The college application essay can be a positive and enriching experience if approached in the right way. There is an emerging culture of students actively-maintaining e-portfolios and other high-quality records (or ‘artifacts’) among US students. This often begins very early in high school. Given escalating levels of competitiveness and the emphasis placed on persuasive evidence of reflection-based growth, this is not surprising. They are becoming essential for students, not only as aides memoires and convenient places to pin down telling details when they’re still fresh in the future-candidate’s mind, but also as learning tools in themselves. Having information easily accessible, often with some sort of incentive for an ongoing routine of inputting quality material built-in, enables students to think about their progress in a strategic and timely manner. This makes for an infinitely more gainful, exciting, and—ultimately—more effective process when it’s time to put together a compelling, original college application essay.