write my admission essay

write my admission essay

Writing a Compelling Admission Essay

1. Introduction

If you’re about to write a college admission essay, you already know how important it is. Your essay can help you be remembered from the hundreds and perhaps thousands of others applying to your chosen institution. It’s your chance to make a connection with the people who have the power to grant you entrance into the college of your choice. Your essay can cause a judgement to tip in your favor. It can push you past a less articulate applicant. Be aware that it is definitely possible to write an excellent essay, but not to have answered the original question. Be warned about this. Some people really wish to discuss their views on liberalism by utilizing a college admissions essay. You can still do this, but it’s probably best for a specific college. Especially so for those pesky Yale or Harvard types. What is the essay’s topic? Dig at what it is really asking. Say the college is seeking a student who can express himself and make a name for himself in something of his own choosing. Discern what is implied. It’s not asking you how important expressiveness is, nor is it an invitation to please give examples of how you have embodied a self-starter. It is asking for the student’s demonstration of such qualities, considering they already exist. Take it; it’s a backhanded question. Now write the essay, answering that particular question.

2. Understanding the Purpose of an Admission Essay

Consider another similar stack of essays, only in this case, each student has applied to the most prestigious school on your list. In this case, you stumble across a well-written essay, although not notably concise. You believe it took longer to read and evaluate than the aforementioned from the earlier stack, but you believe it was worth it. The essay was well written with the task undeniably clear. After reading this essay, you feel that you know the student on a more personal level. You feel that he or she is an articulate person who has shown interest in your school because there is a good reason. The essay may have shown more reasons for why the student wants to attend a specified school. This essay accomplished an important task, one that all the previous English classes aimed for. This essay mastered the art of communication and that is what all writing at its core must aim to.

Imagine yourself in the role of a university admission official. Consider the huge stack of essays that must be read and graded. Then imagine that you come across a concise, compelling one-paragraph essay. It is well organized and to the point. With pleasure, you decide in favor of the applicant. The task of this essay was not difficult. It may have been to explain something that was not clear. It may have been to persuade, designed to bring about a change in such things as a student’s eating habits, a change in a student’s service at some campus office, a change in how the community at large is dealing with some campus issue like parking or ID policy. Or the task may have been to make a recommendation to a committee concerning a campus policy. But in all cases, the task of the essay was to communicate in an effective and efficient manner.

3. Crafting an Engaging Personal Story

Imagine if you met someone who had always had everything, life always went perfectly for them, and they never had any challenges. Then imagine if they told you that they were a transformed person and that the challenges that they went through taught them an incredible amount. You would wonder how it could be so! Now we know that the person who had everything did, in fact, change, but what makes him so different from the person he once was? For this person to genuinely transform, there would have to be a point or several points in his life where things were not perfect, in fact, they were pretty bad. He would have had to endure tough times and recover from hardships. It is in these tough times, these trying experiences, that we are transformed, and it is these experiences that will provide the material for a compelling personal story to suit a great admission essay.

Your goal is to write an engaging personal story which shares how you were transformed, what you learned, and how it has made you the person that you are today. The reader should be able to answer this question once they have finished your essay. This will be the central message that you will convey through your story. Next, you need to think about the different bits and pieces of your life and select the ones where you have learned the most, developed the most as a person, or overcome the most adversity. Remember, transformation stories are the things of great literature and a compelling personal story. People rarely transform when the sun is shining and they are on top of the world, especially not in a way that is interesting!

4. Highlighting Relevant Achievements and Experiences

More important than what you did in your experiences and accomplishments is how you did it. This can reveal a lot about a person. Something that is achieved with outstanding effort over a long period of time can say a lot about your determination and character. However, remember to relate how it was done to yourself. A person who succeeds despite all odds makes for a great story. Not everyone is born with a silver spoon, and the challenges faced in trying to achieve an accomplishment can help shape a person’s character. These challenges should be briefly mentioned at the beginning and end of the essay. Experience and personal qualities are the most important parts of any college admissions essay. It must be written with sincerity, as this is your one chance to candidly speak about yourself to the college of your choice.

This next part can also be a part of anyone’s life experience. Just like any experience you gain, you learn something from it. This can be very helpful for your personal qualities. When discussing a lesson learned, it is usually in response to an event that has greatly affected you. An event that has led to change can make a good essay topic. You can portray this change by describing how you were before the event and how you are different now, using a before and after scenario. A lesson learned can be reflected in a moment when wisdom has been gained. An essay that shows improvement in oneself or a situation can greatly impact the reader.

Every student has experiences in their lives that can make a compelling essay. Anything from your life experiences to your personal qualities can create a powerful story. The most important part of any college admissions essay, the section that will determine success or failure, is the part where the student tries to introduce themselves to the college. This section should create a positive impression in the reader’s mind. This can be achieved by presenting a specific experience that the student has had. Instead of simply claiming to be smart, why not talk about a time when you did something smart and achieved great success? The essay reader should have no doubt about who these actions belong to. The same advice applies to experiences. It is too easy to state an experience without mentioning who gained the experience. Make sure to clearly state an achievement or experience in your life and mention who is responsible for it. An essay that highlights an achievement can be more impactful than an essay that simply talks about a great achievement. This will help the reader understand the depth of the student’s character and give them something to remember. Always remember that the college is looking to admit a human being, not a grades-producing machine.

5. Concluding with a Strong Call to Action

In your conclusion, start by restating your thesis. Normally, the restated thesis is only one sentence long. Once the thesis is restated, you have to provide a summary of how your evidence supports your thesis. This should be a concise set of your views on the matter. Usually, this takes around three solid sentences. Once you have provided a summary of your work, you should close your argument in an impactful way. This means that the reader is not left with a sense of “so what?” You should leave the reader with something to think about. This can be a solution to the problem, a reflection of yourself, or the effect on the reader. Always complete this in a way that leaves your reader thinking. A good conclusion should be anywhere from 5-7 sentences long. In this, you should keep your call to action very concise. A good way to do this is to use one sentence for each body paragraph. Your call to action very much correlates with your position. If the call to action is not clear, you have not done your job in the essay. Remember, a call to action is the peak of your argument. This is the point in your essay where you are the closest to the reader, and the point where you exemplify your comprehension of the topic and provide potential for swaying even those who are opposed to your views. Even though this is just a few sentences, your conclusion will leave a lasting impression. Always give it your best shot.