college admission essay format example

college admission essay format example

Tips for Writing a Winning College Admission Essay

1. Introduction

This guide will not tell specifically what should be written in an essay. This is because at the level of trying to get into an Ivy-League college, the possible essay questions are so broad that they can be designed to let a teenager write about basically anything. This guide is to be utilized when thinking of a possible topic and constructing an essay plan about it. This is the most vital part in writing an essay and is often skipped over by students. A poorly devised plan is the difficulty of a poorly written essay. This leads to limitation in success as the essay isn’t able to put across the student’s persona or ability. This is what an admissions committee wishes to see. An essay plan will assist in creating an essay which will seem attractive to the committee. This is the method of writing an essay that will be memorable to an admissions officer’s eye and a lucrative one in the quest for entering an Ivy-League college.

This is a beginning of a guide to writing a winning admission essay. It is based on the instructor’s tips at the university level. This is a guide that will help selected few to write an excellent and well thought out essay. The guide is designed to explore the various skills and attributes which will enable one to impress a college admissions committee. It then goes on to show how this can lead to getting into an Ivy-League college and perhaps set the path of the rest of one’s life. The guide is not designed to give a formula for an essay which will be perfect. Rather it is to show how to examine what an essay question is asking and in doing so, making a plan or set of blocks to an essay. Finally, it will depict how to write the essay, after devising a plan.

2. Understanding the College Admission Essay Format

First, they want to see an essay that is well-organized. This means that it follows the introduction, body, conclusion format. This may sound simplistic, but you would be surprised at how many people mess this up. The admissions office is turned off by an essay that starts off one way and often will have a different thesis by the end. Often they do not want to take the time to re-read anything. This is why you must be sure that you have a good understanding of what the prompt is asking and what you are trying to say about it. A good way to do this is to simply create an outline for your essay. This will give your essay a solid direction which is vital.

The first step to understanding the essay is understanding the format, or what the admissions officers are looking for when they read it. Although each essay and each application will be a little different, there are certain expectations that the admissions officers have for the essay and for the process as a whole. It’s best to refer back to the application so you don’t miss something that the specific school wants, but as a general rule, here’s what they’ll be looking for.

When you look over a college application, it’s easy to think that there’s no point in writing the answers to the essay questions because they couldn’t possibly matter. Though the answers to all questions on a college application are important, the college admission essay stands out as vital to student admission. So how are you to know what the admissions office is looking for and how to write about it in an essay? Hopefully, this will help you gain some direction in understanding the college admission essay.

By Kristina DeWild, former student.

3. Crafting an Engaging Introduction

The second paragraph is the thesis paragraph and is used to establish your argument. “In this essay, I am going to convince you that I am a good fit for your university” is the wrong thing to say. Your entire essay should be a smooth transfer of a personal narrative with no specific goal stated. The only time a thesis is actually ever useful is when it is hidden or largely implied by the end of the essay. Your essay should be built to paint a picture in the reader’s head and provide an explanation of your life. At the end, by connecting the W’s, the reader can draw comparative conclusions to their own life and understand how and why your story is relevant to them. A good thesis paragraph will delve deep into your state of mind and how your outlook on life was to change. What were you like as a person before a life-changing event? What really changed and how did it affect you? What was your state of mind then and what did you finally gain from the experience? With an effective thesis, you can describe your introductory cartoon and how it finally led to the motivation of the rest of your story.

The first paragraph, and I refer to it as “The quick summary, opening salvo or abstract,” simply acts as a way to engage the reader. W’s will always engage the reader. Who, What, Where, Why, When. Get the reader involved in the story you are about to tell. Let the reader have an experience of your story. Using the W’s and speaking in regards to your narrative are both ways to reach this effect. An example of the proactive W approach would be, because I had been deaf for my first eight years of life, I was a light sleeper. If anything causes an effect, it is sure to engage. This will let the reader understand. You also use your narrative as a vehicle to get the reader curious. For example, if your story starts about you attending International Relations summer camp, you might want to pose in your abstract, “Before I had any aspirations to separate the cultures of the world, my dreams lay in the NBA.” By this point, the reader is aware of the narrative and has an interest in knowing how you got from point A to point B.

4. Showcasing Your Unique Qualities and Experiences

It’s rightly said that every person is different and unique from others, no two persons are exactly alike. To this end, showcasing uniqueness and what makes you different from all other students is very important in creating a successful college admission essay. Showcase your deep feelings about anything or your point of view regarding some topic. Be yourself and be honest – let the reader see your genuine personality. The more you reveal about you, the more the reader will want to know you. A great way to show your personality is to learn how to tell a story. Anecdotes are excellent ways to begin the essay with a bang. Imagine the beginning of your essay involves a quick story relating to the topic – basically setting the stage for the rest of your essay. This can be very effective so try it if you can. The body is where your essay really comes to life. It’s where you can really let your personality shine through. It’s important that the reader feels like they know you after reading your essay. How do you do this? Use specific details that are unique to you. You may have to think a bit here but it’s worth it. What information can you give about yourself within the confines of the word limit? The more specific you can get, the more the reader will get a good understanding of your personality and what makes you unique. This is a great opportunity to make use of any interesting experience you’ve had or the opportunity to show the different roles you’ve played and how they have shaped you. Always try to tie what you’ve written back to the main topic discussed. Finally, you should wrap up your essay with a conclusion that reinforces the main points you have made and that you’ve shown your growth.

5. Concluding Strongly and Leaving a Lasting Impression

The above paragraph works effectively due to the simplicity and brevity of the linkage to the previous point. All sentences effectively tie the reader back to the focus of the essay, explaining each step that is necessary in an effective conclusion. Although some ideas are hard to articulate due to the complex English terms used in explaining certain ideas, it is important to remember to keep the conclusion simple, avoiding complex language and syntax. A complex conclusion can be confusing to the reader and negatively affect what the reader takes away from the essay. Always stress the main ideas you have conveyed in the essay, and leave the reader with something to remember. At this point ask yourself, ‘what is the reader going to take away from this?’ This question should help in developing a conclusion that the reader will not forget. A strong conclusion is one of the best ways to create a lasting impression on the reader and separate your essay from the thousands of others that they have read. Remember this is the last part of the essay that you will write, people usually remember what they read last. Make it count!

While all parts of an essay are important, the strongest concluding part plays a crucial role as being the last thing the reader takes away from the essay, and therefore is generally what the reader remembers the most. This is where you should briefly restate the main ideas of the topic and suggestion. This is where you can describe making an impact on the world, or at least some part of it. This is also a good place to address the overall significance of the topic. Once you have demonstrated that you can effectively evaluate and analyze the topic and find significance, you can sum up in a concise manner how this will benefit society in the long run. This can add insight to the reader’s decision to whether or not the topic is worth pursuing. This can also give the reader a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, an assurance that not all is lost.