How EssayQuest Works

With EssayQuest, you’ll do a series of activities that will lead you to your best college essay. We developed these activities by working and partnering with students writing their college essays. 

You’ll need to do the work, of course, but we’ve set out the path for you to follow.

The Write Like a Pro process

Before you start your essay, we’ll make sure you know what college essays are and how you can write yours—that’s in the Foundation section, which you’ll start on the next page.

After that, you’ll break the work into 3 phases:

• First, you’ll be a Thinker, generating ideas and raw content.
• Then, you’ll be a Storyteller, refining your message, strategy, and structure.
• And finally, you’ll be a Writer, focusing on the tone and language of your essay.

We call this the Write Like a Pro process.

Navigating the website

EssayQuest is straightforward. You’ll start at the beginning and go step-by-step through each activity. We always give you the big picture of what you’re doing (and why), clear instructions, and a big Next step button when you’re ready to move on.

You can get to any page from the top menu.

Sample essays

If you want to be a writer you must do two things above all others: read a lot, and write a lot.
—Stephen King

We’ll illustrate concepts and activities with great essays (all written by our students). Plus, we have dozens more sample essays—we think it’s the best collection of college essays anywhere (and yes, college admissions officers tell us they agree). The link is on the main menu.

When in doubt, read more essays!

We’ll share more resources as you go. But for now, you have what you need.