How helpful is College Essay Guy's advice for the UVA essays?
I’m working on my UVA essays right now and I’ve been looking at resources online to help guide me. I keep seeing people recommend College Essay Guy, both the website and their YouTube channel, but I wanted to know how specifically useful their tips are for the UVA prompts.
For anyone who has gotten into UVA or is familiar with their supplemental essays, did you follow any advice from College Essay Guy? Was there a particular exercise or tip that helped you get started or make your essays stand out? I sometimes struggle with getting too generic in my writing and really want my application to reflect more of who I am. Any input would be appreciated as I’m a little stressed about making my essays stand out for such a competitive school.
Also, if anyone has suggestions for other resources or examples for the UVA essay prompts (especially the "community" one), please drop them below!
For anyone who has gotten into UVA or is familiar with their supplemental essays, did you follow any advice from College Essay Guy? Was there a particular exercise or tip that helped you get started or make your essays stand out? I sometimes struggle with getting too generic in my writing and really want my application to reflect more of who I am. Any input would be appreciated as I’m a little stressed about making my essays stand out for such a competitive school.
Also, if anyone has suggestions for other resources or examples for the UVA essay prompts (especially the "community" one), please drop them below!
4 months ago
•
15 views
Camille Luong
• 4 months ago
Advisor
College Essay Guy offers a lot of value, especially if you’re feeling like your writing is too generic or surface-level. His resources focus heavily on brainstorming, authenticity, and structuring your story, which are very relevant for UVA’s supplementals—especially the community prompt. His "Values Exercise" and "Essence Objects" brainstorming sessions can help you dig into memories or details that make your perspective unique, rather than writing a standard response about, for example, community service or school clubs.
For the UVA "community" prompt, College Essay Guy often advises focusing on a moment or experience that captures the heart of your relationship with a specific group. Instead of writing broadly about the group itself, he suggests narrowing in on a single event or story that showcases how you interacted, learned, or contributed. For instance, a student who felt out of place in a debate club could write about the one meeting where they led a discussion against their own viewpoint and how that challenged their notion of belonging and sparked growth. This approach emphasizes storytelling over listing accomplishments, which tends to resonate more with admissions readers.
Personally, I found the "Everything I Want Colleges to Know About Me" exercise useful in identifying themes in my activities that weren’t just repeats of my resume. It helped me see how my quirky interests (like making origami after school) connected to broader values like patience and community-building, which I then wrote about for my UVA supplement.
When using College Essay Guy’s advice, just remember to adapt it for UVA’s specific prompts and not to force an overly rigid template. Read a few accepted UVA essay examples to get a sense of tone (Reddit and CollegeVine can be decent for this).
If you want another resource, the UVA Admissions Blog sometimes gives insight into what they’re actually looking for in essays, and hearing "what NOT to do" from admissions officers there can be eye-opening. Ultimately, combining College Essay Guy’s tools with reading strong examples will help your essay sound both personal and purposeful.
For the UVA "community" prompt, College Essay Guy often advises focusing on a moment or experience that captures the heart of your relationship with a specific group. Instead of writing broadly about the group itself, he suggests narrowing in on a single event or story that showcases how you interacted, learned, or contributed. For instance, a student who felt out of place in a debate club could write about the one meeting where they led a discussion against their own viewpoint and how that challenged their notion of belonging and sparked growth. This approach emphasizes storytelling over listing accomplishments, which tends to resonate more with admissions readers.
Personally, I found the "Everything I Want Colleges to Know About Me" exercise useful in identifying themes in my activities that weren’t just repeats of my resume. It helped me see how my quirky interests (like making origami after school) connected to broader values like patience and community-building, which I then wrote about for my UVA supplement.
When using College Essay Guy’s advice, just remember to adapt it for UVA’s specific prompts and not to force an overly rigid template. Read a few accepted UVA essay examples to get a sense of tone (Reddit and CollegeVine can be decent for this).
If you want another resource, the UVA Admissions Blog sometimes gives insight into what they’re actually looking for in essays, and hearing "what NOT to do" from admissions officers there can be eye-opening. Ultimately, combining College Essay Guy’s tools with reading strong examples will help your essay sound both personal and purposeful.
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Camille Luong
Nomadic
Stanford University, BAH in Urban Studies
Experience
5 years
Rating
5.0 (5 reviews)