On a gray November morning, stacks of essays sat on an admissions counselor’s desk at a New England liberal arts college. She had already read 60 that week. “I could tell within the first five lines whether I wanted to keep going,” she admitted. It wasn’t always the topic, in fact, many wrote about soccer wins or volunteer projects, but the college essay outline. Some essays unfolded like polished short stories. Others felt like wandering diary entries.

That’s the detail most students miss: admissions counselors aren’t grading in a vacuum. They’re skimming hundreds of essays under pressure, searching for clarity and rhythm. And format, more than any single theme, decides whether an essay earns attention. Students overwhelmed by this reality often look to outside help, even googling a writ

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