Don't just get a score. See exactly where your essay can improve.
Paste your Common App essay. Get a score on all five traits, free.
Grade my essay freeOne free grade, no credit card. Written feedback starts at $9.99.
From paste to score.
No upload, no formatting cleanup. Paste your Common App essay and get a 25-point grade across five traits. Written feedback — the rubric anchor behind each score, and the lines it points to — unlocks with a paid grade.
What a grade contains.
One pass against the five-trait rubric. You get a score, the anchor each trait matched, and suggestions pinned to specific lines of your essay.
See the rubricPaste, then grade.
One pass, temperature zero, the same rubric and the same exemplars every time. Two students with the same essay get the same score.
Revise with the reasoning.
A paid grade shows the rubric anchor each trait scored against, and every suggestion quotes the line it's about. A free grade shows the scores.
A rubric you can actually point to.
EssayLab grades on a 5-trait, 25-point rubric. Every trait cites public guidance from admissions officers — and a paid grade shows you exactly what your score was graded against, not just what it says.
See an anchorPull anchors
Anchors cite real admissions officers.
Every trait score traces back to public writing from someone who reads applications for a living. No vibes, no AI generalities — sources you can look up yourself.
One pass, twenty-five points.
Five traits, five points each, scored together against one rubric.
Your sentences, not generic advice.
When the grader identifies a specific line, it highlights that line in your essay and pairs it with a numbered explanation. Every highlight is your exact words — if it can't quote you verbatim, it doesn't highlight anything.


Every score traces to something real.
Not just a number — a rubric, a rationale, and a source for every trait. Built on what admissions officers have actually said, not on what AI assumes.
Built on what admissions officers said.
Not a synthesized 'best practices' list. Not vibes. Public writing from people who actually read applications, mapped to the schools you're applying to.
See the source listAnchored in admissions officers' own words.
MIT Admissions. Georgia Tech's Rick Clark. Former Penn dean Sara Harberson. Jeffrey Selingo's embedded reporting from Davidson, Emory, and UW. Public writing from people who read applications for a living — not a synthesized 'best practices' list.
Sources from the schools your readers come from.
Every rubric anchor traces to admissions writing from a specific institution. When MIT publishes how they read essays, that's an anchor. When Penn's former dean explains what they look for, that's an anchor. Your essay is graded by the schools' own words.
Pay once. No subscription.
Every plan unlocks full written feedback on your Common App personal statement.
Single
Full written feedback on one personal statement.
- Everything in Free
- Written feedback on all 5 traits
- A suggested revision for each trait, pulled from your essay
- Grade 1 essay
Three-pack
Three gradings. Grade a draft, revise, grade again.
- Everything in Single
- Grade 3 essays
- Re-grade as you revise
UnlimitedPopular
Unlimited gradings. Grade every draft as you revise.
- Everything in Single
- Unlimited gradings
- Grade every essay and every draft
- Good through Jan 31, 2027
What's included:
- Your overall score out of 25
- A score on each of the 5 traits
- A level description for every trait
- Written feedback is locked — unlock it with any plan
Questions students actually ask.
If your question isn't here, email support@tryessaylab.com — we read every one.