How To Write A College Essay, With Examples

How To Write A College Essay, With Examples No generic essays come out of this process, because this is real essay writing, not essay shopping. Do not write your way into the essay by simply restating the initial prompt or question. Instead, put the reader in the moment by painting a picture and then elaborate on why it is important. Most conformists will stifle their unique voice by attempting to respond to the specific prompts that the Common Application provides. What results is often a generic statement that lacks energy or personality. The essay also provides you with an opportunity to say what hasn’t been said in your application and do so in your distinct voice. My friend Alex, who’s about to enter her senior year in high school, has a second-degree black belt in judo. She was thinking about doing an essay on her beloved “Calvin & Hobbes.” Can you guess what my advice was? Soon coming out in its third edition, Conquering the College Admissions Essay in 10 Steps is regularly ranked #1 on Amazon among all books on how to write the personal statement. Concise and easy to follow, it turns a very tough assignment into a writing opportunity you can manage with confidence. She doesn’t even start the basketball essay for Michigan now. But she does complete very rough drafts of the Catch-22 essays for UVA and George Mason. After returning from vacation, Rachel finds herself jet-lagged, distracted by friends and uninspired. Prior to joining College Coach, Elyse worked as an admissions officer at Barnard College and Bennington College. Visit our website to learn more about Elyse Krantz. Show this draft to your college English teacher, your counselor, your Transfer Center director, or a relative who will be brutally honest. ” Have someone read your essay to see if your point comes across. College admission officers are usually able to detect an essaynot written by the student. Be clear about the theme of your essay from the first paragraph. Grab the reader’s attention with a compelling opening sentence. For example, instead of “it was really very important to me â€" and my parents too - that…” use “it was imperative that I…” Keep your essay around 500 words, unless otherwise specified in the application. Rachel has won numerous awards and intends to play at the intramural level in college. She decides that would make a better topic for Michigan’s “extracurricular activity” essay. Her counselor also suggests the University of Mary Washington, another Virginia public school, because it’s close to D.C. Elyse Krantz is a member of College Coach’s team of college admissions experts. Elyse received her BA in linguistics from Dartmouth College and her MA from Teachers College, Columbia University. While colleges often pose different essay questions to their applicants, there are typically a handful of traditional queries that many schools employ. In order to respond to the best of your ability, it’s important to understand what universities are driving at/asking. Contact us for your free 15-minute phone consultation with Dr. Kristen Willmott to discuss your graduate school plans and our graduate admissions consulting programs. Our counselors are accustomed to tutoring over the phone and reviewing drafts by email. Rachel decides to write about her local and global communities of Third Culture Kids. To be able to tweak this essay for several colleges, Rachel will write about her most meaningful community in the first half of the essay, and then gear the second half to each college. Because UVA and Michigan request similar word counts, she will not have to adjust these for length. Finally, she checks the Common App to make sure supplemental essay prompts have not changed, then gets to work. She plans to write each morning and see her friends in the afternoon only if she has made real progress on her essays that day. They can work with students from anywhere in the world, at any time. They’re competing for an admissions officer’s attention, and you don’t want to lose your reader before your story ever really gets going. The essay is valuable to you and the colleges to which you are applying. If you think of the application as pieces of a puzzle or as independent voices coming together to tell your story, the essay is part of the puzzle over which you have complete control. Ask this reader if your essay sounds like you, is interesting to read, wanders off the topic anywhere, and is vivid and coherent. This is your chance to fill out your personal story. The reader is looking to round you out and learn some personal details that will help them recommend you for admission. Below are some tips for writing an essay that will enhance your application. ” Instead, ask, “What should I tell them about me?