Part of a college application, often (5)
I believe the answer is:
essay
'part of a college application often' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
This is all the clue.
(Other definitions for essay that I've seen before include "Scholarly work" , "Old experiment" , "Try; dissertation" , "Short literary piece: attempt" , "Have a shot at a written piece" .)