What is the correct format for the college personal essay?

Great questions—you're definitely not alone in wondering about this! For the Common App personal essay, the format is actually very straightforward and doesn’t require any fancy tricks.

When you paste your essay into the Common Application text box, the system automatically formats the text: it will be single-spaced, with a standard, readable font (usually something like Arial or Times New Roman at around 11- or 12-point size). You don’t need to worry about setting fonts or spacing yourself; the app does that part for you.

You do not need to double-space your essay for the online submission. Just paste your text into the box and make sure it looks clean and easy to read. If you have paragraph breaks, put a single line (press 'Enter' twice) between paragraphs to make sure they’re not bunched up.

Titles are totally optional. Most students just start their essays right away with the first line—having a title is not expected or required, and sometimes it even takes up valuable word count. Unless you have a title that adds something meaningful or creative, it’s completely normal to leave it off.

Since you’re drafting in Google Docs, here’s an important tip: sometimes copying and pasting from Docs into the Common App can mess up quotation marks or apostrophes (they can turn into strange symbols). The safest way to check is to preview your essay in the application after pasting, and fix any wonky formatting right there. Avoid using italics, bold, or underlines—those don’t always transfer correctly. For example, if you have a line like:

When my brother whispered, "You can do this," everything changed.

…just make sure the quotation marks look correct in the final version.

If you want to add emphasis, do it with your writing style instead of formatting. Finally, always save your essay in a .txt file as a backup, especially once you’re happy with the text and formatting.

In short: Single-space, standard font, clear paragraph breaks, and no title unless you have a strong reason for one. Focus on making the content shine! Good luck—getting the formatting right is the easy part; telling your story matters most!