college app essay tips

college app essay tips

Effective Strategies for Writing a Compelling College Application Essay

1. Introduction to College Application Essays

No matter your chosen field of study or what school you plan to attend, everyone needs to master these basic components. Writing a compelling, meaningful personal statement is both an art and a craft. Fortunately, it’s a skill that can be learned. The most important step in the college application essay writing process is another step. Sometimes it is lucrative to write essays that increase your chances of getting into a school, but in some cases, it is very long. The 500-word limit is difficult to work with regardless of the circumstances. A lot of the process is about challenging students to express themselves on paper. It is also about helping you find your voice and realize your own power.

In most cases, the college application essay is one of the most difficult essays you will ever have to write for college. In most cases, the college application essay is a daunting task for most applicants. Many are worried when it comes to submitting a college application essay which is second to none. It can mean the difference between acceptance and rejection. It can cause frustration, anxiety, and insecurity. But it doesn’t have to. In this chapter, we offer proven strategies for overcoming the application essay challenge. Through a step-by-step process, students will learn the required skills to make convincing and compelling arguments for their essays. They will learn the elements of an effective and concise narrative as well as grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary.

2. Understanding the Purpose and Importance of the Essay

So how do I communicate these traits in my essay? You communicate these traits through choosing the “right” essay topics or options offered by the Common Application and/or the college’s own application. These essay prompts are listed in the Common Application and on most college websites. Colleges will receive your complete membership applications from the Common Application or they are read when they are received. These essay topics allow you to be yourself or pick an appropriate subject and write an outstanding college application essay. This is your chance to take anything that you can find anywhere else on the application and develop it into something else. You are the only one who can do that and it should be your best effort. If you would like an easy-to-use guide to starting a college essay, feel free to contact me. Your essay is written and ready for review. It should definitely be reviewed by someone who has observed you work and can offer helpful suggestions. The person reviewing it may have some writing skills and be willing to operate within the parameters set by your institution’s application procedures.

Why do colleges require an essay with your application? They use it as just one criterion to determine whether you have the traits that are a good fit for their entering class of students. Colleges look for traits, skills, or talents such as the following to identify with their student body: commitment or dedication, analytical ability, creative ability, emotional stability, leadership and management qualities, research strength, interpersonal strengths, special knowledge or skills, demonstrated comprehension of complexities, willingness to explore and act on moral and ethical decision-making opportunities, ability to contribute through an alumni network, an inner urge to contribute to the college community and passion for learning. The essay is considered a “writing sample” because it is a chance for the applicant to communicate with the college admissions counselors. You might be flipping all the requirements of a particular college and checking them off on their application form. The admissions office is also flipping the requirements, but not the ones you are checking off. They are looking to see that you identify the characteristics of their college that could benefit you and you could benefit them.

3. Crafting a Unique and Memorable Personal Narrative

The college application essay reveals the students who they really and truly are, something more than the numbers and lists of activities that make up their applications. It may be difficult to choose one experience or characteristic which truly defines who they are, but a thoughtful essay package has the power to open the door to admission and change one’s life forever. Such a compelling college application essay can make all the difference in the students’ application and hence, in their future too. The three resources lying in front of the student – knowledge about the self, time for reflection, and the amazing creative opportunities offered by writing – are the mavericks which can make one craft a unique and memorable personal narrative.

For the student with the right skills and the passion for it, writing a college admission essay can be extremely fulfilling. Key components that make an outstanding college application essay cannot be ignored, and one should always focus on crafting an exciting personal story that prominently features excellent qualities and unique abilities that would make one the perfect candidate. Here are various strategies for effectively writing a college application essay.

4. Structuring Your Essay for Clarity and Impact

Opening and closing paragraphs are important because they frame the essay, drawing in a reader and reinforcing the essay’s main points. Your opening paragraph should accomplish three things: it should point out your particular focus, introduce your angle to the topic, and present your thesis. Your concluding paragraph should stress the importance of your thesis by showing its effects or results in a larger context. Summarize your main points. Remember that you should avoid simply repeating your thesis. If possible, conclude with a clincher that will provide an interesting ending.

Make sure that your essay’s structure is clear and that its basic framework is well developed. Your thesis, which explains what point you hope to prove, is a good starting point for faculty members who must read an overwhelming number of essays. You can further elaborate on this initial thesis. Topic sentences set forth the main point made in each body paragraph. Each of these supports and develops the thesis. End each body paragraph with a strong conclusion sentence. Use it to summarize the particular point that you have made, and to connect it directly to the main point that supports your thesis.

5. Polishing Your Essay: Editing and Proofreading Techniques

Exploiting the symmetry of good writing Editing an essay covers a broad range of techniques, from cleaning up flaws to intensifying the essay’s expression. After you have completed a draft, you should edit your writing incrementally, in a series of steps that proceed through successive drafts. Your goal is a sense of every word’s place and function. As one professor has observed, “A powerful personal essay can be written originally without crossing out a line.” Notice how symmetry was heightened in the following paragraph by employing a useful reversing transformation: “Expecting a perfectly functioning democracy in America is like hoping for a perfectly harmonious society. The government, like individual citizens, must act as an independent force, aiming to advance its own goals, sometimes clashing with people’s personal aims no matter what citizens’ private officeholding intentions may be.” The reader’s inner ear will enjoy the variety, the sense of controlled care.

My instructions to students sometimes sound as if they should be handed down by an editor rather than a teacher. “Leave your essay for a while, and then, read it again.” Or, “Every sentence should be so clear that a reader of average intelligence can easily understand it.” Or, “Get rid of paragraphs where you’re not communicating anything.” Or, “You should know words so well that you can call on them without pause or struggle.” Getting your essay in shape demands an editor’s intense discrimination, a trained ear, and a stubborn determination to equal your best performance, even if that takes a little extra time.