Writing about COVID-19 in a college admission essay
by: Venkates Swaminathan | Updated: September 14, 2020
Print article
![covid 19 college essay example Writing about COVID-19 in your college admission essay](https://www.greatschools.org/gk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Covid-19-college-essay.jpg)
For students applying to college using the CommonApp, there are several different places where students and counselors can address the pandemic’s impact. The different sections have differing goals. You must understand how to use each section for its appropriate use.
![](http://sektorel.online/777/templates/cheerup/res/banner1.gif)
The CommonApp COVID-19 question
First, the CommonApp this year has an additional question specifically about COVID-19 :
Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces. Please use this space to describe how these events have impacted you.
This question seeks to understand the adversity that students may have had to face due to the pandemic, the move to online education, or the shelter-in-place rules. You don’t have to answer this question if the impact on you wasn’t particularly severe. Some examples of things students should discuss include:
- The student or a family member had COVID-19 or suffered other illnesses due to confinement during the pandemic.
- The candidate had to deal with personal or family issues, such as abusive living situations or other safety concerns
- The student suffered from a lack of internet access and other online learning challenges.
- Students who dealt with problems registering for or taking standardized tests and AP exams.
Jeff Schiffman of the Tulane University admissions office has a blog about this section. He recommends students ask themselves several questions as they go about answering this section:
- Are my experiences different from others’?
- Are there noticeable changes on my transcript?
- Am I aware of my privilege?
- Am I specific? Am I explaining rather than complaining?
- Is this information being included elsewhere on my application?
If you do answer this section, be brief and to-the-point.
Counselor recommendations and school profiles
Second, counselors will, in their counselor forms and school profiles on the CommonApp, address how the school handled the pandemic and how it might have affected students, specifically as it relates to:
- Grading scales and policies
- Graduation requirements
- Instructional methods
- Schedules and course offerings
- Testing requirements
- Your academic calendar
- Other extenuating circumstances
Students don’t have to mention these matters in their application unless something unusual happened.
Writing about COVID-19 in your main essay
Write about your experiences during the pandemic in your main college essay if your experience is personal, relevant, and the most important thing to discuss in your college admission essay. That you had to stay home and study online isn’t sufficient, as millions of other students faced the same situation. But sometimes, it can be appropriate and helpful to write about something related to the pandemic in your essay. For example:
- One student developed a website for a local comic book store. The store might not have survived without the ability for people to order comic books online. The student had a long-standing relationship with the store, and it was an institution that created a community for students who otherwise felt left out.
- One student started a YouTube channel to help other students with academic subjects he was very familiar with and began tutoring others.
- Some students used their extra time that was the result of the stay-at-home orders to take online courses pursuing topics they are genuinely interested in or developing new interests, like a foreign language or music.
Experiences like this can be good topics for the CommonApp essay as long as they reflect something genuinely important about the student. For many students whose lives have been shaped by this pandemic, it can be a critical part of their college application.
Want more? Read 6 ways to improve a college essay , What the &%$! should I write about in my college essay , and Just how important is a college admissions essay? .
![covid 19 college essay example Great!Schools Logo](https://www.greatschools.org/gk/wp-content/themes/greatschools-bootstrap-sass/images/G!_Logo_Newsletter.png)
Homes Nearby
Homes for rent and sale near schools
![covid 19 college essay example Why the worry about Critical Race Theory in schools?](https://www.greatschools.org/gk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CRT-story-100x85.jpg)
How our schools are (and aren't) addressing race
![covid 19 college essay example Homework-in-America](https://www.greatschools.org/gk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Homework-in-America-100x85.jpg)
The truth about homework in America
![covid 19 college essay example College essay](https://www.greatschools.org/gk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/What-to-write-on-college-essay-100x85.jpg)
What should I write my college essay about?
What the #%@!& should I write about in my college essay?
![covid 19 college essay example GreatSchools Logo](https://www.greatschools.org/gk/wp-content/themes/greatschools-bootstrap-sass/images/greatschools-logo.png)
Yes! Sign me up for updates relevant to my child's grade.
Please enter a valid email address
Thank you for signing up!
Server Issue: Please try again later. Sorry for the inconvenience
More From Forbes
How to ace your covid-19 college essay.
- Share to Facebook
- Share to Twitter
- Share to Linkedin
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
College essays over the past year have reflected the turbulence of these Covid-19 times . In response to Covid-19 and in preparation for 2021-2022 applications, the Common Application , the largest college application platform for prospective undergraduates, has replaced one of its prompts with the following: “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?”
This new prompt is based on scientific research on gratitude and kindness . In addition, the Common App continues to allow students to share additional information that’s Covid-19 related.
Common Application President & CEO Jenny Rickard shares in a press release about the new prompt, “Particularly at this challenging time, we can help students think about something positive and heartfelt in their lives. And we can do it explicitly.”
Given the Common App’s emphasis on this new prompt and its investment in related research, I highly recommend that students consider answering this question when choosing a topic for their personal statement. Here are some tips for how to respond:
First, when brainstorming, choose a few stories or specific events that made you grateful this past year. You will want to choose one of these events to focus on in your final essay. The event you choose should involve a time you faced a challenge, were resourceful about finding a solution, and learned from the outcome. When you discuss this event, remember that admissions offices want to see a positive outcome you have been able to achieve in a difficult situation. Be careful not to overemphasize the negative aspects of the event. This prompt is designed to give voice to that positivity that you’ve been able to experience or generate even in these challenging times.
Harris Will Propose $25,000 In Down Payment Aid For First-Time Homebuyers As Part Of Economic Agenda
Today’s nyt mini crossword clues and answers for friday, august 16, thursday, august 15. russia’s war on ukraine: news and information from ukraine.
Another point that this prompt asks you to reflect on is something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. Happiness is subjective and subjectively experienced. If I were going to edit this prompt, I would take out the word “happy,” and I would just use the word “thankful.” “Gratitude” and “thankfulness” are synonyms.
Don’t focus too much on the word “happy” in this prompt because the word may divert you from finding the best story. You have experienced a lot of challenges in the past year. You may not have always been happy about changing your plans. But you have likely also experienced gratitude in unexpected ways. Maybe your story is similar to that of one of my students who was inspired to not only start but expand his journalism efforts globally to provide an inclusive platform for students to share their thoughts and feelings about current events. Or maybe you’re like another one of my students who fought the tragic California wildfires this past summer. While your life has been transformed by Covid-19, and you have likely experienced adversity, it is very possible that you have found purpose and meaning in these challenging times.
If you want to answer this prompt but you’re having trouble finding or expressing your gratitude, Here are a few exercises that may help you along the way:
Exercise 1 – Write a Gratitude Letter (Adapted from the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley).
Call to mind someone who did something for you professionally for which you are exceptionally grateful. It may be most helpful to select a person or act that you haven’t thought about for awhile—something that isn’t always on your mind. Now, write an email to one of these people, guided by the following steps.
- Write approximately 300 words to this person (e.g. “Dear ______”). In your first draft, don’t worry about spelling and grammar.
- Articulate what this person did, why you are grateful to this person, and how this person’s behavior affected your life. Try to be as concrete as possible.
- Finish the letter by describing what you are doing in your life as a result of your interaction with this person and note how frequently you think of the person.
- Check spelling and grammar before sending.
- Optional: Before you write your draft, ask the person for a coffee or lunch meeting to catch up (over Zoom).
Exercise 2 – Keep a Gratitude Journal
In preparation for your essay, write down one thing that happened each day that you’re grateful for. For example, “this morning, when I woke up, my puppy greeted me with a big hug, and I felt loved.” You only need to spend one to five minutes a day on this. If you don’t think you’ll have time to write every day, make sure to note your gratitude on the days that are especially tough.
Exercise 3 – Pause and Take a Relaxing Sigh
When you find yourself particularly overwhelmed, step away from your desk (or just close your eyes for 30 seconds). Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out through your mouth. Repeat a short mantra to yourself as you’re breathing in and out, like, “I wish good health, peace, and happiness for myself.” You can use any phrase that moves you.
Self-care is of paramount importance during Covid-19. Research has shown that expressing gratitude helps us heal and gives us strength when we need it most. It can help you get into college too.
![covid 19 college essay example Dr. Aviva Legatt](https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5e54485d7a0098000734237d/400x0.jpg?cropX1=157&cropX2=2063&cropY1=0&cropY2=1905)
- Editorial Standards
- Reprints & Permissions
Find anything you save across the site in your account
A Pandemic College Essay That Probably Won’t Get You Into Brown
![covid 19 college essay example theatre writing](https://media.newyorker.com/photos/605b65a82c65c79d9b23510c/master/w_2560%2Cc_limit/210405_r38156.jpg)
Community disruptions such as COVID -19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. — The 2020-21 college-admissions Common Application.
COVID -19 is a very destructive respiratory disease that has caused much pain and suffering for millions of people around the world. Although my heart grieves for all the lives lost, each of us has suffered in our own unique ways. For me, that suffering took the form of not getting an opportunity to play the lead in our spring drama, which was, so tragically, cancelled.
For years, I have been working toward this goal. As a freshman, I auditioned for the role of Laura in the Tennessee Williams famous American drama “The Glass Menagerie.” While I did not win the role, I find it very ironic that now, only three years later, we have all become aware that life is as precious as those fateful glass figurines due to COVID -19.
As a sophomore, my efforts to secure the role of the wrongly accused Desdemona in William Shakespeare’s important play “Othello” were, once again, thwarted. Our drama coach, Ms. Wilkie, told me during the audition process that sophomores would be considered for leading roles, but the parts of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona all went to upperclassmen, even though none of them had taken private acting classes, as I have, with Leonard Michaels (Broadway credits include “Company,” “Starlight Express,” “Pump Boys and Dinettes”), at the Willows Dramatic Academy for Young Performers.
This experience taught me that authority figures do not always have “the answers,” a lesson reinforced when Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is a very respected medical adviser to many Presidents of the United States of America, said at first that masks should not be worn but then said that they should.
When discussing masks these days, it is impossible not to conjure in one’s mind images of the famous “Comedy and Tragedy” masks, which were worn in ancient Greece during the classical period, from approximately 500 to 300 B.C.
Junior year was a turning point for my high-school theatrical career. I auditioned to portray Abigail Williams in “The Crucible,” a play that on the surface purports to be about the Salem witch trials but is in fact a parable about McCarthyism, which was a terrible episode of American history that itself had a long-lasting impact on American history. Although I did not receive the part of Abigail Williams, I did play the pivotal role of Deputy Governor Danforth, who has several lines. Our school newspaper declared my presentation “dramatic” (review attached).
This year, my senior year, Ms. Wilkie said that we would be doing the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Our Town.” Never could I have foreseen that “our town” would be affected by the respiratory disease only a few short months later.
Needless to say, I watched in horror in January and February of last year as news reports emerged from China about a new respiratory ailment that threatened to sicken people and shut down vast portions of the economy. In March, we received word that our very high school would be closing its mahogany doors. The curtain on my high-school theatrical career, tragically, fell forever, before I even had the chance to audition for the central role of the Stage Manager, which I planned to reinterpret as a strong, independent woman in the wake of #MeToo.
Perhaps Fate is the real Stage Manager.
The Stanislavski method of acting teaches us to incorporate our actual experiences into our Craft. Should I have the great honor of studying at the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University, I vow to incorporate the suffering of this past year into my Art as a tribute to all those, including myself, who have experienced such tremendous loss.
It is believed that the immortal bard, William Shakespeare, said, “Instead of weeping when a tragedy occurs in a songbird’s life, it sings away its grief.” My time at Brown will be my chance to “sing away grief,” except that, unlike the tragedies of Shakespeare and other playwrights, my tragedy is real and therefore more tragic.
Please find attached a video of me in a scene from Herb Gardner’s “A Thousand Clowns” (performed with J. Leonard Mitchell, member, Actors’ Equity). ♦
- Today's news
- Reviews and deals
- Climate change
- 2024 election
- Newsletters
- Fall allergies
- Health news
- Mental health
- Sexual health
- Family health
- So mini ways
- Unapologetically
- Buying guides
Entertainment
- How to Watch
- My watchlist
- Stock market
- Biden economy
- Personal finance
- Stocks: most active
- Stocks: gainers
- Stocks: losers
- Trending tickers
- World indices
- US Treasury bonds
- Top mutual funds
- Highest open interest
- Highest implied volatility
- Currency converter
- Basic materials
- Communication services
- Consumer cyclical
- Consumer defensive
- Financial services
- Industrials
- Real estate
- Mutual funds
- Credit cards
- Balance transfer cards
- Cash back cards
- Rewards cards
- Travel cards
- Online checking
- High-yield savings
- Money market
- Home equity loan
- Personal loans
- Student loans
- Options pit
- Fantasy football
- Pro Pick 'Em
- College Pick 'Em
- Fantasy baseball
- Fantasy hockey
- Fantasy basketball
- Download the app
- Daily fantasy
- Scores and schedules
- GameChannel
- World Baseball Classic
- Premier League
- CONCACAF League
- Champions League
- Motorsports
- Horse racing
New on Yahoo
- Privacy Dashboard
How to Write About the Impact of the Coronavirus in a College Essay
The global impact of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, means colleges and prospective students alike are in for an admissions cycle like no other. Both face unprecedented challenges and questions as they grapple with their respective futures amid the ongoing fallout of the pandemic.
Colleges must examine applicants without the aid of standardized test scores for many -- a factor that prompted many schools to go test-optional for now . Even grades, a significant component of a college application, may be hard to interpret with some high schools adopting pass-fail classes last spring due to the pandemic. Major college admissions factors are suddenly skewed.
"I can't help but think other (admissions) factors are going to matter more," says Ethan Sawyer, founder of the College Essay Guy, a website that offers free and paid essay-writing resources.
College essays and letters of recommendation , Sawyer says, are likely to carry more weight than ever in this admissions cycle. And many essays will likely focus on how the pandemic shaped students' lives throughout an often tumultuous 2020.
[ Read: How to Write a College Essay. ]
But before writing a college essay focused on the coronavirus, students should explore whether it's the best topic for them.
Writing About COVID-19 for a College Application
Much of daily life has been colored by the coronavirus. Virtual learning is the norm at many colleges and high schools, many extracurriculars have vanished and social lives have stalled for students complying with measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.
"For some young people, the pandemic took away what they envisioned as their senior year," says Robert Alexander, dean of admissions, financial aid and enrollment management at the University of Rochester in New York. "Maybe that's a spot on a varsity athletic team or the lead role in the fall play. And it's OK for them to mourn what should have been and what they feel like they lost, but more important is how are they making the most of the opportunities they do have?"
That question, Alexander says, is what colleges want answered if students choose to address COVID-19 in their college essay.
But the question of whether a student should write about the coronavirus is tricky. The answer depends largely on the student.
"In general, I don't think students should write about COVID-19 in their main personal statement for their application," Robin Miller, master college admissions counselor at IvyWise, a college counseling company, wrote in an email.
"Certainly, there may be exceptions to this based on a student's individual experience, but since the personal essay is the main place in the application where the student can really allow their voice to be heard and share insight into who they are as an individual, there are likely many other topics they can choose to write about that are more distinctive and unique than COVID-19," Miller says.
[ Read: What Colleges Look for: 6 Ways to Stand Out. ]
Opinions among admissions experts vary on whether to write about the likely popular topic of the pandemic.
"If your essay communicates something positive, unique, and compelling about you in an interesting and eloquent way, go for it," Carolyn Pippen, principal college admissions counselor at IvyWise, wrote in an email. She adds that students shouldn't be dissuaded from writing about a topic merely because it's common, noting that "topics are bound to repeat, no matter how hard we try to avoid it."
Above all, she urges honesty.
"If your experience within the context of the pandemic has been truly unique, then write about that experience, and the standing out will take care of itself," Pippen says. "If your experience has been generally the same as most other students in your context, then trying to find a unique angle can easily cross the line into exploiting a tragedy, or at least appearing as though you have."
But focusing entirely on the pandemic can limit a student to a single story and narrow who they are in an application, Sawyer says. "There are so many wonderful possibilities for what you can say about yourself outside of your experience within the pandemic."
He notes that passions, strengths, career interests and personal identity are among the multitude of essay topic options available to applicants and encourages them to probe their values to help determine the topic that matters most to them -- and write about it.
That doesn't mean the pandemic experience has to be ignored if applicants feel the need to write about it.
Writing About Coronavirus in Main and Supplemental Essays
Students can choose to write a full-length college essay on the coronavirus or summarize their experience in a shorter form.
To help students explain how the pandemic affected them, The Common App has added an optional section to address this topic. Applicants have 250 words to describe their pandemic experience and the personal and academic impact of COVID-19.
[ Read: The Common App: Everything You Need to Know. ]
"That's not a trick question, and there's no right or wrong answer," Alexander says. Colleges want to know, he adds, how students navigated the pandemic, how they prioritized their time, what responsibilities they took on and what they learned along the way.
If students can distill all of the above information into 250 words, there's likely no need to write about it in a full-length college essay, experts say. And applicants whose lives were not heavily altered by the pandemic may even choose to skip the optional COVID-19 question.
"This space is best used to discuss hardship and/or significant challenges that the student and/or the student's family experienced as a result of COVID-19 and how they have responded to those difficulties," Miller notes. Using the section to acknowledge a lack of impact, she adds, "could be perceived as trite and lacking insight, despite the good intentions of the applicant."
To guard against this lack of awareness, Sawyer encourages students to tap someone they trust to review their writing , whether it's the 250-word Common App response or the full-length essay.
Experts tend to agree that the short-form approach to this as an essay topic works better, but there are exceptions. And if a student does have a coronavirus story that he or she feels must be told, Alexander encourages the writer to be authentic in the essay.
"My advice for an essay about COVID-19 is the same as my advice about an essay for any topic -- and that is, don't write what you think we want to read or hear," Alexander says. "Write what really changed you and that story that now is yours and yours alone to tell."
Sawyer urges students to ask themselves, "What's the sentence that only I can write?" He also encourages students to remember that the pandemic is only a chapter of their lives and not the whole book.
Miller, who cautions against writing a full-length essay on the coronavirus, says that if students choose to do so they should have a conversation with their high school counselor about whether that's the right move. And if students choose to proceed with COVID-19 as a topic, she says they need to be clear, detailed and insightful about what they learned and how they adapted along the way.
"Approaching the essay in this manner will provide important balance while demonstrating personal growth and vulnerability," Miller says.
Pippen encourages students to remember that they are in an unprecedented time for college admissions.
"It is important to keep in mind with all of these (admission) factors that no colleges have ever had to consider them this way in the selection process, if at all," Pippen says. "They have had very little time to calibrate their evaluations of different application components within their offices, let alone across institutions. This means that colleges will all be handling the admissions process a little bit differently, and their approaches may even evolve over the course of the admissions cycle."
Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges.
![covid 19 college essay example covid 19 college essay example](https://www.owu.edu/images/print_logo.png)
OWU Admission Blog
How to create a strong application in the covid-19 era, by the owu admission team.
COVID-19 is the elephant in every Zoom room. Disrupting our lives and routines, the global pandemic has impacted almost every industry, and higher education is no exception. As college students adjust to hybrid classes and wearing masks around campus, admission offices are also adapting.
For this unprecedented admission cycle, colleges and universities recognize that, while many aspects of the application will remain the same, applications will undoubtedly look different than ever before, as students struggle with canceled activities and swift switches to online learning.
To help students and families create the best application possible, we included a few tips and tricks for applying in the COVID-19 era.
1. Do not be afraid to share contextual information in response to the COVID-19 question on the Common Application. This year, the CommonApp added a question where students can discuss any challenges the global pandemic has created for them or their family. This open-ended question gives students 250 words to talk about issues with reliable technology, struggles with online learning, family or personal health, canceled or postponed extracurricular activities, economic insecurity, or other related topics.
Colleges care about context, especially during this application cycle, because every student has been impacted in some way by the pandemic’s consequences. If you feel you have something important to share that will provide insight into an aspect of your application, don’t hesitate to express your thoughts.
2. COVID-19 can be a character in your essay, but it should not be the main idea. As mentioned in the tip above, the CommonApp now includes a section for students to share about COVID-19’s impact on their lives, so writing about the same topic in the primary essay may be a bit repetitive. The essay section offers an opportunity for students to share something new about themselves, such as a hobby, role model, life lesson, or favorite memory. Essays can be emotional, but some of the best essays are humorous and light.
Many students will write about the pandemic this year and next year, as this global crisis is one of the largest challenges and disruptions students have faced. However, avoiding this topic as your primary essay can help your work stand out.
3. The activities section can include informal or canceled extracurricular activities. One of the ways that high school students were hurt by the pandemic is the disruption of after-school activities: sports seasons, part-time jobs, musical groups, debate teams, and so much more. In your activities section, colleges and universities want to learn more about what you do when you are not in school. If you spent a lot of time cultivating your new baking skills during the pandemic, tell us!
It is completely fine if some activities listed are not an “official school activity.” You can also include activities that you planned to do but were canceled due to the pandemic, as long as you are clear about the interruption of your plans. Again, colleges and universities want to gauge your interests and understand what you would have done if you were able to.
4. Use test optional policies to your advantage. This year, over 80% of Ohio’s private colleges and universities instituted test optional or test blind options for applicants, as so many students are struggling to take or retake one of the standardized tests (ACT and SAT). If you were not able to take the ACT or SAT, check in with each institution you are applying to about their test optional policy.
Make sure to ask if their review process for awarding scholarships or certain competitive awards will also be test optional. Sometimes you still need test scores for the top scholarship opportunities, honors programs, or specific majors, even if the school is considered “test optional.”
If you were able to take an ACT or SAT, only submit your scores to a test optional school if they are strong. Having scores does not necessarily boost your application; they can sometimes hinder it. A good rule of thumb to use is as follows: If your scores are above the average, you should submit them. If they are below the institution’s average, you should opt for test-optional. Most admission representatives, and your college counselor, can help you make a good decision. Ask your admission counselor at each institution for their recommendation, and use your college counselor’s knowledge of the process to assist you as well. Read OWU's test optional policy .
At Ohio Wesleyan, we recognize that life may be a bit hectic right now. Our best advice is to remain calm and use all of your resources to submit the strongest college application you can. Every prospective college student around the world has been impacted by this global crisis, so take a deep breath and know that you are not alone!
Tips from the OWU Admission Team
Applying to college can be a complex journey. Check out these tips to help you navigate the process.
![covid 19 college essay example](https://www.owu.edu/files/pages/rs79173-dsc8821-lpr-2.jpg)
How To Optimize Your On-Campus Visit
![covid 19 college essay example](https://www.owu.edu/files/pages/rs97876-dji-0054-lpr-2.jpg)
Fact Check: Early Decision and Early Action
![covid 19 college essay example](https://www.owu.edu/files/pages/uc160-class-3.jpg)
Questions to Ask When you Have None
![covid 19 college essay example](https://www.owu.edu/files/pages/rs45133-mg-3508-lpr.jpg)
4 Steps to a Great College Recommendation Letter
![covid 19 college essay example](https://www.owu.edu/files/pages/essay-writing-4.jpg)
4 Tips to Make Your College Essay Shine
![covid 19 college essay example](https://www.owu.edu/files/pages/rs81262-20170912-mcgarvey-owu-1054-lpr-3.jpg)
Ways to Optimize Your Virtual Visit
Admission contact info, social media.
X Follow Us
Instagram Follow Us
Office Hours
![covid 19 college essay example](https://www.tun.com/tv/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/logo-black-1-1.png)
7 Personal Statement Examples That Survive COVID-19
Sam Benezra
As summer approaches, rising seniors across the United States have college applications on their mind. This time around, however, things are a little different. The outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted daily life around the world, and many students are concerned about how it will affect their chances of getting accepted to the school of their choice.
Don’t fret too much about cancelled internships and extracurricular activities or postponed SAT dates. A number of colleges, including Yale , Harvard , and Emory University have released statements assuring applicants that their admissions will not be affected by any disruptions caused by COVID-19. Universities know what students are going through right now, and are understanding of the constraints.
Nevertheless, the coronavirus will surely alter what college applications look like over the next couple of years. Without the opportunity to make their extracurricular activities stand out, students will have to lean on other parts of their application, including the personal statement or essay.
The personal statement or essay is the soul of a college application. It is your opportunity to talk directly to colleges in your own voice. It is a space to tell admissions officers who you are, what you’re interested in, and maybe even to charm them a little bit. When admissions officers read your essay, they want to get a sense of your personality, your passions, and the way you see the world.
Under the current circumstances, the role of the personal statement is even more important than in an average year.
“The reality is, the way that college admissions is going to go in the fall is not going to be based on numbers and scores the way it might have been in the past,” Nicole Hurd, founder and CEO of College Advising Corps, told TUN . “Everybody is going to have to be able to tell a story that is going to be much more based on experiences and aspirations and narrative than just on numbers.”
With that in mind, here is a guide to writing your personal statement during and after the coronavirus outbreak.
What do colleges want to see in personal statements or essays?
First and foremost, when admissions officers read your personal statement, they want to get a sense of who you are, not only as a student, but as a person. They want to know about the things that matter to you, the way you think, and how you respond to challenges.
“You may be surprised to hear this, but one of the reasons we enjoy reading your essays and stories every year is because we get to understand what a generation is thinking about,” Emory University Director of Recruitment and Talent Giselle F. Martin said in an open letter to juniors and sophomores in April. “We encourage you to take this time to think about what matters most to you. After all, there is no greater gift than time.”
Colleges are still looking for the same qualities in applicants that they always have — intelligence, leadership, creativity, passion, curiosity, and maturity.
In your personal statement, be true to yourself and your experiences. Tell a story from the heart, not one cut out from a college applications handbook.
What are the qualities that define a strong personal statement or essay?
Personal statements should be personal — It’s called a personal statement for a reason. Your personal statement should first and foremost be a story about you. Find inspiration in the big moments in your life, but also in the small moments — dinners with family, laughs with friends, etc.
Personal statements should be meaningful — You don’t have to write your college essay about a profound, life-changing moment. However, whatever topic you do choose should carry some meaning to you or else your readers will be asking themselves, “so what?”
Personal statements should be tight — Your personal statement should be tightly edited and have a strong narrative flow. Common App essays are restrained to a meager 650 words. It can be difficult to pack a whole lot of meaning into such a small space, so make sure every word counts and have a teacher or parent proofread.
Personal statements should be engaging — Hook your reader in and don’t let go. The goal of a personal statement is to make a lasting impression on whoever reads it. Boring essays simply won’t cut it!
What are the personal statement topics and questions?
The Common App allows students to respond to one of seven different personal essay prompts, including an open prompt that allows students to choose their own topic, or even write in their own prompt.
- Identity and passions : “Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, please share your story.”
- Overcoming challenges, setbacks, and failures: “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?”
- Thinking critically: “Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?”
- Solving problems: “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 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.”
- Personal growth: “Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.”
- Inspiration and curiosity: “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?”
- Anything at all: “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.”
You can access Common App essay prompts for the 2020-2021 application period here .
When brainstorming, try to come up with at least one idea for each prompt.
Are there tips for brainstorming personal statement topics?
The most challenging part of writing your personal statement is settling on a topic to write about or a story to tell. But while brainstorming can be difficult, it can also be a fun process. Here are a few tips to help you generate ideas:
Ask yourself questions — To start generating ideas, it can be helpful to start looking inward and asking some introspective questions, such as:
- What are you passionate about?
- What do you want colleges to know about you?
- What are some impactful moments in your life?
- Who are some meaningful people in your life?
- What’s a story you will never forget? Why will you never forget it?
- How do you spend your free time? Why?
- What are you looking forward to?
- What do you want to get out of your college experience?
Don’t feel the need to impress — Crazy stories do not necessarily make better stories. Don’t get caught up in the idea that you need to tell an overly exciting or dramatic story. Likewise, don’t use your personal statement to list off achievements and awards. The point of the essay is to shine a light on who you are, not what you’ve done.
Think about the small things — Oftentimes, the most personal essays are those that focus on the details of life. Think about your favorite movies, books, and music. Reminisce on conversations and disagreements, sports events and camping trips, road trips, and walks around your neighborhood.
Avoid clichés — College admissions officers read thousands of personal statements every year and, as a result, are experts in picking out clichéd essays. While any topic can make a great essay, it is harder for yours to stand out when it sounds similar to many others. Topics like sports championships and eye-opening travel experiences can make great essays, but they are also a little overplayed, so it might be harder for them to stand out.
Should you write about the coronavirus?
Probably not. While the COVID-19 pandemic has surely been an impactful moment in many of our lives, writing your personal statement about the pandemic may not be the best choice, simply because so many others will likely also be writing about it.
Virtually everyone in the world has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in some capacity and has a unique story about the event. Unfortunately, admissions officers who have to read through thousands of college essays each year will likely have a difficult time differentiating between yours and two hundred others on the same topic.
The best college essays are memorable and unique. They have the ability to stand out amongst a crowd and leave a lasting impression. As a result, the most out-of-the box essays are often the most compelling. Writing on a common topic can make it more difficult to catch your reader’s attention.
Furthermore, when you are writing about mass events like the coronavirus, it can be easy to write more about the event and about others than about yourself, which is what admissions officers really want to know about.
That doesn’t mean that the coronavirus is completely off-limits as a topic. If you think you have a powerful story to tell, by all means, tell it. However, you should keep in mind that any essay on the coronavirus will have to be outstanding to catch the eye of an admissions officer.
A better alternative would be to use the Common App’s added question for fall 2020 admissions on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected you personally.
“That’s definitely an opportunity for (applicants) to talk about what they were planning on doing and how that was taken away,” said Joe Korfmacher , a college counselor at Collegewise. “But it also gives them an opportunity to talk about what they did instead.”
Are there personal statement examples?
These personal statement examples illustrate what works for the students who wrote them.
- Prompt #1: Identity and Passions — Rocio’s “Facing the Hot Griddle”
In this essay, Rocio makes a tortilla, and in doing so, finds herself reflecting on her Guatemalan heritage and current life in the United States. She recounts some of the obstacles that she has faced as an immigrant and how, like masa harina being made into a tortilla, has been molded by her experiences and challenges.
- Prompt #2: Overcoming a Challenge — Heqing “Amy” Zhang’s “On the day my first novel was rejected, I was baking pies.”
In this essay, Amy Zhang recounts the experience of having her first novel rejected by a publishing house on the day of her church’s annual bake sale. With a unique narrative voice that highlights her storytelling skills, Zhang relates her feelings of disappointment and grief, and how these emotions helped her spin her next novel, which she would end up selling within three days.
- Prompt #3: Thinking Critically — Callie’s “Bridging Polarity”
In this essay, Callie reckons with the difference in beliefs between her friends that she grew up with in Texas and those in her new home of San Francisco. She recounts how a visit from a childhood friend led her to value different perspectives and to listen to those with opposing views.
- Prompt #4: Solving Problems — Seena’s “Growing Strawberries in a High School Locker”
Seena assigns himself a unique challenge: to grow strawberries inside an empty high school locker. What seemed initially like a simple task quickly grew into a complex project involving a solar-powered blue LED light, an automated plant watering system, and a 3-D printed, modified lock system that increased airflow into the locker. As Seena recounts this experiment, his innate curiosity, problem-solving, and disposition toward mechanical engineering are on full display.
- Prompt #5: Personal Growth — Anna’s “Returning to Peru”
Anna remembers how a trip to her father’s homeland in Peru helped instill in her a passion for protecting the environment. She recounts witnessing pollution, lack of clean water, and environmental degradation in impoverished areas of Lima and how it motivated her interest in environmental science and conservation.
- Prompt #6: Inspiration and Curiosity — Jillian Impastato’s quest to find women with tatt oos
Jillian Impastato dives into her fascination with the art of tattoos and the lives of women who have them. Intrigued by the symbology and the meaning attached to them, Impastato has embarked on something of an informal anthropology project in which she asks women she sees with tattoos questions. She hears their stories and learns about the relationships they have with the art on their bodies. All at once, this essay displays Impastato’s natural curiosity, her interest in art, her outgoing personality, and her willingness to pursue answers.
- Prompt #7: Anything At All — Madison’s “On Potatoes”
Madison presents herself with a not-so-simple question: “If you had to choose one food to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?” After weighing the options, she settles on the nutritious and versatile potato. She uses this as a jumping-off point to discuss her own disposition to variance and diversity. The potato becomes a clever metaphor for her innate curiosity and openness to new ideas.
![covid 19 college essay example](https://www.tun.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/PrimeStudent.png)
![](http://sektorel.online/777/templates/cheerup/res/banner1.gif)
FREE 6-month trial
Then, enjoy Amazon Prime at half the price – 50% off!
TUN AI – Your Education Assistant
![covid 19 college essay example TUN AI](https://www.tun.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/TUN-AI-bot-2.png)
I’m here to help you with scholarships, college search, online classes, financial aid, choosing majors, college admissions and study tips!
TUN Helps Students!
Resource content.
Resources for Students
School Search
Scholarships
Scholarship Search
Start a Scholarship
High School
Copyright, 2024 – TUN, Inc
Student Tools
Free Online Courses
Student Discounts
Back to School
Internships
- Share full article
Advertisement
Supported by
current events
12 Ideas for Writing Through the Pandemic With The New York Times
A dozen writing projects — including journals, poems, comics and more — for students to try at home.
![covid 19 college essay example](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/04/25/style/oakImage-1584969107780-LN/oakImage-1584969107780-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)
By Natalie Proulx
The coronavirus has transformed life as we know it. Schools are closed, we’re confined to our homes and the future feels very uncertain. Why write at a time like this?
For one, we are living through history. Future historians may look back on the journals, essays and art that ordinary people are creating now to tell the story of life during the coronavirus.
But writing can also be deeply therapeutic. It can be a way to express our fears, hopes and joys. It can help us make sense of the world and our place in it.
Plus, even though school buildings are shuttered, that doesn’t mean learning has stopped. Writing can help us reflect on what’s happening in our lives and form new ideas.
We want to help inspire your writing about the coronavirus while you learn from home. Below, we offer 12 projects for students, all based on pieces from The New York Times, including personal narrative essays, editorials, comic strips and podcasts. Each project features a Times text and prompts to inspire your writing, as well as related resources from The Learning Network to help you develop your craft. Some also offer opportunities to get your work published in The Times, on The Learning Network or elsewhere.
We know this list isn’t nearly complete. If you have ideas for other pandemic-related writing projects, please suggest them in the comments.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in .
Want all of The Times? Subscribe .
Read these 12 moving essays about life during coronavirus
Artists, novelists, critics, and essayists are writing the first draft of history.
by Alissa Wilkinson
![covid 19 college essay example A woman wearing a face mask in Miami.](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19872354/1207638131.jpg.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.07692307692308%2C0%2C99.846153846154%2C100&w=2400)
The world is grappling with an invisible, deadly enemy, trying to understand how to live with the threat posed by a virus . For some writers, the only way forward is to put pen to paper, trying to conceptualize and document what it feels like to continue living as countries are under lockdown and regular life seems to have ground to a halt.
So as the coronavirus pandemic has stretched around the world, it’s sparked a crop of diary entries and essays that describe how life has changed. Novelists, critics, artists, and journalists have put words to the feelings many are experiencing. The result is a first draft of how we’ll someday remember this time, filled with uncertainty and pain and fear as well as small moments of hope and humanity.
- The Vox guide to navigating the coronavirus crisis
At the New York Review of Books, Ali Bhutto writes that in Karachi, Pakistan, the government-imposed curfew due to the virus is “eerily reminiscent of past military clampdowns”:
Beneath the quiet calm lies a sense that society has been unhinged and that the usual rules no longer apply. Small groups of pedestrians look on from the shadows, like an audience watching a spectacle slowly unfolding. People pause on street corners and in the shade of trees, under the watchful gaze of the paramilitary forces and the police.
His essay concludes with the sobering note that “in the minds of many, Covid-19 is just another life-threatening hazard in a city that stumbles from one crisis to another.”
Writing from Chattanooga, novelist Jamie Quatro documents the mixed ways her neighbors have been responding to the threat, and the frustration of conflicting direction, or no direction at all, from local, state, and federal leaders:
Whiplash, trying to keep up with who’s ordering what. We’re already experiencing enough chaos without this back-and-forth. Why didn’t the federal government issue a nationwide shelter-in-place at the get-go, the way other countries did? What happens when one state’s shelter-in-place ends, while others continue? Do states still under quarantine close their borders? We are still one nation, not fifty individual countries. Right?
- A syllabus for the end of the world
Award-winning photojournalist Alessio Mamo, quarantined with his partner Marta in Sicily after she tested positive for the virus, accompanies his photographs in the Guardian of their confinement with a reflection on being confined :
The doctors asked me to take a second test, but again I tested negative. Perhaps I’m immune? The days dragged on in my apartment, in black and white, like my photos. Sometimes we tried to smile, imagining that I was asymptomatic, because I was the virus. Our smiles seemed to bring good news. My mother left hospital, but I won’t be able to see her for weeks. Marta started breathing well again, and so did I. I would have liked to photograph my country in the midst of this emergency, the battles that the doctors wage on the frontline, the hospitals pushed to their limits, Italy on its knees fighting an invisible enemy. That enemy, a day in March, knocked on my door instead.
In the New York Times Magazine, deputy editor Jessica Lustig writes with devastating clarity about her family’s life in Brooklyn while her husband battled the virus, weeks before most people began taking the threat seriously:
At the door of the clinic, we stand looking out at two older women chatting outside the doorway, oblivious. Do I wave them away? Call out that they should get far away, go home, wash their hands, stay inside? Instead we just stand there, awkwardly, until they move on. Only then do we step outside to begin the long three-block walk home. I point out the early magnolia, the forsythia. T says he is cold. The untrimmed hairs on his neck, under his beard, are white. The few people walking past us on the sidewalk don’t know that we are visitors from the future. A vision, a premonition, a walking visitation. This will be them: Either T, in the mask, or — if they’re lucky — me, tending to him.
Essayist Leslie Jamison writes in the New York Review of Books about being shut away alone in her New York City apartment with her 2-year-old daughter since she became sick:
The virus. Its sinewy, intimate name. What does it feel like in my body today? Shivering under blankets. A hot itch behind the eyes. Three sweatshirts in the middle of the day. My daughter trying to pull another blanket over my body with her tiny arms. An ache in the muscles that somehow makes it hard to lie still. This loss of taste has become a kind of sensory quarantine. It’s as if the quarantine keeps inching closer and closer to my insides. First I lost the touch of other bodies; then I lost the air; now I’ve lost the taste of bananas. Nothing about any of these losses is particularly unique. I’ve made a schedule so I won’t go insane with the toddler. Five days ago, I wrote Walk/Adventure! on it, next to a cut-out illustration of a tiger—as if we’d see tigers on our walks. It was good to keep possibility alive.
At Literary Hub, novelist Heidi Pitlor writes about the elastic nature of time during her family’s quarantine in Massachusetts:
During a shutdown, the things that mark our days—commuting to work, sending our kids to school, having a drink with friends—vanish and time takes on a flat, seamless quality. Without some self-imposed structure, it’s easy to feel a little untethered. A friend recently posted on Facebook: “For those who have lost track, today is Blursday the fortyteenth of Maprilay.” ... Giving shape to time is especially important now, when the future is so shapeless. We do not know whether the virus will continue to rage for weeks or months or, lord help us, on and off for years. We do not know when we will feel safe again. And so many of us, minus those who are gifted at compartmentalization or denial, remain largely captive to fear. We may stay this way if we do not create at least the illusion of movement in our lives, our long days spent with ourselves or partners or families.
- What day is it today?
Novelist Lauren Groff writes at the New York Review of Books about trying to escape the prison of her fears while sequestered at home in Gainesville, Florida:
Some people have imaginations sparked only by what they can see; I blame this blinkered empiricism for the parks overwhelmed with people, the bars, until a few nights ago, thickly thronged. My imagination is the opposite. I fear everything invisible to me. From the enclosure of my house, I am afraid of the suffering that isn’t present before me, the people running out of money and food or drowning in the fluid in their lungs, the deaths of health-care workers now growing ill while performing their duties. I fear the federal government, which the right wing has so—intentionally—weakened that not only is it insufficient to help its people, it is actively standing in help’s way. I fear we won’t sufficiently punish the right. I fear leaving the house and spreading the disease. I fear what this time of fear is doing to my children, their imaginations, and their souls.
At ArtForum , Berlin-based critic and writer Kristian Vistrup Madsen reflects on martinis, melancholia, and Finnish artist Jaakko Pallasvuo’s 2018 graphic novel Retreat , in which three young people exile themselves in the woods:
In melancholia, the shape of what is ending, and its temporality, is sprawling and incomprehensible. The ambivalence makes it hard to bear. The world of Retreat is rendered in lush pink and purple watercolors, which dissolve into wild and messy abstractions. In apocalypse, the divisions established in genesis bleed back out. My own Corona-retreat is similarly soft, color-field like, each day a blurred succession of quarantinis, YouTube–yoga, and televized press conferences. As restrictions mount, so does abstraction. For now, I’m still rooting for love to save the world.
At the Paris Review , Matt Levin writes about reading Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves during quarantine:
A retreat, a quarantine, a sickness—they simultaneously distort and clarify, curtail and expand. It is an ideal state in which to read literature with a reputation for difficulty and inaccessibility, those hermetic books shorn of the handholds of conventional plot or characterization or description. A novel like Virginia Woolf’s The Waves is perfect for the state of interiority induced by quarantine—a story of three men and three women, meeting after the death of a mutual friend, told entirely in the overlapping internal monologues of the six, interspersed only with sections of pure, achingly beautiful descriptions of the natural world, a day’s procession and recession of light and waves. The novel is, in my mind’s eye, a perfectly spherical object. It is translucent and shimmering and infinitely fragile, prone to shatter at the slightest disturbance. It is not a book that can be read in snatches on the subway—it demands total absorption. Though it revels in a stark emotional nakedness, the book remains aloof, remote in its own deep self-absorption.
- Vox is starting a book club. Come read with us!
In an essay for the Financial Times, novelist Arundhati Roy writes with anger about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anemic response to the threat, but also offers a glimmer of hope for the future:
Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.
From Boston, Nora Caplan-Bricker writes in The Point about the strange contraction of space under quarantine, in which a friend in Beirut is as close as the one around the corner in the same city:
It’s a nice illusion—nice to feel like we’re in it together, even if my real world has shrunk to one person, my husband, who sits with his laptop in the other room. It’s nice in the same way as reading those essays that reframe social distancing as solidarity. “We must begin to see the negative space as clearly as the positive, to know what we don’t do is also brilliant and full of love,” the poet Anne Boyer wrote on March 10th, the day that Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. If you squint, you could almost make sense of this quarantine as an effort to flatten, along with the curve, the distinctions we make between our bonds with others. Right now, I care for my neighbor in the same way I demonstrate love for my mother: in all instances, I stay away. And in moments this month, I have loved strangers with an intensity that is new to me. On March 14th, the Saturday night after the end of life as we knew it, I went out with my dog and found the street silent: no lines for restaurants, no children on bicycles, no couples strolling with little cups of ice cream. It had taken the combined will of thousands of people to deliver such a sudden and complete emptiness. I felt so grateful, and so bereft.
And on his own website, musician and artist David Byrne writes about rediscovering the value of working for collective good , saying that “what is happening now is an opportunity to learn how to change our behavior”:
In emergencies, citizens can suddenly cooperate and collaborate. Change can happen. We’re going to need to work together as the effects of climate change ramp up. In order for capitalism to survive in any form, we will have to be a little more socialist. Here is an opportunity for us to see things differently — to see that we really are all connected — and adjust our behavior accordingly. Are we willing to do this? Is this moment an opportunity to see how truly interdependent we all are? To live in a world that is different and better than the one we live in now? We might be too far down the road to test every asymptomatic person, but a change in our mindsets, in how we view our neighbors, could lay the groundwork for the collective action we’ll need to deal with other global crises. The time to see how connected we all are is now.
The portrait these writers paint of a world under quarantine is multifaceted. Our worlds have contracted to the confines of our homes, and yet in some ways we’re more connected than ever to one another. We feel fear and boredom, anger and gratitude, frustration and strange peace. Uncertainty drives us to find metaphors and images that will let us wrap our minds around what is happening.
Yet there’s no single “what” that is happening. Everyone is contending with the pandemic and its effects from different places and in different ways. Reading others’ experiences — even the most frightening ones — can help alleviate the loneliness and dread, a little, and remind us that what we’re going through is both unique and shared by all.
- Recommendations
Most Popular
- Why is everyone mad at Blake Lively?
- How Raygun earned her spot — fair and square — as an Olympics breaker
- Why does it feel like everyone is getting Covid?
- What can be done about this Supreme Court’s very worst decisions?
- The hidden reason why your power bill is so high
Today, Explained
Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day.
This is the title for the native ad
More in Culture
![covid 19 college essay example How Raygun earned her spot — fair and square — as an Olympics breaker](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/gettyimages-2166052398.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.27124773960217%2C100%2C99.457504520796&w=2400)
The truth behind the ongoing controversy over the highly memeable dancer.
![covid 19 college essay example The It Ends With Us drama is the new Don’t Worry Darling drama](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-2165608450.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=2400)
Is there actually beef between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?
![covid 19 college essay example Does being a gifted kid make for a burned-out adulthood?](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/IMG_0078.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=2400)
How being labeled “gifted” can rearrange your life — for better and for worse.
![covid 19 college essay example The fight over Jordan Chiles’s bronze medal is barely about gymnastics](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/gettyimages-2165441539.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.6625%2C0%2C66.675%2C100&w=2400)
The Olympian was asked to give her medal back — and the racist attacks began.
![covid 19 college essay example What George Orwell’s 1984 can teach us about 2024](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Vox_GrayArea_Orwell_8-6.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=2400)
Orwell prized clear communication, so why are people misusing his name?
![covid 19 college essay example Industry is the soapy, sleazy spectacle prestige TV is missing](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/kit-harington-and-marisa-abela.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=2400)
How is a show about banking more fun than anything else?
We use cookies to enhance our website for you. Proceed if you agree to this policy or learn more about it.
- Essay Database >
- Essays Samples >
- Essay Types >
- College Essay Example
COVID-19 College Essays Samples For Students
6 samples of this type
Do you feel the need to check out some previously written College Essays on COVID-19 before you start writing an own piece? In this free catalog of COVID-19 College Essay examples, you are provided with an exciting opportunity to discover meaningful topics, content structuring techniques, text flow, formatting styles, and other academically acclaimed writing practices. Using them while composing your own COVID-19 College Essay will definitely allow you to finish the piece faster.
Presenting the finest samples isn't the only way our free essays service can aid students in their writing endeavors – our authors can also compose from point zero a fully customized College Essay on COVID-19 that would make a strong foundation for your own academic work.
Impact of Covid-19 on Environment and Energy Sector Essay Sample
For many sectors, 2020 has been a dramatic year. The global pandemic of coronavirus has upended markets by slashing consumption and demand, stunning growth, and even threatening the existence of many companies. The energy sector also experienced a slump in prices and demand. However, those challenges came with a silver lining where it was least expected – in the renewable energy sector.
Effects of Covid-19 on Energy Systems
The Covid-19 outbreak has created a crisis for societies around the world. Focusing on bringing the pandemic under control, governments took unprecedented measures. Full and partial lockdowns have limited production, transport, and trade, slowing the economies down.
COVID-19 Essay Sample: Should We Be Wearing Masks during the Pandemic
This is just one essay on coronavirus from the vast collection carefully curated by Wow Essays . This example is here for academic purposes only. For medical information, turn to the official Health Care resources!
COVID-19, or coronavirus disease, is a highly infectious disease caused by the novel (newly discovered) virus of the Corona family. The first cases were registered in the Chinese city of Wuhan late in 2019 (hence the “19” in the name), but soon through human-to-human transmission, the virus spread globally causing the pandemic.
Excellent Basketball Program: COVID-19 Program Adaptation Essays Examples
Part 1: in-person.
Don't waste your time searching for a sample.
Get your essay done by professional writers!
Just from $10/page
Free Essay About Civil Liberties During the COVID Pandemic
Digital nomadism essays example, good essay about policy analysis of affordable care act.
The Affordable Care Act was a healthcare reform introduced in March 2010, widely known as Obamacare or PPACA (U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2018). The law has three significant objectives (U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2018):
- Make affordable health insurance accessible to all people. It offers subsidies for households earning between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, which lowers their costs.
- It also expands the Medicaid program to cover all adults with income less than 138% of the federal poverty level.
- It supports innovative medical care delivery methods that minimize healthcare costs
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
Coronavirus Essay Examples
We have 11 free papers on coronavirus for you, essay examples, essay topics, covid-19: mutation from an animals or something else.
Coronavirus
The beginning of 2020 was extraordinary. In the past four months, an original Coronavirus spread around the world. At present, COVID-19 can be accurately defined as a rising human tragedy that affects thousands of people, just like the SARS virus of that year. More than 175 countries have reported cases of COVID-19, a virus that…
Covid-19 Pandemic and Moral Panic
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared an outbreak of the viral disease COVID-19 on March 11th 2020 that it had reached the level of a global pandemic. It has called for governments to take urgent and aggressive action to stop the spread of the virus. The Splash news on our daily publications and headlines during…
How Coronavirus pandemic has affected my personal life
A consuming theme for the present world is the Coronavirus pandemic. A pandemic is a huge scope episode of irresistible illness that can expand dreariness and mortality over a wide geographic territory. It likewise has an awful effect on worldwide economy, wellbeing, condition, social and political disturbances. Coronavirus pandemic has carried the world to a…
The Cost of Fake News During the Coronavirus Pandemic
The government can require limitations and laws on what is posted on the internet, digital software engineering should take the lead in minimizing fake news on technology platforms, because the immediate spread of misinformation and false news is harmful to society. If misinformation can populate social internet mediums, then, what does that mean for the…
The Digital Transformation during the Pandemic
Yes, COVID-19 is pushing the businesses towards digitization. The business lockdown is promoting only digital businesses as for them, processing operations is quite easy. The COVID-19 breakdown has cut off the business operation badly impacting the organizations and revenue. To control the spread of the coronavirus, governments around the world have declared lockdown which is…
Impact of Coronavirus on Global World
ABSTRACT In late December 2019, a previous unidentified coronavirus, presently named because the 2019 novel coronavirus, emerged from Wuhan, China, and resulted in a powerful outbreak in many cities in China and expanded globally, such as Thailand, Republic of Korea, Japan, United States, Philippines, Viet Nam, and our country. The sickness is officially named as…
Impact of Coronavirus on Organism
INTRODUCTION: Coronaviruses are critical human and animal viruses. The contamination that causes COVID-19 is the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that is (SARS-CoV2) . Before it was known as 2019 – nCoV (1) . Coronavirus is in the spot with the family Coronaviridae and different Nidovirales, a family that consolidates contaminations that causes ailment running from…
Effect of Corona on Technology (679 words)
The coronavirus outbreak has been declared a pandemic by WHO on March the 11th of this year. This has taken a toll on public morale as well as industrial output. So, what is actually this coronavirus? The coronavirus is the carrier of a flu-like disease, the COVID-19, which spreads through contact or coughing and sneezing….
The Impact on the Coronavirus among Sweden and France
Covid-19 or the Coronavirus is a worldwide pandemic, that struck the world by surprise. This virus has similar, as well as very different impacts across the globe. Sweden is located in Northern Europe while France is located in Western Europe and is South of Sweden. The distance between these two countries is 1,172 miles by…
Trump’s Whipping Awkwardness Makes Coronavirus Essentially
America’s pandemic response capacities have been methodicallly decimated. Prior as far as possible of a week ago, the US government overruled protests from the Territories for Infirmity Control and Expectation to put 14 coronavirus-defiled Americans on a plane with other strong people. The Trump association immediately discharged that the president was upset about this decision,…
Check a number of top-notch topics on Coronavirus written by our professionals
Grandfather: My Hero in The Past, Present and Future
The Role of The Environment in Business Success
Impact of Coronavirus in Kafka on The Store
The Impact of Both Internal and External Factors on Business Success
The Analysis of Dangerous Coronavirus in 2020
Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Nurses Towards Mers Cov Inpatients
Impact of Covid-19 on The Indian Economy
Impact of Coronavirus Outbreak The Hospitality Industry
Coronavirus Speech
Coronavirus in Canada
![covid 19 college essay example covid 19 college essay example](https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/themes/essay/src/images/amy-chat.png)
Hi, my name is Amy 👋
In case you can't find a relevant example, our professional writers are ready to help you write a unique paper. Just talk to our smart assistant Amy and she'll connect you with the best match.
Alzheimer’s Disease: Factors and Prevention Essay
- To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
- As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
- As a template for you assignment
One of the most common cognitive issues in the elderly population is Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers state that it is considered a leading cause of dementia and is characterized by deteriorations in cognition and behavior, with the most significant symptom at the early stages being memory loss (Zhang et al., 2021, p. 313). This issue is caused by many genetic and environmental factors that should be considered within the preventative measures to mitigate the risks of disease development.
The contributing factors of Alzheimer’s disease include genetics conditioned by family health history and lifestyle or environment. Research shows that the causes might consist of “intoxications, infections, abnormality in the pulmonary and circulatory systems, which causes a reduction in the oxygen supply to the brain, nutritional deficiency, vitamin B12 deficiency, tumors, and others” (Breijyeh & Karaman, 2020, p. 1). In addition, Alzheimer’s disease is most commonly observed in the population aged 65 and older (Zhang et al., 2021, p. 313). The impacted population includes not only patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease but also their caregivers and family members due to the high levels of exposure to stress and daily hardships associated with the issue (Zhang et al., 2021, pp. 313-314). For that matter, preventative measures should include interventions for both patients at risk of this cognitive issue development and their families.
In particular, prevention should be based on addressing the identified causes and risk factors. For example, continued education in older age, cognitive exercises, socialization, and bilingualism have demonstrated significant positive outcomes in preventing Alzheimer’s disease (Zhang et al., 2021, pp. 313-314). In addition, a healthy diet, regular sleep regimen, physical activity, reduced stress, and smoking and alcohol cessation are essential components of a comprehensive preventative strategy (Zhang et al., 2021, pp. 314-315). Therefore, implementing these elements might minimize elderly patients’ risks of developing Alzheimer’s disease and facilitate their prolonged cognitive well-being.
Breijyeh, Z., & Karaman, R. (2020). Comprehensive review on Alzheimer’s disease: causes and treatment . Molecules, 25 (24), 1-28. Web.
Zhang, X. X., Tian, Y., Wang, Z. T., Ma, Y. H., Tan, L., & Yu, J. T. (2021). The epidemiology of Alzheimer’s disease modifiable risk factors and prevention . The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease, 8, 313-321. Web.
- Healthy Aging and Nursing Interventions
- Family is One of the Most Powerful Influences on an Individual's Development
- Bilingualism and English Only Laws
- Human Circulatory System and Evolution
- Bilingualism and Multilingualism
- Malnutrition in the Elderly: The Main Causes
- The Aging Process: Physical and Psychological Changes
- Post COVID-19 Care Centre for Elderly
- Age-Related Hearing Loss: Mary's Case
- Managing Syncope in Older Adults: Causes and Treatment
- Chicago (A-D)
- Chicago (N-B)
IvyPanda. (2024, August 15). Alzheimer’s Disease: Factors and Prevention. https://ivypanda.com/essays/alzheimers-disease-factors-and-prevention/
"Alzheimer’s Disease: Factors and Prevention." IvyPanda , 15 Aug. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/alzheimers-disease-factors-and-prevention/.
IvyPanda . (2024) 'Alzheimer’s Disease: Factors and Prevention'. 15 August.
IvyPanda . 2024. "Alzheimer’s Disease: Factors and Prevention." August 15, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/alzheimers-disease-factors-and-prevention/.
1. IvyPanda . "Alzheimer’s Disease: Factors and Prevention." August 15, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/alzheimers-disease-factors-and-prevention/.
Bibliography
IvyPanda . "Alzheimer’s Disease: Factors and Prevention." August 15, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/alzheimers-disease-factors-and-prevention/.
![](http://sektorel.online/777/templates/cheerup/res/banner1.gif)
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Should you write about coronavirus in your college essay or in the Common App? Learn how write about COVID-19 in your college application.
How to Write a College Essay. But before writing a college essay focused on the coronavirus, students should explore whether it's the best topic for them.
This year, students applying to college through the Common App will be able to submit an optional essay detailing their experiences (both positive and negative) during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In this guide, learn how to answer the Common App COVID-19 question and see practical tips, exercises, and samples for answering this question.
Should your child write about their experience with COVID-19 in a college essay or application? An expert shares some key considerations.
College essays over the past year have reflected the turbulence of these Covid-19 times. In response to Covid-19 and in preparation for 2021-2022 applications, the Common Application, the largest ...
This year's admissions essays became a platform for high school seniors to reflect on the pandemic, race and loss.
A Pandemic College Essay That Probably Won't Get You Into Brown. Community disruptions such as COVID -19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space ...
The global impact of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, means colleges and prospective students alike are in for an admissions cycle like no other. Major college admissions ...
To help students and families create the best application possible, we included a few tips and tricks for applying in the COVID-19 era. 1. Do not be afraid to share contextual information in response to the COVID-19 question on the Common Application. This year, the CommonApp added a question where students can discuss any challenges the global ...
Today, I am writing this short reflective essay to share my thoughts and experience during the worldwide COVID-19 Pandemic. I believe it is very beneficial to gain insight from multiple perspectives on the current situation.
Nevertheless, the coronavirus will surely alter what college applications look like over the next couple of years. Without the opportunity to make their extracurricular activities stand out, students will have to lean on other parts of their application, including the personal statement or essay.
This workshop is specifically designed to assist applicants in writing a strong response to this essay that is authentic, compelling, and reflective. AMCAS has not added a specific new essay prompt about COVID-19 but there will be other places in your application where you will be able to inform medical schools about how your path to medical school was impacted by the pandemic.
How to Discuss Coronavirus in Med School Essays The key to addressing COVID-19 in medical school applications is an organized approach.
View our collection of covid 19 essays. Find inspiration for topics, titles, outlines, & craft impactful covid 19 papers. Read our covid 19 papers today!
We want to help inspire your writing about the coronavirus while you learn from home. Below, we offer 12 projects for students, all based on pieces from The New York Times, including personal ...
Read these 12 moving essays about life during coronavirus Artists, novelists, critics, and essayists are writing the first draft of history.
Essay on Covid 19 in English - Governments have had to take severe measures to try and contain the pandemic. The virus has altered our way of life in many ways, including its effects on our health and our economy. Here are a few sample essays on 'CoronaVirus'.
Looking for College Essays on COVID-19 and ideas? Get them here for free! We have collected dozens of previously unpublished examples in one place.
AMCAS has not added a specific new essay prompt about COVID-19 but there will be other places in your application where you will be able to inform medical schools about how your path to medical school was impacted by the pandemic. This seminar is required for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 applicants to medical, dental, and optometry schools.
View our collection of coronavirus essays. Find inspiration for topics, titles, outlines, & craft impactful coronavirus papers. Read our coronavirus papers today!
What is the best way to approach COVID-19 in an admissions essay? Here are five guidelines for writing about the coronavirus in a college application.
Free argumenttive, persuasive and narrative essay samples on Coronavirus at Artscolumbia. Here you will find only best free samples and everything necessary for A+ grades.
The contributing factors of Alzheimer's disease include genetics conditioned by family health history and lifestyle or environment. Research shows that the causes might consist of "intoxications, infections, abnormality in the pulmonary and circulatory systems, which causes a reduction in the oxygen supply to the brain, nutritional deficiency, vitamin B12 deficiency, tumors, and others ...