This exercise can be done in person in a classroom setting or students can access the video and work through it themselves after finishing their first draft. Best if done after they have a first draft. (Also worth doing before if you’d like to highlight things they should include in their first draft.)

Here’s how I recommend leading this exercise in a workshop setting.

1. Pass out the Great College Essay Test handout. (Included again below, but it’s also in the student handout packet on the main navigation page.
2. Play the video below for students on a projector (or lead it yourself. Feel free to add your own points here for what you think makes a great college essay. Maybe there are more than four essential elements of a great college essay.)
3. As they go through the video, have students rate from 1-10 how well their essay draft demonstrates these characteristics.
4. Get some discussion going and if they’re into it, have a few students read their essays out loud and students can rate each other’s essays, offering feedback on how good of a job each essay does at demonstrating the characteristics discussed.