When transitioning from the five paragraph essay to the college essay, breaking out of its “intro, body paragraph 1, body paragraph 2, body paragraph 3, conclusion” format and its tripartite and rationale-less thesis are not the only changes you will need to make to your writing style.
You will also have to learn to bulk up the content of each paragraph. I dislike giving rules or formulas to students when it comes to college writing because nearly every rule or formula has both weaknesses and exceptions. But a general guideline for the paragraphs in your college essays is that they should be about 1/3 to 1/2 of a page. Any longer, and chances are good that you have more than one main idea. In which case,