12 Ways To Write A Great College Admissions Essay
12 April, 2018
College admission essays give life to a student's entire college application. The essay should capture the applicant's genuine personality, proving to the admissions board why you are more than just test scores, grades, and extra-curricular activities. Admittedly, the essay is the scariest part of the college application process. However, the essays are not close to how most people perceive them to be because the applicant has the freedom to choose anything that they would like to write about.
Communication is a very important skill for anyone, so is writing. The essential skill of writing is applied in multiple areas of life. However, the skill does not come naturally to most people. Some learn and skillfully master it, but some have difficulties trying to wrap their head around all the intricate details of this skill. The latter group typically opts for custom essay writing services for their essays. All the custom essay writing services in the industry promise personalized essays to the client, written according to the client's specifications and instructions. All the client has to do is, place an order of their essay with comprehensive and complete instructions on how they want their essay to be written and voila! They get their essay without much hassle.
Before writing a college admission essay, it is vital to take time to think about what the admission officers are reading your essay may think. How will your story lucidly convey your thoughts and where you are coming from? What element of your story would provide your essay uniqueness? Additionally, think of the essay as an opportunity of standing in front of the committee of admission and telling your story or other equally significant information about yourself - what would you like to include in your story and what would be better left unsaid. It can never be overemphasized that the college application essay is the student's perfect chance to bring to fore their goals while simultaneously highlighting their personality, both the modest and great triumphs and the challenges they have faced and what they did to overcome them.
The most commonly experienced struggle by a majority of college applicants is the irresistible urge to cram everything they have experienced and accomplished in their life into a single essay. Nevertheless, the college admission essay is not one's whole autobiography in one or two pages. Instead, to write a great essay, it is imperative to choose a single significant moment in one's life and lay focus on it. Fortunately, the officers in the committee of admission realize the fact that writing is not everyone's forte, however with enough time and adequate preparation, any student can craft a masterfully done college admission essay. Explained below are some of the great pointers in essay writing preparation
1. Understand the essay prompt and figure out what is required before writing
This point sounds quite obvious, but it is the most critical point. Before writing the essay, it is very important to take time to comprehend the essay's prompt. Ease your mind slowly into the whole process of writing the essay and your creative juices will flow freely. Needless to mention, go back to the prompt when you complete writing the essay to ensure that the essay is relevant to the asked essay prompt.
2. Brainstorm on the most appropriate ideas for the prompts asked
Before beginning writing the essay, it is important to spend a considerable amount of time to brainstorm on the possibly best ideas one can think of in accordance to the essay prompt. Confessedly, the stage of brainstorming on the best ideas is much more tedious in comparison to even the stage of writing the essay. The main purpose of the brainstorming stage is to filter out the best ideas from the whole list of ideas so as when one begins writing the essay; they have a clear inkling of where the topic leads to.
3. Come up with an outline and a rough draft of the essay
The major reason for creating an outline for the essay is to essentially map out what the essay will be about and how it can be written coherently. The creation of an outline for the essay is very vital. Nearly all professionals need plans in their work. Cooks use recipes in cooking. Programmers have their code. Architects can barely create anything without their blueprints. All these professions share a common thing, that is, the use of a plan in their work. Similarly, to write a good essay, the rules are very analogous to the above-mentioned professions. After brainstorming on the best ideas to write about, the applicant will have to figure out how to write the ideas down comprehensively and coherently thus warranting the outline.
4. Start telling your story with an anecdote
The officers tasked with reading your story spend very short time in reviewing your essay. It is therefore very vital that the student starts writing the essay most engagingly. The first section of the essay determines how much time the admissions officer will spend reading your essay before tossing it away. The best way of opening the story is by anecdotally sharing one's moment as opposed to the commonly used opening style of using clichéd, catchy phrases and other gimmicky.
These anecdotes, if presented well, capture the undivided attention of the reader and involve them in the story. Noteworthy also is the fact that the moment chosen by the writer as the anecdotal representation of the main story should reveal one's unique personality. It goes without mentioning that; the applicant should give a clear description of the impact of the moment in shaping them into the individual they are present or the person they are molding into in the future.
5. Maintain a narrow focus and make it personal
When telling your story in the essay, avoid covering too many topics at once. Always keep at the back of the mind that you're writing a college application essay and not a resume. It is important to emphasize a single selected aspect. Convey your main idea to the readers so that they can easily follow it from the onset of the essay.
6. Don't tell facts about yourself, show them to the readers
It is not enough to plainly state facts about yourself in the essay. To get an idea of you across, show the admissions officers rather than just telling. Remember to include reasons, incidents, and the fine details when developing ideas about you.
7. Use your unique voice in telling the story
The most common mistake committed by college applicants when writing their admissions essays is trying to twist generic storylines used before by many other applicants. Most applicants solely rely on overused ideas and phrases. Additionally, stay clear of the overly formal language used in corporate and business settings. Maintain a unique and original voice in the whole story. For instance, one could write about an experience that they have had and how it prompted them to react to it.
8. Don't try too hard
Another big mistake that college applicants make is trying too hard and then end up making a completely fake personality that can be discerned by the admission officers. Interestingly, the admission officers find the everyday, simple stories more interesting to read.
9. Forget the thesaurus. Substitute unnecessary sophistication for awareness of self
When writing the personal statement for college application, it is important to write it in the language of your normal day-to-day conversation. The use of huge and sophisticated words makes the whole essay seem unnatural and thus distancing your audience from you. "These essays should read as smart, interesting 17-year-olds wrote them," affirms Lacy Crawford, author of Early Decision.
10. Make your story about what genuinely matters to you and not what the admission officers what to hear.
It is recommended that the college applicants should ask and answer themselves the question, "What would you tell the admission officers if you had fifteen minutes of conversation with them?" The committee of admission is on the look-out for authentically written essays. Idyllically, anything could make a great story as long as the writer demonstrates the exceptional quality of thinking and the ability to grab and retain the attention of the readers.
11. Follow the instructions keenly
This point sounds very trivial but holds very substantial significance. When writing the personal statements to numerous schools, the instructions begin to sound generic. This makes most applicants lose keenness and thus easily slipping into irrelevance or writing an essay that does not adhere to the instructions given.
12. Go through your essay and proofread.
The final stage after writing your essay is, obviously, proofreading your work. A personal statement is as good as the editing and proofreading done to it. A simple error in grammar or even in spelling could indicate careless to the admission officers- a trait you wouldn't like to convey whether or inadvertently to the officers in the committee of admission. Writing college application essays is tedious, but it is not impossible.
Considering the importance of college admission essay for any student entering a college or university all of the ideas and useful tips listed above can be assumed as highly relevant and currently important for students nowadays. The ideas highlight the significance of partnership and co-working with one’s teacher and other students, thoughtfulness, and accuracy of an essay. Meanwhile, paying attention to the plot and one’s attitude cannot be omitted and underestimated. So, by putting one’s heart and mind into the process of writing the essay, the student can reach success and complete the task perfectly.
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