having an excellent reputation of reliable essay writers and a service that has low prices, it’s possible to name 5 more features that make GradeSmiths the number one spot for students who want a quality essay for a reasonable price. To learn more advantages that might interest you, please contact the support manager.

In general, our essay writing service provides the following guarantees:

  • Originality. Are you worried about whether your essay will be original? We pay great attention to the academic integrity of our customers. That’s why, rest assured, there’s no place for plagiarism on GradeSmiths. Our essays undergo originality verification with advanced plagiarism detection software. If necessary, we can support your composition with a detailed plagiarism report.
  • Quality. Sure, you are worried that the requested content might come of poor quality. To prevent this from happening, we let only professional essay writers work on the orders. Candidates for essay writing positions undergo a 4-level selection procedure to verify their expertise in the required discipline field and writing skills.
  • Verification. People make mistakes. Our professional college essay writers are not an exception. That is why we double-check completed papers for mistakes and logical flaws. Acknowledged editors go through the text, fixing grammatical and formatting errors. With their final touch, your university essay transforms from an uncut stone to a polished diamond.
  • Timeliness. Essay writing is a long and stressful process for students – but not for professional authors. Their expertise allows finishing all types of college papers promptly and by the requested target date. If you need your essay in a couple of hours, you will most certainly have it!

Our FREE Essay Writing Services

Everyone can use essay writing help from GradeSmiths anytime. We strive to help students who have shoestring budgets. For this purpose, our essay service offers regular discounts and juicy deals. Every newcomer gets a special 15% discount for the first order and is offered to join the Customers Loyalty program to receive and collect bonuses for further orders. On top of that, we complement every essay with the following freebies:

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  • 24/7 client center.

If you need professional college paper writers who can do the work for cheap, simply submit your order in advance. Close deadlines require more resources. Therefore, they are slightly more expensive. Recruit your top essay writer beforehand, and take advantage of our professional services at a reduced cost.

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GradeSmiths is the perfect write my essay service. There are professional GradeSmiths, top-notch 24/7 customer support service, cheap prices, a money-back guarantee, and results that you notice right after the first order. The “who can write my essay for me?” question won’t bother you again. Sleepless nights and poor grades will be in the past when you order your first essay on our website.

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– I need a good service to write my essay online. Consider you’ve just found it! GradeSmiths is one of the best services for writing essays in 2022. It’s a legit company that knows what its customers want. You can always count on exceptional customer care, writers who don’t charge an arm and a leg, and timely delivery of your order. Simply order an essay on GradeSmiths and download it when it’s done.

– I want a professional essay writer to write my essay. GradeSmiths doesn’t have writers who don’t know how to write essays. On the contrary, essay writers that we have provide the best service possible thanks to their educational background, academic writing talent, and years of essay writing experience .

Are you looking for a service that can write you a 100% original essay cheap? GradeSmiths is a writer service that gets the job done to a T. Choose the essay writing service that you need, and let’s do this!

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essay write how much

How to Write a 3000 word Essay in Less Than 60 Minutes

essay write how much

Writing a 3000 word essay in under an hour might seem impossible, especially when facing a tight deadline. However, with the right approach, it's not as daunting as it sounds. A good example of this is our guide on how to write a 1000 word essay .

This article shares 5 practical tips and strategies to help you write efficiently and effectively within a limited timeframe.

How to Write a 3000 word Essay in Less Than 60 Minutes

EssayPro Guide on How to Write Your Essay Faster

Our team of experts has created a how-to guide for you on how to write your essay fast. Here you go:

Voice-to-Text Software

Voice-to-text software can significantly expedite essay writing by allowing users to dictate their thoughts and ideas, bypassing manual typing verbally. This technology enables a continuous writing flow, as individuals can speak their ideas naturally and conversationally without interruptions. 

For example, instead of pausing to search for the right words or phrases, users can express their thoughts fluidly, resulting in a faster and more efficient writing process. Additionally, voice-to-text software eliminates the physical strain associated with typing for extended periods, allowing users to maintain productivity and focus for longer durations.

Furthermore, voice-to-text software offers flexibility in writing environments, as users can dictate their essays from virtually anywhere using a smartphone, tablet, or computer. For instance, individuals can dictate their essays while commuting, exercising, or completing other tasks, maximizing their time and productivity.

You can use the following voice-to-text tools:

  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking
  • Google Docs Voice Typing
  • Microsoft Dictate
  • Apple Dictation

Need Urgent Help with Your Essay?

Don’t strain yourself – use professional writing services . 

The Stream-of-Consciousness Writing

Stream-of-consciousness writing is a technique that involves recording thoughts as they come to mind, without filtering or censoring them. This approach can be particularly useful for writing essays in less than 60 minutes as it allows for a rapid flow of ideas and content generation. 

By bypassing the need for careful planning and organization, stream-of-consciousness writing enables writers to quickly capture their thoughts on paper and generate raw material for their essays. For example, writers can focus solely on expressing their ideas and arguments instead of worrying about sentence structure or grammar, resulting in a faster and more spontaneous writing process.

Moreover, stream-of-consciousness writing can help writers overcome writer's block and tap into their creativity more effectively. This can lead to more original and compelling essay content. For instance, writers may discover new angles or perspectives on their topic that they hadn't considered before, enriching their essays with fresh insights and perspectives.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use the stream-of-consciousness technique to write an essay:

  • Set a timer.
  • Clear distractions.
  • Choose a topic.
  • Begin writing.
  • Write continuously.
  • Don't edit or censor.
  • Keep the pen moving.
  • Embrace tangents.
  • Stay in the moment.
  • Review and edit later.

AI Writing Tools

AI writing tools can significantly expedite the essay writing process by automating various aspects of content creation, such as generating ideas, structuring arguments, and even drafting entire paragraphs. These tools leverage advanced natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to analyze input data and produce coherent, contextually relevant text output. 

For example, platforms like OpenAI's GPT-3 and Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant offer features such as auto-completion, grammar and style suggestions, and even content generation based on user prompts. 

Furthermore, AI writing tools can assist writers in overcoming writer's block and generating ideas more efficiently. For instance, tools like Articoolo and QuillBot can generate article outlines or paraphrase existing text to provide inspiration and generate new content. 

Here are reliable AI essay writing tools:

  • EssayPro Writing App

WARNING: While these tools can aid in content creation and idea generation, relying too heavily on them may lead to plagiarism or submitting low-quality, unoriginal work. Writers should use AI writing tools to supplement their research and writing process rather than replace critical thinking and academic rigor.

Collage Essay Method

The collage essay method is a creative approach to essay writing that involves assembling visual and textual materials into a collage to represent different aspects of the essay topic. This technique can be particularly effective in generating ideas quickly and organizing thoughts in a visually engaging manner. 

For example, imagine you're tasked with writing an essay on climate change. You could gather images, quotes, statistics, and diagrams related to climate change and arrange them on a poster board or digital canvas. The collage is a brainstorming tool to spark ideas and inspire the writing process by visually representing key concepts and arguments.

Moreover, the collage essay method encourages a nonlinear approach to essay writing, allowing writers to explore ideas from multiple perspectives and make connections between different topic elements. 

For instance, while arranging materials for the climate change collage, you might notice patterns or themes emerging that you hadn't considered before. This can lead to new insights and angles for your essay, enriching the content with diverse perspectives and supporting evidence.

Here are some useful tips for using the collage essay method for writing an essay fast:

  • Gather diverse materials.
  • Start with a central theme.
  • Arrange materials strategically.
  • Focus on visual impact.
  • Incorporate text and images.
  • Make connections between elements.
  • Be open to unexpected insights.
  • Iterate and refine as needed.

Role-Playing Scenario

The role-playing scenario method offers a fresh and engaging approach to essay writing, injecting creativity and empathy into the process. By immersing oneself in a specific role, writers can tap into their imagination and explore complex topics from various angles. 

For instance, if you're tasked with writing about the ethical implications of artificial intelligence, you could adopt the perspective of a futuristic AI developer or a concerned citizen living in a world dominated by AI technology. This imaginative exercise sparks inspiration and encourages deeper reflection on the subject matter, leading to more insightful and thought-provoking essays.

Furthermore, the role-playing scenario cultivates empathy and understanding by encouraging writers to embody diverse viewpoints and experiences. Whether you're writing about climate change, social justice, or economic policy, stepping into the shoes of different characters allows you to see the world through their eyes and develop a more nuanced understanding of complex issues. 

For example, by pretending to be a climate scientist researching the effects of deforestation, you might gain a deeper appreciation for the urgency of environmental conservation efforts. This empathetic approach to essay writing fosters a greater connection with both the subject matter and the audience, resulting in essays that are not only informative but also engaging and impactful.

How to adopt the role-playing scenario technique for writing an essay:

  • Choose a relevant persona.
  • Research and understand their background.
  • Embody the persona's mindset.
  • Write from their perspective.
  • Maintain consistency with the persona.
  • Review and adjust as needed.
  • Use insights to enrich your essay.

There’s nothing impossible if you put an effort into it. Although 60 minutes sounds like a very limited period, a smart student can use it to produce a pretty decent essay and even have a few minutes left! So, how to write essays faster ?

The tips we gave you above do work, which thousands of students with hectic schedules have already proved. A word of warning, though – don’t rush to use tools like ChatGPT to generate an essay in 5 minutes because it’s hazardous for academic integrity. Remember – AI tools are assistants, and generated texts are to be rewritten from A to Z, which can also be done in an hour or less. If you’re awfully tired and physically can’t think or type, you better ask a professional human writer to help you. 

Too Exhausted to Finish the Essay?

Expert writers will do an essay for you from scratch.

Can You Write an Essay in 30 Minutes?

Can i write a 3000 word essay in 1 hour, how long does it take to write a 3000 words essay.

Daniel Parker

Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

essay write how much

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

  • Howard, D. (2022, December 15). How to Write an Essay Fast . Nexus Education. https://nexus-education.com/blog-posts/how-to-write-an-essay-fast/
  • 20 Top Tips for Writing an Essay in a Hurry . (2024, February 20). Oxford Royale. https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/writing-essay-hurry/ ‍
  • 4 Ways to Write Essays Faster – The Bookshelf . (n.d.). https://blogs.cornell.edu/learning/4-ways-to-write-essays-faster/

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Symposium of Student Scholars

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Symposium of Student Scholars

Spring 2024 Symposium of Student Scholars

How Long Is the Essay Supposed to Be, Professor? A Literature Review of Feasible Writing Expectations for University Students and In-Class Exams

Kris Duah , Kennesaw State University Follow Kenneth White , Kennesaw State University Follow

  • Disciplines

Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Methods | Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Abstract (300 words maximum)

What is a reasonable amount of writing, in terms of number of paragraphs, that a professor can expect from university students during an hour-long, in-class essay exam? This study is a literature review that attempts to answer this question of how much or how fast a student can be expected to write during an in-class, timed exam. The goal is to summarize previous scholarship on this question using education databases available through Kennesaw State University's library system—particularly, ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center). Search terms include: “written exams,” “essay writing,” “writing speed,” “teacher expectations,” “test expectations,” and “student performance” among others. This study recapitulates existing literature on writing speed and exam expectations to determine a reasonable standard for how much students can be expected to write during an in-class exam. This information could help both students and instructors manage their expectations of writing quantity during timed, in-class exams.

Academic department under which the project should be listed

RCHSS - Sociology & Criminal Justice

Primary Investigator (PI) Name

Kenneth White

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The Hechinger Report

Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education

PROOF POINTS: AI essay grading is already as ‘good as an overburdened’ teacher, but researchers say it needs more work

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Grading papers is hard work. “I hate it,” a teacher friend confessed to me. And that’s a major reason why middle and high school teachers don’t assign more writing to their students. Even an efficient high school English teacher who can read and evaluate an essay in 20 minutes would spend 3,000 minutes, or 50 hours, grading if she’s teaching six classes of 25 students each. There aren’t enough hours in the day. 

Website for Mind/Shift

Could ChatGPT relieve teachers of some of the burden of grading papers? Early research is finding that the new artificial intelligence of large language models, also known as generative AI, is approaching the accuracy of a human in scoring essays and is likely to become even better soon. But we still don’t know whether offloading essay grading to ChatGPT will ultimately improve or harm student writing.

Tamara Tate, a researcher at University California, Irvine, and an associate director of her university’s Digital Learning Lab, is studying how teachers might use ChatGPT to improve writing instruction. Most recently, Tate and her seven-member research team, which includes writing expert Steve Graham at Arizona State University, compared how ChatGPT stacked up against humans in scoring 1,800 history and English essays written by middle and high school students. 

Tate said ChatGPT was “roughly speaking, probably as good as an average busy teacher” and “certainly as good as an overburdened below-average teacher.” But, she said, ChatGPT isn’t yet accurate enough to be used on a high-stakes test or on an essay that would affect a final grade in a class.

Tate presented her study on ChatGPT essay scoring at the 2024 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Philadelphia in April. (The paper is under peer review for publication and is still undergoing revision.) 

Most remarkably, the researchers obtained these fairly decent essay scores from ChatGPT without training it first with sample essays. That means it is possible for any teacher to use it to grade any essay instantly with minimal expense and effort. “Teachers might have more bandwidth to assign more writing,” said Tate. “You have to be careful how you say that because you never want to take teachers out of the loop.” 

Writing instruction could ultimately suffer, Tate warned, if teachers delegate too much grading to ChatGPT. Seeing students’ incremental progress and common mistakes remain important for deciding what to teach next, she said. For example, seeing loads of run-on sentences in your students’ papers might prompt a lesson on how to break them up. But if you don’t see them, you might not think to teach it. 

In the study, Tate and her research team calculated that ChatGPT’s essay scores were in “fair” to “moderate” agreement with those of well-trained human evaluators. In one batch of 943 essays, ChatGPT was within a point of the human grader 89 percent of the time. On a six-point grading scale that researchers used in the study, ChatGPT often gave an essay a 2 when an expert human evaluator thought it was really a 1. But this level of agreement – within one point – dropped to 83 percent of the time in another batch of 344 English papers and slid even farther to 76 percent of the time in a third batch of 493 history essays.  That means there were more instances where ChatGPT gave an essay a 4, for example, when a teacher marked it a 6. And that’s why Tate says these ChatGPT grades should only be used for low-stakes purposes in a classroom, such as a preliminary grade on a first draft.

ChatGPT scored an essay within one point of a human grader 89 percent of the time in one batch of essays

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Still, this level of accuracy was impressive because even teachers disagree on how to score an essay and one-point discrepancies are common. Exact agreement, which only happens half the time between human raters, was worse for AI, which matched the human score exactly only about 40 percent of the time. Humans were far more likely to give a top grade of a 6 or a bottom grade of a 1. ChatGPT tended to cluster grades more in the middle, between 2 and 5. 

Tate set up ChatGPT for a tough challenge, competing against teachers and experts with PhDs who had received three hours of training in how to properly evaluate essays. “Teachers generally receive very little training in secondary school writing and they’re not going to be this accurate,” said Tate. “This is a gold-standard human evaluator we have here.”

The raters had been paid to score these 1,800 essays as part of three earlier studies on student writing. Researchers fed these same student essays – ungraded –  into ChatGPT and asked ChatGPT to score them cold. ChatGPT hadn’t been given any graded examples to calibrate its scores. All the researchers did was copy and paste an excerpt of the same scoring guidelines that the humans used, called a grading rubric, into ChatGPT and told it to “pretend” it was a teacher and score the essays on a scale of 1 to 6. 

Older robo graders

Earlier versions of automated essay graders have had higher rates of accuracy . But they were expensive and time-consuming to create because scientists had to train the computer with hundreds of human-graded essays for each essay question. That’s economically feasible only in limited situations, such as for a standardized test, where thousands of students answer the same essay question. 

Earlier robo graders could also be gamed, once a student understood the features that the computer system was grading for. In some cases, nonsense essays received high marks if fancy vocabulary words were sprinkled in them. ChatGPT isn’t grading for particular hallmarks, but is analyzing patterns in massive datasets of language. Tate says she hasn’t yet seen ChatGPT give a high score to a nonsense essay. 

Tate expects ChatGPT’s grading accuracy to improve rapidly as new versions are released. Already, the research team has detected that the newer 4.0 version, which requires a paid subscription, is scoring more accurately than the free 3.5 version. Tate suspects that small tweaks to the grading instructions, or prompts, given to ChatGPT could improve existing versions. She is interested in testing whether ChatGPT’s scoring could become more reliable if a teacher trained it with just a few, perhaps five, sample essays that she has already graded. “Your average teacher might be willing to do that,” said Tate.

Many ed tech startups, and even well-known vendors of educational materials, are now marketing new AI essay robo graders to schools. Many of them are powered under the hood by ChatGPT or another large language model and I learned from this study that accuracy rates can be reported in ways that can make the new AI graders seem more accurate than they are. Tate’s team calculated that, on a population level, there was no difference between human and AI scores. ChatGPT can already reliably tell you the average essay score in a school or, say, in the state of California. 

Questions for AI vendors

At this point, it is not as accurate in scoring an individual student. And a teacher wants to know exactly how each student is doing. Tate advises teachers and school leaders who are considering using an AI essay grader to ask specific questions about accuracy rates on the student level:   What is the rate of exact agreement between the AI grader and a human rater on each essay? How often are they within one-point of each other?

The next step in Tate’s research is to study whether student writing improves after having an essay graded by ChatGPT. She’d like teachers to try using ChatGPT to score a first draft and then see if it encourages revisions, which are critical for improving writing. Tate thinks teachers could make it “almost like a game: how do I get my score up?” 

Of course, it’s unclear if grades alone, without concrete feedback or suggestions for improvement, will motivate students to make revisions. Students may be discouraged by a low score from ChatGPT and give up. Many students might ignore a machine grade and only want to deal with a human they know. Still, Tate says some students are too scared to show their writing to a teacher until it’s in decent shape, and seeing their score improve on ChatGPT might be just the kind of positive feedback they need. 

“We know that a lot of students aren’t doing any revision,” said Tate. “If we can get them to look at their paper again, that is already a win.”

That does give me hope, but I’m also worried that kids will just ask ChatGPT to write the whole essay for them in the first place.

This story about  AI essay scoring was written by Jill Barshay and produced by  The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for  Proof Points   and other  Hechinger newsletters .

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Global Faiths: which Religion Claims the most Adherents?

This essay about the prevalence of major world religions examines which faith has the most followers globally. It identifies Christianity as the largest religion, with approximately 2.3 billion adherents, followed by Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The essay explores the historical spread and cultural significance of these religions. Christianity’s reach is attributed to European colonization, while Islam spread through the expansions of Arab empires and trade routes. Hinduism is highlighted as the oldest, primarily concentrated in India and Nepal, and Buddhism is noted for its philosophical nature and widespread appeal beyond its Asian origins. The piece emphasizes that the number of followers does not fully encapsulate a religion’s global influence, which is also shaped by cultural, social, and political factors.

How it works

Religions are vital to the fabric of world cultures, influencing practices, beliefs, and social systems. Among these, a few have amassed enormous followings across the globe, spreading much beyond their initial cultural and geographic boundaries. Which religion is the most popular worldwide not only provides insight into the religion itself but also into its historical dissemination, cultural appropriation, and social impact.

  • 1 Christianity: The Leading Faith by Numbers
  • 2 Islam: A Close Contender
  • 3 Hinduism and Buddhism: Dominant Eastern Religions
  • 4 Reflections on Religious Adherence

Christianity: The Leading Faith by Numbers

The most recent data and demographic reports indicate that Christianity is the predominant religion in the world today.

Worldwide, an estimated 2.3 billion people identify as Christians, accounting for around 31% of the global population. This religion is divided into various denominations based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, the most well-known of which are the Roman Catholic Church, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. While each branch follows different practices, beliefs, and customs, they are all unified by the core belief that Jesus Christ is the Savior and that the Bible is God’s inspired word.

The expansion of European powers starting in the 16th century, which frequently included missionary work as a key component of colonialism, is largely responsible for the widespread influence of Christianity. Christianity now predominates across the Americas, Europe, and some regions of Africa and Asia as a result of its historical expansion.

Islam: A Close Contender

Islam comes in second with more than 1.9 billion followers, or roughly 24% of the world’s population. Muslims are people who practice Islam and who mostly abide by the Quran’s descriptions of the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings. Similar to Christianity, Islam is split into a number of sects, the two biggest of which are Sunni and Shia. These groups differ mainly in their perspectives of who will lead following Muhammad’s passing.

Islam has a significant following in the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and parts of Southeast Asia, with notable populations in countries outside these regions due to migration. The faith’s spread historically followed the expansions of Arab empires and later through traders along the Silk Road.

Hinduism and Buddhism: Dominant Eastern Religions

Mostly concentrated in India and Nepal, Hinduism is the oldest of the main world faiths, with over 1.2 billion adherents. This faith is distinguished by a diverse array of gods and goddesses, along with a focus on rituals and schools of philosophy that differ greatly throughout locales and societies. Hinduism, unlike the Abrahamic faiths, has a collection of texts, including the Vedas and the Upanishads, rather than having a single founder or sacred scripture.

Approximately 500 million people follow Buddhism, which was established in the sixth century BCE by Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha. The majority of Buddhists are found in Asia, but because of the philosophy behind the religion and its teachings on karma, suffering, and the path to enlightenment, the number of followers has grown around the world. Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana are the three main schools of Buddhism; they diverge mostly in how they understand the texts and what constitutes the best route to enlightenment.

Reflections on Religious Adherence

A religion’s number of adherents does not always indicate how much of an impact it has on world affairs or on people’s personal lives. It is critical to understand that these figures are dynamic and that factors such as birth rates, societal changes, and religious conversions all have an impact. Furthermore, regardless of a religion’s total number of followers, its impact is frequently evident in the political, social, and cultural frameworks of societies.

In conclusion, even though Christianity is the religion that has the greatest adherents worldwide right now, religious adherence is a complicated and dynamic field. Whether a religion is the most powerful or not depends not only on its numerical effect but also on the depth and scope of its impact on the lives of individuals and entire societies. Knowing this facilitates a more profound comprehension of the influence of religion on the course of human history and modern society.

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Guest Essay

I Don’t Write Like Alice Munro, but I Want to Live Like Her

A blurry photo of a woman, the author Alice Munro, smiling.

By Sheila Heti

Ms. Heti is the author of the novels “Pure Colour,” “How Should a Person Be?” and, most recently, “Alphabetical Diaries.”

It is common to say “I was heartbroken to hear” that so-and-so died, but I really do feel heartbroken having learned about Alice Munro, who died on Monday.

As a writer, she modeled, in her life and art, that one must work with emotional sincerity and precision and concentration and depth — not on every kind of writing but on only one kind, the kind closest to one’s heart.

She has long been a North Star for many writers and was someone I have always felt guided by. We are very different writers, but I have kept her in mind, daily and for decades, as an example to follow (but failed to follow to the extent that she demonstrated it): that a fiction writer isn’t someone for hire.

A fiction writer isn’t someone who can write anything — movies, articles, obits! She isn’t a person in service to the magazines, to the newspapers, to the publishers or even to her audience. She doesn’t have to speak on the political issues of the day or on matters of importance to the culture right now but ought first and most to attend seriously to her task, which is her only task, writing the particular thing she was most suited to write.

Ms. Munro only ever wrote short stories — not novels, though she must have been pressured to. She died in a small town not too far from where she was born, choosing to remain close to the sort of people she grew up with, whom she remained ever curious about. Depth is wherever one stands, she showed us, convincingly.

Fiction writers are people, supposedly, who have things to say; they must, because they are so good with words. So people are always asking them: Can you say something about this or about this? But the art of hearing the voice of a fictional person or sensing a fictional world or working for years on some unfathomable creation is, in fact, the opposite of saying something with the opinionated and knowledgeable part of one’s mind. It is rather the humble craft of putting your opinions and ego aside and letting something be said through you.

Ms. Munro held to this division and never let the vanity that can come with being good with words persuade her to put her words just everywhere, in every possible way. Here was the best example in the world — in Canada, my own land — of someone who seemed to abide by classical artistic values in her choices as a person and in her choices on the page. I felt quietly reassured knowing that a hundred kilometers down the road was Alice Munro.

She was also an example of how a writer should be in public: modest, unpretentious, funny, generous and kind. I learned the lesson of generosity from her early. When I was 20 and was just starting to publish short stories, I sent her a fan letter. I don’t remember what my letter said. After a few months, I received a handwritten thank-you note from her in the mail. The fact that she replied at all and did so with such care taught me a lot about grace and consideration and has remained as a warmth within me since that day.

She will always remain for me, and for many others, a model of that grave yet joyous dedication to art — a dedication that inevitably informs the most important choices the artist makes about how to support that life. Probably Ms. Munro would laugh at this; no one knows the compromises another makes, especially when that person is as private as she was and transforms her trials into fiction. Yet whatever the truth of her daily existence, she still shines as a symbol of artistic purity and care.

I am grateful for all she gave to the world and for all the sacrifices she must have made to give it. I’m sorry to be here defying her example, but she was just too loved, and these words just came. Thank you, Alice Munro.

Sheila Heti is the author of the novels “Pure Colour,” “How Should a Person Be?” and, most recently, “Alphabetical Diaries.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

Grand Island mayor awards students for writing essays on how to improve city

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) - Grand Island Mayor Roger Steele awarded 12 sixth grade students with pins to the city on Monday for their work on essays about how they would improve Grand Island.

The students were tasked with writing a 400 word essay about how they would improve their city and what they would like to see added.

Many students wrote about how they want more kid focused businesses in the area, but the focus of the winner of the contest, Saybel Raez Almaguer, focused his essay on safety.

“My priorities were for the people, all for the people,” Raez Almaguer said. “I think that’s a major priority, for our city to be safety. Because without safety, our city will be out of control and nobody will want to live here, and I want to have all the citizens take care of each other, help each other.”

The winners are listed below.

1) Saybel Raez Almaguer, Grand Island Public Schools

2) Jacob Theisen, Trinity Lutheran

3) Abigail Meyer, Trinity Lutheran

4) Kollin DeLaet, Northwest Public Schools

5) Tenleigh Sawyer, Grand Island Public Schools

6) Madhurisha Yuvaraju, Grand Island Public Schools

7) Simon Gustafson, Trinity Lutheran

8) Eleanor Koch, Northwest Public Schools

Honorable Mentions

Brianna Reyes, Grand Island Central Catholic

Harper Bennett, Trinity Lutheran

Karim Magallan, Grand Island Public Schools

Jillian Verba, Northwest Public School

Each student was awarded a certificate, a pin to the city, and some cash or gift cards courtesy of the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce. The winner was also proclaimed a mayor for the day.

The contest will now be a yearly part of the curriculum at the schools who participated.

Click here to subscribe to our KSNB Local4 daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.

Copyright 2024 KSNB. All rights reserved.

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  14. 14 Best College Essay Services for 2024 (40 Services Reviewed)

    #3 - The College Essay Guy. Our Verdict — Best for Unlimited Essay Assistance Price: $4900 for application to 3 schools, $8050 for application for 10 schools We're fans of Ethan Sawyer, the original "college essay guy"— his book, College Essay Essentials, is a great guide to the essay-writing process.Ethan doesn't work directly with many students these days, but he now has a team ...

  15. Writing guide

    This guide is designed to teach you to write and edit an essay, or another argumentative piece, from start to finish. It will help you align your motivations with the work and to choose a topic that grips you. This page will take you on a journey designed to convince you that writing an essay is a worthwhile endeavour, and to guide you through ...

  16. How Much Does it Cost to Write my Essay?

    The starting price per page is $55 for an undergrad essay and $60 for a graduate or nursing essay. This is extremely important as the topics and level of research for an undergraduate level are not as demanding as it is for a graduate level; that's the main reason the price is different. Let's say you need an essay about the digestive ...

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  18. Tips for Writing Essays REALLY Fast (60 Mins or Less!)

    The Stream-of-Consciousness Writing. Stream-of-consciousness writing is a technique that involves recording thoughts as they come to mind, without filtering or censoring them. This approach can be particularly useful for writing essays in less than 60 minutes as it allows for a rapid flow of ideas and content generation.

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    The thesis writing service cost can vary significantly based on the topic's complexity, the thesis's length, the level of expertise required, and the timeframe for completion. Master Thesis Price: Generally, the cost of master's theses in the UK can range from £800 to over £3,000. Factors that influence the price include the field of study ...

  20. How to write a 3,000 word essay in a day

    1.45pm - 6pm: Write the body of the essay. 6pm - 6.45pm: Dinner break. 6.45pm - 10.30pm: Edit, improve and meet the word count. 10.30pm - 11pm: Print (if needed) and get everything ready for the morning. Remember to schedule a few short 10-minute breaks (one every 45-60 minutes should do the trick).

  21. Calculate the Cost of Your Essay

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  22. How Long Is the Essay Supposed to Be, Professor? A Literature Review of

    What is a reasonable amount of writing, in terms of number of paragraphs, that a professor can expect from university students during an hour-long, in-class essay exam? This study is a literature review that attempts to answer this question of how much or how fast a student can be expected to write during an in-class, timed exam. The goal is to summarize previous scholarship on this question ...

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    Most remarkably, the researchers obtained these fairly decent essay scores from ChatGPT without training it first with sample essays. That means it is possible for any teacher to use it to grade any essay instantly with minimal expense and effort. "Teachers might have more bandwidth to assign more writing," said Tate.

  24. How to Write a College Essay

    Making an all-state team → outstanding achievement. Making an all-state team → counting the cost of saying "no" to other interests. Making a friend out of an enemy → finding common ground, forgiveness. Making a friend out of an enemy → confront toxic thinking and behavior in yourself.

  25. How to write a discussion text

    Video summary. Newsround presenter Leah Boleto explains how discursive writing requires an understanding of the difference between facts and opinions, and how to use connecting phrases and ...

  26. Essay Writing Price

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  28. Global Faiths: Which Religion Claims the Most Adherents?

    This essay about the prevalence of major world religions examines which faith has the most followers globally. It identifies Christianity as the largest religion, with approximately 2.3 billion adherents, followed by Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The essay explores the historical spread and cultural significance of these religions.

  29. I Don't Write Like Alice Munro, but I Want to Live Like Her

    Guest Essay. I Don't Write Like Alice Munro, but I Want to Live Like Her. May 15, 2024. ... A fiction writer isn't someone who can write anything — movies, articles, obits! She isn't a ...

  30. Grand Island mayor awards students for writing essays on how to improve

    The students were tasked with writing a 400 word essay about how they would improve their city and what they would like to see added. Many students wrote about how they want more kid focused businesses in the area, but the focus of the winner of the contest, Saybel Raez Almaguer, focused his essay on safety.