Writing The College Essay

Writing The College Essay You need to remember that you have no idea who will be reading your essay â€" it could be an admissions counselor in her early 20s, or a part-time admissions reader in his mid-70s. Don’t use words that aren’t consistent with the overall language and tone of the essay. Don’t use a thesaurus to find other words that you wouldn’t normally use. On the whole the admissions committee wants to hear your voice. Combining your larger reasons with the specific details paints a clear picture of why this is the right college for you. The purpose of the college essay is to get into college. Every piece of advice you have ever received on the purpose of the college essay is wrong. Do not write your way into the essay by simply restating the initial prompt or question. Choose one that focuses on a specific anecdote rather than the three asking for your whole life story. It makes it easier for your essay to make an impact on your admissions if you carefully pick a prompt, unlike the majority of applicants. By the time someone is considering your essay, they have reviewed your grades, your scores, two teacher recommendations and a guidance report, and your activity list. They know you in most ways that are relevant to admit you to a school. What will get you into college is writing an essay that will be distinguished from the rest. With top schools, almost every other applicant will have a high GPA and good test scores. The essay is a chance to become three-dimensional and distinguish yourself as more than just a number on a page. It shows admissions officers who you are as a person and differentiates you from the others. It is crucial to present your true personality through your essay. In drafting your essay, focus on the content of the narrative. Do not “write” seven paragraphs of conclusion and your thoughts; content is writer’s craft. Introductions and conclusions are editor’s craft. When I am helping a student with an essay, there is little purpose in developing witty turns-of-phrase or glassy segues if you cannot tell what the student is trying to communicate in the essay through its content. Colleges and universities are quickly becoming more competitive than ever. Every year, the number of qualified students applying to top schools increases, resulting in drops in acceptance rates. Harvard College accepted 1,962 out of 42,749 applicants in 2018, a mere 4.59 percentâ€"the lowest acceptance rate in Harvard’s history. Write a story with a setting, a beginning, a middle and an end. As for what story to fill that gap, many students haven’t experienced extremely novel circumstances yet, and that’s okay! It is more important in how you use your event to showcase your personality. No event is too mundane if you can make it show how it was pivotal to your development. Beyond that, the essay is your opportunity to stand out; take advantage of it. This advice may have been repeated over and over, but that is because it’s true. Don’t write about something because you think it will look more impressive to admissions officers. If you choose something you are passionate about, the enthusiasm behind it will show, and that is more valuable than anything you could do solely for college admissions. Your transcript, awards, and extracurriculars tell one story. Rather, focus on aspects of you that haven’t been covered yet. That, combined with your desire to be on a large, rural campus with deep ties to the surrounding town â€" and work every job possible in a student run hotel â€" made you know Cornell was the school for you. This essay is about your relationship with the school, not solely the school itself. In fact, it’s really more about you than the college â€" how and why you will thrive there. Use the details to ground the bigger-picture aspects of your story. For instance, if you’re applying to Cornell’s School of Hotel Management, you might describe how you’ve been collecting hotel brochures since you were a child in the hope of one day opening your own. Instead, put the reader in the moment by painting a picture and then elaborate on why it is important. Get the college essay help you need, right when you need it with the convenience of online lessons. However, do be careful with slang, colloquialism, and inappropriate language.