The Importance of a Strong Admission Essay
Well, the answer is relatively simple. If you demonstrate the focus and argument that the essay requires, then this is the best way to alleviate any potential appearance of shallowness or lack of care. A persuasive, well written and focused essay will help in this direction, but it is an understanding of the subject that will lead to an original essay of any substance. This is where tutors will look for an assurance that you possess the capacity to progress past the high school level.
Another common problem is that students do not answer the essay question directly; instead they talk about some other related materials. But by far the biggest problem students have is in the actual development of your arguments. We give the admissions tutor a timeline of what has happened in your life and all the things you have been involved in, in semi-chronological order. This allows the tutor to build a picture of who you are. Also, when you move into the part of the essay that deals with academic achievement and intentions for the future, you should try to introduce and explore one or two ideas in each paragraph. This way you are more likely to give the points the time and space they deserve. Do not be tempted to start a new paragraph just because your tutor is encouraging the “spaces” you are making in your draft. Try to leave related points in the same paragraph. All of these are very helpful and should be considered, but the most important of all is the point about answering the essay question.
While these reasons may appear logical and perhaps obvious, the fact is that many students submit essays that do not provide the type of information and argument that the tutors are looking for. It is easy to write an essay that has no real focus, and because of this, it tends to lack “smoothness” and rather than “flowing”, the writing seems to just ramble on without any clear direction. Also, many students do not appreciate the importance of spell-checking their work. However, it is difficult for you to be totally objective when it is your own work. You should take advantage of the fact that others are willing to read your work and give you constructive comment.
A strong admission essay is a vital tool in the college admissions process. This is because it is a great way to showcase your academic record, ability, and aspirations in a concise, persuasive way. It is also a chance for you to highlight your personal growth – such as what you have learned from your experiences. In addition, the essay allows you to demonstrate “fit” with the university you are applying to. That is, you need to show the admissions tutor that you have some understanding of the academic programs offered by the university and that these programs form part of your plans for the future.
It is essential to create a connection between the applicant and the reader at the very beginning of the essay. Therefore, in this essay, the author did two things. He used the very first sentence to introduce his family background. Then, he used the first paragraph to show that the information about his parents had an influence on him. In this way, the reader starts to feel the same kinship as the author. Then, according to the requirement that the common application gives the topic of the essay, he explained how his academic achievements were possible in the next couple of paragraphs. This makes his whole essay very personal. After this, the author again made a smart move. Instead of just listing the achievements, he wrote a paragraph arguing how the teaching philosophy in his school influenced him until the last year of his high school. This showed a developing process of the author and the reader will really see a kind of personal growth. At last, the author described the most recent accolade, the National Merit Scholar, as a fulfillment of this growth. Just from the way how each sentence was organized and how the author managed the information, it is clear that this award meant something to the author. He connected this with his high school work and concluded this as a personal growth. The significance of this award is not just the monetary award, but the author showed how much he became himself from this process. And he would bring the same spirit to the college. All of these were not simple work, but effective writing. Different strategies used at different paragraphs which enable him to talk about different kind of things. All the sentences provided in this essay supported the author’s position and made this essay personal. On the other hand, the flow of the writing was maintained consistently from the introduction to the conclusion. Each word was carefully selected and every sentence was well organized and well constructed. Therefore, the essay was able to show the personal strength of the author. All this writing is really a process of rewriting. I encourage him to revise his work again and again because the very initial work may not be the best one. With more thinking and understanding, the final work will be more personal and appropriate. I also keep him company in his struggle in finding his voice. However, I emphasize that this process is a real pleasure to me because this is about how one can reach one’s fulfillment. Every word may be a small victory. So this criticism is meaningful in every way. Through this kind of work, I got a sense of what it is like when you really achieve. And I can better encourage my student to earn their own achievement in writing. One comment on this essay is that writing is a process. It is hard to finish the final work in my first draft. As I write this essay, I have just completed my first draft. Also, the essay will show the maturity of his writing and thought. I can be assured that I have already made a great improvement in my writing. For this kind of work, it really worth the time and I learn to appreciate more about the process of writing. I am grateful for the suggestions and encouragement from my other classmates as well. Their suggestions gave me new insights into my work. Sometimes, a small bit of suggestion from a different person can really change the way of my thinking. I know that I should appreciate their time of looking at my work and giving comments. I will do the same when I am tedious on their work. Amy told me before that we can make ourselves and our peers strong. I agree with this principle. We all should go through a process in order to grow.
In this section, the applicants should describe significant personal growth experiences that have changed their perceptions or life values. They should also describe their participation in relevant extracurricular activities. The emphasis here is mainly on reflection. For example, successful stories of personal growth could demonstrate that the applicant possesses self-awareness, leadership, and maturity. Reflections upon well-selected meaningful experiences, such as those from community service, international engagement, and a variety of extracurricular activities, may provide strong evidence of how the applicant has matured and how the experiences have impacted their lives. Moreover, detailed descriptions and success storytelling in such experiences would be definitely appealing and give a strong sense that the applicant is passionate about the chosen area of interests. Additionally, engaging experiences and special opportunities gained from the activities may further show the capacity and open-mindedness of the applicants in embracing their lives and the lives of others. Finally, both personal growth and the engaged experiences highlight the positive outcomes as well as the strong attributes of the character of the applicant. Properly used, stories of personal growth essences can effectively illustrate several of the sixteen qualities in the holistic framework, including, for example, resilience, self-confidence, moral character, and potential for leadership. On the other hand, if the applicant has fruitful experiences in the extracurricular activities that are closely relevant to the chosen field of study, he or she may narrate some successful stories and specific outcomes in the second half of this session. Showing passion in well-selected meaningful activities and describing success storytelling will provide solid evidence of how the extracurricular activities have shaped the vision and cultivated the passion of the applicant and how those experiences would, in turn, facilitate the growth and the learning journey in the college community. In sum, personal growth experiences and the engaged essences from extracurricular activities are important reflections to be included in the essay. These successful stories can best provide distinct contexts and fully demonstrate the applicant’s strong qualifications as well as the alignment to the chosen programme.
Another important way to demonstrate that a fit exists between the candidate and the institution is to discuss goals and values that the two share. Various universities reflect distinct values and focus on different goals. For example, some institutions require students to obtain a well-rounded education in both the sciences and the liberal arts. Other institutions, however, may mandate that all students take part in a certain degree of community service or advocate for a specific social issue. Demonstrating that an applicant is already in line with a university’s values and its approach to education, and that an applicant’s long-term goals and career plans are a good match for the same educational style, would strengthen the argument that a student is a good fit for the college. Several ways to do this, tangibly, is to provide a detailed and thoughtful account of what about the course offerings, the campus community, or the program as a whole makes it an attractive place to live and study. If an applicant was lucky enough to have visited, such information might be quite useful for admissions staff to understand not just the quality of the academic program, but what about the environment really speaks to the student. If an applicant has a clear plan or a goal for a specific area of study, a career path, or an aspect of research or internship experience, it is very important to connect that plan to a concrete resource at the university. For example, if a particular professor or a specific academic department has a role to play in an applicant’s plan, state that connection and explain in a detailed way what it is that excites the applicant about that individual aspect the most. Finally, it is important to explain what the match or criteria is for that plan. Maybe the professor has groundbreaking research. Maybe the academic program is particularly well-suited to an applicant’s interdisciplinary focus. Sharing one’s own experience and connecting to the experience that other students also are seeking is very important. More importantly, by explaining the current experience that one gets and what an applicant takes forward to the university, it adds credence to the idea that the applicant is trying to find a community that shares a sense of investment in the kind of education that he or she also supports. By sharing how the university becomes a part of the applicant’s own, ongoing narrative somewhere in the essay, it becomes clear these are not just ideal observations, but real, tangible things that the applicant is looking for and believes are the most important. As such, not only is the argument of the applicant being a good fit advanced well, but the essay is also more memorable in helping the targeted reader remember the applicant.
In conclusion, a good college application essay is an extremely important part of the application process. The essay not only gives an opportunity for a student to show his or her writing quality, but is also a clue, a chance to “advertise” himself in a sense, and to prove that the student is a good match. The essay helps to guide admission officers to figure out why the specific student should be accepted over another. From this article it can be clearly seen why it is meaningful for a student to spend time and energy on writing a good college application essay. In the essay, the author offered thorough analysis for the effect of a good essay. He went over how important a good essay can be in favor of the student, and how significant it can be in the decision making of admission officers. And after the reading and that careful analysis, I started to think about why my earliest draft was far from being continuous and creative. And I can’t imagine why I have been so comfortable to let everyone be able to read something so meaningless and superficial. This article and that careful analysis helped me understand how different and how absorbing a good college application essay can be, and how vital it is in the final decision making that can lead to a bright future, or simple, four more years at a random college. When the time is too limited and there are too many consulting cases to study, finding enough time and taking huge effort for children to write a good college application essay may seems to be a mission impossible. Also, enjoying a whole wonderful growth at that last year in high school with all my closest friends sometimes is much more attractive than writing those boring essays. But in life there are always something that is more important than something else, and things always comes with reasons. Such as when a student walked into a standardized testing room, right before a great challenging test, he should feel nervous and a bit worried about the potential result. But at the same time he should confident, too. He has been studying for the test for a while, and he clearly knew that he is well prepared; also, he understand that there is no need to panic.
