How should a college essay be formatted?

You're not alone in feeling confused about formatting the Common App essay—many students worry about the details! The good news is that the Common Application itself is pretty straightforward and doesn't require a lot of fancy formatting.

When you paste your essay into the Common App, the system will automatically standardize things like font and size. You don’t need to use double-spacing, and you don’t need a title, your name, or any extra information at the top. The essay box is meant for plain text only.

Stick to basic formatting: include paragraph breaks by hitting 'enter' twice, so your essay doesn't look like one massive block of text. For example, if you start a new idea or section, leave a blank line in between. This helps admissions officers read your essay easily and shows you care about clarity.

Most students write and edit their essays in Google Docs or Word first, then copy and paste into the Common App box. Make sure to check your formatting right after you paste—sometimes indentations or special characters get lost in the process. If you want to play it safe, avoid using bold, italics, or underlining, as those often disappear when you paste into the application.

One tip: always preview your essay before submitting. The Common App offers a 'Preview' button that lets you see exactly what admission officers will see. If your paragraphs look good and there are no strange symbols or missing line breaks, you’re set.

As an example, here's how you might structure your essay:

Paragraph 1 (Introduction)


Paragraph 2 (Development)


Paragraph 3 (Further development)


Paragraph 4 (Conclusion)


That's it—no need for headers or extra formatting. Good luck on your essay! If you plan to submit to any schools that require a PDF upload (rare for the personal essay), you may want to double-check their individual instructions, but for the Common App, plain paragraphs are perfect.