college essays about video games examples

Essays About Video Games: Top 12 Examples and Prompts

Video games have revolutionized the way we have fun today. If you are writing essays about video games, check out our guide to inspire your writing.

Few can contest the fact that video games have taken over the world. From the basic, almost “primitive” games of the 1970s like Pong to the mind-bending virtual reality games of the 2020s, they have been a source of entertainment for all. Moreover, they have proven quite profitable; countries like Japan and the United States have made tens of billions of dollars solely from the video game market.

Despite their popularity, much has been debated over the potentially harmful side effects that video games may have, particularly on children. One side argues that playing certain video games can lead to people exhibiting violence in the future, while others believe that video games teach players essential life skills. Regardless, they will continue to be a part of our lives for the foreseeable future.

For engaging essays about video games, read the essay examples featured below for inspiration.

1. What electronic games can teach us by Kendall Powell

2. designers are imagining video games without guns by keith stuart, 3. playing video games all summer won’t make you feel worse by nicole wetsman, 4. violent video games bad by andrea newman.

5. The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon

Writing Prompts For Essays About Video Games

1. video games: good or bad, 2. the benefits of video games, 3. what is your favorite video game, 4. do video games cause people to become violent, 5. video games in your life, 6. video games vs. traditional games, 7. is the video game rating system enough.

“In other studies, researchers found that gamers who trained on Tetris were better at mentally rotating two-dimensional shapes than those who played a control game. Students who played two hours of All You Can E.T., an educational game designed to enhance the executive function of switching between tasks, improved their focus-shifting skills compared with students who played a word search game.”

Powell explains a few possibilities of applying video games to education. As it turns out, certain video games can improve players’ skills, depending on the mechanics. Researchers are inspired by this and hope to take advantage of the competitive, motivational nature of gaming to encourage children to learn. New games are designed to help kids improve their focus, coordination, and resilience, and game designers hope they will succeed.

“Imagine a game where you’re a war reporter seeking to capture the most iconic, representative images in a battle environment: You’d still get the sense of peril that audiences expect from action adventures, but your relationship with the environment would be more profound. It would be Call of Duty from the perspective of a creative participant rather than a violent interloper.”

The graphic nature of some video games is said to make kids violent, so it is only natural that some creators try to change this. Stuart writes that it is possible to maintain the fun that shooter-type games induce without using guns. He gives examples of games where you do not kill your enemy, simply stunning or capturing them instead. He also suggests photography as an alternative to killing in a “shooting” game. Finally, he suggests basing video games around helping others, making friends, and doing more peaceful, creative tasks.

“Any role video games play in skewing well-being that did pop up in the study was too small to have a real-world impact on how people feel, the authors said. People would have to play games for 10 more hours per day than their baseline to notice changes in their well-being, the study found.”

Wetsman counters the widespread belief that video games “destroy your brain.” Research done with a sample of 39,000 players over six weeks has shown that whether one plays video games for long or short periods, their mental health is not impacted much. There are some exceptions; however, there are not enough to conclude that video games are, in fact, harmful.

“Some people believe that the connection between violent games, and real violence is also fairly intuitive. In playing the games kids are likely to become desensitized to gory images;which could make them less disturbing, and perhaps easier to deal with in real life. While video games aren’t about violence their capacity to teach can be a good thing.”

In her essay, Newman writes about the supposed promotion of violence in some video games. However, she believes this violence does not cause people to be more aggressive later. Instead, she believes these games expose children to certain atrocities so they will not be traumatized if they see them in real life. In addition, these games supposedly promote connections and friendships. Finally, Newman believes that these “harmful” can make you a better person.

5. The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon

“Gamers need to be educated on how to protect their thumbs, wrists, and elbows, their waistlines, their emotional state, their sleep, and their eyes. Simple education around taking breaks, stretching, eating healthy snacks, and resting and icing your thumb, wrist, or elbow when it starts hurting can address injuries early, before they become significant. For the eyes, gamers can try the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, try to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.”

Grinspoon discusses both the benefits and the health risks of gaming. Video games allow people to interact with each other remotely and bond over specific missions or tasks, and some research shows that they have cognitive benefits. However, some gamers may develop vision problems and hand and wrist injuries. Gaming and “staring in front of a screen the whole day” is also associated with obesity. Overall, Grinspoon believes that gaming is best done in moderation.

Looking for more? Check out these essays about hobbies .

Many parents believe that their children’s “bad behavior” is because of video games. Based on your experience and others, decide: are video games good or bad for you? Make sure to read viewpoints from both sides and write an essay based on your position. Would you encourage others to play video games? Discuss these pros and cons for an interesting argumentative essay.

Like anything else, video games have both positive and negative aspects. Explain the good that video games can do for you: the skills they can equip you with, the lessons they can teach, and anything else. Also, include whether you believe their benefits outweigh the disadvantages they may pose.

For your essay, write about your favorite video game and why you chose it. What is its meaning to you, and how has it affected your life? Describe the gameplay mechanics, characters, storyline, and general impact on the gaming community or society. You can write about any game you want, even if you have not played it; just ensure the content is sufficient.

Many claim that playing violent video games can make you violent in the future. Research this phenomenon and conclude whether it is true or not. Is the evidence sufficient? There are many resources on this topic; support your argument by citing credible sources, such as news articles, statistics, and scientific research.

Video games have been a part of almost all our lives. Recall a treasured experience with video games and explain why it is significant. How old were you? Why do you remember it fondly? How did this experience make you feel? Answer these questions in your own words for an exciting essay.

Essays About Video Games: Video games vs. Traditional games

There are stark differences between video and traditional games, such as board games and card games. For an engaging essay, compare and contrast them and write about which is more entertaining, in your opinion. Be creative; this should be based on your own opinions and ideas.

The video game content rating system is used to classify video games based on their appropriateness for specific ages. However, parents complain that they are not strict enough and allow the display of violent content to children. Explore the criteria behind the rating system, decide whether it needs to be changed or not, and give examples to support your argument.

If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

college essays about video games examples

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

View all posts

Best Video Game Essay Topics for Students

Choosing the right essay topic is crucial, and for students who love video games, it’s an opportunity to combine their passion with academics. In this article, we’ll explore a variety of exciting and various video game essay topic ideas for students of high school and college. This blog includes argumentative, analytical, persuasive and other types of essays related to video gaming.

Video Game Essay Topics for High School Students

How Video Games Improve Problem-Solving Skills.
Understanding the World of E-sports.
The Importance of Balanced Gaming Habits.
Exploring the History of Gaming Consoles.
Video Games: Entertainment and Cultural Influence.
Gender Representation in Video Games.
Gamification in Education: Learning through Play.
Game Design and the Art of Video Games.
Tracing the Growth of the Video Game Industry.
Social Connections in Online Gaming Communities.
Video Games and Mental Health Benefits.
Exploring Careers in Game Development.
Ethical Choices in Video Games.
The Impact of Music in Video Games.
Making Video Games Accessible to Everyone.

Video Game Essay Topics for College Students

The Educational Value of Video Games in College Curriculum.
The Growth and Impact of E-sports in the Sports Industry.
Gaming Habits and Academic Performance: A College Study.
Game Engine Comparison: Unity vs. Unreal Engine.
Gender Representation in Video Games: A College Perspective.
Analyzing Game Narrative Structures in Popular Titles.
Moral Choices in Video Games: Implications and Outcomes.
The Psychology of Player Motivation in Gaming.
Virtual Reality in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges.
Career Prospects in Game Development: Paths and Insights.
Ethical Dilemmas in Video Game Content Creation.
The Role of Music and Sound in Video Game Immersion.
Indie Game Development: Innovations and Success Stories.
Video Game Preservation: Saving Gaming History.
AI in Gaming: Enhancing NPC Behavior and Gameplay.

Common Essay Topics Related to Video Games

The Influence of Video Games on Academic Performance.
Video Game Violence: Separating Fact from Fiction.
The History and Evolution of Mobile Gaming.
The Role of Gaming in Building Teamwork and Collaboration.
The Psychology of In-Game Rewards and Achievements.
Virtual Reality (VR) Gaming: A Glimpse into the Future.
Gaming and STEM Education: Learning Science through Games.
The Representation of Diversity in Video Games.
The Impact of In-Game Advertising on Players.
The Benefits of Gaming for Stress Relief and Relaxation.
The Importance of Responsible Gaming.
The Art of Game Mods: Customizing and Enhancing Games.
E-sports Scholarships and Opportunities for Students.
The Environmental Impact of Video Game Consoles.
Gamers for Good: How Gaming Communities Contribute to Charity.

Argumentative Topics for Video Game Essays

Do Violent Video Games Promote Aggressive Behavior in Players?
Should There Be Age Restrictions on Purchasing Violent Video Games?
Are Video Games a Viable Educational Tool in Schools?
Is Video Game Addiction a Real Concern, and How Should It Be Addressed?
Do Video Games Enhance Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking Skills?
Should Parents Be More Involved in Monitoring Their Children’s Gaming Habits?
Is E-sports a Legitimate Sport and Worthy of Recognition?
Does Playing Video Games Improve Hand-Eye Coordination?
Are Video Games a Form of Art, and Should They Be Treated as Such?
Should the Video Game Industry Be Regulated More Strictly for Content?
Do Video Games Have a Positive or Negative Impact on Social Skills?
Is There a Link Between Video Games and Obesity in Children?
Should Professional Gamers Be Considered Athletes and Eligible for Sports Scholarships?
Does Gaming Culture Foster Toxic Behavior and Harassment?
Can Video Games Help Alleviate Stress and Anxiety in Players?

Didn’t find any topic of your interest? No worries! We have listed 100+ Argumentative Essay Topics for Students here, you can go through the article and choose the best one as per your needs. This blog has various niche topics and can assist to find the best one for you.

Informative Video Game Essay Topics

The History of Video Games: From Pong to Present.
A Deep Dive into the World of E-sports.
How Video Games are Made: Game Development Explained.
Exploring Different Genres of Video Games: Action, RPG, Simulation, etc.
The Evolution of Video Game Graphics and Technology.
Iconic Video Game Characters and Their Impact on Pop Culture.
The Science Behind Gaming: How Game Engines Work.
Video Game Consoles: Past, Present, and Future.
The Importance of Storytelling in Video Games.
The Role of Sound Design and Music in Gaming.
The Influence of Video Games on Architecture and Design.
Video Game Streaming and Content Creation: A New Career Frontier.
The Psychology of Gaming: Why We Love Video Games.
The Cultural Significance of Video Game Events and Conventions.
The Rise of Gamification in Education and Training.

Compare & Contrast Video Game Essay Topics

These compare and contrast essay topics are chosen by our experts and are specifically related to video gaming. These are general and easy to write on.

Console Gaming vs. PC Gaming: Which Is Better?
Single-Player vs. Multiplayer Games: Which Do You Prefer?
Mobile Games vs. Console Games: Pros and Cons.
Classic Games vs. Modern Games: What’s Changed?
First-Person vs. Third-Person Shooter Games: Which is More Immersive?
Xbox vs. PlayStation: Comparing Gaming Communities.
Video Games vs. Board Games: Which Provides More Fun?
Old Game Graphics vs. New Game Graphics: A Visual Evolution.
RPGs vs. Action Games: Gameplay Differences.
Retro Games vs. Modern Games: Nostalgia vs. Innovation.
Open-World Games vs. Linear Games: Freedom vs. Guided Storytelling.
Strategy Games vs. Puzzle Games: Challenges in Gaming.
Video Games vs. Movies: Storytelling Approaches.
Online Shooters vs. Battle Royale Games: Teamwork vs. Solo Play.
Exclusive vs. Cross-Platform Games: Your Gaming Options.

Analytical Topics for Video Game Essays

Strategies for Success in Online Multiplayer Games.
Analyzing Game Elements in Role-Playing Games (RPGs).
In-Game Purchases and Their Impact on Player Progress.
The Design of Levels in Platformer Games: A Critical Look.
Difficulty Levels in Video Games: Effects on Player Experience.
The In-Game Economy: How It Works and Influences Players.
The Significance of Tutorial Levels in Game Learning.
Character Development in Video Games: Evolution and Influence.
Linear vs. Non-Linear Storytelling in Video Games.
Morality Systems in Games: Player Choices and Consequences.
AI and Machine Learning in Video Games: Advancements and Applications.
User-Friendly Game Interfaces: Design Principles and Importance.
Game Analytics: Measuring Success in the Gaming Industry.
Visual Design and Its Impact on Player Immersion.
Cultural Adaptation in Video Game Localization.

Persuasive Essay Topics on Video Gaming

Why Schools Should Use Video Games for Learning.
The Importance of Age Ratings in Video Game Sales.
Video Games: Tools for Enhancing Problem-Solving Skills.
How Video Games Can Improve Mental Well-being.
Debunking the Myth: Video Games and Real-Life Violence.
Promoting Diversity in Video Game Characters.
Parents’ Role in Monitoring Kids’ Gaming Habits.
Gamification in Education: Making Learning Fun.
Addressing Video Game Addiction as a Health Issue.
Teamwork and Cooperation in Multiplayer Games.
Ethical Game Development: Fair Monetization Practices.
The Need for More Research on Video Game Violence.
Combatting Toxicity in Online Gaming Communities.
Exploring E-sports Career Opportunities.
Making Video Games Accessible for Everyone.

Best Video Game Essay Topics in 2023

The Impact of Video Games on Society Today.
Gaming and Sustainability: How Can Gamers Go Green?
NFTs in Gaming: What You Need to Know.
Virtual Reality Gaming: The Next Big Thing.
Making Games Accessible for Everyone.
AI’s Role in Video Game Development.
Gaming Habits Post-Pandemic: What’s Changed?
In-Game Advertising: Friend or Foe?
5G Technology and Its Effect on Gaming.
Video Games and Mental Health: A Closer Look.
Augmented Reality Games in Learning and Fun.
Collectibles and In-Game Economies: Explained.
Gaming Across Cultures: Challenges and Solutions.
The Power of Online Gaming Communities.
E-sports: The Future of Competitive Gaming.

These gaming essay topics would surely help you select the best topic of your choice, all various topics are suggested by our qualified experts keeping in mind the capabilities of an average student. If you want to hire our assignment writer for your gaming topics, feel free to reach us and get your essay done by experts.

discursive essay topics by Your Academic Writer

Discursive Essay Topics for Students

100+ Best Narrative Essay Topics

Video Games College Essays Samples For Students

413 samples of this type

If you're looking for an applicable way to streamline writing a College Essay about Video Games, WowEssays.com paper writing service just might be able to help you out.

For starters, you should browse our large collection of free samples that cover most diverse Video Games College Essay topics and showcase the best academic writing practices. Once you feel that you've studied the major principles of content presentation and taken away actionable insights from these expertly written College Essay samples, developing your own academic work should go much easier.

However, you might still find yourself in a circumstance when even using top-notch Video Games College Essays doesn't let you get the job accomplished on time. In that case, you can contact our writers and ask them to craft a unique Video Games paper according to your custom specifications. Buy college research paper or essay now!

Benefit of Video Games Essays Examples

Free video games and violence essay example, video games and violence.

“We are closed in, and the key is turned, on our uncertainty somewhere, a man is killed or a house is burned and yet there is no clear fact to be discerned.”

Free Laptop vs Desktop vs Tablet Essay Sample

Don't waste your time searching for a sample.

Get your essay done by professional writers!

Just from $10/page

Video Games and Social Life Essay Samples

- introduction, example of essay on video games, free in praise of the urban sandbox essay example, free essay on video games and players, essay on the advancement in technology.

The advancement in technology has been greatly influencing all spheres of nowadays life. Global digital entertainment industry has been rapidly developing and, naturally, has a huge impact on people’s life. PlayStation, as a piece of technology owned by gamers of different age throughout the world, has undoubtedly become an integral aspects of children, teenagers and adults’ life. Its impact on human relationships, stress levels, race/class/gender inequalities and global economics cannot be overrated. To what extent has PlayStation affected people’s relationships is a question of a particular interest and is bound to be researched further.

Good Essay About Various Marketing Techniques

- discuss the various marketing techniques and customer loyalty programs used by the casino and gaming industry..

The gaming industry and casino operate in a very competitive environment and they must continually develop strategies that that ensure that the customers remain loyal. The environment changes and so is the consumer behavior. The casinos now exist for gaming, entertainment and others exist to offer shopping services. To improve the customer experience the casino management ensures that the customer tracking systems and loyalty systems are in place. The gaming and the casino must offer proper level of service to each type of customer.

Games And Society Essay Example

Distinctive characteristics of digital games essay sample, in what ways is technology, industry, and culture of games linked, free basketball free throw essay sample, free essay about games and violence, good example of essay on do you agree that video games damage family life and other 'real life' relationships, do video games kill essay samples, when life imitates a video essay examples, good essay on act 1 position paper, the analysis on nintendo, one of the most welcome game brands in united states market essay sample, analysis on nintendo, notable marketing essay samples, introduction, example of essay on do violent video games cause behavior problems, example of essay on parents should protect their children from watching violent tv shows, free essay about how competitive game industry contributes to economy.

Nowadays video game industry is considered to be a mainstream rather like movie or music industry. While the epic blockbusters such as Call of Duty series contribute to the developers within direct sales of game copies and franchising, free competitive online games attract more and more players. The evolution of electronic sports in the last decade has altered the industry. The online tournaments have become massive global events. We will consider the contribution of competitive game industry to economy in terms of one of the most popular multiplayer online games Dota 2.

THE CONCEPT OF DOTA 2

Good example of do video games help or harm young children essay, critical analysis of call of duty advanced warfare advertisement: the effect of essays example, free essay about daye, diversity issues essay sample, do violent video games promote aggression and intolerance in childrens behavior essay example, introduction 3, addictions essay samples, free fossil fuels essay sample, the other in action military video games essay sample, free draft the other in action military video games essay example, free essay on exploration paper 1, free essay about zynga case analysis, lesson 10 sentence outline essays examples, free hypothetical consulting company essay sample, nintendo case on strategic management 7th edition essays examples, good example of e-sports essay.

(Author’s Full Name)

Sample Essay On In New Study, Video Games Not Tied To Violence In High-Risk Youth By Rick

Video games do not cause violent behavior, leonard, david. unsettling the military entertainment complex: video games and essays example, annotated bibliography – lesson 7, good essay on medias depiction of games and gamers, free serious games essay example, free process analysis essay example, how to retrieve your e-mail in the computer lab, free essay on media violence, free focused audience essay sample, video games, good youre name essay example, montego video games: a study on ethics, good example of essay on parents need help, example of essay on nevadas history as a state, good essay about first project, reflection on group projects 1, 2 and 3, free monitoring the surf shoppe servers essay sample, good essay on playstation, good the human-computer interface essay example, the human-computer interface:.

Human Computer Interface (HCI), is the study of how humans interact with computers, and it uses productivity, entertainment and safety to ensure the fulfillment of human-computer activities. HCI focuses more on finding methods and techniques that support the ways people interact with computer systems, and is categorized into two broad spheres of study i.e. usability and user experience. Usability focuses on the product being functionally helpful and easy to use while user experience focuses more on interactions such as enjoyment, engagement, and aesthetic pleasure while using the computer system.

Haptic Feedback: Uses and importance:

Sample essay on ex. metroid and its development, ex. lara croft.

Interpretation: gender roles and setting negative example for children - Sex in video games leads to the erosion of culture

Ex. Pornographic and over sexualized characters such as Bayonetta and Lara croft

Interpretation: social and cultural expectations of women are negatively impacted - Gender inequality

Ex: Most developers are men, “tropes”

Interpretation: women represented as an inferior character - Violence in video games

Ex: Call of Duty, Tomb Raiders, Grand Theft Auto

Interpretation: violence focused on women - Damsel in distress

Ex: women as prostitutes in Grand Theft Auto

Interpretation: Women needs rescue, subject to sexual violence, submissive role - Recommendation

Governmenment laws and policies

Free essay about violence in video games: whether or not it has a lasting effect on peoples behavior, zombies essay examples, example of how violent entertainment affects the american culture essay, educational games essay example, will gaming save education, or just waste time, free essay on video game violence, computer gamers as a subculture essay, the effects of grand theft auto series on the behavior and mentality of children essay examples, essay on the wii u.

Password recovery email has been sent to [email protected]

Use your new password to log in

You are not register!

By clicking Register, you agree to our Terms of Service and that you have read our Privacy Policy .

Now you can download documents directly to your device!

Check your email! An email with your password has already been sent to you! Now you can download documents directly to your device.

or Use the QR code to Save this Paper to Your Phone

The sample is NOT original!

Short on a deadline?

Don't waste time. Get help with 11% off using code - GETWOWED

No, thanks! I'm fine with missing my deadline

110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples

🔝 top 10 video game topics for 2024, 🏆 best video game topic ideas & essay examples, 🎮 good video game research topics, 🕹️ interesting gaming topics to write about, ❓ video game research questions, ✅ simple & easy video game essay topics.

Looking for video game topics for your project? Look no further! Here, we’ve collected excellent essay topics for true gaming enthusiasts. Whether you’re looking for argumentative essay ideas on video games, research topics, or questions for debate, you will find them here.

History of Video Game Consoles
Myths of Video Game Violence
The Global Phenomenon of Esports
VR Gaming and Its Future Possibilities
How Video Games Influence Cognitive Skills
Therapeutic Mental Health Benefits of Video Games
Diversity and Gender Representation in Video Games
How Multiplayer Games Impact Social Interaction
Healthy Gaming Habits Against Video Game Addiction
Aesthetic and Narrative Qualities of Artistic Video Games
Product Life Cycle & Marketing of Video Game Industry One of the most important advantages of the concept of life cycle can be seen in the sphere of marketing, where if used as a tool it allows adjusting the strategies, including marketing, based on […]
Sony and Nintendo in the Video Game Industry The firm has manufactured several generations of the home console since the 1980s, beginning with the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System released in the early 1990s, and the Nintendo 64 that was […]
Video Game Effects: Good or Bad? Given the fact that there is indeed a logically sound rationale to such a suggestion, throughout the course of conducting my study, I remained thoroughly observant of the article’s classification-related suggestions, in regards to the […]
FIFA 10 Football Simulation Video Game A lack of consistency is evident in the various versions of this game as FIFA 10 played on a PC lacks the realism that is exhibited when the game is played on XBOX 360 and […]
Video Game Addiction and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs As to me, I was interested in video games when I was a child because this industry was at its beginning and almost every pupil was involved in it.
Video Game Industry Analysis In 1950, Yamauchi assumed the position of the president in the firm and got on a variety of strategies with the purpose of rationalizing and modernizing the way the firm was controlled.
The Monopoly Tycoon Video Game Review The game is stylistically similar to the board game Monopoly, and it can be played both online and offline. It is important to note that the game has a multiplayer feature, which can be played […]
The Video Game Industry Evolution The first mention of the creation of such games dates back to the 1940s, but it was in 1952 that Alexander Shafto “Sandy” Douglas officially presented his dissertation at the University of Cambridge. One of […]
The NASCAR Video Game Project Management Plan The plan attempts to draw the features and gameplay mechanics by replicating the thought process of a potential player. At this stage, the game should be well-advertised and ready for release.
The Motivation of the Video Game Player For instance, the project gave its players the dynamic and fast pace of the game, a vast and detailed map, various locations, several different weapons, and character skins, and this is not all the possibilities.
The “Medal of Honor” Video Game Analysis The game is set to depict the Afghanistan invention in 2002 and the battle between the U.S.military and the Taliban. Due to the close resemblance of the game to the Afghanistan war, the game has […]
Human Life: Video Game, Simulation, or Reality? Drawing parallels between the real and the virtual world, one can admit the unreality of the existence of the planet and people and compare everything that happens with the simulation in which we are.
Does Video Game Violence Lead to Aggression in Children? Among the gaming community, children participate vigorously in absorbing the plethora of entertaining content, including age-restricted ones where the scenes of violence are abundant.
A Role-Playing Video Game Ayiti: The Cost of Life This strategy worked but not to the topmost level simply because the burden of the living cost was gradually weighing down the overall income of my family.
BioWare Video Game Project Management For example, Dragon Age: Inquisition, the third installment of the company’s flagship series, switched to the Frostbite engine used by most of the EA games and succeeded in delivering the product despite the technical difficulties […]
Video Game History: Overview From the 1990s to Nowadays In addition to arcade car behavior, the game was also famous for its beautiful graphics at the time, with each game in the series being a launch title showing the capabilities of the console.
Video Game Delivery Project: Strategic Marketing To initiate strategies in marketing of Video Game, the company will decide to develop a web based application by ABC CORP and this application is customized to meet the requirements of the project. The purpose […]
A Video Game Store’s Business Plan The projected cash flow of the cash in the balance sheet will appear positive for the next five years and will show that the company’s profitability in will be good enough pay for operating expenses […]
The U.S. Video Game Industry This was also based on the views of the company’s developers who assumed that the technological advantages of the the16-bit system were extremely less than that of the 8-bit system.
Video Game Company Against Online Piracy The purpose of the said DRM software is to protect the intellectual rights of the company. The fourth major issue is the encompassing goal of the VGC to end all types of piracy.
Twitch.tv and Video Game Streaming Career From this point, in spite of the fact that the Twitch.tv platform can be viewed as belonging to the live-streaming industry, the careers of streamers develop according to the traditional principles of the entertainment business.
Nintendo in the Video Game Industry Previously, Atari was a major power to reckon with in the industry but was later toppled by Nintendo. Part of Yamauchi’s vision was to introduce new and cheaper video games in the market than the […]
Game designers have the responsibility to design less video game Secondly, the outcome of the video game is unpredictable as compared to movie in which the audience can predict the point at which the story would end thus making the video games more interesting to […]
Striving for the Ultimate Knowledge: Eli’s Mission. Video Game Owing to the peculiarities of the movie plot, the game can be shaped in a most intriguing way, with a lot of turns of the plot which lead to the most effective denouement.
Analysis of the Counter-Strike Video Game Phenomenon in Computer Gaming
Comparison of Three Companies in Video Game Industry; Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft
Analysis of Free Will in The Stanley Parable Video Game
Analysis of the Effects of Playing a Video Game Used in Computer Science
Analysis of the Characteristics and Player Statistics of Bungie’s Video Game Destiny
Are Video Games Truly a Game or a Reality?
Analysis of the Topic of the Releases in the Video-Game Industry and the Issues of the Violence
Analysis of the Rise of the Video Game Empire in Modern Society
Two Aspects of Creating a Video Game
Analysis of the Third-Person, Console-Based Video Game, The Last of Us
Are Users The Next Entrepreneurs? A Case Study On The Video Game Industry
Combating Video Game Addiction : A Global Problem
Does Playing Video Game Consoles Bring About Plenty of Advantages?
Analysis of the Field Work Project and the Topic of a Video Game Community
Does Video Game Violence Affect Children?
Do Video Games Contribute For Video Game Violence?
Is The Video Game Industry an Oligopoly?
Is Video Game Violence the Cause of Juvenile Delinquency?
Psychological Effects of Video Game Violence on Children
What Is the Defining Business and Economic Characteristics of the Video Game Console Industry?
Why Play Station 4 and the Xbox One Are the Kings of the Next Generation Video Game Console?
What Makes A Video Game Addictive?
Competition Among 3 Main Video Game Companies: Nintendo, Sega, And Sony
Brief Note On Video Gaming And The Video Game Industry
Effects of Television and Video Game Violence on Children and Teenagers
Analysis of the Different Genres of Video Game Systems for Children
Overview of the Process and Career in Video Game Design
Development of the Elder Scrolls Video Game Series
Breaking Gender Stereotypes in Traditionally Masculine Sports: The Inclusion of Women in FIFA 16 Video Game
Cancer: Video Game and Playing Violent Video
Fighting the Online Video Game Wars in China
Government Regulation Of Video Game Violence Is Unconstitutional And Unnecessary
Japanese video game industry
History of the Video Game Industry
Microsoft Xbox Entering the World of Video Game
The Merchant of Video Games: Adapting the Merchant of Venice into an Adventure Game
What Are Some Revolutionary Breakthroughs in the Video Game Industry?
What Does It Take To Make It in the Video Games Industry?
Why Has the Video Game Industry Exploded Recently?
What Is Wrong With the Video Game Industry in This Generation?
Is the Video Game Industry Going Downhill?
Who Is the Best Voice Actor in the Video Game Industry?
What Will Be the Next Breakthrough or “Big Thing” in the Video Game Industry?
Is the Video Game Industry in Trouble Right Now?
Who Makes More Money: Hollywood or the Video Game Industry?
How Has the Coronavirus Impacted the Video Game Industry?
What Is the Biggest Missed Opportunity Yet in the Video Game Industry?
Does Video Game Violence Induce Negative Affects on Our Youth?
What Are the Changes the Video Game Industry Needs?
How Large Is the Video Game Industry?
Why Is the Video Game Industry in China Dominated by MMOs?
Is There a Bubble Forming in the Video Game Industry?
What Do Video Game Players Understand That Most People Don’t?
How Easy Is It to Make a Video Game?
What’s the Best Advice You’ve Received From a Video Game?
What Was the First Video Game?
What Is the Most Inappropriate Video Game You Know?
What Are the Elements of a Good Video Game?
How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Video Game?
What Can Video Game Consoles Offer You?
Why Video Game Addiction Is One of the Urgent Problems Today?
How Does Science Create Video Game?
How the 1970s Sparked the Video Game Industry?
Why Do Video Game Movies Always Fail?
What’s the Most Popular Video Game Genre?
The Science Behind Brain-Boosting Games
How Gaming Reflects and Influences Society
How Video Games Participate in Social Justice
Pros and Cons of Gamified Fitness and Wellness Apps
Gamification, Its Benefits, and Learning Outcomes
Virtual Goods in Video Games and Their Real-World Value
What Factors Influence Immersion and Player Engagement?
Cloud Gaming and the Potential of Streaming Technology
Market Trends and Revenue Models of the Video Game Industry
Violence, Microtransactions, and Other Ethical Issues in Video Game Development
Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, December 27). 110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/video-game-essay-topics/

"110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples." IvyPanda , 27 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/video-game-essay-topics/.

IvyPanda . (2023) '110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples'. 27 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples." December 27, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/video-game-essay-topics/.

1. IvyPanda . "110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples." December 27, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/video-game-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples." December 27, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/video-game-essay-topics/.

Problem Solving Essay Ideas
Computers Essay Ideas
Technology Essay Ideas
Cyberspace Topics
Developmental Psychology Essay Ideas
Software Engineering Topics
Online Community Essay Topics
Hacking Essay Topics

How to Write an Essay about Video Games: Presenting Effective Arguments in Papers

Gaming on video consoles is becoming more and more common. In actuality, the typical gamer plays for roughly six hours each week. There are many who claim that video games are harmful to one’s health since they promote inactive lifestyles like prolonged sitting and isolation from the outside world. On the other hand, some people say that playing video games is a good way to unwind and relax, and they are not wrong. So, what is the real story of video games? Are they good or bad? The controversy of playing video games presents an opportunity for students to either be proponents or antagonists of the issue through essays. Accordingly, this article discusses how a learner can write an essay about video games.

It would be best to do thorough research before writing an essay about video games

Research is often the most challenging aspect of preparing an essay. While writing your video games essay, you’ll have to employ the information you get from research to define video games, describe different genres, and give relevant examples to support your claims. Students must recognize that the amount of research they conduct totally affects how good their essays turn out. Your video game essay will benefit greatly from your careful attention to detail and thorough investigation. Just keep in mind that you are trying to convince your audience to see things from your point of view. This is why having a great deal of background information is essential. Researching your favorite video game would give you an added advantage. Additionally, to support your claims, you must include relevant examples and research-based data.

You should develop an introduction that captures your reader’s interest

The whole point of the opening paragraph is to capture the interest of the audience. To achieve this, it should pose an intriguing topic or provide a contradiction or paradox. You ought to add a good hook to grab the reader’s attention so they can’t help but keep reading your paper. Given that there are numerous motivations for why individuals engage in video games, the introduction is where you have to specify the reasons. Moreover, it would be best to incorporate your thesis statement in the introduction. A thesis statement is basically the writer’s primary concept, summed up in one or a few sentences. A well-formulated thesis statement expresses the work’s central argument in a way that makes sense in light of the inquiry or issue at hand. It would be the correct response to the question, “What is the primary theme of this essay?” from the instructor. Nonetheless, you should perceive your thesis as an opinion that may be debated at any time, rather than an established fact or objective reality. In other words, now is the time to speak your mind regarding the impact of video games on today’s youth.

You must present your arguments in the body paragraphs

The arguments are what learners utilize to support their thesis. A single contention and one or two examples must each have their own paragraph. It would be best to provide your reasoning for your video game position and be sure to explain why you firmly disagree with the opposing viewpoint. Examples include your own experiences and, where appropriate, references to data from studies, forecasts, and statistics. Students should provide answers to contentious topics like “Do video games promote addiction and violence among players?” The arguments you employ ought to back your main point rather than contradict it.

You may offer vivid illustrations as you write an argumentative essay about video games

Learners should offer evocative examples of the genres and video games under consideration. Instead of stressing about whether the material you discover online or the game’s publishers are legit, dedicate yourself to writing a fun and vibrant paper for the person who reads it. This approach piques the audience’s attention and facilitates their comprehension of the argumentative essay about video games. Additionally, these vivid examples assist you in conveying your ideas in a manner that words can’t. Even if you aren’t convinced that your assignment requires an example, using one might perk up your reader and provide your arguments additional weight.

You should write a conclusion for your essay

The last section is meant to sum up the college essay. You may accomplish this by restating the thesis statement and briefly mentioning the arguments you presented in your body paragraphs. This approach will help the audience understand how you systematically addressed the issue and made conclusions. For instance, suppose you had to respond to the question, “Do games negatively affect us?” A topic like that can’t be satisfactorily answered by psychology, particularly when it involves something as novel as video games. Consequently, it is actually way easier to just pick a side and support your position with some research. In the end, your readers don’t expect the argument to be elaborated upon but rather summarized. No new material should be introduced in the last paragraph.

Identifying the sources you employed would be best

When you are writing an essay about video games, it is essential to cite your sources. That means you got to make a list of every resource you used in your paper. References to diverse books, scientific studies, statistical data, and remarks made by well-known experts are acceptable. It would help to make sure your research is from the past five years.

Proofreading is vital for developing a top-notch paper

Students must make sure that their essays about video games have been edited and proofread prior to submission. So basically, you are going to check your assignment for spelling, punctuation, and grammatical mistakes. Completing an essay that is free of errors increases a learner’s likelihood of academic success. Here are some tips to help you proofread your work:

Read the text aloud. This will enable you to detect any mistakes.
Take your time proofreading and revising your work. Spend sufficient time on it to ensure you catch any possible oversights.
Concentrate on correcting a single mistake at a time. Avoid the hassle of searching for spelling and grammar mistakes at the same time. Prior to checking for punctuation and spelling problems, you may concentrate on grammatical issues.
You may also create a list of the most typical errors that students make while writing essays, then review your work for each one.

Using these suggestions will guarantee that your essay is devoid of all types of mistakes that might undermine how persuasive your argument is. Alternatively, you can delegate your “ write my essay ” request to online essay writing services like CustomWritings which may allow you to complete a high-quality paper about video games.

Extra tips for presenting better arguments in essays about video games

Today’s youth often engage in video gaming, and this trend will only spread in the coming years. Composing a paper about video games can help you learn more about the subject while also providing readers with information they can utilize in their lives. Just consider the potential for them to be inspired by and gain new knowledge from your essay about video games. Following this article’s recommendations should take you a step closer to achieving your academic goals.

Nick Sinclair

Nick Sinclair, a gaming aficionado since the Commodore 64 era, studied Creative Computer Games Design in university before founding his own gaming company. Discovering a passion for content creation, Nick now helps gamers squeeze every drop of fun out of their favorite gaming hardware

Essay on Video Games

Students are often asked to write an essay on Video Games in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Video Games

Introduction.

Video games are interactive digital entertainment platforms. They are played on devices like computers, consoles, or mobiles.

Types of Video Games

There are many types of video games. Some are educational, others are adventure-based or sports-themed.

Benefits of Video Games

Video games can improve hand-eye coordination, problem-solving skills, and strategic thinking. They can also be a fun way to relax.

Drawbacks of Video Games

Excessive gaming can lead to health issues like eye strain and lack of physical activity. It can also impact social skills if not balanced with real-world interactions.

Video games can be both beneficial and harmful. It’s important to play responsibly and maintain a healthy balance.

Also check:

10 Lines on Video Games

250 Words Essay on Video Games

Video games, a form of interactive entertainment, have evolved dramatically from their rudimentary origins in the 1970s. They have penetrated almost every aspect of modern society, becoming a significant part of our culture and a powerful force in the entertainment industry.

The Evolution of Video Games

In their inception, video games were straightforward, consisting of basic graphics and gameplay. However, as technology advanced, so did the complexity and visual appeal of these games. Today, video games are immersive experiences, boasting high-definition graphics, complex narratives, and intricate gameplay mechanics.

The Impact on Society

Video games have a profound impact on society. They have transformed how we spend our leisure time, and have even created new professions, such as professional e-sports players and game developers. In addition, video games have educational potential, as they can develop problem-solving and strategic thinking skills.

Controversies and Criticisms

Despite their popularity, video games have attracted controversy. Critics argue that they promote violence, addiction, and social isolation. However, research on these issues remains inconclusive, and many argue that the benefits of video games outweigh potential negatives.

In conclusion, video games are a multifaceted phenomenon that has significantly influenced our culture and society. Despite criticisms, their popularity continues to rise, indicating their enduring appeal and potential for future growth. As technology continues to evolve, so too will video games, promising exciting developments for this dynamic medium.

500 Words Essay on Video Games

Video games, a form of digital entertainment that has dramatically evolved over the past few decades, have become a significant part of contemporary culture. They offer a unique blend of interactive storytelling, art, and technology, engaging players in a way that no other medium can. Video games are more than just a pastime; they are a platform for expression, learning, and innovation.

The history of video games is a testament to the incredible technological advancements of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. From the rudimentary pixel graphics of the 1970s to today’s immersive virtual reality experiences, video games have continuously pushed the boundaries of what is technologically possible. They have transformed from simple, solitary experiences into complex, social phenomena, connecting people from all walks of life.

The Impact of Video Games

Video games have a significant impact on society, influencing various aspects of our lives. They have revolutionized the entertainment industry, becoming a multi-billion dollar sector that rivals and often surpasses traditional media like film and music. Beyond entertainment, video games have found applications in education, healthcare, and even military training, demonstrating their versatility and potential.

The Benefits and Concerns

Despite the criticisms often associated with video gaming, such as addiction and violence, numerous studies have highlighted the potential benefits. Video games can improve cognitive skills, such as problem-solving and spatial awareness, and can also foster social interaction and cooperation when played in groups. They can serve as therapeutic tools, helping to manage conditions like anxiety and depression. However, it is essential to maintain a balanced perspective, acknowledging the potential risks and promoting responsible gaming.

The Future of Video Games

The future of video games is as exciting as it is unpredictable. With emerging technologies like virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and cloud gaming, the possibilities for innovation are limitless. Video games are poised to become even more immersive, interactive, and personalized, offering experiences that were once the stuff of science fiction.

In conclusion, video games are a dynamic and influential part of modern society, reflecting our culture, advancing technology, and impacting various aspects of our lives. They are a testament to human creativity and innovation, offering unique experiences that entertain, educate, and inspire. As we move forward, it is crucial to continue exploring the potential of video games, addressing the challenges they present, and harnessing their power for positive change.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Essay on Veterans Day
Essay on Vaping
Essay on Values

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Want to find your best material to start your college essay?

Enter your email address, and the guide is yours, free!

Name First Last
Skip to content
Skip to primary sidebar

Essay Intensive

don't write your college essay about video games

Before you write your college essay on video games

May 22, 2019 by Sara Nolan 2 Comments

Every year, I see a whole bunch of well-meaning students who want to write their college application essays about playing video games, their talent, bliss, hard-earned improvement over time, frustrations when they just can’t beat XYZ and– PSA , please rethink this college essay topic choice, friends.

Maybe the topic feels oh-so-right to you, and you’re perplexed why I (who am all about student choice) am handing the essay back to you to revise.

Yes, you can sometimes “lose all track of time” playing your favorite video games. And isn’t that exactly what Common App Prompt #6 is asking about?

Sure, the Common App want to know about your total absorption, such that the rest of life falls away ( who cares if it’s garbage pickup day?) , and all that matters is your passion. Right?

That is– until you’re stumped, stuck at Level 3 (Common App #6 asks, “Why does it captivate you? “ Because I need to get to level four, hello?) , and throw your controller at the wall. Maybe you call your cousin for help, the one who regularly locks himself in his room for three days straight with a jumbo size Mountain Dew – You-Ever-Even-Drink-Water (Common App #6 asks, “What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?”).

There has got to be more to your life and soul than this.

But shouldn’t you write your essay about what you love most? (Well, maybe!)

AND GAMING MAKES YOU FEEL ALIVE, you’ll argue! Yes, these video games are the most exciting thing to you since sliced bread (because, hey, when bread is already sliced, you can blindly pull two pieces out of the bag and put them right in your mouth!).

But it’s not a great idea to subject admissions readers to your level-upping problems and prowess. Maybe they’ll worry you’ll spend all your time at their school gaming too– versus, say, focusing on academics. Or maybe they will feel judgment about a student habit that doesn’t add a whole lot to the world.

I’m riffing here, and it has nothing to do with being for or against video games, generally. My job as college essay writing coach is to guide you toward the best topic for admissions purposes, and I say– your obsession with video games is unlikely to be a good topic.

I have had many bright, accomplished students with big goals– who devote hours weekly to their favorite video games, among other things they love. Most of us have some distraction we turn to for enjoyment or stress relief. It’s also exactly that– distraction, relief.

Reasons not to write about video games:

Rarely is there a good story in there (despite lots of action verbs). Your excellence at the game is likely only interesting to you (and fellow similarly obsessed folks: chat with them instead?). Any storyline belongs more to the games’ narrative than your life experience.
We rarely will learn enough about you as a person (vs as a player). The topic (prompt) is supposed to be an excuse to learn about you, a meaningful story, character trait, or value.
Honestly, the “obstacle” of beating a level or not is not that relevant, no matter how challenging. It’s virtual, just a game. You could be doing other stuff. Onward.
The writing is almost always predictable and cliched. Yes, of course you want to beat the game. Is that not why you play so much?

But when could you write about video games, if you were really, really sure this was the topic burning a hole in your heart?

If you can come up with a unique angle. Video games need to be merely a lens through which we learn about something else key to what makes you you, or vehicle to talk about something else you have lived through, or done.

Some Ways to Turn Your Obsession with Video Games into a better topic:

Hypothetical examples abound, friends:

You used a video gaming habit to help you overcome social anxiety–and it worked.
You came to an insight about something important you could do or create in real life from gaming–and you did it.
You developed important relationships through gaming you would never have found otherwise, ones that had relevance beyond the time you spent online.
You developed new video games yourself, and had real-world business experience.
You had a high stakes bet for a life-saving deal that was contingent on your beating a game–and you did.
You turned around an intense gaming habit and turned it into a new habit that added to your family or community.

All these possible topics give you something substantial to talk about from your real life. But these tweaks mean you are no longer answering Common App prompt #6.

AND I have never read a video game essay that worked well enough to keep (so I challenge you! Change my view!).

Still, descriptions of you playing the actual video games should be minimal. One sentence, maybe two.

So I advise: use your love of games as some needed down time from essay-writing (in doses, please!) but not as your topic. And if you’re the kind of person who does get so obsessed with games you “lose all track of time”– set a timer. Here’s one, the famed focus-enhancing pomodoro timer .

Help, I can’t tweak my topic on my own!

Need help figuring out if you can work your video game passion into a topic that tells us about you? Contact us for fast feedback! But be prepared for hard news. 🙂

We want to know what makes you you . Loving video games soooo much makes you like a whole bunch of other people– but doesn’t tell us a lot worth remembering.

And what your admissions reader wants is to read something memorable.

Reader Interactions

October 13, 2019 at 11:47 pm

Thank you for giving us – college applicants – advice by writing this article! Any information we can receive at this point is extremely crucial. I came across this article of yours when I was looking up college essays that talk about video games. You made some very good points throughout: I understood and agreed with most of them. However, I found it pretty intriguing how you said you haven’t read any gaming-essays that actually worked. (And it was really cute when you asked us to challenge your viewpoint!) Anyways, I am still planning on writing my essay on video games, only from a perspective different from the ones you talked about. Although I am a typical 5.0GPA/1600SAT student with multiple national championships, I spend A LOT of time playing video games… Especially MOBA and Battle Royale. There are so many things I gained from my gaming experience: meeting players from all over the world, developing in-depth relationships with them, establishing and leading groups/clans, help “noobs” learn, and etc. My favorite part about gaming is the strategic aspect: there are so many factors involved! The abilities of the in-game heroes you choose, teamwork, geographical factors, your opponents’ mentality/psychology, when to retreat and when to attack… Players need to put all of these things into consideration when coming up with an in-game strategy… Isn’t that pretty awesome? I wrote a ton of blogs with strategic plans of my own design (I uploaded the majority of them on WeChat, a Chinese social media app, which also gives me international experience!) some of them even got millions of reads, which I still can’t believe… Anyways, I am definitely not commenting JUST to tell you that I am confident in proving you wrong… I don’t think a lot of the other gamers had the same experience as me. However, I thought that it would be cool to share my perspective with you!

Sorry for this huge comment! Cheers! Samantha

October 14, 2019 at 6:46 am

I emailed you but of course I want to see this essay and I am sure my readers do too! Please share. 🙂

With heart SARA

Calculate for all schools

Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, can my passion for video games shine through in my college essay.

Video games have been a huge part of my life, teaching me about storytelling and even coding. Do you think this could make for a compelling college essay, or should I avoid it since it might not be seen as 'serious' enough?

Absolutely! Your passion for video games can definitely be a compelling topic for a college essay. The key is not the subject itself, but how you reflect on your experiences and what you've learned from them. It's all about presenting your story authentically and showing how video games have shaped you into the person you are today. Discuss how storytelling in games has deepened your understanding of narrative structure or how coding in the context of gaming has sparked a passion for technology. These are serious and relevant topics. For example, one of my students wrote an essay detailing how solving puzzles in video games enhanced their problem-solving skills, and it was very well received by admissions committees. Just be sure to focus on the personal growth aspect and what you've taken away from your experiences with video games, rather than merely describing your interest. Colleges are always on the lookout for students who are self-aware and able to learn and grow from their interests.

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

Think you can get into a top-10 school? Take our chance-me calculator... if you dare. 🔥

Last updated May 30, 2023

Every piece we write is researched and vetted by a former admissions officer. Read about our mission to pull back the admissions curtain.

Blog > Common App , Essay Advice > 4 Questions to Ask If You're Considering Writing Your College Essay About Video Games

4 Questions to Ask If You're Considering Writing Your College Essay About Video Games

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University Admissions

Key Takeaway

The two main concerns I hear from students who are considering writing their college essay about video games are that the topic isn’t “academic” enough, and that the admission officer might think video games are a waste of time. I read many essays about video games as an AO for 8 years, and I found some compelling while others missed the mark. Here are four questions to ask if you are considering writing about video games.

A “no” to any of these questions doesn’t mean you can’t write about video games, but you might consider a different topic if at least some of these aren’t true for you:

Is this where I spend most of my time outside of school?

Your personal statement and supplemental essays don’t have to discuss the activity where you spend the most amount of time, but you should consider how many hours per week you spend on different activities. If video games (or any activity) is not at or near the top of this list, consider if there is another impactful activity you might write about that would offer greater insight into who you are.

Is playing video games something I do as part of a community, or solo?

Many gamers find a balance between solo play and playing with friends either in person or online. Some of the more effective college essays about video games discuss the game as engaging with a broader community. This was particularly true during peak COVID shutdowns.

Colleges are looking for students to join their social as well as academic community. Showcasing your community values, leadership, or organizational skills through a gaming community could make your essay more effective.

D o I have an unusually high level of achievement in gaming?

Colleges, especially highly selective ones, love to see students who have achieved success at high levels. This could look like debating in a national competition, winning a prestigious writing competition, or even being internationally ranked in a video game. The higher the impact and level of achievement, the more it pushes the admission office’s ratings of your file.

If you do have an unusually high level of achievement, spell it out for the admission officer! Students often make the mistake of assuming either that their achievement won’t be valued because it is in a video game, or that they can simply state their achievement without contextualizing it. Realize that your admission officer may or may not be familiar with the game, so you’ll want to give them some information to work with.

This could also come in the “additional information” section of the Common App. That’s a great place to add context to parts of your application that don’t fit as naturally in essays or your activities section.

D oes the school I’m applying to have an Esports program? If so, do I want to join?

If you are applying to a college with an Esports program, you already know the school and admission office places some value on competitive gaming. If you are interested in joining and writing a school-specific supplemental essay, you might even mention your intent to join in your essay. Beyond the essay, you might consider reaching out to the Esports coach to learn more about the program and how you might join.

So, do I recommend writing a college essay on video games?

Video games, like most topics, are fair game in your college essay. I think it can be tough to pull off a video game essay, though, given that there is so much nuance to games and you don’t know the level of familiarity your admission officer has.

Will your admission officer know anything about video games? Well, the average age of admission officers on my last campus was about 29. Most officers have some level of familiarity with video games, but you’ll want to make sure you are saying more about yourself than the game.

So, my advice is to focus on yourself, how you contribute to a community, or some extraordinary level of achievement you’ve had. If these don’t sound relevant to you, consider using a different topic.

Regardless of the topic you choose, you’ll want to make sure your essays are part of a larger cohesive narrative in your application. Your transcript and test scores provide the quantitative numbers the admission office needs. But your essays, activities section, and recommendations tell a story.

Create standout essays with some of our other resources. Start with our blogs on writing personal statements and supplemental essays .

If you really want to kick your essays into high gear, we offer an online course, the Essay Academy, where you will find hours of high-quality advice, dozens of examples of essays that worked, and key insights from top admissions offices around the US.

Liked that? Try this next.

How A Selective Admissions Office Reads 50k Applications In A Season

How to Write a Personal Statement for Colleges

12 Common App Essay Examples (Graded by Former Admissions Officers)

8 Outstanding UC Essay Examples (Graded by Former Admissions Officers)

"the only actually useful chance calculator i’ve seen—plus a crash course on the application review process.".

Irena Smith, Former Stanford Admissions Officer

We built the best admissions chancer in the world . How is it the best? It draws from our experience in top-10 admissions offices to show you how selective admissions actually works.

Have your assignments done by seasoned writers. 24/7. Contact us:
+1 (213) 221-0069
[email protected]

How to write College Essays about Video Games like Minecraft

Writing your College Essay about Video Games

Video games are one of many topics on which you can write an essay. A video game is an electronic game. The player interacts with a user interface to receive visual feedback on a video device.

Video games are becoming more popular these days. And, more children are joining the craze of playing them.

The gaming business must conduct a thorough investigation and develop more inventive and useful games. It is essential to have games that bring good to future generations and prevent harm and behavioral pattern changes.

However, it isn’t advisable to use a video game essay to write your college application .

As you may be aware, most schools, including leading public universities use the holistic admissions approach. It means that admissions officers will consider the applicant’s accomplishments in addition to their GPA and test scores.

And, as you might expect, an app that focuses solely on your gaming prowess will likely work against you, limiting your options significantly.

Why is Video Games a Good Topic for College Essay

Video games are the current craze, and people of all ages enjoy them. Playing video games may enhance visual abilities and cognitive function.

Video games can also help people become more spatially aware.

When a person’s eyes concentrate on a video game, they are more likely to have various eye strengths following brain training.

Action video games teach the brain how to handle visual information more efficiently. When people play action video games, they alter the visual processing pathway in their brain.

Video games can modify brain functioning. According to new research, video games can be helpful for therapeutic purposes, stress relief, exercise, positive interactive learning, weight loss, and various patient therapy for individuals worldwide.

On the other hand, harmful computer games have captured the media. Every channel now deems it their responsibility to educate people about the harm that games may bring to children and adults. The growing number of games with violent sequences irritates society and makes it acutely aware of them. Violent video games cause people to become violent.

The vast majority of people do not even question this truth. Everyone else claims that the cause is that games are too close to reality.

There is a common belief that video games normalize violent behavior in the player and make the player pitiless. In this situation, the game is the source of violence. The act of violence is due to the game.

A psychologically healthy individual will never mix these two worlds or connect them. A game is a virtual environment with visual images similar to real life.

These graphics are nothing more than simple game obstacles on their own. A game may provide the possibility to “destroy the obstacles” that are not allowed to be destroyed by the rules.

Yet, it is more a matter of personal preference whether or not to do so. As a result, we might conclude that violence is not an outcome but a cause.

Naturally, violent people may become frustrated by games and act violently in the “real world.” However, in such a case, the game violence is simply a projection of the player’s aggressive personality.

How to Write a College Essay about Video Games

An essay on this topic will assist you in demonstrating a different perspective while also delivering vital information. It would be a terrific topic if you could provide a unique perspective on your function as a game leader.

Simply ensure that your links are distinct. If you write it in a way that is particular to you, you should be fine.

1. Describe your Role

Many of these games are more complicated than most adults believe.

However, someone who has never done anything like this before may experience a challenge grasping the notion.

Be specific but concise, and keep the details to yourself. Gather information from your friends, as many are interested in this type of gaming.

2. Highlight key Points

You can talk to them about the most crucial points in your paper. Be realistic when writing, even if you disagree with the facts.

There will be instances when you have to recognize that games are not always appropriate. Present some of the benefits, even if adults find them harmful.

3. Use Statistics

Many video games can be beneficial if people use them moderately. When you want to make a point, use statistics. If you use official statistics and graphs, you will appear more trustworthy.

Examine the topic from a variety of angles. You can discuss the concept of instructional video games that are more appropriate for young children and teenagers.

4. Show the Benefits to Children

Is this beneficial to kids who suffer from anxiety or depression? Remember the influence of the media on the video game industry.

Video games are produced and sold with the financial might of some of the world’s most powerful corporations.

Learn how to write a college essay on Music

How to Write College Essay about Minecraft

Minecraft is a popular video game among both kids and adults. Minecraft has grown in popularity because it fosters creativity and adventure.

It has many servers open to the public, allowing you to play with people from all over the world. Players employ blocks to build structures and worlds.

1. Examine the Diverse Angles

You can discuss the game from a variety of angles. The game’s popularity continues to rise at a quick rate.

Thousands of people buy the game daily, and millions have it.

What aspects of the game contribute to or make it appealing to both youngsters and adults? Minecraft is a user-friendly video game where players construct construction and planets out of bricks.

2. Touch on Benefits

Children can use their imaginations by allowing creativity in video games like Minecraft. In real life, most children do not have the opportunity to build castles, zoos, or other similar structures.

Minecraft’s creative mode, on the other hand, allows children to create worlds. You can highlight the opportunity to learn how to survive via hunting, building shelters, and fending off monsters and mobs. It is another component of the game’s creative use of inventiveness.

3. Ideal Players

Minecraft is the ideal game for anyone who enjoys being creative. It features an extensive server network that allows you to play with people from all around the world.

Minecraft has grown in popularity due to its appeal to gamers of all ages. Its numerous player options offer players the impression that they can do and be whatever they want at any time.

How to Write a League of Legends College Essay

League of Legends is a free-to-play game of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre. This popular and competitive online game pits two teams against one another vying for a map.

Players select champion characters with vastly varied abilities and team up to defeat a group of other players.

1. Give an Overview of the Benefits

League of Legends is a game that teaches players how to work together as a team. Gaming has evolved, motivating people to push themselves beyond their comfort zones or become better versions of themselves.

Video games provide players the courage to move forward in their own life by telling them about their characters’ hardships, pain, survival, and dreams.

2. Describe the Skill Set

League of Legends is an excellent positive psychology tool since it requires players to use critical thinking abilities. Because it is an online game, parents should monitor their children’s interactions with other players.

League of Legends is only advised for youth 14 and up due to moderate fantasy violence, blood-like images, online interactions, and the game’s complexity.

3. Explain the Benefits to Children

You can describe the benefits the game offers children who require assistance with planning by creating a logical approach to goal-setting and achievement.

It can also enhance flexibility by helping with adapting and adjusting to new circumstances and expectations. Moreover, all players develop self-awareness and social abilities by understanding their ideas, feelings, and behaviors.

James Lotta

Edgenuity Cheating: Detecting Cheating, Plagiarism and Tabs

Do Colleges Share Essays

Do Colleges Share Essays: Can I Reuse for New Applications

Passing ISSA Final Exam

Issa Final Exam Cheat Sheet: Tips to Study and Pass Issa

Essay on Video Games

In the rapidly evolving digital age, video games have emerged as a dominant form of entertainment and a significant cultural phenomenon. Their influence extends beyond mere amusement, affecting cognitive development, social interactions, and even physical health. This essay aims to explore the multifaceted impact of video games, shedding light on their benefits and challenges while offering a balanced perspective for students participating in essay writing competitions.

Video Games

Video games have undergone a remarkable evolution since their inception in the 1950s. From simple pixelated games to immersive virtual realities, they have transformed into complex narratives that captivate players’ imaginations. This evolution reflects technological advancements and the growing sophistication of gamers’ tastes and demands.

Cognitive Benefits

Research has shown that video games can enhance various cognitive skills. They improve problem-solving abilities, spatial awareness, and multitasking skills. Games that require strategic thinking, such as puzzles or role-playing games, can significantly boost players’ decision-making processes and adaptability to changing situations.

Educational Potential

Educators have begun to recognize the potential of video games as learning tools. Educational games can make learning more engaging and interactive, providing a practical application of concepts in a controlled environment. This approach can cater to different learning styles and paces, potentially transforming traditional educational methodologies.

Social Interaction and Community Building

Online multiplayer games offer vast platforms for social interaction, allowing players to collaborate, compete, and communicate with others across the globe. This virtual socialization can foster teamwork, leadership skills, and a sense of community among players, challenging the stereotype of gaming as an isolating activity.

Physical and Mental Health Impacts

The impact of video games on physical and mental health is a subject of ongoing debate. While excessive gaming can lead to sedentary lifestyles and associated health issues, active games like those using motion sensors can promote physical activity. Moreover, video games can offer therapeutic benefits, such as stress relief and improved mood, and have been explored as treatment aids for anxiety and depression.

Positive Impacts

Cognitive Skills: Certain video games, especially those involving strategy and problem-solving, can improve cognitive functions such as memory, attention, and spatial reasoning.
Hand-Eye Coordination: Action and simulation games often require precise movements, enhancing hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
Social Interaction: Online multiplayer games can foster social connections and teamwork, providing opportunities for individuals to make friends and collaborate with others.
Stress Relief: Engaging in video games can serve as a stress reliever and a way to unwind from daily pressures.
Educational Value: Many educational games are designed to teach specific skills or subjects, making learning more engaging and interactive.
Pain Distraction: Some video games have been used in healthcare settings to distract patients from pain or discomfort during medical procedures.

Negative Impacts

Sedentary Lifestyle: Excessive gaming can lead to a sedentary lifestyle, contributing to physical health issues such as obesity, cardiovascular problems, and muscular weaknesses.
Sleep Disturbances: Late-night gaming sessions can disrupt sleep patterns, leading to sleep deprivation, which can negatively affect mental and physical health.
Addiction: Video game addiction can lead to social isolation, neglect of responsibilities, and adverse psychological effects, resembling addiction to substances.
Violence and Aggression: Some studies suggest a correlation between violent video games and increased aggressive behavior, although the causation remains debated.
Eye Strain and Physical Discomfort: Prolonged screen time can lead to eye strain, headaches, and physical discomfort, often referred to as “gamer’s thumb” or “text neck.”
Social Isolation: While some video games promote social interaction, excessive gaming can lead to isolation from real-life social activities, potentially impacting mental health negatively.
Escapism and Avoidance: Video games can become a form of escapism, allowing individuals to avoid dealing with real-life problems and responsibilities, which can lead to mental health issues.
Reduced Academic or Work Performance: Excessive gaming can interfere with academic or work-related responsibilities, leading to decreased performance and productivity.
Emotional Well-Being: While some games offer an enjoyable experience, others may be emotionally distressing or promote negative emotions, affecting mental health negatively.
Financial Consequences: In-game purchases and microtransactions can lead to financial strain when not managed responsibly.

Economic Impact

The video game industry has become a significant economic force, with revenues surpassing those of the movie and music industries combined. It has created millions of jobs worldwide in various sectors, including development, marketing, and esports. The industry’s growth has spurred technological innovation, driving advancements in software development, graphics, and artificial intelligence.

Cultural Influence

Video games have transcended entertainment to become influential cultural artifacts. They influence fashion, music, and movies and are a driving force behind major technological and social trends. Games like “Minecraft” and “Fortnite” have become cultural phenomena, influencing everything from playground activities to online communities.

Ethical Considerations and Responsibility

As video games become more lifelike and immersive, ethical considerations come to the forefront. Issues such as the portrayal of gender, race, and violence in games have sparked discussions about the social responsibilities of game developers. Promoting diversity and avoiding stereotypes in games can contribute to broader cultural understanding and sensitivity.

The Future of Gaming

The future of video gaming promises even more immersive experiences with advancements in virtual and augmented reality. The integration of artificial intelligence can lead to more personalized and adaptive gaming experiences, potentially revolutionizing how we interact with digital environments. As technology progresses, the ethical, social, and health-related implications of gaming will continue to be critical areas of research and discussion.

In conclusion, Video games are a complex and dynamic form of entertainment with far-reaching impacts on individuals and society. While they offer numerous benefits in terms of education, cognitive development, and social interaction, they also pose challenges related to health, addiction, and ethical concerns. As the industry continues to evolve, it is imperative for players, developers, and policymakers to balance the positive aspects of gaming with its potential drawbacks. Engaging with video games critically and responsibly can maximize their benefits while mitigating adverse effects, ensuring that gaming remains a positive force in the digital age.

Essay Generator

Text prompt

Instructive
Professional

Generate an essay on the importance of extracurricular activities for student development

Write an essay discussing the role of technology in modern education.

"Video games have cultivated my creative thought pr..."

UC San Diego

2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

0 - 350 words

Video games have cultivated my creative thought process. When I was a toddler I invented a game I would play with my brothers. It was nothing along the lines of Hide-and-Seek or Tag, but rather, it was meant to mimic a role-playing video game. It was called "Guy" and came with its own story, leveling system, and narrative story. While seemingly impossible to translate the mechanics of a video game into real life, the "Guy" trilogy provided hundreds of hours of fun to pass hot summer days and escape the harsh reality of our parents arguing and eventual divorce.

This thought process translated into my educational career. have always thought of a tough class or test as a video game. This mostly due to my excessive amounts of video games I played as a child through middle school (especially 7th grade). Each year comes bigger and "stronger" challenges, bigger and stronger bosses to defeat. My senior year will have me face the most powerful boss yet; full AP course load on top of heavy club involvement and community college classes.

Many thought of this "secret boss" as an impossible challenge; something that could never be beaten. No one from my school has ever attempted to take on such a challenge, let alone defeat it. That is probably what excites me about it. In a game, messing around with lower level enemies is fun for a while, but gets boring when it is too easy. The thought of a challenge so great and difficult makes the victory even more rewarding. Stormy skies, heavy rain, and epic boss battle music; I'll take that over a peaceful village any day. In the future, I seek to use this thinking to drive research. I think of abstract physics concepts like secret door and levels that need to be proven true or just a myth in the game. One day, I can make my own discovery of a secret "cheat code' that can help everyone who plays a little game called life.

Why This Essay Works:

What they might change:.

Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms and Conditions , Privacy Policy , and Cookie Policy .

We have no affiliation with any university or colleges on this site. All product names, logos, and brands are the property of their respective owners.

Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Nursing — Video Games Thesis Statement

Video Games Thesis Statement

Categories: Nursing Video Games

About this sample

Words: 658 |

Published: Mar 13, 2024

Words: 658 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr Jacklynne

Verified writer

Expert in: Nursing & Health Entertainment

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 872 words

1 pages / 599 words

4 pages / 1784 words

4 pages / 2141 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Nursing

When driving around Miami, FL there are a copious number of billboards that I see advertising for people to become nurses throughout the city. When doing research, I’ve only come across a couple of news articles, advertising on [...]

Gagnon, K., & Sabus, C. (2015). Professionalism in a Digital Age: Opportunities and Considerations for Using Social Media in Health Care. Physical Therapy, 95(3), 406–414.Nayak, S. G. (2018). Time Management in Nursing -- Hour [...]

Clinical learning experiences hold a paramount role in nursing education, serving as a bridge between theoretical knowledge and practical application. This essay explores the essential role of clinical placements in developing [...]

A Better NHS. (2011). Patient autonomy and choice. Retrieved from 71-77.

Postpartum hemorrhage is a significant risk in the postpartum period, requiring prompt recognition, assessment, prevention, and management. Nursing care plays a pivotal role in ensuring the well-being of women experiencing [...]

In the world of healthcare, professionalism is the cornerstone of nursing practice. It encompasses a set of qualities and behaviors that not only uphold the standards of the profession but also ensure the delivery of safe and [...]

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

Instructions Followed To The Letter
Deadlines Met At Every Stage
Unique And Plagiarism Free

Virtual College Counselors

Stress-free, personalized, and Professional college counseling

Apr 14, 2021

Interesting College Essay Topics: Video Games & Esports Part 3

Updated: Jul 12, 2023

Welcome to part 3 of our blog series about video games and esports in the college application process. If you've already read part 1 , feel free to skip to the new material focusing on competitive multiplayer games . If you haven't read part 1 , I highly recommend reading that post first, as I tackle some foundational ideas about how a single piece of culture can affect a person's values .

I'm a nerd, let's get that out of the way. I grew up immersed sci-fi, fantasy, movies, television shows, anime, video games, board games, tabletop games, and even read certain textbooks for fun (still do, looking at you A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to The Present ). My childhood pre-dated critically and commercially acclaimed comic book movies, the ability to make a living by streaming video games online, and the widespread adoption of video games for everyday audiences (think mobile phone games, or the Nintendo Wii in the mid-2000s). To put it simply, it's a lot easier to openly embrace nerdy culture now than it was during my childhood.

The social stigma and ostracization of being a "nerd" led me to hide many of my hobbies and interests from friends and family for most of my life. Sadly, I still hear echoes of these feelings in students I work with today. It's not uncommon to hear a student say, "It's easier to just say nothing than try to explain my interests, hobbies, or passions." This breaks my heart, and for this reason I've become more open about my nerdy side and encourage students to do the same.

So what does all this have to do with the college search and application process? As an admission officer and a college counselor, I've read too many essays and applications focusing on students telling me what they think I want to hear. What they don't realize is that the thing I want to read about is an authentic, introspective, and self-aware portrait of who they are as a person. Families tend to reinforce this censorship of a students personality, often both knowingly and unknowingly. We all see the stories of the 4.0 GPA, 1550 SAT, honor society student and that's what has become the standard of success. What most families don't see, but I have, is the student with an average GPA and test score that can successfully articulate why they actually participate in extracurriculars; explain their values; describe what problems they want to solve in the world; and write a unique essay that reflects who they are as a person, not just what they've accomplished. I've read thousands of essays by this point in my relatively young career, and the handful that have stuck with me had nothing to do with the students' grades, test scores, or accomplishments.

So, over the next few blog posts, I want to write about a topic that seems to grow more common each year I work with students and families: video games. It's a tale as old as the ~1980s: a parent is concerned because their student is spending too much time playing video games and not engaging with the world. I'll be the first to concede that not all students who play video games should be writing a college essay about them, and sometimes video games are just a temporary escape from the stress of life (same as movies, television, books, and any number of other hobbies). However, I'm going to posit the idea that there are a lot of students out there who have a true passion for video games and, with a little introspection, can turn that passion into a powerful asset for their college application.

During this multi-part college essay blog series, I'm going to review a few different ways to tackle the topics of video games:

The Personal Impact of Video Games

Artistic, Emotional, or Developmental Impact of a Single Player Game

Impact of a Competitive Multiplayer Game

Impact of a Social or Cooperative Multiplayer Game ( You Are Here )

The Impact of Video Games on a Student's Professional or Academic Path

Video Games as a Catalyst for Pursuing a STEM Educ ation

Video Games as an Interdisciplinary Collaborative

As a reader, I want you to keep in mind two more universally understood concepts into which we can distill these essays:

An introspective look into how a form of culture has shaped a student's ideas, beliefs, values, and personality.

An introspective look into how a student began a journey to help shape others through the act of creation or innovation.

Impact of a Social or Cooperative Multiplayer Game

Let's think of a student who is interested in community-building and decides to spend a month in the wilderness with a group of friends. While in the wilderness, they have to find food, cultivate crops, build shelter, create tools, and divvy up responsibilities with no authority to hold them accountable. Everyone shares resources and is responsible for the success of their community.

Is this an Eagle Scout project, summer camp tradition, or an independent project to create an intentional living community? Nope, none of the above. This is a description of Minecraft, the wildly popular farming, exploring, and physics-based building video game developed by Mojang and bought by Microsoft for $2.5 billion. Since 2016, the Minecraft active playerbase has increased from an already impressive 40 million, to a mindboggling 126 million active users worldwide.

An essay focusing on the social aspects of an online multiplayer game will highlight the student's ability to create, grow, develop, lead, and contribute to a community. This kind of essay is particularly relevant given the COVID19-state of the world as I write this blog. For a world that has become increasingly interconnected through technology, many people were caught unprepared for the social isolation that COVID19 brought. Even if COVID19 is completely removed from the world, the social and developmental impacts on individuals and communities will be felt for a very long time. Participating in online communities can not only show a student's ability to develop, manage, and contribute to a community, but it can also demonstrate how a student has adapted their social needs to a newly socially distant world. Now, let's dive into an example of this kind of essay with Minecraft:

A student is playing Minecraft. They're having fun designing their home, cultivating their land for farming, domesticating livestock, creating a mine to harvest metals for tools, and generally exploring their world. Eventually the student realizes that this experience could be so much better if they get a friend to play with them in their world. The friend joins, then a second friend joins, and while they play, they meet two more Minecraft players with whom they enjoy playing. Before the student realizes it, they have a bustling village of approximately 9-10 players living, building, and cooperating in the same Minecraft world. Strangers become friends, and the student begins to assume a leadership role for this small community they have formed. Many of these players share other interests like watching movies or playing other video games. The student works to formalize this gaming group by making a website with forums, where active members of the community are assigned roles and responsibilities. The content that is created during gaming nights is uploaded to YouTube or Twitch.tv, and a calendar is created for organized group gaming events, competitions, or having movie watch parties on Amazon Prime. Before the student even realizes it, they are leading and organizing a community of nearly two dozen other people. From this experience, a student can highlight any number of talents, skills, and experiences that demonstrate their ability to create, lead, develop, and foster a community of authentic relationships based on shared values and passions.

You might think this scenario sounds a little farfetched, but I can personally attest that this is more common than you might think. When I was a senior in high school, a close friend and I created a website, forum, and YouTube channel; assigned leadership roles and responsibilities to others in our community; organized competitive gaming teams; and implemented a shared community calendar for 28 other people (only 3 of whom we knew personally). All of this work stemmed from meeting a random person while playing the popular first-person shooter game Halo Reach. With the power of hindsight, I realize how impressive this is for a teenager, who put in minimal effort and believed that 90% or 100%, "an A is an A." As a 17 and 18-year-old, I had built, managed, and promoted a small community of strangers in a time when social media was just beginning to grow into its modern form. I did not mention a single word about this meaningful and time-consuming experience in my college application.

Maybe instead of venturing into the wilderness, a student decides to pick up a part-time job working in a local restaurant. The restaurant is small, maybe only 3-4 employees at any given time, meaning it's all-hands-on-deck when the lunch rush arrives. Orders are piling up, workers are cooking fresh food for hungry customers, dishes need to be cleaned, and tables need to be cleared for the next hungry customer. A restaurant with a skeleton crew is a high-stress environment that requires teamwork, communication, professionalism, and a level head. One mistake could derail the entire process, delay food to hungry customers, cause a backlog of orders, hurt the reputation of the restaurant, and unfortunately impact the tips the student and their co-workers might receive.

Working in this kind of situation can be stressful and rarely fun, but what if I told you that a student could hone important skills gained through this experience without ever stepping foot in a kitchen. Enter Overcooked and Overcooked 2, co-operative cooking simulation games developed by Ghost Town and published by Team17. In Overcooked, one to four players engage as line cooks for a litany fast-paced fictional restaurants with increasingly challenging scenarios.

Players must collect ingredients, prepare them, combine them, plate them, serve them based on a growing list of timed orders, and clean the dirty dishes for re-use. As if the challenge of being a line cook wasn't enough, players must also battle rats, beware of fire from burning food, and manage increasingly complex kitchens. The example in the photo above is a kitchen built on a fault line. Every so often half of the kitchen will rise up, but both sides of the kitchen are needed to properly prep, plate, and serve food. Make no mistake, I have worked in bars, restaurants, and professional offices where I've led teamwork exercises, and I have yet to find a better exercise than having team members play Overcooked. A cooperative game like Overcooked is fun and helps build friendships/camaraderie (although some would replace the word "build" with "test"). Beyond providing entertainment, Overcooked will push students to think critically, build on their strengths, discover opportunities for growth, manage stressful situations, prioritize tasks, create workflows, and help them uncover their role in a team.

I hope that after reading this students feel a little more empowered to be vocal about their passions, and families feel a little more comfortable with the prospect of their student writing about the impact a cooperative or social video game might have had on them. In part 4, we'll take a look at a common narrative: how video games often plant the seed for pursuing academic or professional studies in STEM fields.

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on this blog post series and receive free monthly newsletters about higher education and college admissions news and advice. As always, if you have questions or a topic you'd like to hear more about, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly.

With all my support,

Sawyer Earwood

Independent College Counselor

Co-Founder of Virtual College Counselors

[email protected]

College Admissions
College Essay Collection
Independent College Advising

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

21 Stellar Common App Essay Examples to Inspire Your College Essay

What’s covered:, what makes a good common app essay, is your common app essay strong enough.

When you begin writing your Common App essay, having an example to look at can help you understand how to effectively write your college essay so that it stands apart from others.

These Common App essay examples demonstrate a strong writing ability and answer the prompt in a way that shows admissions officers something unique about the student. Once you’ve read some examples and are ready to get started, read our step-by-step guide for how to write a strong Common App essay.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized.

Read our Common App essay breakdown to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts.

It’s Personal

The point of the Common App essay is to humanize yourself to a college admissions committee. The ultimate goal is to get them to choose you over someone else! You will have a better chance of achieving this goal if the admissions committee feels personally connected to you or invested in your story. When writing your Common App essay, you should explore your feelings, worldview, values, desires, and anything else that makes you uniquely you.

It’s Not Cliché

It is pretty easy to resort to clichés in college essays. This should be actively avoided! CollegeVine has identified the immigrant’s journey, sports injuries, and overcoming a challenging course as cliché topics . If you write about one of these topics, you have to work harder to stand out, so working with a more nuanced topic is often safer and easier.

It’s Well-Done

Colleges want good writers. They want students who can articulate their thoughts clearly and concisely (and creatively!). You should be writing and rewriting your essays, perfecting them as you go. Of course, make sure that your grammar and spelling are impeccable, but also put in time crafting your tone and finding your voice. This will also make your essay more personal and will make your reader feel more connected to you!

It’s Cohesive

Compelling Common App essays tell a cohesive story. Cohesion is primarily achieved through effective introductions and conclusions , which often contribute to the establishment of a clear theme or topic. Make sure that it is clear what you are getting at, but also don’t explicitly state what you are getting at—a successful essay speaks for itself.

Common App Essay Examples

Here are the current Common App prompts. Click the links to jump to the examples for a specific prompt, or keep reading to review the examples for all the prompts.

Prompt #1 : Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Prompt #2 : The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Prompt #3 : Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Prompt #4 : Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you? (NOTE: We only have an example for the old prompt #4 about solving a problem, not this current one)

Prompt #5 : Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Prompt #6 : Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Prompt #7 : Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Note: Names have been changed to protect the identity of the author and subjects.

Prompt #1: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Prompt #1, example #1.

The room was silent except for the thoughts racing through my head. I led a spade from my hand and my opponent paused for a second, then played a heart. The numbers ran through my mind as I tried to consider every combination, calculating my next move. Finally, I played the ace of spades from the dummy and the rest of my clubs, securing the contract and 620 points when my partner ruffed at trick five. Next board.

It was the final of the 2015 United States Bridge Federation Under-26 Women’s Championship. The winning team would be selected to represent the United States in the world championship and my team was still in the running.

Contract bridge is a strategic and stochastic card game. Players from around the world gather at local clubs, regional events, and, in this case, national tournaments.

Going into the tournament, my team was excited; all the hours we had put into the game, from the lengthy midnight Skype sessions spent discussing boards to the coffee shop meetings spent memorizing conventions together, were about to pay off.

Halfway through, our spirits were still high, as we were only down by fourteen international match points which, out of the final total of about four hundred points, was virtually nothing and it was very feasible to catch up. Our excitement was short-lived, however, as sixty boards later, we found that we had lost the match and would not be chosen as the national team.

Initially, we were devastated. We had come so close and it seemed as if all the hours we had devoted to training had been utterly wasted. Yet as our team spent some time together reflecting upon the results, we gradually realized that the true value that we had gained wasn’t only the prospect of winning the national title, but also the time we had spent together exploring our shared passion. I chatted with the winning team and even befriended a few of them who offered us encouragement and advice.

Throughout my bridge career, although I’ve gained a respectable amount of masterpoints and awards, I’ve realized that the real reward comes from the extraordinary people I have met. I don’t need to travel cross-country to learn; every time I sit down at a table whether it be during a simple club game, a regional tournament or a national event, I find I’m always learning.

I nod at the pair that’s always yelling at each other. They teach me the importance of sportsmanship and forgiveness.

I greet the legally blind man who can defeat most of the seeing players. He reminds me not to make excuses.

I chat with the friendly, elderly couple who, at ages ninety and ninety-two, have just gotten married two weeks ago. They teach me that it’s never too late to start anything.

I talk to the boy who’s attending Harvard and the girl who forewent college to start her own company. They show me that there is more than one path to success.

I congratulate the little kid running to his dad, excited to have won his very first masterpoints. He reminds me of the thrill of every first time and to never stop trying new things.

Just as much as I have benefitted from these life lessons, I aspire to give back to my bridge community as much as it has given me. I aspire to teach people how to play this complicated yet equally as exciting game. I aspire to never stop improving myself, both at and away from the bridge table.

Bridge has given me my roots and dared me to dream. What started as merely a hobby has become a community, a passion, a part of my identity. I aspire to live selflessly and help others reach their goals. I seek to take risks, embrace all results, even failure, and live unfettered from my own doubt.

This student draws readers in with a strong introduction. The essay starts ambiguous—“I led with a spade”—then intrigues readers by gradually revealing more information and details. This makes the reader want to keep reading (which is super important!) As the writer continues, there is a rather abrupt tone shift from suspenseful to explanatory with statements like “It was the final of the 2015 United States Bridge Federation Under-26 Women’s Championship” and “Contract bridge is a strategic and stochastic card game.” If you plan to start with an imagery-heavy, emotional, suspenseful, or dramatic introduction, you will need to transition to the content of your essay in a way that does not feel abrupt.

You will often hear that essays need to “show, not tell.” This essay actually does both. First, the student tells readers the importance of bridge, saying “we gradually realized that the true value that we had gained wasn’t only the prospect of winning the national title, but also the time we had spent together exploring our shared passion” and “I’ve realized that the real reward comes from the extraordinary people I have met.” Then, the student shows the lessons they have learned from bridge through a series of parallel sentences: “I nod… sportsmanship and forgiveness” “I greet… not to make excuses” “I chat… it’s never too late to start anything” and so on. This latter strategy is much more effective than the former and is watered down because the student has already told us what we are supposed to get out of these sentences. Remember that your readers are intelligent and can draw their own conclusions. Avoid summarizing the moral of your story for them!

Overall, this essay is interesting and answers the prompt. We learn the importance of bridge to this student. The student has a solid grasp of language, a high-level vocabulary, and a valuable message, though they would be better off if they avoided summarizing their point and created more seamless transitions.

Prompt #1, Example #2

Growing up, I always wanted to eat, play, visit, watch, and be it all: sloppy joes and spaetzle, Beanie Babies and Steiff, Cape Cod and the Baltic Sea, football and fussball, American and German.

My American parents relocated our young family to Berlin when I was three years old. My exposure to America was limited to holidays spent stateside and awfully dubbed Disney Channel broadcasts. As the few memories I had of living in the US faded, my affinity for Germany grew. I began to identify as “Germerican,” an ideal marriage of the two cultures. As a child, I viewed my biculturalism as a blessing. I possessed a native fluency in “Denglisch” and my family’s Halloween parties were legendary at a time when the holiday was just starting to gain popularity outside of the American Sector.

Insidiously, the magic I once felt in loving two homes was replaced by a deep-rooted sense of rootlessness. I stopped feeling American when, while discussing World War II with my grandmother, I said “the US won.” She corrected me, insisting I use “we” when referring to the US’s actions. Before then, I hadn’t realized how directly people associated themselves with their countries. I stopped feeling German during the World Cup when my friends labeled me a “bandwagon fan” for rooting for Germany. Until that moment, my cheers had felt sincere. I wasn’t part of the “we” who won World Wars or World Cups. Caught in a twilight of foreign and familiar, I felt emotionally and psychologically disconnected from the two cultures most familiar to me.

After moving from Berlin to New York at age fifteen, my feelings of cultural homelessness thrived in my new environment. Looking and sounding American furthered my feelings of dislocation. Border patrol agents, teachers, classmates, neighbors, and relatives all “welcomed me home” to a land they could not understand was foreign to me. Americans confused me as I relied on Urban Dictionary to understand my peers, the Pledge of Allegiance seemed nationalistic, and the only thing familiar about Fahrenheit was the German after whom it was named. Too German for America and too American for Germany, I felt alienated from both. I wanted desperately to be a member of one, if not both, cultures.

During my first weeks in Scarsdale, I spent my free time googling “Berlin Family Seeks Teen” and “New Americans in Scarsdale.” The latter search proved most fruitful: I discovered Horizons, a nonprofit that empowers resettled refugees, or “New Americans,” to thrive. I started volunteering with Horizon’s children’s programs, playing with and tutoring young refugees.

It was there that I met Emily, a twelve-year-old Iraqi girl who lived next to Horizons. In between games and snacks, Emily would ask me questions about American life, touching on everything from Halloween to President Obama. Gradually, my confidence in my American identity grew as I recognized my ability to answer most of her questions. American culture was no longer completely foreign to me. I found myself especially qualified to work with young refugees; my experience growing up in a country other than that of my parents’ was similar enough to that of the refugee children Horizons served that I could empathize with them and offer advice. Together, we worked through conflicting allegiances, homesickness, and stretched belonging.

Forging a special, personal bond with young refugees proved a cathartic outlet for my insecurities as it taught me to value my past. My transculturalism allowed me to help young refugees integrate into American life, and, in doing so, I was able to adjust myself. Now, I have an appreciation of myself that I never felt before. “Home” isn’t the digits in a passport or ZIP code but a sense of contentedness. By helping a young refugee find comfort, happiness, and home in America, I was finally able to find those same things for myself.

Due to their endearing (and creative) use of language—with early phrases like “sloppy joes and spaetzle” as well as “Germerican” and “Denglisch”—readers are inclined to like this writer from the get-go. Though the essay shifts from this lighthearted introduction to more serious subject matter around the third paragraph, the shift is not abrupt or jarring. This is because the student invites readers to feel the transition with them through their inclusion of various anecdotes that inspired their “feelings of cultural homelessness.” And our journey does not end there—we go back to America with the student and see how their former struggles become strengths.

Ultimately, this essay is successful due to its satisfying ending. Because readers experience the student’s struggles with them, we also feel the resolution. The conclusion of this essay is a prime example of the “Same, but Different” technique described in our article on How to End Your College Essay . As the student describes how, in the end, their complicated cultural identity still exists but transitions to a source of strength, readers are left feeling happy for the student. This means that they have formed a connection with the student, which is the ultimate goal!

Prompt #1, Example #3

“1…2…3…4 pirouettes ! New record!” My friends cheered as I landed my turns. Pleased with my progress, I gazed down at my worn-out pointe shoes. The sweltering blisters, numbing ice-baths, and draining late-night practices did not seem so bad after all. Next goal: five turns.

For as long as I can remember, ballet, in all its finesse and glamor, had kept me driven day to day. As a child, the lithe ballerinas, donning ethereal costumes as they floated across the stage, were my motivation. While others admired Messi and Adele, I idolized Carlos Acosta, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet.

As I devoted more time and energy towards my craft, I became obsessed with improving my technique. I would stretch for hours after class, forcing my leg one inch higher in an effort to mirror the Dance Magazine cover girls . I injured my feet and ruined pair after pair of pointe shoes, turning on wood, cement, and even grass to improve my balance as I spun. At competitions, the dancers with the 180-degree leg extensions, endless turns, and soaring leaps—the ones who received “Bravos!” from the roaring audience—further pushed me to refine my skills and perfect my form. I believed that, with enough determination, I would one day attain their level of perfection. Reaching the quadruple- pirouette milestone only intensified my desire to accomplish even more.

My efforts seemed to have come to fruition two summers ago when I was accepted to dance with Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet at their renowned New York City summer intensive. I walked into my first session eager to learn from distinguished ballet masters and worldly dancers, already anticipating my improvement. Yet, as I danced alongside the accomplished ballerinas, I felt out of place. Despite their clean technique and professional training, they did not aim for glorious leg extensions or prodigious leaps. When they performed their turn combinations, most of them only executed two turns as I attempted four.

“Dancers, double- pirouettes only.”

Taken aback and confused, I wondered why our teacher expected so little from us. The other ballerinas seemed content, gracing the studio with their simple movements.

As I grew closer with my Moscow roommates, I gradually learned that their training emphasized the history of the art form instead of stylistic tricks. Rather than show off their physical ability, their performances aimed to convey a story, one that embodied the rich culture of ballet and captured both the legacy of the dancers before them and their own artistry. As I observed my friends more intently in repertoire class, I felt the pain of the grief-stricken white swan from Swan Lake , the sass of the flirtatious Kitri from Don Quijote, and I gradually saw what I had overlooked before. My definition of talent had been molded by crowd-pleasing elements—whirring pirouettes , gravity-defying leaps, and mind-blowing leg extensions. This mindset slowly stripped me from the roots of my passion and my personal connection with ballet.

With the Bolshoi, I learned to step back and explore the meaning behind each step and the people behind the scenes. Ballet carries history in its movements, from the societal values of the era to each choreographer’s unique flair. As I uncovered the messages behind each pirouette, kick, and jump, my appreciation for ballet grew beyond my obsession with raw athleticism and developed into a love for the art form’s emotive abilities in bridging the dancers with the audience. My journey as an artist has allowed me to see how technical execution is only the means to a greater understanding between dancer and spectator, between storyteller and listener. The elegance and complexity of ballet does not revolve around astonishing stunts but rather the evocative strength and artistry manifested in the dancer, in me. It is the combination of sentiments, history, tradition, and passion that has allowed ballet and its lessons of human connection to become my lifestyle both on and off stage.

The primary strength of this essay is the honesty and authenticity of the student’s writing. It is purposefully reflective. Intentional language creates a clear character arc that begins with an eager young ballerina and ends with the student reflecting on their past.

Readers are easily able to picture the passion and intensity of the young dancer through the writer’s engagement with words like “obsessed,” “forcing,” and “ruined” in the second paragraph. Then, we see how intensity becomes pride as they “wondered why our teacher expected so little from us.” And ultimately, we see the writer humbled as they are exposed to the deeper meaning behind what they have worked so hard for. This arc is outstanding, and the student’s musings about ballet in the concl usion position them as vulnerable and reflective (and thus, appealing to admissions officers!)

The main weakness of this essay (though this is a stellar essay) is its formulaic beginning. While dialogue can be an effective tool for starting your essay, this student’s introduction feels a bit stilted as the dialogue does not match the overall reflective tone of the essay. Perhaps, in place of “Next goal: five turns,” the student could have posed a question or foreshadowed the growth they ultimately describe.

Prompt #1, Example #4

My paintbrush dragged a flurry of acrylic, the rich colors attaching to each groove in my canvas’s texture. The feeling was euphoric.

From a young age, painting has been my solace. Between the stress of my packed high school days filled with classes and extracurriculars, the glide of my paintbrush was my emotional outlet.

I opened a fresh canvas and began. The amalgamation of assorted colors in my palette melded harmoniously: dark and light, cool and warm, brilliant and dull. They conjoined, forming shades and surfaces sharp, smooth, and ridged. The textures of my paint strokes — powdery, glossy, jagged — gave my painting a tone, as if it had a voice of its own, sometimes shrieking, sometimes whispering.

Rough indigo blue. The repetitive upward pulls of my brush formed layers on my canvas. Staring into the deep blue, I felt transported to the bottom of the pool I swim in daily. I looked upward to see a layer of dense water between myself and the person I aspire to be, an ideal blurred by filmy ripples. Rough blue encapsulates my amorphous, conflicting identity, catalyzed by words spewed by my peers about my “oily hair” and “smelly food”. They caused my ever present disdain toward cultural assemblies; the lehenga I wore felt burdensome. My identity quivers like the indigo storm I painted — a duel between my self-deprecating, validation-seeking self, and the proud self I desire to be. My haphazard paint strokes released my internal turbulence.

Smooth orange-hued green. I laid the color in melodious strokes, forming my figure. The warmer green transitions from the rough blue — while they share elements, they also diverge. My firm brushstrokes felt like the way I felt on my first day as a media intern at KBOO, my local volunteer-driven radio station, committed to the voices of the marginalized. As a naturally introverted speaker, I was forced out of my comfort zone when tasked with documenting a KBOO art exhibition for social media, speaking with hosts to share their diverse, underrepresented backgrounds and inspirations. A rhythmic green strength soon shoved me past internal blue turbulence. My communication skills which were built by two years of Speech and Debate unleashed — I recognized that making a social change through media required amplifying unique voices and perspectives, both my own and others. The powerful green strokes that fill my canvas entrench my growth.

Bright, voluminous coral, hinted with magenta and yellow. I dabbed the color over my figure, giving my painting dimension. The paint, speckled, added depth on every inch it coated. As I moved the color in random but purposeful movements, the vitality ushered into my painting brought a smile across my face. It reminded me of the encounters I had with my cubicle-mate in my sophomore year academic autism research internship, seemingly insignificant moments in my lifelong journey that, in retrospect, wove unique threads into my tapestry. The kindness she brought into work inspired my compassion, while her stories of struggling with ADHD in the workplace bolstered my empathy towards different experiences. Our conversations added blobs of a nonuniform bright color in my painting, binding a new perspective in me.

I added in my final strokes, each contributing an element to my piece. As I scanned my canvas, I observed these elements. Detail added nuance into smaller pictures; they embodied complexities within color, texture, and hue, each individually delivering a narrative. But together, they formed a piece of art— art that could be interpreted as a whole or broken apart but still delivering as a means of communication.

I find beauty in media because of this. I can adapt a complex narrative to be deliverable, each component telling a story. Appreciating these nuances — the light, dark, smooth, and rough — has cultivated my growth mindset. My life-long painting never finishes. It is ever-expanding, absorbing the novel textures and colors I encounter daily.

This essay is distinct from others due to its melodic, lyrical form. This is primarily achieved because the student’s form follows the movements of the paintbrush that they use to scaffold their essay. As readers, we simply flow through the essay, occasionally picking up bits of information about its creator. Without even realizing it, by the end of the essay, admissions officers will know that this student is a swimmer, was in Speech and Debate, is Indian, and has had multiple internships.

A major strength of this essay is the command of language that the student demonstrates. This essay was not simply written, it was crafted. Universities are, of course, interested in the talents, goals, and interests of applicants, but an essay being well-written can be equally important. Writing skills are important because your reader will not learn about your talents, goals, and interests if they aren’t engaged in your essay, but they are also important because admissions officers know that being able to articulate your thoughts is important for success in all future careers.

While this essay is well-written, there are a few moments where it falls out of the flow and feels more like a student advertising their successes. For example, the phrases “media intern at KBOO” and “autism research internship” work better on a resume than they do in this essay. Admissions officers have a copy of your resume and can check your internship experiences after reading your essay! If you are going to use a unique writing style or narrative form, lean into it; don’t try to hybridize it with the standard college essay form. Your boldness will be attractive to admissions officers.

Readers are easily able to picture the passion and intensity of the young dancer through the writer’s engagement with words like “obsessed,” “forcing,” and “ruined” in the second paragraph. Then, we see how intensity becomes pride as they “wondered why our teacher expected so little from us.” And ultimately, we see the writer humbled as they are exposed to the deeper meaning behind what they have worked so hard for. This arc is outstanding, and the student’s musings about ballet in the conclusion position them as vulnerable and reflective (and thus, appealing to admissions officers!)

Prompt #2: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Prompt #2, example #1.

“You ruined my life!” After months of quiet anger, my brother finally confronted me. To my shame, I had been appallingly ignorant of his pain.

Despite being twins, Max and I are profoundly different. Having intellectual interests from a young age that, well, interested very few of my peers, I often felt out of step in comparison with my highly-social brother. Everything appeared to come effortlessly for Max and, while we share an extremely tight bond, his frequent time away with friends left me feeling more and more alone as we grew older.

When my parents learned about The Green Academy, we hoped it would be an opportunity for me to find not only an academically challenging environment, but also – perhaps more importantly – a community. This meant transferring the family from Drumfield to Kingston. And while there was concern about Max, we all believed that given his sociable nature, moving would be far less impactful on him than staying put might be on me.

As it turned out, Green Academy was everything I’d hoped for. I was ecstatic to discover a group of students with whom I shared interests and could truly engage. Preoccupied with new friends and a rigorous course load, I failed to notice that the tables had turned. Max, lost in the fray and grappling with how to make connections in his enormous new high school, had become withdrawn and lonely. It took me until Christmas time – and a massive argument – to recognize how difficult the transition had been for my brother, let alone that he blamed me for it.

Through my own journey of searching for academic peers, in addition to coming out as gay when I was 12, I had developed deep empathy for those who had trouble fitting in. It was a pain I knew well and could easily relate to. Yet after Max’s outburst, my first response was to protest that our parents – not I – had chosen to move us here. In my heart, though, I knew that regardless of who had made the decision, we ended up in Kingston for my benefit. I was ashamed that, while I saw myself as genuinely compassionate, I had been oblivious to the heartache of the person closest to me. I could no longer ignore it – and I didn’t want to.

We stayed up half the night talking, and the conversation took an unexpected turn. Max opened up and shared that it wasn’t just about the move. He told me how challenging school had always been for him, due to his dyslexia, and that the ever-present comparison to me had only deepened his pain.

We had been in parallel battles the whole time and, yet, I only saw that Max was in distress once he experienced problems with which I directly identified. I’d long thought Max had it so easy – all because he had friends. The truth was, he didn’t need to experience my personal brand of sorrow in order for me to relate – he had felt plenty of his own.

My failure to recognize Max’s suffering brought home for me the profound universality and diversity of personal struggle; everyone has insecurities, everyone has woes, and everyone – most certainly – has pain. I am acutely grateful for the conversations he and I shared around all of this, because I believe our relationship has been fundamentally strengthened by a deeper understanding of one another. Further, this experience has reinforced the value of constantly striving for deeper sensitivity to the hidden struggles of those around me. I won’t make the mistake again of assuming that the surface of someone’s life reflects their underlying story.

Here is a prime example that you don’t have to have fabulous imagery or flowery prose to write a successful Common App essay. You just have to be clear and say something that matters. This essay is simple and beautiful. It almost feels like having a conversation with a friend and learning that they are an even better person than you already thought they were.

Through this narrative, readers learn a lot about the writer—where they’re from, what their family life is like, what their challenges were as a kid, and even their sexuality. We also learn a lot about their values—notably, the value they place on awareness, improvement, and consideration of others. Though they never explicitly state it (which is great because it is still crystal clear!), this student’s ending of “I won’t make the mistake again of assuming that the surface of someone’s life reflects their underlying story” shows that they are constantly striving for improvement and finding lessons anywhere they can get them in life.

The only part of this essay that could use a bit of work is the introduction. A short introduction can be effective, but this short first paragraph feels thrown in at the last minute and like it is missing its second half. If you are keeping your introduction short, make it matter.

Prompt #2, Example #2

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the garb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire.

Furiously I rubbed the twigs together—rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers. No smoke. The twigs were too young, too sticky-green; I tossed them away with a shower of curses, and began tearing through the underbrush in search of a more flammable collection. My efforts were fruitless. Livid, I bit a rejected twig, determined to prove that the forest had spurned me, offering only young, wet bones that would never burn. But the wood cracked like carrots between my teeth—old, brittle, and bitter. Roaring and nursing my aching palms, I retreated to the tent, where I sulked and awaited the jeers of my family.

Rattling their empty worm cans and reeking of fat fish, my brother and cousins swaggered into the campsite. Immediately, they noticed the minor stick massacre by the fire pit and called to me, their deep voices already sharp with contempt.

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame.

In the tent, I pondered my failure. Was I so dainty? Was I that incapable? I thought of my hands, how calloused and capable they had been, how tender and smooth they had become. It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive. And I’d gotten glasses, having grown horrifically nearsighted; long nights of dim lighting and thick books had done this. I couldn’t remember the last time I had lain down on a hill, barefaced, and seen the stars without having to squint. Crawling along the edge of the tent, a spider confirmed my transformation—he disgusted me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to squash him.

Yet, I realized I hadn’t really changed—I had only shifted perspective. I still eagerly explored new worlds, but through poems and prose rather than pastures and puddles. I’d grown to prefer the boom of a bass over that of a bullfrog, learned to coax a different kind of fire from wood, having developed a burn for writing rhymes and scrawling hypotheses.

That night, I stayed up late with my journal and wrote about the spider I had decided not to kill. I had tolerated him just barely, only shrieking when he jumped—it helped to watch him decorate the corners of the tent with his delicate webs, knowing that he couldn’t start fires, either. When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.

This Common App essay is well-written. The student is showing the admissions officers their ability to articulate their points beautifully and creatively. It starts with vivid images like that of the “rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free.” And because the prose is flowery, the writer can get away with metaphors like “I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms” that might sound cheesy without the clear command of the English language that the writer quickly establishes.

In addition to being well-written, this essay is thematically cohesive. It begins with the simple introduction “Fire!” and ends with the following image: “When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.” This full-circle approach leaves readers satisfied and impressed.

While dialogue often comes off as cliche or trite, this student effectively incorporates their family members saying “Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” This is achieved through the apt use of the verb “taunted” to characterize the questioning and through the question’s thematic connection to the earlier image of the student as a rustic princess. Similarly, rhetorical questions can feel randomly placed in essays, but this student’s inclusion of the questions “Was I so dainty?” and “Was I that incapable?” feels perfectly justified after they establish that they were pondering their failure.

Quite simply, this essay shows how quality writing can make a simple story outstandingly compelling.

Prompt #2, Example #3

The muffled voices behind thin walls heralded trouble.

They were fighting about money.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened and it wasn’t going to be the last. It was one of those countless nights I had to spend curled up under the blanket while pretending to be asleep. My father had been unemployed for five years now, and my mother, a local kindergarten teacher, was struggling to support the family alone. Our situation was bleak: Savings had run out and my parents could no longer hide our lack of money from me. To make matters worse, I was a few weeks away from starting high school, which would inevitably lead to college, yet another financial stressor for my family.

The argument didn’t sound like it would end soon.

“Why did you spend money on that?” my mother said, with an elongated sigh.

“I had to,” my father said, decidedly.

Every fight over the years had left me in despair and the idea of going through another fight daunted me. I had looked forward to my teen years all my life, an age that allows, for the first time, more responsibility. Indeed, after this fateful night, after my fourteenth birthday, I felt a mounting responsibility to help my family, and started brainstorming.

Always being fascinated by computers, I spent my childhood burying myself under computer cabinets, experimenting with computer parts. Naturally, I wondered if my skills in this area might be marketable.

The next morning, my friend, Naba, mentioned that her computer wasn’t working. A tuk-tuk ride later, and I was at her doorstep, and her mother was leading me to her room. I was off to work: I began examining her computer, like a surgeon carefully manages his scalpels and tools. A proper diagnosis was not far from reach, as I realized a broken pin in her computer’s SATA slot. After an hour of work, and a short trip to the hardware store, I successfully fixed the computer. To my pleasant surprise, Naba’s mother drew out two fresh 500 Rupee notes. One covered the cost of the parts I bought and the other was a token of appreciation. Bidding her goodbye, I went straight back home and put one of the 500 Rupee notes inside my family’s “savings-jar.”

Later that day, I devised a plan. I told my friends to spread the word that I was available to fix computers. At first, I got only one or two calls per week. I would pick up the computer from my client’s home, fix it quickly, and return it, thus earning myself a commission. While I couldn’t market my services at a competitive price, because I wasn’t able to buy the parts wholesale, I compensated by providing convenience. All my clients had to do was call me once and the rest was taken care of. Thus, my business had the best customer service in town.

At the beginning of my junior year, after two years of expanding my business through various avenues, I started buying computer parts from hardware suppliers in bulk at a cheaper rate. My business grew exponentially after that.

Before long, I was my town’s go-to tech person. In this journey throughout high school, I started realizing that I had to create my own opportunities and not just curl up under a blanket, seeking only comfort, as I used to. Interacting with people from all walks of life became my forte and a sense of work ethic developed in me. My business required me to be an all-rounder– have the technical skills, be an easily approachable person, and manage cash flow. Slowly becoming better at this, I even managed to sway admins of a local institution to outsource their computer hardware purchases and repairs through me. As my business upsized throughout the years, I went from being helpless to autonomous – the teenager I always aspired to be.

This essay truly feels like a story—almost making you forget you are reading a college essay. The student’s voice is strong throughout the entire essay and they are able to give us insight into their thoughts, feelings, and motivations at every step of the story. Letting the reader into personal challenges like financial struggles can be daunting in a college essay, but the way this student used that setback to establish an emotional ethos to their narrative was well done.

Because the essay is essentially just telling a story, there’s a very natural flow that makes it enjoyable and easy to read. The student establishes the conflict at the beginning, then describes their solution and how they implemented it, and finally concludes with the lessons they took away from this experience. Transitions at the beginning of paragraphs effortlessly show the passage of time and how the student has progressed through the story.

Another reason this essay is so successful is because of the abundance of details. The reader truly feels like they are hiding in the room with the student as their parents yell because of the inclusion of quotes from the argument. We understand the precision and care they have for fixing computers because of the allusion to a surgeon with their scalpel. Not only does this imagery make the story more enticing, it also helps the reader gain a deeper appreciation for the type of person this student is and the adversity they have overcome.

If there were one thing this essay could do to improve, it would be to include a resolution to the conflict from the beginning. The student tells us how this business helped them grow as a person, but we don’t ever get to find out if they were able to lessen the financial burden on their parents or if they continued to struggle despite the student working hard. It doesn’t have to be a happy ending, but it would be nice to return to the conflict and acknowledge the effect they had on it, especially since this prompt is all about facing challenges.

Prompt #3: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Prompt #3, example #1.

When I was younger, I was adamant that no two foods on my plate touch. As a result, I often used a second plate to prevent such an atrocity. In many ways, I learned to separate different things this way from my older brothers, Nate and Rob. Growing up, I idolized both of them. Nate was a performer, and I insisted on arriving early to his shows to secure front row seats, refusing to budge during intermission for fear of missing anything. Rob was a three-sport athlete, and I attended his games religiously, waving worn-out foam cougar paws and cheering until my voice was hoarse. My brothers were my role models. However, while each was talented, neither was interested in the other’s passion. To me, they represented two contrasting ideals of what I could become: artist or athlete. I believed I had to choose.

And for a long time, I chose athlete. I played soccer, basketball, and lacrosse and viewed myself exclusively as an athlete, believing the arts were not for me. I conveniently overlooked that since the age of five, I had been composing stories for my family for Christmas, gifts that were as much for me as them, as I loved writing. So when in tenth grade, I had the option of taking a creative writing class, I was faced with a question: could I be an athlete and a writer? After much debate, I enrolled in the class, feeling both apprehensive and excited. When I arrived on the first day of school, my teacher, Ms. Jenkins, asked us to write down our expectations for the class. After a few minutes, eraser shavings stubbornly sunbathing on my now-smudged paper, I finally wrote, “I do not expect to become a published writer from this class. I just want this to be a place where I can write freely.”

Although the purpose of the class never changed for me, on the third “submission day,” – our time to submit writing to upcoming contests and literary magazines – I faced a predicament. For the first two submission days, I had passed the time editing earlier pieces, eventually (pretty quickly) resorting to screen snake when hopelessness made the words look like hieroglyphics. I must not have been as subtle as I thought, as on the third of these days, Ms. Jenkins approached me. After shifting from excuse to excuse as to why I did not submit my writing, I finally recognized the real reason I had withheld my work: I was scared. I did not want to be different, and I did not want to challenge not only others’ perceptions of me, but also my own. I yielded to Ms. Jenkin’s pleas and sent one of my pieces to an upcoming contest.

By the time the letter came, I had already forgotten about the contest. When the flimsy white envelope arrived in the mail, I was shocked and ecstatic to learn that I had received 2nd place in a nationwide writing competition. The next morning, however, I discovered Ms. Jenkins would make an announcement to the whole school exposing me as a poet. I decided to own this identity and embrace my friends’ jokes and playful digs, and over time, they have learned to accept and respect this part of me. I have since seen more boys at my school identifying themselves as writers or artists.

I no longer see myself as an athlete and a poet independently, but rather I see these two aspects forming a single inseparable identity – me. Despite their apparent differences, these two disciplines are quite similar, as each requires creativity and devotion. I am still a poet when I am lacing up my cleats for soccer practice and still an athlete when I am building metaphors in the back of my mind – and I have realized ice cream and gummy bears taste pretty good together.

This essay is cohesive as it centers around the theme of identity and the ability for two identities to coexist simultaneously (an interesting theme!). It uses the Full Circle ending strategy as it starts with a metaphor about food touching and ends with “I have realized ice cream and gummy bears taste pretty good together.”

The main issue with this essay is that it could come off as cliché, which could be irritating for admissions officers. The story described is notably similar to High School Musical (“I decided to own this identity and embrace my friends’ jokes and playful digs, and over time, they have learned to accept and respect this part of me”) and feels slightly overstated.

At times, this essay is also confusing. In the first paragraph, it feels like the narrative is actually going to be about separating your food (and is somehow going to relate to the older brothers?). It is not entirely clear that this is a metaphor. Also, when the writer references the third submission day and then works backward to explain what a submission day is and that there are multiple throughout the semester, the timeline gets unnecessarily confusing. Reworking the way this paragraph unfolded would have been more compelling and less distracting.

Overall, this essay was interesting but could have been more polished to be more effective.

Prompt #3, Example #2

I walked into my middle school English class, and noticed a stranger behind my teacher’s desk. “Hello,” she said. “Today I will be your substitute teacher.” I groaned internally. “Let me start off by calling roll. Ally?” “Here!” exclaimed Ally. “Jack?” “Here.” “Rachel?” “Here.” “Freddie?” “Present.” And then– “…?” The awkward pause was my cue. “It’s Jasina,” I started. “You can just call me Jas. Here.” “Oh, Jasina. That’s unique.” The word “unique” made me cringe. I slumped back in my seat. The substitute continued calling roll, and class continued as if nothing had happened. Nothing had happened. Just a typical moment in a middle school, but I hated every second of it.

My name is not impossible to pronounce. It appears challenging initially, but once you hear it, “Jas-een-a”, then you can manage it. My nickname, Jas (pronounced “Jazz”), is what most people call me anyway, so I don’t have to deal with mispronunciation often. I am thankful that my parents named me Jasina (a Hebrew name), but whenever someone hears my name for the first time, they comment, and I assume they’re making assumptions about me. “Wow, Jas is a cool name.” She must be pretty cool.“I’ve never heard the name Jasina before.” She must be from somewhere exotic. “Jas, like Jazz?” She must be musical and artsy. None of these assumptions are bad, but they all add up to the same thing: She must be unique.

When I was little, these sentiments felt more like commands than assumptions. I thought I had to be the most unique child of all time, which was a daunting task, but I tried. I was the only kid in the second grade to color the sun red. I knew it was really yellow, but you could always tell which drawings were mine. During snack time, we could choose between apple juice and grape juice. I liked apple juice more, but if everyone else was choosing apple, then I had to choose grape. This was how I lived my life, and it was exhausting. I tried to continue this habit into middle school, but it backfired. When everyone became obsessed with things like skinny jeans and Justin Bieber and blue mascara (that was a weird trend), my resistance of the norm made me socially awkward. I couldn’t talk to people about anything because we had nothing in common. I was too different.

After 8th grade, I moved to Georgia, and I was dreading being the odd one out among kids who had grown up together. Then I discovered that my freshman year would be Cambridge High School’s inaugural year. Since there were students coming in from 5 different schools, there was no real sense of “normal”. I panicked. If there was no normal, then how could I be unique? That’s when I realized that I had spent so much energy going against the grain that I had no idea what my true interests were or what I really cared about.

It was time to find out. I stopped concentrating on what everyone else was doing and started to focus on myself. I joined the basketball team, I performed in the school musical, and I enrolled in Chorus, all of which were firsts for me. I took art classes, joined clubs, and did whatever I thought would make me happy. And it paid off. I was no longer socially awkward. In fact, because I was involved in so many unrelated activities, I was socially flexible. My friends and I had things in common, but there was no one who could say that I was exactly like anyone else. I had finally become my own person.

My father named me Jasina because he wanted my nickname to be “Jazz.” According to Webster, “jazz” is “music characterized by syncopated rhythms, improvisation, and deliberate distortions of pitch.” Basically, jazz is music that is off-beat and unpredictable. It cannot be strictly defined.

That sounds about right.

Right off the bat, this essay starts extremely strong. The description of attendance in a class with ample quotes, awkward pauses, and the student’s internal dialogue immediately puts us in the middle of the action and establishes a lot of sympathy for this student before we’ve learned anything else.

The strength of this essay continues into the second paragraph where the use of quotes, italics, and interjections from the student continues. All of these literary tools help the student express her voice and allow the reader to understand what this student goes through on a daily basis. Rather than just telling the reader people make assumptions about her name, she shows us what these assumptions look and sound like, and exactly how they make her feel.

The essay further shows us how the student approached her name by providing concrete examples of times she’s been intentionally unique throughout her life. Describing her drawing red suns and choosing grape juice bring her personality to life and allow her to express her deviance from the “norm” in a much more engaging and visual way than simply telling the reader she would go against the grain to be different on purpose.

One part of the essay that was a bit weaker than the others was the paragraph about her in high school. Although it was still well written and did a nice job of demonstrating how she got involved in multiple groups to find her new identity, it lacked the same level of showing employed in previous paragraphs. It would have been nice to see what “socially flexible” means either through a conversation she had with her friends or an example of a time she combined her interests from different groups in a way that was uniquely her.

The essay finishes off how it started: extremely strong. Taking a step back to fully explain the origin of her name neatly brings together everything mentioned in this essay. This ending is especially successful because she never explicitly states that her personality aligns with the definition of jazz. Instead, she relies on the points she has made throughout the essay to stick in the reader’s memory so they are able to draw the connection themselves, making for a much more satisfying ending for the reader.

Prompt #4 (OLD PROMPT; NOT THE CURRENT PROMPT): Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma – anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

Prompt #4, example #1.

“Advanced females ages 13 to 14 please proceed to staging with your coaches at this time.”

Skittering around the room, eyes wide and pleading, I frantically explained my situation to nearby coaches. The seconds ticked away in my head; every polite refusal increased my desperation.

Despair weighed me down. I sank to my knees as a stream of competitors, coaches, and officials flowed around me. My dojang had no coach, and the tournament rules prohibited me from competing without one.

Although I wanted to remain strong, doubts began to cloud my mind. I could not help wondering: what was the point of perfecting my skills if I would never even compete? The other members of my team, who had found coaches minutes earlier, attempted to comfort me, but I barely heard their words. They couldn’t understand my despair at being left on the outside, and I never wanted them to understand.

Since my first lesson 12 years ago, the members of my dojang have become family. I have watched them grow up, finding my own happiness in theirs. Together, we have honed our kicks, blocks, and strikes. We have pushed one another to aim higher and become better martial artists. Although my dojang had searched for a reliable coach for years, we had not found one. When we attended competitions in the past, my teammates and I had always gotten lucky and found a sympathetic coach. Now, I knew this practice was unsustainable. It would devastate me to see the other members of my dojang in my situation, unable to compete and losing hope as a result. My dojang needed a coach, and I decided it was up to me to find one.

I first approached the adults in the dojang – both instructors and members’ parents. However, these attempts only reacquainted me with polite refusals. Everyone I asked told me they couldn’t devote multiple weekends per year to competitions. I soon realized that I would have become the coach myself.

At first, the inner workings of tournaments were a mystery to me. To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side. I learned everything from motivational strategies to technical, behind-the-scenes components of Taekwondo competitions. Though I emerged with new knowledge and confidence in my capabilities, others did not share this faith.

Parents threw me disbelieving looks when they learned that their children’s coach was only a child herself. My self-confidence was my armor, deflecting their surly glances. Every armor is penetrable, however, and as the relentless barrage of doubts pounded my resilience, it began to wear down. I grew unsure of my own abilities.

Despite the attack, I refused to give up. When I saw the shining eyes of the youngest students preparing for their first competition, I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was. The knowledge that I could solve my dojang’s longtime problem motivated me to overcome my apprehension.

Now that my dojang flourishes at competitions, the attacks on me have weakened, but not ended. I may never win the approval of every parent; at times, I am still tormented by doubts, but I find solace in the fact that members of my dojang now only worry about competing to the best of their abilities.

Now, as I arrive at a tournament with my students, I close my eyes and remember the past. I visualize the frantic search for a coach and the chaos amongst my teammates as we competed with one another to find coaches before the staging calls for our respective divisions. I open my eyes to the exact opposite scene. Lacking a coach hurt my ability to compete, but I am proud to know that no member of my dojang will have to face that problem again.

This essay is great because it has a strong introduction and a strong conclusion. The introduction is notably suspenseful and draws readers into the story. Because we know it is a college essay, we can assume that the student is one of the competitors, but at the same time, this introduction feels intentionally ambiguous as if the writer could be a competitor, a coach, a sibling of a competitor, or anyone else in the situation.

As we continue reading the essay, we learn that the writer is, in fact, the competitor. Readers also learn a lot about the student’s values as we hear their thoughts: “I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was.” Ultimately, the conflict and inner and outer turmoil is resolved through the “Same, but Different” ending technique as the student places themself in the same environment that we saw in the intro, but experiencing it differently due to their actions throughout the narrative. This is a very compelling strategy!

The main weakness of this essay is that it is slightly confusing at times—how the other students found coaches feels unintentionally under-explained (a simple phrase like “through pleading and attracting sympathy” in the fourth paragraph could have served the writer well) and a dojang is never defined. Additionally, the turn of the essay or “volta” could’ve packed a bigger punch. It is put quite simply with “I soon realized that I would have become the coach myself.” A more suspenseful reveal could’ve served the author well because more drama did come later.

Prompt #5: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Prompt #5, example #1.

Tears streamed down my face and my mind was paralyzed with fear. Sirens blared, but the silent panic in my own head was deafening. I was muted by shock. A few hours earlier, I had anticipated a vacation in Washington, D.C., but unexpectedly, I was rushing to the hospital behind an ambulance carrying my mother. As a fourteen-year-old from a single mother household, without a driver’s license, and seven hours from home, I was distraught over the prospect of losing the only parent I had. My fear turned into action as I made some of the bravest decisions of my life.

Three blood transfusions later, my mother’s condition was stable, but we were still states away from home, so I coordinated with my mother’s doctors in North Carolina to schedule the emergency operation that would save her life. Throughout her surgery, I anxiously awaited any word from her surgeon, but each time I asked, I was told that there had been another complication or delay. Relying on my faith and positive attitude, I remained optimistic that my mother would survive and that I could embrace new responsibilities.

My mother had been a source of strength for me, and now I would be strong for her through her long recovery ahead. As I started high school, everyone thought the crisis was over, but it had really just started to impact my life. My mother was often fatigued, so I assumed more responsibility, juggling family duties, school, athletics, and work. I made countless trips to the neighborhood pharmacy, cooked dinner, biked to the grocery store, supported my concerned sister, and provided the loving care my mother needed to recover. I didn’t know I was capable of such maturity and resourcefulness until it was called upon. Each day was a stage in my gradual transformation from dependence to relative independence.

Throughout my mother’s health crisis, I matured by learning to put others’ needs before my own. As I worried about my mother’s health, I took nothing for granted, cherished what I had, and used my daily activities as motivation to move forward. I now take ownership over small decisions such as scheduling daily appointments and managing my time but also over major decisions involving my future, including the college admissions process. Although I have become more independent, my mother and I are inseparably close, and the realization that I almost lost her affects me daily. Each morning, I wake up ten minutes early simply to eat breakfast with my mother and spend time with her before our busy days begin. I am aware of how quickly life can change. My mother remains a guiding force in my life, but the feeling of empowerment I discovered within myself is the ultimate form of my independence. Though I thought the summer before my freshman year would be a transition from middle school to high school, it was a transformation from childhood to adulthood.

This essay feels real and tells readers a lot about the writer. To start at the beginning, the intro is 10/10. It has drama, it has emotions, and it has the reader wanting more.

And, when you keep going, you get to learn a lot about a very resilient and mature student. Through sentences like “I made countless trips to the neighborhood pharmacy, cooked dinner, biked to the grocery store, supported my concerned sister, and provided the loving care my mother needed to recover” and “Relying on my faith and positive attitude, I remained optimistic that my mother would survive and that I could embrace new responsibilities,” the reader shows us that they are aware of their resilience and maturity, but are not arrogant about it. It is simply a fact that they have proven!

Sometimes writing about adversity can feel exploitative or oddly braggy. This student backs up everything they say with anecdotes that prove and show their strength and resilience, rather than just claiming their strengths. When I read this essay, I want to cheer for its writer! And I want to be able to continue cheering for them (perhaps, if I were an admissions officer, that would make me want them at my school!).

Prompt #5, Example #2

Armed with a red pen, I slowly walked across the room to a small, isolated table with pink stools. Swinging her legs, my young student beamed and giggled at me, slamming her pencil bag on the table and bending over to pick up one of her toys. Natalie always brought some new toy with her to lessons—toys which I would sternly take away from her and place under the table until she finished her work. At the tutoring center where I work, a strict emphasis on discipline leaves no room for paper crowns or rubber chickens.

Today, she had with her a large stuffed eagle from a museum. As she pulled out her papers, I slid the eagle to the other side of the table. She looked eagerly around, attempting to chat with other students as I impatiently called her attention to her papers. “I should name my eagle,” she chimed, waving her pencil in the air. I cringed—there was no wondering why Natalie always had to sit by herself. She was the antithesis of my academic values, and undoubtedly the greatest adversary of my teaching style.

As the lesson progressed, Natalie became more fitful; she refused to release her feathered friend, and kept addressing the bird for help with difficult problems. We both grew increasingly more frustrated. Determined to tame this wryly, wiggling student, I stood my ground, set on converting this disobedient child to my calm, measured ways of study.

As time slowly crept by, I noticed that despite Natalie’s cheerful tone and bright smile, the stuffed eagle was troublesomely quiet and stern-faced. Much like myself. Both the eagle and I were getting nowhere in this lesson—so we hatched a quick plan. Lifting the eagle up in the air, I started reading in my best impersonation of an eagle, squawking my way through a spelling packet. The result provided a sense of instant gratification I never knew I needed. She sang out every letter, clapped her hands at every page, and followed along with the eagle, stopping at every few letters to declare that “E is for eagle” and pet her teacher fondly on the beak.

Despite my ostensibly dissatisfied attitude toward my students, I did not join the tutoring center simply to earn money. I had always aspired to help others achieve their fullest potential. As a young adult, I felt that it was time for me to step out of the role of a pupil and into the influential role of a teacher, naively believing that I had the maturity and skill to adapt to any situation and help these students reach their highest achievements academically. For the most part, the role of a stern-faced, strict instructor helped me get by in the workplace, and while my students never truly looked happy, I felt that it was part of the process of conditioning a child to learn.

Ironically, my transition to adulthood was the result of a stuffed animal. It was indisputable that I always had the skill to instruct others; the only thing needed to instruct someone is knowledge of the subject. However, it was only upon being introduced to a stuffed bird in which I realized that students receive the most help not from instructors, but teachers. While almost anyone can learn material and spit it back out for someone, it takes the maturity and passion of a teacher not only to help students improve in their students, but also to motivate them and develop them into better citizens. From my young pupil and her little bird, I have undergone a change in attitude which reflects a growth in maturity and ability to improve the lives of others that I hope to implement in my future role as a student, activist, and physician. My newfound maturity taught me that the letter “e” stands for many things: empathy, experience, enthusiasm, and eagle.

In this essay, the student effectively explores their values (and how they learned them!) then identifies these values through a reflective conclusion. While the writer humbly recognizes the initial faults in their teaching style, they do not position their initial discipline or rigidity as mean or poorly intentioned—simply ineffective. This is important because, when you are discussing a transition like this, you don’t want admissions officers to think of you as having been a bad person.

My favorite part about this essay is its subtlety. The major shift in the essay comes through the simple sentence “The result provided a sense of instant gratification I never knew I needed.” The facts of this narrative are not too complicated. Simply put, the writer was strict then learned that it’s sometimes more effective not to be strict. The complexity of this narrative comes through reflection. Notably, through the ending, the student identifies their values (which they hadn’t given a name to before): “it takes the maturity and passion of a teacher not only to help students improve in their students, but also to motivate them and develop them into better citizens.”

The final sentence of this essay ties things up very nicely. Readers are left satisfied with the essay and convinced that its writer is a kind human with a large capacity for reflection and consideration. That is a great image to paint of yourself!

Prompt #5, Example #3

When it’s quiet, I can still hear the Friday night gossip and giggles of my friends. It’s a stark contrast from the environment I’ve known all my life, my home. My family has always been one to keep to themselves; introverts with a hard-working mentality—my father especially. He spent most of his time at work and growing up without him around, I came to be at peace with the fact that I’d probably never really get to know him. The thought didn’t bother me at the time because I felt that we were very different. He was stoic and traditional; I was trying to figure out who I was and explore my interests. His disapproval of the American music I listened to and my penchant for wearing hand-me-downs made me see him as someone who wanted to restrain my individuality. That explains why I relied heavily on my friends throughout middle and high school; they liked me for who I was. I figured I would get lonely without my friends during quarantine, but these last few months stuck at home gave me the time to make a new friend: my father.

It was June. I had the habit of sleeping with my windows open so I wouldn’t need to set an alarm; the warmth of the sun and the sounds of the neighborhood children playing outside would wake me. One morning, however, it was not the chirping of birds or the laughter of children I awoke to, but the shrill of a saw. Through the window screen, on the grass below, my father stood cutting planks of wood. I was confused but didn’t question him—what he did with his time was none of my business. It was not until the next day, when I was attempting to work on a sculpture for an art class, that the sounds of hammering and drills became too much to ignore. Seeking answers, I trudged across my backyard towards the corner he was in. On that day, all there was to see was the foundation of what he was building; a shed. My intrigue was replaced with awe; I was impressed by the precision of his craft. Sharp corners, leveled and sturdy, I could imagine what it would look like when the walls were up and the inside filled with the tools he had spread around the yard.

Throughout the week, when I was trying to finish my sculpture for art class—thinking about its shape and composition—I could not help but think of my father. Art has always been a creative outlet for me, an opportunity to express myself at home. For my dad, his craftsmanship was his art. I realized we were not as different as I had thought; he was an artist like me. My glue and paper were his wood and nails.

That summer, I tried to spend more time with my dad than I have in all my 18 years of life. Waking up earlier than usual so we could have our morning coffees together and pretending to like his favorite band so he’d talk to me about it, I took advantage of every opportunity I had to speak with him. In getting to know him, I’ve recognized that I get my artistry from him.

Reflecting on past relationships, I feel I am now more open to reconnecting with people I’ve perhaps misjudged. In reconciling, I’ve realized I held some bitterness towards him all these years, and in letting that go, my heart is lighter. Our reunion has changed my perspective; instead of vilifying him for spending so much time at work, I can appreciate how hard he works to provide for our family. When I hear him tinkering away at another home project, I can smile and look forward to asking him about it later.

This is an outstanding example of the great things that can be articulated through a reflective essay. As we read the essay, we are simply thinking alongside its author—thinking about their past relationship with their father, about their time in quarantine, about aspects of themselves they think could use attention and growth.

While we reflect, we are also centered by the student’s anecdote about the sculpture and the shed during quarantine. By centering us in real-time, the student keeps us engaged in the reflection.

The main strength here is the maturity we see on the part of its writer. The student doesn’t say “and I realized my father was the best dad in the world;” they say “and I realized my father didn’t have to be the best dad in the world for me to give him a chance.” Lots of students show themselves as motivated, curious, or compassionate in their college essays, but a reflective essay that ends with a discussion of resentment and forgiveness shows true maturity.

Prompt #5, Example #4

As a wide-eyed, naive seven-year-old, I watched my grandmother’s rough, wrinkled hands pull and knead mercilessly at white dough until the countertop was dusted in flour. She steamed small buns in bamboo baskets, and a light sweetness lingered in the air. Although the mantou looked delicious, their papery, flat taste was always an unpleasant surprise. My grandmother scolded me for failing to finish even one, and when I complained about the lack of flavor she would simply say that I would find it as I grew older. How did my adult relatives seem to enjoy this Taiwanese culinary delight while I found it so plain?

During my journey to discover the essence of mantou, I began to see myself the same way I saw the steamed bun. I believed that my writing would never evolve beyond a hobby and that my quiet nature crippled my ambitions. Ultimately, I thought I had little to offer the world. In middle school, it was easy for me to hide behind the large personalities of my friends, blending into the background and keeping my thoughts company. Although writing had become my emotional outlet, no matter how well I wrote essays, poetry, or fiction, I could not stand out in a sea of talented students. When I finally gained the confidence to submit my poetry to literary journals but was promptly rejected, I stepped back from my work to begin reading from Whitman to Dickinson, Li-Young Lee to Ocean Vuong. It was then that I realized I had been holding back a crucial ingredient–my distinct voice.

Over time, my taste buds began to mature, as did I. Mantou can be flavored with pork and eggplant, sweetened in condensed milk, and moistened or dried by the steam’s temperature. After I ate the mantou with each of these factors in mind, I noticed its environment enhanced a delicately woven strand of sweetness beneath the taste of side dishes: the sugar I had often watched my grandmother sift into the flour. The taste was nearly untraceable, but once I grasped it I could truly begin to cherish mantou. In the same way the taste had been lost to me for years, my writer’s voice had struggled to shine through because of my self-doubt and fear of vulnerability.

As I acquired a taste for mantou, I also began to strengthen my voice through my surrounding environment. With the support of my parents, peer poets, and the guidance of Amy Tan and the Brontё sisters, I worked tirelessly to uncover my voice: a subtle strand of sweetness. Once I stopped trying to fit into a publishing material mold and infused my uninhibited passion for my Taiwanese heritage into my writing, my poem was published in a literary journal. I wrote about the blatant racism Asians endured during coronavirus, and the editor of Skipping Stones Magazine was touched by both my poem and my heartfelt letter. I opened up about being ridiculed for bringing Asian food to school at Youth Leadership Forum, providing support to younger Asian-American students who reached out with the relief of finding someone they could relate to. I embraced writing as a way to convey my struggle with cultural identity. I joined the school’s creative writing club and read my pieces in front of an audience, honing my voice into one that flourishes out loud as well.

Now, I write and speak unapologetically, falling in love with a voice that I never knew I had. It inspires passion within my communities and imparts tenacity to Asian-American youth, rooting itself deeply into everything I write. Today, my grandmother would say that I have finally unearthed the taste of mantou as I savor every bite with a newfound appreciation. I can imagine her hands shaping the dough that has become my voice, and I am eager to share it with the world.

This essay is structurally-sound, with the student’s journey learning to savor mantou and their journey trying to find their voice serving as outstanding parallels. Additionally, as they describe the journey to find a voice in their writing, they definitely show off their voice! The clear introduction provides a great image and draws us in with an intriguing question. Additionally, their little inserts like “a strand of sweetness” and “falling in love with a voice that I never knew I had” work very well.

When the student describes their first published poem, however, their writing gets a little more stilted. This is a common error students make when writing about their achievements. If this student is writing about the craft that goes into writing, we should hear the details of the craft that went into the poem, instead of simply learning that they “opened up about being ridiculed for bringing Asian food to school at Youth Leadership Forum.” This is interesting information but would be stronger if it were supplemented by descriptions of the voice they created, comparisons to the styles of other poets, and analysis of their stylistic choices. This would make the essay feel more cohesive, centering entirely around concepts of voice and style.

Prompt #6: Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Note: We don’t have a stellar example for this prompt, so instead, we’re sharing a couple examples that need improvement, and what can be done to make the essays more engaging.

Prompt #6, Example #1

What factors shape the depth and allure of a literary character? This is the exact question I asked myself as my eyes riveted on the white pages covered with little black letters.

I was reading my old novels. I’ve written three novels and many short stories. Each of them repetitively portrayed the hero as intelligent and funny, and the antagonists as cold and manipulative. I came to the appalling realization that my characters were flat, neither exciting nor original. They just didn’t stand out!

As Oscar Wilde said, ‘Vice and virtue are to the artist material to an art.’ Their mixing makes a novel addictive because its plot is rich with turnarounds and its characters more engaging. In his famous work The Picture of Dorian Gray , Wilde deconstructs the psyche of his characters. He brilliantly plays with the protagonist’s youthful appearance and the decaying portrait to build a truly unique idiosyncratic identity. The persona of Dorian Gray is so complicated a psychologist could analyze it for hours on end!

Inspired by this character, It was my turn to explore good and evil into characters to make my stories more enthralling. I skillfully played with vice and virtue, separating, merging them… My latest novel is the fruit of this exercise. I chose to set it in 20th century London. Its opium dens and exclusive salons; middle-class workers, peasants and politicians breathed the same newly industrialized air; modernity in Blackfriars bridge and tradition in St Paul’s Cathedral; all of these contrasts set the perfect environment for my characters to grow. Following Laclos’ Valmont, Maupassant’s Georges Duroy and Duffy’s Myra Hindley, I played with those contrasts to present an intricate character, truly creative – unlike my previous ones. Insanity, religion, depravity and love are merged into each character, reflecting Edwardian London. As I reflected on my work, I realized vice and virtue altogether made them more human and credible. These characters stood out, they were interesting, I even wanted to know more about them!

After rewriting, erasing, typing, and thinking countless times, I realized writing is a unique exercise. Nothing is definite when you are holding a fountain pen, hearing its screeching sound on the white paper and watching the ebony ink forming letters. When I wasn’t too happy about a change I made in my story, I simply erased and rewrote it. Everything I imagined could happen: white pages are the only place the mouse eats the cat or the world is taken by a zombie attack!

This exact exercise of diversifying my characters satisfied my relentless curiosity. Asking myself ‘how could this character be if she had lost her parents in a maritime tragedy?’ allowed me to view the world from different perspectives (some very dissimilar to my own) and considering how each character would react to different situations brought them to life. As I was writing, I was aiming to change the usual narratives I had previously traversed. I loved experimenting with countless personality traits in my characters – minutes flowing, my hand dancing on the paper as my mind was singing words coming alive….

There were times where my hand just stopped writing and my mind stopped raging. I tried thinking differently, changing a character’s background, the story, the setting. I was inspired by Zola, A.Carter, Fitzgerald, the Brontë sisters… I could observe the different reactions of their characters, and reflect on mine theoretically. But it was only part one of the work: I then had to write, sometimes aimlessly, sometimes frantically, always leading to fresh ideas – I was exploring the practical, trying, erasing and rewriting. Both theory and practice are required to gain intellectual independence and experience, in writing and more globally: before I can change a character, I have to understand it. Before we can change the world, we have to understand it.

The main strength of this essay is the authenticity of the topic the student chose. They aren’t making anything up or stretching the truth. Writing is something that captivates them, and that captivation shines through—particularly through their fourth paragraph (where they geek out over specific plots and characters) and their fifth paragraph (where they joyfully describe how writing has no limitations). Admissions officers want to see this passion and intensity in applicants! The fact that this student has already written three novels also shows dedication and is impressive.

The main weakness of this essay is its structure. Ironically, it is not super captivating. The essay would have been more compelling if the student utilized a “anecdote – answer – reflection” structure. This student’s current introduction involves a reflective question, citations about their past writing experience, then their thoughts on Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray. Instead, this student could’ve provided one cohesive (and powerful!) image of them being frustrated with their own writing then being inspired by Dorian Gray. This would look something like:

“I stayed up three nights in a row studying my own writing—bored by my own writing. The only thing more painful than seeing failure in the fruits of your labor is not seeing a path for improvement. I had written three novels and numerous short stories, and all I could come up with was funny and intelligent heroes going up against cold and manipulative villains. What kind of writer was so consistently cliche? On the third night, I wandered over to my bookshelf. Mrs. Dalloway caught my eye (it has such a beautiful cover). I flipped through. Then, I grabbed Giovanni’s Room . I was so obsessed with my shortcomings that I couldn’t even focus long enough to see what these authors were doing right. I picked up The Picture of Dorian Gray and decided to just start reading. By the end of the night, I was captivated.”

An introduction like this would flow nicely into the student describing their experience with Dorian Gray then, because of that experience, describing how they have altered their approach to writing. The conclusion of this essay would then be this student’s time for reflection. Instead of repeating content about their passion—“I then had to write, sometimes aimlessly, sometimes frantically” and “I was exploring the practical, trying, erasing and rewriting”—, the student could dedicate their conclusion to reflecting on the reasons that writing is so captivating or the ways that (until the day they die) writers will always be perfecting their craft.

This essay is a great example of how important it is to pick a topic that truly excites you. It also illustrates how important it is to effectively structure that excitement.

Prompt #6, Example #2

Astonished by the crashing sound of waves in my ear, I was convinced this magical shell actually held the sound of the big blue sea — my six-year-old self was heartbroken when I couldn’t take the thirty-dollar artificial shell from SeaWorld’s gift shop . It distinctly reminded me of the awestruck feeling I had when I witnessed the churning waves of a windy night by the ocean the previous weekend; I lost track of time gazing at the distant moonlit border dividing our world from the ever-growing black void. Turning to my mom, I inquired curiously, “Can we go to the place where the water ends one day?”

She explained to me I could never reach the end of the ocean because the harsh line I had seen was actually an illusion called the horizon — there was no material end to the ocean. For a mind as young as mine was, the idea of infinity was incomprehensible. As my infatuation with the ocean continued to grow, I finally understood that regardless of how far I travel, the horizon is unattainable because it’s not a physical limit. This idea is why the ocean captivates me — no matter how much you discover, there is always more to explore.

Learning about and exploring the ocean provided an escape from one reality into another; though we are on the same planet, it’s an entirely separate world. Through elementary and middle school, I devoted vast amounts of my free time to learning about simpler concepts like a dolphin’s ability to echolocate and coral reef ecosystems. I rented countless documentaries and constantly checked out books from my local library — my all-time favorite was an episode of the television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey titled “The Lost Worlds of Planet Earth.” This episode remained memorable because it was centered around the impacts of fossil fuels on marine animals; it was the first time I’d learned about the impending crisis we are faced with due to the human mistreatment of our planet.

Prior to viewing that episode, I relied on the ocean as an outlet — I fueled all of my emotions into studying marine organisms. Once I learned of its grave future, I delved into the world of environmental activism. This path was much more disheartening than studying echolocation — inevitable death due to climate change took a toll on my mental health. I attended two climate strikes in November of my sophomore year. Following the strikes, I joined Sunrise Movement Sacramento, a youth-led climate justice organization advocating for the Green New Deal. While analyzing legislation and organizing protests were significant takeaways from my experience with climate activism, they were not the most important. I became an organizer because of my love for the ocean and I remain an organizer because of my passion for dissolving the disproportionalities marginalized groups face due to the sacrificing of people’s livelihood for the sake of profit. The more I learned about our modern society, the more hopeless I grew that I could see any significant change within my lifetime.

However, this hopelessness comes in waves; every day, I remind myself of the moment I discovered the horizon. Or the moment I first dove into the beautiful waters of the Hawaiian coast and immediately was surrounded by breathtaking seas of magnificent creatures and coral gardens — life felt ethereal and beautiful. I remind myself that like the ocean, the vast majority of the universe has yet to be discovered; that distant border holds infinite opportunity to learn. In a universe as vast as ours, and life as rare as ours, individuals still choose to prioritize avarice over our planet. Despite this grave individualism, the ocean reminds me every day there is hope in the fight for a better world. Though I will never discover every inch of the ocean’s floor, I will forever envision and reach for new horizons.

Sometimes the path to a great essay is taking something normal and using it to show admissions officers who you are and what you value—that is precisely this student’s approach! Finding the ocean fascinating is not unique to this student. Tons of kids (and adults, too!) are obsessed with the ocean. What this student does is take things a step further as they explain their curiosity about the ocean in relation to their pain about the destruction of the environment. This capacity for reflection is great!

This student shows a good control of language through their thematic centering on ocean and horizons that carries through their essay—with ”this hopelessness comes in waves” and “I will forever envision and reach for new horizons.” The details provided throughout are also effective at keeping readers engaged—things like “ my six-year-old self was heartbroken when I couldn’t take the thirty-dollar artificial shell from SeaWorld’s gift shop” and “ my all-time favorite was an episode of the television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey titled “The Lost Worlds of Planet Earth.”

The main weakness of this essay is the lack of reflection when the student discusses environmental activism. There’s reflection on the student’s connection to the ocean and horizons at the beginning and at the end, but when the student discusses activism, the tone shifts from focusing on their internal thoughts to their external actions. Remember, a lot of students write about environmental activism, but not a lot of students write about an emotional connection to the ocean as an impetus for environmental activism. This student would stand out more to admissions officers if they had dug into questions of what the ocean means to them (and says about them) in the paragraphs beginning “Learning about and exploring the ocean…” and “Prior to viewing that episode.”

Prompt #7: Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Prompt #7, example #1.

Scalding hot water cascades over me, crashing to the ground in a familiar, soothing rhythm. Steam rises to the ceiling as dried sweat and soap suds swirl down the drain. The water hisses as it hits my skin, far above the safe temperature for a shower. The pressure is perfect on my tired muscles, easing the aches and bruises from a rough bout of sparring and the tension from a long, stressful day. The noise from my overactive mind dies away, fading into music, lyrics floating through my head. Black streaks stripe the inside of my left arm, remnants of the penned reminders of homework, money owed and forms due.

It lacks the same dynamism and controlled intensity of sparring on the mat at taekwondo or the warm tenderness of a tight hug from my father, but it’s still a cocoon of safety as the water washes away the day’s burdens. As long as the hot water is running, the rest of the world ceases to exist, shrinking to me, myself and I. The shower curtain closes me off from the hectic world spinning around me.

Much like the baths of Blanche DuBois, my hot showers are a means of cleansing and purifying (though I’m mostly just ridding myself of the germs from children at work sneezing on me). In the midst of a hot shower, there is no impending exam to study for, no newspaper deadline to meet, no paycheck to deposit. It is simply complete and utter peace, a safe haven. The steam clears my mind even as it clouds my mirror.

Creativity thrives in the tub, breathing life into tales of dragons and warrior princesses that evolve only in my head, never making their way to paper but appeasing the childlike dreamer and wannabe author in me all the same. That one calculus problem that has seemed unsolvable since second period clicks into place as I realize the obvious solution. The perfect concluding sentence to my literary analysis essay writes itself (causing me to abruptly end my shower in a mad dash to the computer before I forget it entirely).

Ever since I was old enough to start taking showers unaided, I began hogging all the hot water in the house, a source of great frustration to my parents. Many of my early showers were rudely cut short by an unholy banging on the bathroom door and an order to “stop wasting water and come eat dinner before it gets cold.” After a decade of trudging up the stairs every evening to put an end to my water-wasting, my parents finally gave in, leaving me to my (expensive) showers. I imagine someday, when paying the water bill is in my hands, my showers will be shorter, but today is not that day (nor, hopefully, will the next four years be that day).

Showers are better than any ibuprofen, the perfect panacea for life’s daily ailments. Headaches magically disappear as long as the water runs, though they typically return in full force afterward. The runny nose and itchy eyes courtesy of summertime allergies recede. Showers alleviate even the stomachache from a guacamole-induced lack of self-control.

Honestly though, the best part about a hot shower is neither its medicinal abilities nor its blissful temporary isolation or even the heavenly warmth seeped deep into my bones. The best part is that these little moments of pure, uninhibited contentedness are a daily occurrence. No matter how stressful the day, showers ensure I always have something to look forward to. They are small moments, true, but important nonetheless, because it is the little things in life that matter; the big moments are too rare, too fleeting to make anyone truly happy. Wherever I am in the world, whatever fate chooses to throw at me, I know I can always find my peace at the end of the day behind the shower curtain.

This essay is relatable yet personal! The writer makes themself supremely human through discussing the universal subject of showering. That being said, an essay about showering could easily turn boring while still being relatable. This writer keeps its relatable moments interesting and fun through vivid descriptions of common feelings including “causing me to abruptly end my shower in a mad dash to the computer before I forget it entirely” and “the stomachache from a guacamole-induced lack of self-control.”

While describing a universal feeling, this student also cleverly and intentionally mentions small facts about their life through simple phrases like “I’m mostly just ridding myself of the germs from children at work sneezing on me” and “the childlike dreamer and wannabe author in me.” To put it simply, though we are talking about a shower, we learn about so much more!

And, at the end, the student lets us know that that is exactly why they love showers. Showers are more than meets the eye! With this insightful and reflective ending (“the big moments are too rare, too fleeting to make anyone truly happy”), readers learn about this student’s capacity for reflection, which is an important capacity as you enter college.

The one major error that this writer commits is that of using a trite transition. The inclusion of “Honestly though” at the beginning of this student’s ending detracts from what they are trying to say and sticks out in their writing.

Prompt #7, Example #2

Steam whooshed from the pot as I unveiled my newest creation: duck-peppercorn-chestnut dumplings. The spicy, hearty aroma swirled into the kitchen, mingling with the smell of fresh dough. Grinning, I grabbed a plump dumpling with chopsticks, blew carefully, and fed it into the waiting mouth of my little sister. Her eyes widening, she vigorously nodded and held up five stubby fingers. I did a little happy dance in celebration and pulled my notebook out of my apron pocket. Duck-peppercorn-chestnut: five stars.

In my household, dumplings are a far cry from the classic pork and cabbage. Our menu boasts everything from the savory lamb-bamboo shoot-watercress to the sweet and crispy apple-cinnamon-date. A few years ago, my sister claimed she was sick of eating the same flavors over and over. Refusing to let her disavow our family staple, I took her complaint as a challenge to make the tastiest and most unconventional dumplings to satisfy her. With her as my taste tester and Mum in charge of dough, I spent months experimenting with dozens of odd ingredient combinations.

During those days spent covered in flour, my dumplings often reminded me of myself—a hybrid of ingredients that don’t usually go together. I am the product of three distinct worlds: the suburbs of Boston, the rural Chinese village of [location removed], and the coastal city of [location removed]. At school, I am both the STEM nerd with lightning-fast mental math and the artistic plant mom obsessed with funky earrings. I love all that is elegant, from Chinese calligraphy to the rolling notes of the Gourd flute, yet I can be very not elegant, like when my sister and I make homemade slime. When I’m on the streets, marching for women’s rights and climate action, I’m loud, bellowing from the bottom of my gut. In the painting studio, though, I don’t speak unless spoken to, and hours can slip by like minutes. I’m loud and quiet. Elegant and messy. Nerdy and artistic. Suburban, rustic, and metropolitan.

While I’m full of odd combinations, they are only seemingly contradictory. Just as barbeque pork and pineapple can combine beautifully in a dumpling wrapper, different facets of my identity also converge. After my tenth-grade summer, when I spent six weeks studying design at art school and another three researching the brain at Harvard Med, I began asking myself: What if I mixed art and neuroscience together? That fall, I collaborated with my school’s art museum for an independent research project, exploring two questions: How are aesthetic experiences processed in the brain? And how can neuroscience help museums design exhibits that maximize visitor engagement? I combed through studies with results from tightly controlled experiments, and I spent days gathering my own qualitative data by observing museum visitors and asking them questions. With the help of my artistic skills, I could identify the visual and spatial elements of the exhibits that best held visitors’ attention.

By synergizing two of the ingredients that make me who I am—art and neuroscience—I realized I shouldn’t see the different sides of myself as separate. I learned to instead seek the intersections between aspects of my identity. Since then, I have mixed art with activism to voice my opinions nonverbally, created Spotify playlists with both Chinese and western pop, and written flute compositions using music theory and math. In the future, by continuing to combine my interests, I want to find my niche in the world. I can make a positive impact on society without having to choose just one passion. As of now, my dream is to be a neuroscientist who designs art therapy treatments for mental health patients. Who knows though? Maybe my calling is to be a dim sum chef who teaches pottery on the side. I don’t know where I’ll go, but one thing’s for sure—being a standard pork and cabbage dumpling is definitely not my style.

This essay is outstanding because the student seems likable and authentic. With the first image of the student’s little sister vigorously nodding and holding up “five stubby fingers,” we find ourselves intrigued by the student’s daily life. They additionally show the importance of family, culture, and creativity in their life—these are great things to highlight in your essay!

After the introduction, the student uses their weird dumpling anecdote to transition to a discussion of their unique intersections. This is achieved smoothly because weirdness/uniqueness is the focus of both of these topics. Additionally, the comparison is not awkward because dumplings are used as more than just a transition, but rather are the through-line of the essay—the student weaves in little phrases like “Just as barbeque pork and pineapple can combine beautifully in a dumpling wrapper,” “By synergizing two of the ingredients that make me who I am,” and “being a standard pork and cabbage dumpling is definitely not my style.” This gives the essay its cohesive feel.

Authenticity comes through in this essay as the student recognizes that they don’t know what the future holds. They just know what kind of a person they are—a passionate one!

One change that would improve this student’s essay would be focusing on fewer intersections in their third and last paragraph. The student mentions STEM, music, family activities, activism, and painting, which makes it feel like a distraction in middle of the essay. Focus on the most important things you want to show admissions officers—you can sit at intersections, but you can’t be interested in everything.

Prompt #7, Example #3

“Everyone follow me!” I smiled at five wide-eyed skaters before pushing off into a spiral. I glanced behind me hopefully, only to see my students standing frozen like statues, the fear in their eyes as clear as the ice they swayed on. “Come on!” I said encouragingly, but the only response I elicited was the slow shake of their heads. My first day as a Learn-to-Skate coach was not going as planned.

But amid my frustration, I was struck by how much my students reminded me of myself as a young skater. At seven, I had been fascinated by Olympic performers who executed thrilling high jumps and dizzying spins with apparent ease, and I dreamed to one day do the same. My first few months on skates, however, sent these hopes crashing down: my attempts at slaloms and toe-loops were shadowed by a stubborn fear of falling, which even the helmet, elbow pads, and two pairs of mittens I had armed myself with couldn’t mitigate. Nonetheless, my coach remained unfailingly optimistic, motivating me through my worst spills and teaching me to find opportunities in failures. With his encouragement, I learned to push aside my fears and attack each jump with calm and confidence; it’s the hope that I can help others do the same that now inspires me to coach.

I remember the day a frustrated staff member directed Oliver, a particularly hesitant young skater, toward me, hoping that my patience and steady encouragement might help him improve. Having stood in Oliver’s skates not much earlier myself, I completely empathized with his worries but also saw within him the potential to overcome his fears and succeed.

To alleviate his anxiety, I held Oliver’s hand as we inched around the rink, cheering him on at every turn. I soon found though, that this only increased his fear of gliding on his own, so I changed my approach, making lessons as exciting as possible in hopes that he would catch the skating bug and take off. In the weeks that followed, we held relay races, played “freeze-skate” and “ice-potato”, and raced through obstacle courses; gradually, with each slip and subsequent success, his fear began to abate. I watched Oliver’s eyes widen in excitement with every skill he learned, and not long after, he earned his first skating badge. Together we celebrated this milestone, his ecstasy fueling my excitement and his pride mirroring my own. At that moment, I was both teacher and student, his progress instilling in me the importance of patience and a positive attitude.

It’s been more than ten years since I bundled up and stepped onto the ice for the first time. Since then, my tolerance for the cold has remained stubbornly low, but the rest of me has certainly changed. In sharing my passion for skating, I have found a wonderful community of eager athletes, loving parents, and dedicated coaches from whom I have learned invaluable lessons and wisdom. My fellow staffers have been with me, both as friends and colleagues, and the relationships I’ve formed have given me far more poise, confidence, and appreciation for others. Likewise, my relationships with parents have given me an even greater gratitude for the role they play: no one goes to the rink without a parent behind the wheel!

Since that first lesson, I have mentored dozens of children, and over the years, witnessed tentative steps transform into powerful glides and tears give way to delighted grins. What I have shared with my students has been among the greatest joys of my life, something I will cherish forever. It’s funny: when I began skating, what pushed me through the early morning practices was the prospect of winning an Olympic medal. Now, what excites me is the chance to work with my students, to help them grow, and to give back to the sport that has brought me so much happiness.

A major strength of this essay comes in its narrative organization. When reading this first paragraph, we feel for the young skaters and understand their fear—skating sounds scary! Then, because the writer sets us up to feel this empathy, the transition to the second paragraph where the student describes their empathy for the young skaters is particularly powerful. It’s like we are all in it together! The student’s empathy for the young skaters also serves as an outstanding, seamless transition to the applicant discussing their personal journey with skating: “I was struck by how much my students reminded me of myself as a young skater.”

This essay positions the applicant as a grounded and caring individual. They are caring towards the young skaters—changing their teaching style to try to help the young skaters and feeling the young skaters’ emotions with them—but they are also appreciative to those who helped them as they reference their fellow staffers and parents. This shows great maturity—a favorable quality in the eyes of an admissions officer.

At the end of the essay, we know a lot about this student and are convinced that they would be a good addition to a college campus!

Prompt #7, Example #4

Flipping past dozens of colorful entries in my journal, I arrive at the final blank sheet. I press my pen lightly to the page, barely scratching its surface to create a series of loops stringing together into sentences. Emotions spill out, and with their release, I feel lightness in my chest. The stream of thoughts slows as I reach the bottom of the page, and I gently close the cover of the worn book: another journal finished.

I add the journal to the stack of eleven books on my nightstand. Struck by the bittersweet sensation of closing a chapter of my life, I grab the notebook at the bottom of the pile to reminisce.

“I want to make a flying mushen to fly in space and your in it” – October 2008

Pulling back the cover of my first Tinkerbell-themed diary, the prompt “My Hopes and Dreams” captures my attention. Though “machine” is misspelled in my scribbled response, I see the beginnings of my past obsession with outer space. At the age of five, I tore through novels about the solar system, experimented with rockets built from plastic straws, and rented Space Shuttle films from Blockbuster to satisfy my curiosities. While I chased down answers to questions as limitless as the universe, I fell in love with learning. Eight journals later, the same relentless curiosity brought me to an airplane descending on San Francisco Bay.

“I wish I had infinite sunsets” – July 2019

I reach for the charcoal notepad near the top of the pile and open to the first page: my flight to the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes. While I was excited to explore bioengineering, anxiety twisted in my stomach as I imagined my destination, unsure of whether I could overcome my shyness and connect with others.

With each new conversation, the sweat on my palms became less noticeable, and I met students from 23 different countries. Many of the moments where I challenged myself socially revolved around the third story deck of the Jerry house. A strange medley of English, Arabic, and Mandarin filled the summer air as my friends and I gathered there every evening, and dialogues at sunset soon became moments of bliss. In our conversations about cultural differences, the possibility of an afterlife, and the plausibility of far-fetched conspiracy theories, I learned to voice my opinion. As I was introduced to different viewpoints, these moments challenged my understanding of the world around me. In my final entries from California, I find excitement to learn from others and increased confidence, a tool that would later allow me to impact my community.

“The beauty in a tower of cans” – June 2020

Returning my gaze to the stack of journals, I stretch to take the floral-patterned book sitting on top. I flip through, eventually finding the beginnings of the organization I created during the outbreak of COVID-19. Since then, Door-to-Door Deliveries has woven its way through my entries and into reality, allowing me to aid high-risk populations through free grocery delivery.

With the confidence I gained the summer before, I took action when seeing others in need rather than letting my shyness hold me back. I reached out to local churches and senior centers to spread word of our services and interacted with customers through our website and social media pages. To further expand our impact, we held two food drives, and I mustered the courage to ask for donations door-to-door. In a tower of canned donations, I saw the value of reaching out to help others and realized my own potential to impact the world around me.

I delicately close the journal in my hands, smiling softly as the memories reappear, one after another. Reaching under my bed, I pull out a fresh notebook and open to its first sheet. I lightly press my pen to the page, “And so begins the next chapter…”

The structuring of this essay makes it easy and enjoyable to read. The student effectively organizes their various life experiences around their tower of journals, which centers the reader and makes the different stories easy to follow. Additionally, the student engages quotes from their journals—and unique formatting of the quotes—to signal that they are moving in time and show us which memory we should follow them to.

Thematically, the student uses the idea of shyness to connect the different memories they draw out of their journals. As the student describes their experiences overcoming shyness at the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes and Door-to-Door Deliveries, this essay can be read as an Overcoming Obstacles essay.

At the end of this essay, readers are fully convinced that this student is dedicated (they have committed to journaling every day), thoughtful (journaling is a thoughtful process and, in the essay, the student reflects thoughtfully on the past), and motivated (they flew across the country for a summer program and started a business). These are definitely qualities admissions officers are looking for in applicants!

Prompt #7, Example #5

“We’re ready for take-off!”

The tires hit the tarmac and began to accelerate, and I just realized what I had signed up for. For 24 hours straight, I strapped myself into a broken-down SUV whereas others chose the luxury of soaring through the skies for a mere two hours. Especially with my motion sickness and driving anxiety, I would call myself crazy too.

To say I have always remained in my comfort zone is an understatement. Did I always order chicken fingers and fries at a restaurant? Yup! Sounds like me. Did I always create a color-coded itinerary just for a day trip? Guilty as charged. Did I always carry a first-aid kit at all times? Of course! I would make even an ambulance look unprepared. And yet here I was, choosing 1,000 miles of misery from Las Vegas to Seattle despite every bone in my body telling me not to.

The sunlight blinded my eyes and a wave of nausea swept over me. Was it too late to say I forgot my calculator? It was only ten minutes in, and I was certain that the trip was going to be a disaster. I simply hoped that our pre-drive prayer was not stuck in God’s voicemail box.

All of a sudden, I noticed brightly colored rocks in the distance, ones I had been dying to see for years. Their fluorescence popped amongst the magnificent winding hills as the sunset became romantic in hue. The desert glistened with mirages of deep blue water unlike anything I had ever seen. Nevada was home, but home always seemed to be just desert and casinos. For once, I looked forward to endless desert outside my window rather than a sea of clouds.

I never realized how little I discovered of the world beyond home. For years I complained about how there was nothing to do or discover outside. Not once did I set out to prove myself wrong. Instead, I chose a daily routine of homework at the kitchen table and late-night TV. However, as summer vacation ended, I decided to set my stubbornness aside and finally give this drive back home a chance. Little did I know that it would turn out to be my favorite trip of all time.

As we drove along, the world chose to prove me wrong when I discovered Heaven on Earth along Shasta Lake. I stood out of the sunroof, surrounded by lush green mountains and fog. I extended my arms out and felt a sense of flight that no plane could ever take me on. As the water vapor kissed my face, I floated into a dreamland I never wanted to leave. I didn’t have to go to great lengths to discover the beauty of the world; it was right in front of me. From this moment on, comfort and convenience would no longer be my best friends. Rather than only looking for famous travel destinations or following carefully mapped-out routes, I would let curiosity lead the way.

Since then, my daily life has been anything but routine. I’m proud to boast of my family’s homemade kombucha attempts, of flights purchased and taken in one day, and of a home flooded with knick-knacks from thrifting trips. Every day I set out to try something new, see a different perspective, and go beyond normal. Whether it is by trying a new recipe using taro, making a risky fashion choice with wide-legged pants, or listening to a new music genre in Spanish, I always act with curiosity first.

Over the years, I have devoted my time towards learning Swedish, building computers, and swimming. Although my accent is horrid, some computers almost broke, and even a starfish would outswim me, I continue to enjoy activities I once criticized. For me, there is no enjoyment without some risk. Nobody I know is a kazoo-playing, boogie-board loving, boba connoisseur like me.

This essay is an Overcoming Challenges story that centers around a single anecdote. The structure works nicely as the student describes what they were like before their road trip, what happened on the road trip, and what they were like after.

The most major improvement that this essay needs is better-communicated authenticity. At the beginning, it feels a bit gimmicky. The student describes their preparedness, particularly the fact that they always carry a first aid kit, and it’s not super believable. Then, when they write “Was it too late to say I forgot my calculator?” it feels like we are in a sitcom and the student is that funny obsessive kid. Sitcom characters don’t feel real and you want to make yourself appear profoundly real.

On a similar note, the narrative arc of this essay isn’t entirely believable. The student describes a large personality and value shift but doesn’t describe any struggles that accompany the shift. A quick shift like that is far from easy. On the other hand, if the immediacy of the shift was easy, they could write about moments after their shift in mindset when they have felt troubled by residual desires to stay in their comfort zone, instead of writing “I always act with curiosity first.”

The greatest strength of this essay is the paragraphs beginning “I never realized how little…” and “As we drove along…” The fixation on comfort seems much more believable when it involves “homework at the kitchen table and late-night TV.” The descriptions of the drive provide beautiful, evocative imagery. And it’s topped off with some nice reflection! Digging into this great portion of the essay would make this an even stronger essay!

Want to see more examples? Check out this post with 16 strong essay examples from top schools , including common supplemental essay questions.

At selective schools, your essays account for around 25% of your admissions decision. That’s more than grades (20%) and test scores (15%), and almost as much as extracurriculars (30%). Why is this? Most students applying to top schools will have stellar academics and extracurriculars. Your essays are your chance to stand out and humanize your application.

That’s why it’s vital that your essays are engaging, and present you as someone who would enrich the campus community.

Before submitting your application, you should have someone else review your essays. It’s even better if that person doesn’t know you personally, as they can best tell whether your personality shines through your essay.

That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Essays on Video Games

53 essay samples on this topic, essay examples, essay topics.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Video Games

Entertainment

Video Games

Positive Benefits for Playing Video Games

Video games are helpful and not harmful, playing video games have educational benefits on children, video games benefit children.

Technology in Education

Adults, Video Games Included

How video games influence the youths.

Adolescence

Effects of Video Games

Violence in Video Games

Video Games are not as Bad as They Seem

The impact of video games on children.

Check a list of useful topics on Video Games selected by experts

A Controversial Topic of Video Games as a Cause of Violence

A Critique of “Do Video Games Kill?” Sample

A Positive Impact of Video Games on People

Adults and Video Games FINAL

Advantages of Video Games

Are Video Games Good for You

Are Video Games Influencing Our Children

Are Video Games Responsible for Criminal Behavior

Argument Against Video Games

Argument Parents and Video Games

Benefits and Detriments of Playing Video Games

Benefits of Video Games

Benifits of video games

Cause and Effect of Video Games on Children

Causes Of Video Games To Be Popular

Comparison and Contrast Essay of Two video games

Comparison and Contrast Two video games

Disadvantages of Playing Video Games

Disadvantages of video games

Do Video Games Cause Violence? Annotated Bibliography

Do video games contribute to teen violence?

Do Video Games Enhance Selective Attention in Children?

Do Video Games Kill

Do Video Games Lead to Violence?

Do Video Games Make You More Violent

Do Video Games Really Affect Children’s Psyche?

Do Voilent Video Games Cause Violence in Children?

Effect of Video Games on Children

Effect of Video Games on Kids

Essay on Video Games Addiction

Favorite Heroines of Female Video Games

Globalisation ; Video games

Hobbies: Video Games

How Video Games Affect Children

How Video Games Are Created

How Video Games Can Shape Our Brains and Behavior

How Video Games Change Our Society

Impact of Media and Video Games on Adolescence

Impact of Video Games in Society

information

What are Video Games?

A computer game is an electronic amusement that includes communication with a UI to produce visual input on an a few dimensional video show gadget, for example, a TV screen augmented reality headset or PC screen. Since the 1980s, computer games have turned into an inexorably vital piece of media outlets, and whether they are additionally type of workmanship involves dispute.

The electronic frameworks used to play computer games are called stages. Computer games are created and discharged for one or a few stages and may not be accessible on others. Specific stages, for example, arcade diversions, which present the amusement in an expansive, regularly coin-worked case, were basic during the 1980s video arcades, yet declined in prominence as other, increasingly reasonable stages wound up accessible. These incorporate devoted gadgets, for example, computer game consoles, just as universally useful PCs like a workstation, work area or processing gadgets.

Video Game History

Humans have the need to perceive something more exciting and challenging, but sometimes goals like these are hard or impossible to obtain, which brings in the introduction of video games. Video games is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interference in order to generate visual feedback on a two or three dimensional video display such as a computer monitor, TV, separate game console etc. Video games were first presented by scientists in 1952. The British professor A.S Douglas created the first game called OXO also known as knots and crosses, or tic tac toe. This game was widely spread and remains played until today. The creation of this game at the time was not for entertainment reasons, but for his doctoral dissertations at the University of Cambridge. Another very famous game also created by a scientist, Steve Russell, was Spacewar: a computer based game for the PDP 1 (programmed data processor-1).

At the time the computer used for this game was considered the best one in the market and was only available in universities. This game became innovative by the fact that it “could be played on multiple computer installations”. Video games continued to grow and was brought into the second generation when so called “father of video games” Ralph Baer invented a prototype multiplayer, multi program video game- system that could be played on television, called the “Brown Box’’. The fact that he introduced this to the world was able to transform people into playing it more, since now they did not need to leave their homes in order to search for an arcade, or play in university rooms. This addition into the human life, made playing games more accessible, faster and easier. Another company called Odyssey had 28 games which became the inspiration for Atari’s Pong- the first arcade video game. The notable milestones for the company were introduced in the late 70’s and early 80’s: Space invaders in 1978, Activision, “the first third- party game developer” in 1979, Pac- Man, Microsoft’s release of Flight Simulator and Nintendo’s creation of Donkey Kong, which famously introduced the world character Mario.

These video games were coming in fast into the market however, they were simple and since their start many other gaming companies started creating games too which created a crash in the market since there were too many games for little consumers since they were still not accessible to everyone, only to a certain group (mainly the ones which had TV’s). With the extra competition of games companies started to create video games with lower video quality and led resolution which led consumers to become aggravated with the poor service. The video game home industry was reintroduced when Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) a Japanese company came to the United States as they had included the 8 bit graphics , colors, sound and gameplay over previous consoles.

The improvement of the video games started to attract more players, and more players meant more money to these industries which started to grow tremendously. The video games were considered fairly simple to the player’s eyes (even though the mechanics behind it was intense) which included pac- man, tetris, and spacewar- games with simple objectives which still attracted million of players to spend hours on it. Back in the day accessing these games was not as easy as accessing them in the times of today, therefore, arcades would be the center of attention towards all these games.

How are Video Games Addictive

Addiction can come from many things being alcohol, drugs, sleep, eating etc. Addiction is the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity. Being addicted to video games seems like the most controversial “drug” there is because something so simple can become super complex in terms of how the human brain now perceives the game. There has been extreme cases of video game addiction, especially when online video games came out. The thrill of playing with other people is exciting due to the fact that not only the player is playing a game he/ she finds enjoyable, but is also able to share this experience with other players. For example, when going to the movies, to a dinner or to a party it is unlikely to find someone going in alone, why? Because these activities are nice and enjoyable when the person is able to share it with someone. This sharing creates memories and memories remain for a long time, a good and happy thought to think about occasionally.

Since there has been an uprise in video game addiction psychologists now identify people within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). Internet gaming disorder enters this category, and is included among the conditions being considered for future study, however, it is still in admission for more studies since it’s not considered a mental disorder yet, it is simply (GA) gaming addiction. Through research it suggest that only 0.5% of all gamers and 1.7% of ninth graders experience symptoms with excessive video game use. By this research it shows that gamers do not show mental health deficits, however, heavy gamers can have other side effects including social exclusion as number one effect. Too much gaming could seem relatively harmless compared to the dangers of drug overuse, alcohol, but Bakker says too much video game addiction could potentially ruin lives.There are cases of children, teenagers who play video games for four to five hours a day, therefore they have no time to socialize, to do homework, or playing sports. This nuisance can take away from a children’s development, especially socially.

Video games are a form of media that is often associated with negative health effects. However, when games are played in moderation and attention, they are a viable source of stress relief and a catalyst for improving mental health and social skills. Video games themselves are a relatively modern form of entertainment. They are fascinating and immersive on a level different from traditional board games and other types of entertainment.

Hi! Peter is on the line!

Don't settle for a cookie-cutter essay. Receive a tailored piece that meets your specific needs and requirements.

How It Works
All Projects
Top-rated Pages
Scholarship essay writing
Book report writing
Admission essay writing
Dissertation writing
Essay editing
MBA essay writing
Write my essay
Free sample essays
Writing blog

Best Family Essay Examples

Parents and video games.

614 words | 3 page(s)

Most parents, if not all, are worried about the time their children spend playing video games. The increasing trend of playing video games is worrying, and parents are concerned that their children may be addicted to video games. It is common for a child to be enraged when a parent tells him or her to take a break or stop playing video games (Bean n.d). There is a need for parents to control the time spent by children playing video games. This essay looks at three major reasons why parents should control gaming time for their children.

Playing video games takes away significant time needed by children to engage in other activities. A survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2010 established that, on average, children between 8 to 18 years spent 7 hours and 38 minutes in front of a screen. This translates to over 53 hours a week, more than the time spent on an average full time job (Bean n.d). This means that, whereas children are expected to do their homework and participate in other social activities, most of their time is spent playing video games. Parents should control this time to ensure their children balance the various activities expected of them. Parents can achieve this by establishing a plan for their children’s activities. This will help children become responsible.

Use your promo and get a custom paper on "Parents and Video Games".

Spending too much time in front of screen or playing video games is unhealthy. The United States and most of the developed world is struggling with the obesity menace. The major cause of obesity among children nowadays is increased indoor activities particularly video games (Kelly, 2012). Being in front of their screens for more than a day means that they do not have time to participate in outdoor sports and activities such as cycling, playing baseball and other traditional pastime activities. Playing video games puts children at an increased risk of weight gain and obesity. This trend also translates into their adulthood as they continue with similar lifestyle of not engaging in sports and exercise.

Video games have been associated with anti-social behavior among children. Most of the video games that children play have violent themes. In the past, incidents of violent behavior among kids including the dreadful Columbine High Shooting and other recent incidences like the Oregon High School shooting have been associated with video games (VerBruggen, 2012). Regulating time for playing video games not only limits playing time, but also allows the parent to control the type of games children play.

Although video games enhance some skills in children, such as creativity and control, these games take significant time that children should be using to study. Therefore excessive playing of video games can lead to a decline in academic performance. There is a need for parents to control the time their children spend playing so that they can have enough time studying.

In conclusion, the time spent by children playing video games is excessively worrying, with children spending up to an average of 7 hours in front of a screen. The result is a lack of balance with other activities such as sports. This makes children vulnerable to obesity. In addition, most games are violent and encourage antisocial behavior among children. Finally, excessive video game playing takes away significant amounts of time meant for studying, affecting the child’s school performance. This is why parents need to regulate the time their children spend playing video games.

Kelly, Jack. TV, video games linked to obesity. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 12/11/2012. Web. 7/8/2014.
Bean Sara. “Does My Child Have a Video Game Addiction?” How to Set Limits Around Video Game Use. Empowering Parents. Web. 7/8/2014.
VerBruggen Robert. The Folly of Blaming Video Games: Regulating digital violence cannot reduce crime. 20/12/2012. Web. 7/8/2012.

Have a team of vetted experts take you to the top, with professionally written papers in every area of study.

IMAGES

Video Games Essay
College Essay Examples
College Essay Examples
24 Greatest College Essay Examples
Compare and contrast essay video games
The World of Video Games Free Essay Example

VIDEO

Games and Sports essay short essay। value of games and Sports essay short essay #ytshorts #tricks
Gaming Has Gone Too Far
The Illusion of Choice In Video Games
Why are Youtube video essays about games so samey? #shorts
How can video games affect the society
AI Essay Writing Secrets Exposed! #academicallyai #college #ailearning

COMMENTS

Essays About Video Games: Top 12 Examples and Prompts
5. . The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon. "Gamers need to be educated on how to protect their thumbs, wrists, and elbows, their waistlines, their emotional state, their sleep, and their eyes.
Video Games and Their Impact: [Essay Example], 433 words
In conclusion, video games can be a valuable tool for the cognitive and intellectual development of individuals. They require players to exercise various skills such as attentiveness, fast reaction times, logical thinking, and problem-solving. Additionally, video games can also benefit adults by improving communication, resourcefulness, and ...
Narrative about Video Games: [Essay Example], 438 words
Get custom essay. In conclusion, video games have played a significant role in shaping my identity and overall well-being. They have provided me with a means of escape, a platform for personal growth, and a space for social interaction. Through my experiences with video games, I have learned valuable lessons about perseverance, problem-solving ...
100+ Video Game Essay Topics for Students
Choosing the right essay topic is crucial, and for students who love video games, it's an opportunity to combine their passion with academics. In this article, we'll explore a variety of exciting and various video game essay topic ideas for students of high school and college. This blog includes argumentative, analytical, persuasive and ...
Interesting College Essay Topics: Video Games & Esports Part 2
Independent College Advising. It's a tale as old as the ~1980s: a parent is concerned their student is spending too much time playing video games. However, with a little introspection, a passion for video games can be a powerful asset for their college application. In part 2, we take a look at competitive online gaming experiences.
Video Games College Essay Examples That Really Inspire
Video Games College Essays Samples For Students. 413 samples of this type. If you're looking for an applicable way to streamline writing a College Essay about Video Games, WowEssays.com paper writing service just might be able to help you out. For starters, you should browse our large collection of free samples that cover most diverse Video ...
≡Essays on Video Games. Free Examples of Research Paper Topics, Titles
Also, these samples of papers of video games essay topics could help with some inspiring topics or ideas. Check out our samples of video game topics for research papers for examples of solid content, structure, and outline. 148 essay samples found. Sort & filter. 1 Video Games and Their Impact .
110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples
Here, we've collected excellent essay topics for true gaming enthusiasts. Whether you're looking for argumentative essay ideas on video games, research topics, or questions for debate, you will find them here. We will write. a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts. 809 writers online.
How to Write an Essay about Video Games: Presenting Effective Arguments
Identifying the sources you employed would be best. When you are writing an essay about video games, it is essential to cite your sources. That means you got to make a list of every resource you used in your paper. References to diverse books, scientific studies, statistical data, and remarks made by well-known experts are acceptable.
Interesting College Essay Topics: Video Games & Esports Part 1
During this multi-part college essay blog series, I'm going to review a few different ways to tackle the topics of video games: The Personal Impact of Video Games. Artistic, Emotional, or Developmental Impact of a Single Player Game (You Are Here) Impact of a Competitive Multiplayer Game. Impact of a Social or Cooperative Multiplayer Game.
Essay on Video Games
Introduction. Video games, a form of digital entertainment that has dramatically evolved over the past few decades, have become a significant part of contemporary culture. They offer a unique blend of interactive storytelling, art, and technology, engaging players in a way that no other medium can. Video games are more than just a pastime; they ...
So You Are Writing About Video Games for Your Eng 101 Paper ...
Ethos, Pathos and Logos Telos and Kairos Audience Purpose Check Out Part 2: So You Are Writing About Video Games for Your Eng 101 Paper (Part 2): Avoid These Essays on Video Games. Ethos, Pathos ...
Interesting College Essay Topics: Video Games & Esports Part 4
During this multi-part college essay blog series, I'm going to review a few different ways to tackle the topics of video games: The Personal Impact of Video Games. Artistic, Emotional, or Developmental Impact of a Single Player Game. Impact of a Competitive Multiplayer Game. Impact of a Social or Cooperative Multiplayer Game.
Before you write your college essay on video games
Change my view!). Still, descriptions of you playing the actual video games should be minimal. One sentence, maybe two. So I advise: use your love of games as some needed down time from essay-writing (in doses, please!) but not as your topic. And if you're the kind of person who does get so obsessed with games you "lose all track of time ...
Can my passion for video games shine through in my college essay?
For example, one of my students wrote an essay detailing how solving puzzles in video games enhanced their problem-solving skills, and it was very well received by admissions committees. Just be sure to focus on the personal growth aspect and what you've taken away from your experiences with video games, rather than merely describing your interest.
4 Questions to Ask If You're Considering Writing Your College Essay
The two main concerns I hear from students who are considering writing their college essay about video games are that the topic isn't "academic" enough, and that the admission officer might think video games are a waste of time. I read many essays about video games as an AO for 8 years, and I found some compelling while others missed the ...
How to write College Essays about Video Games like Minecraft
2. Touch on Benefits. Children can use their imaginations by allowing creativity in video games like Minecraft. In real life, most children do not have the opportunity to build castles, zoos, or other similar structures. Minecraft's creative mode, on the other hand, allows children to create worlds.
Essay on Video Games [Edit & Download], Pdf
Essay on Video Games. In the rapidly evolving digital age, video games have emerged as a dominant form of entertainment and a significant cultural phenomenon. Their influence extends beyond mere amusement, affecting cognitive development, social interactions, and even physical health. This essay aims to explore the multifaceted impact of video ...
Writing About Video Games in College Essays : r/ApplyingToCollege
First of all you don't have to write about your activities in your personal essay. Many colleges ask about activities in supplemental essays and you can do it there. That said, I've read quite a few really amazing essays about personal growth from video games. Still I prefer to see the essay to be about you — not the activity.
"Video games have cultivated..." UC Prompt 2 Essay That Worked
UC San Diego. 2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side. Video games have cultivated my creative thought process. When I was a toddler I invented a game I would play with my brothers.
Video Games Thesis Statement: [Essay Example], 658 words
A review published in the American Psychologist highlighted the potential of video games to provide cognitive and emotional benefits, particularly in the realm of mental health. This suggests that video games can have a constructive impact on individuals' well-being, challenging the prevailing narrative of their negative influence.
Interesting College Essay Topics: Video Games & Esports Part 3
Independent College Advising. It's a tale as old as the ~1980s: a parent is concerned their student is spending too much time playing video games. However, with a little introspection, a passion for video games can be a powerful asset for their college application. In part 3, we take a look at cooperative online gaming experiences.
21 Stellar Common App Essay Examples to Inspire Your College Essay
Common App Essay Examples. Here are the current Common App prompts. Click the links to jump to the examples for a specific prompt, or keep reading to review the examples for all the prompts. Prompt #1: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without ...
Video Games Essay Examples
What are the effects of playing video games essay? Playing video games can have both positive and negative effects on individuals. Positive effects include improved cognitive skills and social connections, while negative effects can include addiction and aggression.
Parents and Video Games
This essay looks at three major reasons why parents should control gaming time for their children. Playing video games takes away significant time needed by children to engage in other activities. A survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2010 established that, on average, children between 8 to 18 years spent 7 hours and 38 minutes ...
Friendships, problem-solving: How video games are helping U.S ...
Teenage gamers say video games help them build problem-solving skills, make friends and collaborate — but they also admit to problems like bad sleep habits and cyberbullying, a new Pew Research Center survey finds.. Why it matters: While moral panic over video games and violence are (mostly) behind us, it's still critical to understand how games are affecting young minds — both for good ...

Essays About Video Games: Top 12 Examples and Prompts

1. What electronic games can teach us by Kendall Powell

Writing Prompts For Essays About Video Games

5. ​​ The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon

Best Video Game Essay Topics for Students

Video Game Essay Topics for High School Students

Video Game Essay Topics for College Students

Common Essay Topics Related to Video Games

Argumentative Topics for Video Game Essays

Informative Video Game Essay Topics

Compare & Contrast Video Game Essay Topics

Analytical Topics for Video Game Essays

Persuasive Essay Topics on Video Gaming

Best Video Game Essay Topics in 2023

Related Posts

Discursive Essay Topics for Students

100+ Best Narrative Essay Topics

Video Games College Essays Samples For Students

Benefit of Video Games Essays Examples

Free Laptop vs Desktop vs Tablet Essay Sample

Video Games and Social Life Essay Samples

Good Essay About Various Marketing Techniques

Games And Society Essay Example

THE CONCEPT OF DOTA 2

Sample Essay On In New Study, Video Games Not Tied To Violence In High-Risk Youth By Rick

Haptic Feedback: Uses and importance:

Ex. Pornographic and over sexualized characters such as Bayonetta and Lara croft

Ex: Most developers are men, “tropes”

Ex: Call of Duty, Tomb Raiders, Grand Theft Auto

Ex: women as prostitutes in Grand Theft Auto

Governmenment laws and policies

110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples

How to Write an Essay about Video Games: Presenting Effective Arguments in Papers

It would be best to do thorough research before writing an essay about video games

You should develop an introduction that captures your reader’s interest

You must present your arguments in the body paragraphs

You may offer vivid illustrations as you write an argumentative essay about video games

You should write a conclusion for your essay

Identifying the sources you employed would be best

Proofreading is vital for developing a top-notch paper

Extra tips for presenting better arguments in essays about video games

Recent Posts

Essay on Video Games

100 Words Essay on Video Games

Types of Video Games

Benefits of Video Games

Drawbacks of Video Games

250 Words Essay on Video Games

The Evolution of Video Games

The Impact on Society

Controversies and Criticisms

500 Words Essay on Video Games

The Impact of Video Games

The Benefits and Concerns

The Future of Video Games

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Want to find your best material to start your college essay?

Before you write your college essay on video games

But shouldn’t you write your essay about what you love most? (Well, maybe!)

Reasons not to write about video games:

Some Ways to Turn Your Obsession with Video Games into a better topic:

Help, I can’t tweak my topic on my own!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Calculate for all schools

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

4 Questions to Ask If You're Considering Writing Your College Essay About Video Games

Key Takeaway

So, do I recommend writing a college essay on video games?

Liked that? Try this next.

How A Selective Admissions Office Reads 50k Applications In A Season

How to Write a Personal Statement for Colleges

12 Common App Essay Examples (Graded by Former Admissions Officers)

8 Outstanding UC Essay Examples (Graded by Former Admissions Officers)

How to write College Essays about Video Games like Minecraft

Why is Video Games a Good Topic for College Essay

How to Write a College Essay about Video Games

1. Describe your Role

2. Highlight key Points

3. Use Statistics

5. The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon