By understanding college essay criteria, editors can more effectively help prospective students craft essays that improve their chances of admission.

One of the most important elements of a college application is the essay section. Through these essays, applicants are expected to showcase their potential as students. Unfortunately, the criteria for the essays are largely ambiguous. As a result, applicants struggle to produce essays that meet colleges’ obscure expectations. Occasionally, as applicants write their essays, they seek assistance from editing professionals. In order to successfully aid applicants, editors need to understand precisely what colleges are searching for.

THE RESEARCH

In his study titled “The Rhetoric of College Application Essays: Removing Obstacles for Low Income and Minority Students,” James Warren (2013), from the University of Texas at Arlington, explored approaches to college application essays. He sought to discover what admissions officers viewed as essential elements of productive application essays. To gather these insights, Warren designed an experiment involving four English classes in a Texas high school. Two classes formed the control group, which participated in the school’s standard curriculum. The other two classes formed the experimental group and participated in a new curriculum created by the researchers with instruction on rhetoric and argumentation. Students in both groups wrote essays on a given prompt. Finally, the researchers submitted the students’ essays from both curriculums to two admissions counselors for scoring.

Judged on a four-point scale, the students’ essays in the experimental group received significantly higher scores (2.43) than the students in the control group (1.98). Analyzing the admissions counselors’ reasoning behind each score, the researchers observed that the counselors preferred persuasive argumentation and specificity over description and exposition. Admissions counselors also favored essays that identified how students’ experiences contributed to academic achievement and potential. Warren stated that “most prompts ask applicants for personal narratives, but the essays actually function as arguments that make a case for the applicant’s potential as a college student” (2013, 44). The results of this study indicate that persuasive argumentation skills are essential for productive college application essays.

Most prompts ask applicants for personal narratives, but the essays actually function as arguments that make a case for the applicant’s potential as a college student.

Warren (2013)

THE IMPLICATIONS

When editors work with applicants to improve college application essays, they should take time to teach applicants about effective persuasive argumentation, which These arguments should provide clear evidence regarding why applicants should be considered worthy potential students. Applicants should also include specific personal experiences that illustrate their arguments, but these experiences should function as relevant evidence for the applicants’ claims that they can succeed in college. As editors ensure that the essays are infused with persuasive arguments, they give applicants the tools they need to increase their chances of being accepted into their chosen colleges.

To learn more about college application essay expectations, read the full article:

Warren, James. 2013. “The Rhetoric of College Application Essays: Removing Obstacles for Low Income and Minority Students.” American Secondary Education 42 (1): 43–56. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43694176.

—Chaning Cunningham, Editing Research

FEATURE IMAGE BY YAN KRUKAU

Find more research

Read Laurel Nesbitt’s (2001) writing guide to learn about analyzing arguments: The WAC Clearinghouse. 2001. “Using the Toulmin Method.” Accessed November 1, 2025. https://wacclearinghouse.org/repository/writing/guides-old/toulmin/.

Read Jessica Singer Early and Meredith DeCosta-Smith’s (2001) article to learn more about college application essays: “Making a Case for College: A Genre-based College Admission Essay Intervention for Underserved High School Students.” Journal of Writing Research. https://www.jowr.org/index.php/jowr/article/view/731.