Why must you write a essay for college application?

They want you to write an essay so they can get a little bit of information about yourself, as well as judge your writing skills. It helps them determine who would be a good fit for their college academically and in their personal life. If you go to the CommonApp website, which most colleges use for their applications, it gives several example topics. Good things to do are your most changing experience, someone you look up to in your life, or your proudest moment.

I guess they require it in order to gage your writing skills or to show how determined you are, some people hesitate from applying to several schools because of the several essays they would have to write. I found my essay easy to write. I either had to write about my future aspirations, any talent or skill i may have, a current event, past experience that changed my life, etc... The list goes on forever. I wrote about a past experience because its easy, all you are doing is explaining the past and putting it in the context of the question. I find essays that ask to you describe yourself difficult because how often does anyone do that? And you don't want to sound pretentious. And essays that ask you to write about the future are cliche because everyone gives the same answers (im going to be successful, help to end world hunger and what not). Hope this helps