Read These Top College Essay Examples

Read These Top College Essay Examples Don’t be afraid to take classes that will improve your skills and make you more confident. Every class you take does not have to apply to your major. Many teachers and scholarship forms follow different formats, and you must double check instructions to ensure that your essay is in the desired format. Reread your paper and check to see if it makes sense. Make sure that sentence flow is smooth and add phrases to help connect thoughts or ideas. Check your essay for grammar and spelling mistakes. Here you are, questioning whether or not going to college is the right decision. Like most things in life, it’s useful to weigh the financial costs and the benefits of going to college before making such an important decision, so here’s a quick look at the top 10 benefits of a college degree. After writing your conclusion, you might think that you have completed your essay. Before you consider this a finished work, you must pay attention to all the small details. Your strongest points should be the first and last paragraphs within the body, with the others falling in the middle. Become a better writer by taking a writing class. College can be the bridge between childhood and adulthood. The transition is an opportunity for you to reflect on the person you were in high school, and the adult you want to become. If you quietly sat in the back of every class in high school, use your college experience to become more outgoing! It always makes sense to consider your family when deciding whether or not to go to college because your job, career satisfaction, and its benefits will play a role in your family life. According to theBureau of Labor Statistics, in April 2018, college graduates experienced a 2.1% unemployment rate, compared to 4.3% for high school graduates. The overall unemployment rate for adults able to work was averaging 3.6%, so it’s easy to see why having a college degree can help keep you shielded from being unemployed. Here are 10 benefits of going to college and getting your degree. Also, make sure that your paragraph order makes sense. If your essay is describing a process, such as how to make a great chocolate cake, make sure that your paragraphs fall in the correct order. Review the instructions for your essay, if applicable. To create a diagram, write your topic in the middle of your page. Draw three to five lines branching off from this topic and write down your main ideas at the ends of these lines. Draw more lines off these main ideas and include any thoughts you may have on these ideas. Clubs and activities provide endless ways to broaden your horizons. Consider taking a community college course while you’re still in high school. That will allow you to gauge your interest in a field of study while earning college credit. CFNC can help you figure out what interests you and ultimately help you choose a career you will enjoy. If you are a communications major, but computer science has always interested you, take a computer class. Overcome your fear of public speaking by taking a theater or speech class. If you wish you’d studied more in high school, college is an opportunity for you to hit the books harder. , those who obtain a bachelor’s degree or higher tend to live about 9 years longer than those who don’t. Besides the personal benefits of college education, you may have a family, or intend to have one in the near future. Did you know that many of the jobs that provide benefits like family healthcare, retirement plans, social security matching benefits and the like typically require at least an undergraduate degree? In order to write a successful essay, you must organize your thoughts. By taking what’s already in your head and putting it to paper, you are able to see connections and links between ideas more clearly. This structure serves as a foundation for your paper. Use either an outline or a diagram to jot down your ideas and organize them.

Write A College Essay

Write A College Essay You can apply once each month, with a new winner selected every month. When you place your order, you’ll get many offers from available writers. On our website, you may check the customers’ responses, the number of completed orders, and the writer’s specialization. We provide our clients with all necessary information to help them choose the most suitable writer for every assignment. You might start to really like writing and want to not stop doing it. First, freewriting is cherished by almost all writers as one of the best ways to become unstuck and make discoveries, and also to force yourself to JUST WRITE SOMETHING. It doesn’t have to be good, like, at all. Discover the schools, companies, and neighborhoods that are right for you. It is better to spend minutes and provide the writer with all necessary information than ask for endless revisions and miss the deadline. Mention the paper type, word limit, formatting style, and deadline date. Don’t forget to copy the instructions provided by your professor and send all additional materials . Discover unusual topics, ideas and connections between events in your life. You may produce an essay or many, even against your will. Though technically not a New Yorker , I felt, as Donne would put it, “Part of the main,” as I watched those buildings come down. Coincidentally, this was also the day my young sibling came down with a skin ailment that the doctors have not yet been able to determine what it is. It’s not like his skin condition was a direct result of the terrorist attack, but it probably didn’t help. If you have to, you can even freewrite while you’re on the toilet . Free-writing is what it sounds like, writing freelyâ€"or “automatically.” Some people call it “stream of conscious” writing. Candidly, I do not know at this point if I would be a pre-med, which indeed would be a good way to begin finding the cure. But I also feel that I could contribute vitally to society even if I were a liberal-arts major, for instance majoring in writing for television. It is for this reason that I have resolved to devote my life to bringing about harmony among the nations of the world, especially in those nations who appear to dislike us enough to fly planes into our skyscrapers. With better understanding comes, I believe, the desire not to fly planes into each other’s skyscrapers. The truth of this was brought home dramatically on September 11, 2001. Despite the fact that I was only twelve at the time, the images of that day will not soon ever be forgotten. To be precise, I believe that television could play a key role in warning people living on shorelines that they are about to be hit by one humongous wave. While it is true that in northwest Wisconsin we don’t have this particular problem, it is also true that I think about it on behalf of people who do. Also, I would like to work toward finding a cure for mysterious skin ailments. Make sure that the author has understood them properly. Deposit funds into your EssayShark balance so that a writer can work on your order. Start receiving proposals from our writers within minutes and chat with them live. Many people in the world community, indeed probably most, watch television. Also the situation in the White House with respect to Mr. Scooter Liddy. The $2,000 “No Essay” Scholarship is an easy scholarship with no essay required! The scholarship can be used to cover tuition, housing, books, or any education-related expenses. The monthly winner will be determined by random drawing and then contacted directly and announced in Niche's e-newsletter and on the Scholarship Winners page.

Nervous About College Essay Writing?

Nervous About College Essay Writing? Many college admissions counselors have said that the more unique your essay â€" the content and writing style â€" the more captivating it is to read. Many of the colleges and universities that accept the Coalition application require you to submit at least one essay as part of your application. You can start working on these essays at any time and save drafts in your MyCoalition Locker. Over the years, students who tell me they absolutely love to write have said they struggle with the application essay. Free writing, ideally done with pen and paper instead of on the computer, is an exercise in opening the creative mind and letting ideas flow. Knowing this, you will be more relaxed and inspired as you write. Whether you’re prompted to write about a formative experience, why you think you’d be a good fit for the university or about a person who has influenced you greatly, answer the question honestly. Don’t just write what you think the admissions office wants to hear. Very often they are inundated with essays that cater to “what they want to hear,” making such essays exactly what they don’t want to hear. So if you’ve been biting your nails or tearing your hair out even a little, you’re not alone. A good college essay is one that stays with the reader after he or she finishes reading it, maybe even thinking about it later that day, or the next day. When possible, select a topic that engages you and is one you are interested in addressing. It is important that your voice comes through and that the reader feels he or she has had an opportunity to experience a more personal facet of your character and your unique perspective. Avoid cliches at all cost and never write what you think someone wants to hear. Your teachers, family, friends, school counselors, and community members are all people you might ask to help you create your essay. There are several tutoring services available across the nation; with a little research you should be able to locate an agency near you that may be able to assist you with writing. Use this module as an opportunity to develop your essay step by step. Always ask for help and stay focused on your topic. Remember that the college application is important, but not as important as your grades. Your essay may be your own ideas, words, and writing. Ask people to read your drafts to provide you corrections and advice on your essay. You and I and your teenager will come up with a schedule that works best for everyone. The Word Barn is a great space for writing and sharing ideas. This is your chance to make your application stand out and your one opportunity to have a real voice appear in the file. Tell the reader something about yourself that might not be included in the rest of the application. College essays can seem overwhelming, but you are sharing who you are as an individual. Do not get overwhelmed and stressed by the essay. See how the first relays information in apassivevoice, while the second paints anactivepicture? Feel free to start out by painting a vibrant picture of yourself too! When you are finished with the essay, read it out loud and carefully listen to the content, grammar, and pay attention to spelling or word glitches. A great college essay is an essay that is interesting, pithy and well written. You want both to keep the reader’s attention and to make the reader want you to be a member of the next freshman class at the reader’s college.

11 Things Students Should Include In Their College Application Essay

11 Things Students Should Include In Their College Application Essay You can contact me for samples as I collect great essays from the students with whom I work. Far too many students don’t have anything worthwhile to say in their conclusions to application essays about why they want to attend a particular college or university. If you are completely out of ideas, it’s always a good idea to express appreciation at the end of your college-specific essays. The college essay is often the most difficult part of preparing your application. To help you get off to a good start, we’ve put together the following tips and hints. A great college essay grabs your attention from the first sentence. It takes readers into, through, and beyond the story in 500 words or less. A great essay tells a a unique story that communicates key qualities you can offer the college. That is why a great college essay is personal.This great essay is very visual and helps make you become 3-D for the reader. It starts right away with a specific story from running a marathon in the rain to spilling water on customersâ€"twiceâ€" and keeps us engaged from the first word to the last. College admission counselors read hundreds and thousands of essays every year. Identify the parts of you that set you apart from others and utilize them to write a unique essay. If you are a strong writer, you might also be able to present your topic in a unique and interesting way. You can find some examples of creative essays in the resource section of this module. However, make sure that the essay is completely original. Never copy an essay from the internet or have someone else write it for you. Again, remember it is important not to plagiarize the ideas of others, but they may help you to get started in writing your essay. A student's essay is usually expected to be between words or 1-2 pages. This length will be fairly consistent across institutes of higher education whether you are using the Common Application or an individual schools application. You can find some examples of good answers to these essays in the resource section of this module. Reading essay examples can be helpful in guiding you to writing your own good essay. The tone could be funny or sad, reflective or poignant, but you NEED that reader to like you, so that they would support your application in admissions. If your essay does not reveal some sense of your best personal qualities are i.e. maturity, leadership or compassion then it has failed. Few things are as eternal as the search for the great college essay. But given the range of factors that go into the decision making process, it is hard to know if the “successful” essays ones really tipped the balance. They are not general or abstract, the more details the better. The best essays are 20% about the “topic” (the “what”) and 80% about the writer. These are comments from our admissions staff who actually read your essays and evaluate them in the admission process. We can’t guarantee results, but this advice might help you get started. Standing out with your college essay is important. That being said, the essay is something you can control so you want to make it good. Quite simply, a great college essay helps illuminate who you are. The worst things you can do is write an essay that is generic, one where if your name was replaced by another, the reader could not tell the difference. The people in the admissions office are trying to learn about you and the essay is often the last chance you have to shape their impression and understanding of you. A great college essay is one that makes your reader want to get to know you better, to engage in a conversation with you. It is an essay that makes your reader laugh or cry or think. The best college essays deal with specific examples from the writer’s life. When reviewing applications, colleges and universities are looking at two main things- who you are as a student, and who you are as a person. The college essay allows you to present yourself both personally and academically to the admissions officer. The ultimate point of a college essay is to engage and hopefully convince the reader that you would be an asset on that campus. You need the essay to wow them with your personal qualities while sharing an engaging story, perhaps- a snapshot of your life.

Where Can I Find A List Of College Admissions Essay Questions?

Where Can I Find A List Of College Admissions Essay Questions? You have a unique background, interests and personality. The best way to tell your story is to write a personal, thoughtful essay about something that has meaning for you. There are instances when you’re given an assignment, not by word count, but assigned by the number of pages. For example, “Write a paper four pages long.” If you get an assignment to write four pages, one of the first questions that will likely come to mind is, “How many words are in four pages? ” If you need to figure out words per page, you can use a words per page calculator. No one is successful one hundred percent of the time. Let down your guard and tell your readers about a time you failed. Now that you know what Model UN is, what are the benefits of joining it? Model UN can be a great addition to a resume or college application, and I've discussed four of its most important benefits below. After you have recruited members and set up meeting times, the next step is to choose which conference to attend. Currently, over 400 conferences take place all over the world. Here are twelve things to write about when you’re not on speaking terms with your muse. 140,000 students rate everything from their professors to their campus social scene. How well do you understand the college admissions process? A teacher or college counselor is your best resource. Some sources are better than others, but if you’re struggling to figure out what to write about, social media is a great place to start. Coming up with writing inspiration is tough when you’re feeling anything but inspired. When you’re desperate for a spark of an idea to come floating out of the creative ether, you’re more likely to find the abyss staring back. They’ll find your struggle relatable, and they’ll be inspired by your story of how you overcame the failure and learned from it. Sometimes you’ve just got to write a blog post or flesh out a content publishing calendar. Unfortunately, that creative well can run dry, and writing prompts may not help. Here are some ways to come up with topics when you’re in a slump. The Internet is full of writing prompts for people who need story inspiration. Conferences can have anywhere from 30 to over 3,000 participants. Model UN is a simulation of UN organizations such as the UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, UNICEF, and others. Its participants take the roles of ambassadors from various countries and debate current issues. Model UN was developed in the 1950s as a way to give students hands-on learning in international relations, diplomacy, and the United Nations. Over 400,000 students around the world participate in Model UN each year. You can search online for conferences, and a list of larger conferences is also available here. For new clubs, you may want to choose a conference that is close to your school in order to make traveling easier and less expensive. The core of Model UN is its simulations of UN conferences where students role play as UN ambassadors and delegates. If you join Model UN, you will be doing a variety of activities, including researching, debating, and coming up with solutions with members of other countries. These simulations occur at Model UN conferences, which can be regional, national, or international. And before you send it off, check, check again, and then triple check to make sure your essay is free of spelling or grammar errors. You don't need to have started your own business or have spent the summer hiking the Appalachian Trail. Colleges are simply looking for thoughtful, motivated students who will add something to the first-year class. Be honest and genuine, and your unique qualities will shine through. Model UN is a great extracurricular for students looking to learn more about politics, current events, or international relations and for students who want to improve their public speaking or debate skills. At the conference, students representing many countries and issues come together to debate their positions and agree on solutions. Every step of Model UN requires teamwork, whether it’s dividing up research assignments, writing a position paper, or creating a speech. At the conference, teamwork becomes even more important because you must work with the other delegates to come up with solutions that everyone is happy with and write a resolution paper together. Hands-on experience can make understanding ideas and concepts easier, looks stronger on college applications because it requires more work, and is often more fun to participate in as well.

Is Every College Essay Read? How Many Admissions Officers Read Them?

Is Every College Essay Read? How Many Admissions Officers Read Them? â€" and showed the reader a lot about who he is as a person. The essay is a joy to read, sharing a detailed glimpse of the student’s personality without feeling like it’s trying to list positive personal qualities. The paradox of the overzealous editing of the college essay by many helicopter parents is that they don’t know what a college essay is really about. If, after reviewing your composition, you can check both of those boxes, and you’ve avoided the common pitfalls highlighted previously, then you can rest assured that you have mastered the “Why Us? The college essay provides a good opportunity to leave a long-lasting impression on the reader, apart from the interview and an efficient way to let the people in the admission know you closely. A person they like and remember through the college essay is most likely to be selected. Do not allow your essays to descend into an impenetrable bulk of buzzwords and banality. However, she is also well-versed in MEK strategy for teaching College Test Prep, H.S. Test Prep, and College Application Essays. Furthermore, this type of essay invites comparison. The #1 mistake students make when writing about tragedy is effectively writing a “sob story.” This is an essay which only tries to make someone feel sympathy for you. On the other hand, if you have experienced difficulty or tragedy that affected you deeply, you may choose to write about this experience in your college application. In order to write a great essay however, you need to realize that there is a right way and a wrong way to approach this topic type. In the end, she was able to tie her creative process making origami to her academic interests,” Richardson wrote in an email. Maybe not, but I loved the rules, the structure, and the big questions that surrounded organizing a government. I thought about these things constantlyâ€"while brushing my teeth, doing chores, and driving to school. Unable to take this beloved course a second time, I chose my senior classes with more than a touch of melancholy. I was skeptical that even the most appealing humanities class, AP Literature, would be anything but anticlimactic by comparison. This is best described in How to Write a Great Statement of Purpose, by Vince Gotera of the University of Northern Iowa, which was my guide to writing my essays when I applied to graduate school. In addition to making sure that all of these things are included, you should also be aware of HOW you write your essay. Admissions committees want essays to be concise â€" you want to make your point in about 700 words or less. This video shows you how to write an effective college admissions essay. This essay is an example of how to tell the story of moving to America in a unique way. This student focused on a single question â€" where is home? If your reader is one paragraph in and thinking, “I don’t have a clue what this student is talking about,” you’ve moved from arousing interest to creating confusion. It’s certainly possible and often effective to begin your essay with a description that piques interest without necessarily revealing exactly what the description is about. But while enticing and intriguing are good, bewildering and unintelligible are not. I’d become so accustomed to reading the function-focused writings of Locke, Rousseau, Madison, Thoreau, that I found it difficult to see “literature” as anything more than mere stories. I wanted substance that I could actually do something with, and I didn’t expect to find it in AP Lit. As a high school and MEK English teacher, Ashley brings ready classroom management skills and a strong rapport with students to MEK. Unlike the other parts of the application, where high grade point averages and SAT scores reign supreme, the essay is less about being impressive than it is about being authentic. It was right there in the last sentence of the first paragraph of Mikey’s college essay. I was supposed to believe this typical high school senior, who had inhabited this planet for a slight 17 years, chose to use the word “henceforth.” Mikey was a good kid. Some students try so hard to be creative, or to entice the reader with a sense of intrigue, that they sacrifice clarity. You should also make sure that your essay is coherent â€" that your ideas flow and your arguments make sense. Don’t be afraid to show off your writing skills, but don’t do anything that takes away from your core message.

Dreading Writing Your College Application Essay? Tips From The Pros

Dreading Writing Your College Application Essay? Tips From The Pros It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. Finally, I extend my hesitant arm to pick up the pack of masa harina and proceed to pour it into the bowl. As I pour the masa harina, I cannot help but think about how much it resembles my journey to America. When I moved, I brought my Guatemalan heritage with me into the massive bowl that is the United States. Continuing with the recipe, I gradually add water to the masa harina and knead it until it becomes the desired texture. It was there that I met Emily, a twelve ­-year- ­old Iraqi girl who lived next to Horizons. In between games and snacks, Emily would ask me questions about American life, touching on everything from Halloween to President Obama. Gradually, my confidence in my American identity grew as I recognized my ability to answer most of her questions. American culture was no longer completely foreign to me. I extract small pieces of their perspectives in order to enhance my own. If I completely disagree with their opinions, I use their counterargument to articulate a more potent version of my position. The value in telling my story is just as important as hearing another. “Home” isn’t the digits in a passport or ZIP code but a sense of contentedness. By helping a young refugee find comfort, happiness, and home in America, I was finally able to find those same things for myself. Assimilating into American culture and the American way of life was no easy feat for me and I struggled at first, but I found ways to manage. Although my parents were not fluent in English, I was able to learn English with the help of Dora the Explorer, Barney, and my surroundings. Little by little, American culture poured into my life, intermingling with my Guatemalan roots. The more I remain nonjudgmental, the more my own beliefs develop and become nuanced. I have nothing to lose when I listen to my peers. Throughout my bridge career, although I’ve gained a respectable amount of masterpoints and awards, I’ve realized that the real reward comes from the extraordinary people I have met. I don’t need to travel cross-country to learn; every time I sit down at a table whether it be during a simple club game, a regional tournament or a national event, I find I’m always learning. We had come so close and it seemed as if all the hours we had devoted to training had been utterly wasted. I chatted with the winning team and even befriended a few of them who offered us encouragement and advice. As a child, I viewed my biculturalism as a blessing. I possessed a native fluency in “Denglisch” and my family’s Halloween parties were legendary at a time when the holiday was just starting to gain popularity outside of the American Sector. Just as much as I have benefitted from these life lessons, I aspire to give back to my bridge community as much as it has given me. I talk to the boy who’s attending Harvard and the girl who forewent college to start her own company. They show me that there is more than one path to success. I aspire to teach people how to play this complicated yet equally as exciting game. I aspire to never stop improving myself, both at and away from the bridge table. I congratulate the little kid running to his dad, excited to have won his very first masterpoints. He reminds me of the thrill of every first time and to never stop trying new things. My transculturalism allowed me to help young refugees integrate into American life, and, in doing so, I was able to adjust myself. Now, I have an appreciation of myself that I never felt before. Together, we worked through conflicting allegiances, homesickness, and stretched belonging. My American parents relocated our young family to Berlin when I was three years old. My exposure to America was limited to holidays spent stateside and awfully dubbed Disney Channel broadcasts. As the few memories I had of living in the US faded, my affinity for Germany grew. I began to identify as “Germerican,” an ideal marriage of the two cultures.

The Beginners Guide To Writing An Essay

The Beginner's Guide To Writing An Essay Do you think reporting her 33 ACT with the poor writing score will hurt her at UNC or Michigan, even though they say it is not required, and UNC says it is discouraged? OR should we send her 1450 SAT without a writing score? If you’ve already written an essay that happens to fit with another college’s similar prompt, then it should take you no time at all to spruce it up and submit it. Yes, every college essay is read if the college has asked for it . The number of readers depends on the college’s review process. It will be anywhere from one reader to four readers. Many schools have a strong commitment to a holistic review of each application and sometimes have two or three readers for each file. The college essay has to grab the attention of an admission’s reader. It is imperative, then, that the introduction to the college essay capture the reader’s attention and make the reader want to read more. Each school, professor and student body is different. Check out our article on the most common mistakes in college essays for more tips to ensure your essay reads well. Do not be just another of thousands of applicants that do not make an impression. If you are reading a newspaper article, the writer fades behind the facts and you know nothing about the writer except that s/he can collect, organize, and present the facts that you need to now. You want the admissions reader to say, “Ah, this is a real person writing to me. He likely will score in the range and apply to a variety of schools (a couple top [sub-10% acceptance rate] privates and top publics, as well as some less competitive universities and colleges). Do you think lacking the writing score â€" which likely would be average â€" will hurt him? Put another way, would doing the writing help him at schools where it is “optional” assuming his score is not great but not terrible? In the college essay, you need to contextualize your examples for the reader. Colleges must adapt their rules and discipline efforts to reflect the current needs of their students. Eliminating cell phones in college classrooms is an overstretch, but there are ways to balance students’ rights and instructors’ rights. With the right amount of control and flexibility, colleges can create a pleasant learning environment with maximum safety and minimal interruptions. They are so different that they can’t really be compared. Also, we know that the 25th-75th percentiles scores at the most competitive colleges are 8-10, so your essay score should not be a concern. Son is sophomore who will be taking the September ACT. He is not a great writer, does not like writing, and does not want to take the writing portion. Join thousands of students & parents learning about finding the right college, admissions secrets, scholarships, financial aid, and more. Some colleges will ask for different prompts, in which case you’ll just have to write another essay to submit. You want to make sure each essay you submitâ€"even if you’re reusing itâ€"is tailor-made for the college you’re applying to. If you are writing a good complex essay, even your topic sentence will require more explanation than just one sentence. Did you separate dialogue correctly from the rest of your text? A really good essay can be a strong addition to the application file. Other schools might be so overwhelmed by the sheer number of applications that they make their admit decisions based strictly on statistical requirements. You can often find out how a file is reviewed by attending an information session at the schools on your college list. Most colleges hire readers during the application season. That might mean just a few edits here and there, or it may mean overhauling your essay, or simply writing a new one. Yes it would save time, and can save time, but only under certain circumstances. See, many colleges will ask for similar questions or essay prompts to include with your application.

How To Apply To Boston University

How To Apply To Boston University Claremont McKenna dropped the requirement as of November 2018, and Wellesley finally stopped asking for ACT Writing . Princeton has replaced the SAT or ACT essay requirement by deciding to require a graded essay from a high school class instead. Whether you’re prepared or not, there comes a time when every student is faced with writing their first college essay. Far too many students don’t have anything worthwhile to say in their conclusions to application essays about why they want to attend a particular college or university. If you are completely out of ideas, it’s always a good idea to express appreciation at the end of your college-specific essays. While Stanford is the exception to the rule â€" many top colleges will just require one or two longer essays â€" it doesn’t diminish the effort needed to effectively apply to these schools. You don’t want all that hard work to go to waste. At Story To College we teach how to find their most honest and authentic stories and shape them into powerful essays that admissions officers will remember. Transizion donates a portion of profits to underserved students and veterans in of college prep and career development assistance. Top private schools like the Ivies and similar-tier colleges also prefer to use a holistic approach when evaluating students, seeking to understand the candidate and their background as a whole. As a result, essays are extremely important at these schools, even for those with stellar academics. The SAT Essay and ACT Writing continue to pose a conundrum for students. While College Board and ACT have made these components optional, a small number of colleges continue to require or recommend them. Even if you’re a natural writer, writing a college essay is still a daunting task. Here’s a method for tackling the process and a few examples to inspire you. As a result, it’s imperative that rising juniors get a head start on their college essay brainstorming, writing, and editing. The majority of stress and work in the admissions process stems from the essay writing. These essays are a critical component of a student’s application, as it’s one of the only opportunities to inject personality into an application. Students should spend a lot of time crafting their essays and as as result, need to manage their time to be successful. Each of member of our professional writing team is a U.S.-based native English speaking professional. Writing the college essay takes time and effort, and you should feel accomplished. When you submit your essay, remember to include your name, contact information, and ID number if your college provided one, especially if you send it to a general admission email account. Nothing is worse than trying to match an application essay with no name (or, worse, an email address such as ) to a file. Make sure to keep copies of what you sent to which schools and whenâ€"and follow up on them! Be certain the college or university you're applying to received your essay. Now parents â€" you all know the difference between fixing typographical errors and making massive substantive changes to your child’s essay, right? Remember â€" the admissions officers read thousands of essays every admissions season, and they can spot an overly polished essay a mile away. So â€" yes â€" it’s fine to take a quick read to look for spelling errors, but it’s not fine to write your child’s essay for him or her. Students typically must finalize testing decisions well before they finalize their lists of where they will apply to college, so a significant majority of students still take the essay exams each year. Duke provides “recommended” guidance and drops strong hints that the essay is still worth submitting in many cases. The list of holdouts, though, continues to decline. We provide college application essay courses and admissions courses to help all our students achieve their best results. We are excited to host our first application essay courses in Atlanta this summer, starting May 29th. Find the course that’s right for you at storytocollege.com/courses, or call us to talk to an expert at . You will also have to learn to bulk up the content of each paragraph. I dislike giving rules or formulas to students when it comes to college writing because nearly every rule or formula has both weaknesses and exceptions. But a general guideline for the paragraphs in your college essays is that they should be about 1/3 to 1/2 of a page.

Application Essay

Application Essay The risks are greater than any benefit you might get by plagiarizing an essay. Do not assume that if someone else writes the essay for you that it will produce a high quality essay. The importance of college essays has increased in the past few years. You can find some examples of good answers to these essays in the resource section of this module. Reading essay examples can be helpful in guiding you to writing your own good essay. Twenty-six percent of college admission offices consider the college entrance exam is of “considerable importance” in the admission process . Some colleges weigh essays higher than other parts of the application. However, the essay is not the most important part of your application when you are applying for college. Your overall Grade Point Average , college preparation, test results, and the strength of the high school curriculum all outweigh the essay . (If you don’t know anyone affiliated with the school, try asking your guidance counselor if there are former students from your high school who attend or attended X college.) Peruse a course catalog. These steps will help you develop a list of specific qualities that are unique to the school. Standing out with your college essay is important. College admission counselors read hundreds and thousands of essays every year. Identify the parts of you that set you apart from others and utilize them to write a unique essay. If your essay does not reveal some sense of your best personal qualities are i.e. maturity, leadership or compassion then it has failed. Few things are as eternal as the search for the great college essay. But given the range of factors that go into the decision making process, it is hard to know if the “successful” essays ones really tipped the balance. That being said, the essay is something you can control so you want to make it good. The college essay can feel like the worst part of the application process. Whether writing comes easy or is a struggle for you, writing an essay can be a significant challenge and it can feel like your whole application is riding on that one essay. This module can help you to sort through what you need to do to write the best essay you can write. The ultimate point of a college essay is to engage and hopefully convince the reader that you would be an asset on that campus. You need the essay to wow them with your personal qualities while sharing an engaging story, perhaps- a snapshot of your life. The tone could be funny or sad, reflective or poignant, but you NEED that reader to like you, so that they would support your application in admissions. However, make sure that the essay is completely original. Never copy an essay from the internet or have someone else write it for you. If you are a strong writer, you might also be able to present your topic in a unique and interesting way. You can find some examples of creative essays in the resource section of this module. Again, remember it is important not to plagiarize the ideas of others, but they may help you to get started in writing your essay. A student's essay is usually expected to be between words or 1-2 pages. This length will be fairly consistent across institutes of higher education whether you are using the Common Application or an individual schools application. However, teacher recommendations and extracurricular activities rank below the college essay . Therefore, it is extremely important to submit a well-written college entrance essay. One hurdle that you must surmount when planning to go to college is the application process. It can be laborious, time intensive, confusing, and overwhelming.

Application Essay Writing Tips And Prompts

Application Essay Writing Tips And Prompts When I was in second grade, I read the essay for the first time and learned the donor was a professional musician and an accomplished guitar player. This knowledge was the catalyst for me to begin exploring my own musical abilities. I quickly learned to play the clarinet and joined the elementary school band. As soon as I was physically big enough to carry around a mini Fender electric guitar, I begged to take guitar lessons. Perhaps it was subconscious at the time, but while many of my elementary school friends were playing sports with their dads, I was looking for a way to connect to my donor through music. In particular, the Common App personal statement essay is something that the UC schools don’t see, so try to reuse it for one of these essays. The main challenge here will be to reduce the word count . Map out all essay prompts for UC applications and all regular decisions schools. The overall workload here is really dependent on your college list, so if your list isn’t as ambitious, some of the timelines above might not apply to you. The main point here is that getting a head start and planning your essay workload is essential to limiting how stressful the college application process needs to be. Make sure to get these done early so that you give yourself a lot of time to work on the remaining regular decision supplemental essays. If you chose your essay prompts correctly, hopefully you can use an essay or two from here for some of your remaining school essays. UC application deadlines are at the end of November, so they should be your next priority if you haven’t worked on them already. We want you to expand upon a few characteristics that make you great, not just give us a list with the thousand and one things that contribute to your greatness. This way, we are able to fully grasp why these particular characteristics, out of the many you could have selected, are so important to you and who you are as an individual. Once a student picks one or two of these to focus on in their essay, they are on the writing path to a stellar essay that describes exactly who they are and why they would be an asset to a college. Think of the college application process as a video game, and the dreaded college essay is the dragon that needs to be slayed. He previously held university admissions and high school college and career counseling positions in Baltimore, West Palm Beach, and Rio de Janeiro. A thoughtfully crafted essay and a clean, clear application can make a tremendous difference in the college admissions process. We have found that the #1 reason for essay procrastination is that students don’t feel confident in getting started â€" i.e. they aren’t sure what to write about and how to structure it. Here are 5 essential traits of a compelling college essay. Your essay doesn’t need to have all 5, but college admissions officers look for at least one of these traits or possibly two. Besides, that other essay would go on forever, and, as I mentioned, we read thousands of these things each year. Craig is a college admissions coach and founder of CollegeMeister. Be sure you are using the correct form of words too (they’re, their, there, your, you’re, etc.). Few things will throw off an application evaluator more than misspellings and typos in the college essay â€" except when you mention the wrong college! Don’t tell us how much you want to attend XYZ University when you are submitting the essay to The College of ABC. While it is important to talk yourself up as the awesome student you truly are, you still have to remember that the application essay is not a résumé. You can certainly submit a résumé with your application, but your essay is not the place to do it. During middle school and high school, my enthusiasm for music and performing accelerated in tandem with my talent. In addition to pursuing instrumental music, I began singing in theatre and in an a cappella group. Eerily similar to the college application process, there were many qualified donor applicants. Choosing one donor from the pool of applicants was an insurmountable task for my mom until she realized there was an essay buried in the back of each profile. After reading my donor’s essay, she chose him because he spoke so eloquently about his passion for music and the arts. There are eight prompts to choose from, and you pick four. It doesn’t matter too much which prompts you choose, so try to choose prompts that you can reuse other essays to answer. Decide on schools to apply to for early admissions. Remember, in the grand scheme of the college admissions process, the application essay is a unique opportunity â€" and an opportunity to be unique. Don’t rely on spell check alone to catch all of your mistakes, either.

How To Apply To Boston University

How To Apply To Boston University What if you were to take the negative approach to answer the prompt? Maybe you can tell what your hopes are by writing what you do not hope for. If you look at things a little differently from others you stand out. In answering an essay prompt, you need not always do it the most normal way. If there are a lot of mistakes in your essay, it can not be pretty. In a world where we know very little about the nature of “Truth,” it’s very easyâ€"and temptingâ€"to construct stories around truth claims that unfairly legitimize or delegitimize the games we play. I analyze why I think this essay works in The Complete Guide, Session 6. If there really is no word limit, you can call the school to try to get some guidance. If you can truly get your point across well beneath the word limit, it's probably fine. Brevity is not necessarily a bad thing in writing just so long as you are clear, cogent, and communicate what you want to. If you have to copy-paste it into a text box, your essay might get cut off and you'll have to trim down anyways. College essay prompts usually provide the word limit right in the prompt or in the instructions. On a desk in the left corner, a framed picture of an Asian family is beaming their smiles, buried among US history textbooks and The Great Gatsby. A Korean ballad streams from a pair of tiny computer speakers. Pamphlets of American colleges are scattered about on the floor. A cold December wind wafts a strange infusion of ramen and leftover pizza. If you are on a date, you would naturally want to be smart, funny, nice, caring, unique, not boring. You also want to have an opinion, not step back like an unthinking geek. On the wall in the far back, a Korean flag hangs besides a Led Zeppelin poster. As with rock-paper-scissors, we often cut our narratives short to make the games we play easier, ignoring the intricate assumptions that keep the game running smoothly. Like rock-paper-scissors, we tend to accept something not because it’s true, but because it’s the convenient route to getting things accomplished. We accept incomplete narratives when they serve us well, overlooking their logical gaps. Other times, we exaggerate even the smallest defects and uncertainties in narratives we don’t want to deal with. “That was the day I learned how important it is to be kind to everyone.” You just stabbed me in the heart with stupor. If you have shownyour learning, you don’t need to tell them what you learned. Put the reader in medias res, that is, in the middle of things. Place the reader in the middle of something happening or in the middle of a conversation. I have learned to accept my “ambiguity” as “diversity,” as a third-culture student embracing both identities in this diverse community that I am blessed to be a part of. I look around my room, dimly lit by an orange light. Write your essay as though you would be a great second date. That means you should write with voice, that is, you need to write with your own personality. Honesty, humor, talking the way you talk, showing the way you think, all help to create voice. Sometimes even a single word that stands as a paragraph can make the reader wonder and read on. As much as you wish to shine, the shine will be lost if your sentences and thoughts do not string together logically. Perhaps you can create a little mystery by not answering the prompt immediately. Maybe you could reveal that in the last sentence of your prompt after telling about all the little things that have some relevance to your area of study. For example, you might describe many natural flora, observe fauna, then list feelings you have about nature to lead up to writing that you want to study biology.

Can I Reuse The Same Essay On A Different Application?

Can I Reuse The Same Essay On A Different Application? This is a great book to give insight into what a great college essay looks like. The college essay is the place where you are able to show admission officers a glimpse into your personality and allow you to stand out from the thousand of other perfect candidates. Bauld is a former admissions officer who really knows what he's talking about. I actually enjoyed reading this book because he is truly a great writer himself. Use it to add to your application by showcasing another side of yourself. In the event that there is something on your application that you do need to explain, your essay is the perfect place. If your transcript reflects a poor sophomore year â€" with improvement during your junior and senior years â€" talk about why you struggled that particular year.Be yourself. Your essay should consist of three parts - an introduction , body and a conclusion . Create an outline, decide where to include examples and write your first draft. Don't worry about making it perfect; just let your ideas flow. You can fix mistakes and improve your writing in later drafts. Most colleges and universities look for five traits in a student essay. But the personal essay, doesn’t have to be that terrifying a beast if your student holds the keys to writing one that will stand out from all of the rest. Also, I know that procrastination and writing fatigue are real obstacles in this process. If you’re getting any help from counselors or teachers for editing your essays, keep in mind that many of them will stop checking their emails once Christmas break starts. Make sure to get things into them ahead of time and be respectful of their time. If you didn’t get your drafts to them in due time to give feedback, don’t get upset if they tell you that they won’t sacrifice their vacation to help you. Like I mentioned before, continue to look for opportunities to reuse drafts for other schools. You should be reaching critical mass around this time of having an essay draft for just about any prompt that a school will give you. It may have been published in 1978, but it's still 100% relevant in today's college environment. It's funny, filled with examples, and quite a joy to read. Even now, I'm getting it as a gift for some rising high school seniors as they embark on their undergrad app journey. Once you have completed your application essay, be sure to find a couple of people you trust to look over your work before you submit it. I don’t recommend a friend who is afraid to correct your mistakes, or a parent, if you can help it. Our College Essay Navigator does just that and offers several options that will meet all of your student’s essay writing needs. The best way to get started is to help the student decide what to write about in an essay. All students have various life experiences and ways of looking at the world. They want to read about the down times when a student has failed. Sure, any student can list achievements, but that’s not what the admissions gurus are looking for in an essay. You guys aren’t essay robots able to churn out quality drafts on a strict schedule. This timeline wasn’t meant to be followed exactly. But that doesn’t mean that setting goals and putting pressure on yourself early on isn’t going to help you get the ball rolling. Trust me, a little work now will go a long way towards boosting your confidence and overall preparedness throughout this process. This book is easy to read and is great whether you're going straight from high school or transferring from another college. I like to think I have really good ideas, but suck a lot at getting them expressed concretely onto paper. Yet, this book helped me ground all the swirling thoughts in my head into one short page, 1000 words. A teacher or family friend would be a great choice. Since you already know how it’s supposed to read, and you’re accustomed to reading it, it’s often easier for another person to catch your mistakes. You should also try reading the essay aloud to yourself.

Ua Admissions

Ua Admissions More work needs to be done in order to craft an essay that makes you trulystand out. When free writing about a topic, you may stumble onto an idea even better than your original. icons new Remote Work, learn, and succeed from the comforts of your own home. icons new View All PostsBookCourses icons new Productivity Masterclass Learn how to create a system that works and reorganize your life. If you’ve never done it before, free writing is just taking a topic and writing anything that comes into your head. Just take a blank document or sheet of paper, set a timer for minutes, and start writing. Really, the success of your essay will come down not to what you write about, but how. In general, it’s much easier to stand out on the basis of how you approach your topic than what you say. Whatever application process you’re going through, you’ll likely have a choice of several questions. Don’t get overwhelmed trying to pick the right one. My suggestion is to just read through them and narrow down to one or two that really speak to you. Today I’ll share some of that knowledge and teach you how you can craft an essay that really bolsters your overall application. I was in your same position four years ago, and I learned a lot through both my own college application process and through my subsequent years as an English major who wields commas like shurikens. You have to remember that the person reading your essay knows nothing about you, save for a few basic statistics. These are all jumping off points for the essay. They’ll get you started, but simply writing about these things alone isn’t enough. You have one chance to get the reader’s attention, so draw them in with action right from the beginning. Set the scene, or jump right into dialogue, so they see it’s not just you in the story. Over 220,000 awesome students are learning how to dominate their classes, get more done, and land the jobs they want â€" and you should too. With all the knowledge you have of a topic, it can seem that a few simple sentences are enough to do it justice â€" but that’s rarely the case. When finding a tutor, always ask for help from an adult to locate a trustworthy certified tutor. In order to write a good essay you should be sure to stay on topic, be creative, be honest, ask for help, and edit your work. These are the beginnings of two very different, very accomplished writers. One student is really into ceramics and stock market simulations; one wants to study Archaeology and to continue teaching kids tennis in her self-started after-school tennis program. But by failing to maximize on the opener, by failing to take a stance, they are mushing themselves together with identical openers. Not only that, but they’ve burned about 6% of their word count in doing so. College essays should reveal the real you, the complicated you, the person who makes mistakes, not the goody-two-shoes you think you are supposed to be. Colleges admit real people, not perfect people. “This is an essay about my commitment to the environment.” Boring! Generate a list of adults that can help you with the writing and application process. You may already know of writing tutoring agencies in your area. Tutoring agencies are often area specific and it will be best for you to search the ones that are local to your area on your own. icons new Productivity Get organized, become more efficient, and reclaim your time. icons new Career Skills Learn how to network, crush interviews, and land your dream job. icons new Life Skills Build confidence, make friends, budget your money, and more.

Can I Write My College Essay About Current Events?

Can I Write My College Essay About Current Events? Our Admissions team is happy to help you along the way. Below are some ways you can reach out and stay in touch. Click Check, and the paraphrase checker will compare your text to the original text. It will underline words and phrases that are common to both texts. In addition, it will calculate the similarity of the two texts with a score. For optimal results, check one sentence at a time, and aim for a paraphrase score below 50%. See the paraphrase checker page for more information and a sample text to try. I use it to discover what makes a great essay great. Then, I use Model Essay Proximity Scoring to determine how closely your essay resembles the ideal essay response for each test prompt. It also trains learners and novice teachers to become better proofreaders with an error correction game on the Error Correction Games page. This website is 100% free to use, and membership is free. The results of the grammar-check are listed below the text area. You must scroll down to see the suggested corrections. The reason for putting correction advice down below is simple. When learners scroll down to read the correction advice and then scroll up to make the correction, I believe that there is a better chance that they will remember the correction in the future. For an alternative essay outlining tool, try this Essay Map. For help with a thesis statement, try this thesis builder. The Virtual Writing Tutor can help you improve your paraphrasing skills quickly. Draft your paraphrase, click on the Paraphrase Checker button, and copy-paste the source text into the text box. To check your grammar, click on the Check Grammar button. The system will check for common punctuation errors, common grammar mistakes and ESL grammar errors, false cognates, contextual spelling errors, and word choice errors. This feature is useful if you are aiming for a more conversational style with a shorter average sentence length, or if you are aiming for a more academic style with longer sentences. For details on what is counted and what is not, see the Word Counter page. A trained IELTS examiner might score your essay a little higher or lower, but I am confident that the Virtual Writing Tutor’s IELTS practice tests will help you improve. The system provides valuable tips and corrections on a range of essay features to help you improve your essay so you can get better and better. After many years of research, I have developed a special method of quality detection that I call Latent Essay Feature Analysis . At the bottom of the page, there are a series of frequently asked questions. Join our interest list to receive University and application updates. Any spell checker and even the simplest of grammar checkers can catch some errors that are common to all writers. For highly advanced second language learners of English and native speakers attending a university, an English grammar checker that focuses on style and punctuation errors is probably your best choice. The problems you face include the overuse of the passive voice, run-on sentences, comma-splices, and dangling participles--among others. There are some good pro-version grammar checkers that can help with these problems. To check your word count, copy-paste your text into the text area above and click Word Count. Knowing the number of words in your essay, blog post, article, report, academic paper, short story, or book will help you respect the minimum and maximum limits set by your professor, editor, or client. The word counter will also count your sentences and calculate your sentence length.

Custom College Essay You Can Count On

Custom College Essay You Can Count On Maybe you could reveal that in the last sentence of your prompt after telling about all the little things that have some relevance to your area of study. For example, you might describe many natural flora, observe fauna, then list feelings you have about nature to lead up to writing that you want to study biology. What if you were to take the negative approach to answer the prompt? Write your essay as though you would be a great second date. That means you should write with voice, that is, you need to write with your own personality. Honesty, humor, talking the way you talk, showing the way you think, all help to create voice. If you can truly get your point across well beneath the word limit, it's probably fine. Brevity is not necessarily a bad thing in writing just so long as you are clear, cogent, and communicate what you want to. If you have to copy-paste it into a text box, your essay might get cut off and you'll have to trim down anyways. College essay prompts usually provide the word limit right in the prompt or in the instructions. Sometimes even a single word that stands as a paragraph can make the reader wonder and read on. Put the reader in medias res, that is, in the middle of things. Place the reader in the middle of something happening or in the middle of a conversation. Each of the values creates an island of your personality and a paragraph for your essay. Share all your brainstorming content with them and ask them to mirror back to you what they’re seeing. It can be helpful if they use using reflective language and ask lots of questions. An example of a reflective observation is “I’m hearing that ‘building’ has been pretty important in your life… is that right? ” You’re hunting together for a thematic thread--something that might connect different parts of your life and self. As much as you wish to shine, the shine will be lost if your sentences and thoughts do not string together logically. Perhaps you can create a little mystery by not answering the prompt immediately. A powerful, well-written essay can also tip the balance for a marginal applicant. If there really is no word limit, you can call the school to try to get some guidance. If it's a writing sample of your graded academic work, the length either doesn't matter or there should be some loose page guidelines. A process essay is used for an explanation of making or breaking something. Often, it is written in chronological order or numerical order to show step-by-step processes. It has all the qualities of a technical document with the only difference is that it is often written in descriptive mood, while a technical document is mostly in imperative mood. How likely is that I will get into a school like Harvard? Make sure you have spelled everything correctly. If you are on a date, you would naturally want to be smart, funny, nice, caring, unique, not boring. You also want to have an opinion, not step back like an unthinking geek. Maybe you can tell what your hopes are by writing what you do not hope for. If you look at things a little differently from others you stand out. In answering an essay prompt, you need not always do it the most normal way. If there are a lot of mistakes in your essay, it can not be pretty. Also my financial background is that of lower income. We partner with colleges to bring high quality programs online, at half the cost. Suggest that they seek essay advice from teachers who know them well. In other words, when all else is equal between competing applicants, a compelling essay can make the difference.

How To Write The College Essay

How To Write The College Essay Even if you’re only applying to a couple schools that you know you can get into, it will still serve you well to write a compelling admissions essay. Standing out from everyone else could put you in the running for additional scholarships and will also simply make a good impression, which never hurts. So treat a college application essay as a tool for standing out in ways the robots can’t. But please, please, please do not not procrastinate on your admissions essay. Everything I’ve covered in this article matters only if you give yourself enough time. This knowledge was the catalyst for me to begin exploring my own musical abilities. I quickly learned to play the clarinet and joined the elementary school band. As soon as I was physically big enough to carry around a mini Fender electric guitar, I begged to take guitar lessons. Perhaps it was subconscious at the time, but while many of my elementary school friends were playing sports with their dads, I was looking for a way to connect to my donor through music. During middle school and high school, my enthusiasm for music and performing accelerated in tandem with my talent. If you start the day before the application is due, all I can say is good luck. For the most part, it’s unlikely that you’ve experienced anything extremely uncommon in the relatively short amount of time you’ve been a human. Most high school students lead lives that don’t deviate too far from the norm â€" except that one quiet guy in your class who sits next to the window near the back. He’s almost certainly either a genius mech pilot or the subject of some prophecy in an alternate dimension that he’ll be transported to. It’s a lot like the cover letter you write when applying for a job â€" it’s your chance to reveal the person behind the accomplishments and statistics. The overall workload here is really dependent on your college list, so if your list isn’t as ambitious, some of the timelines above might not apply to you. The main point here is that getting a head start and planning your essay workload is essential to limiting how stressful the college application process needs to be. Julie helped my daughter take her essay from a disjointed, boring story to an essay with great flow and flair that college admissions readers must have enjoyed enough to accept her into a very competitive program. A thoughtfully crafted essay and a clean, clear application can make a tremendous difference in the college admissions process. Read the top 147 college essays that worked at Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, and more. We hope these essays inspire you as you write your own personal statement. You will need to do this to receive any of the accommodations and support services that you might need to be successful. To help youth applying to college navigate the college essay in order to submit their best work with their college application. We've cooked up a bunch for you, based on, uh, who you are slash what you care about. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. Look, we all procrastinate. In particular, the Common App personal statement essay is something that the UC schools don’t see, so try to reuse it for one of these essays. The main challenge here will be to reduce the word count . Map out all essay prompts for UC applications and all regular decisions schools. Decide on schools to apply to for early admissions. Just remember to be original and creative as you share your story. After showing their essay to everyone, students edit it again and again to make each reader happy--and before you know it, their story has been ground down and their voice has vanished. When I was in second grade, I read the essay for the first time and learned the donor was a professional musician and an accomplished guitar player. There are eight prompts to choose from, and you pick four. It doesn’t matter too much which prompts you choose, so try to choose prompts that you can reuse other essays to answer. Make sure to get these done early so that you give yourself a lot of time to work on the remaining regular decision supplemental essays. If you chose your essay prompts correctly, hopefully you can use an essay or two from here for some of your remaining school essays. UC application deadlines are at the end of November, so they should be your next priority if you haven’t worked on them already.

Why The First Sentence Of Your College Essay Is The Most Important

Why The First Sentence Of Your College Essay Is The Most Important If you have participated in a meaningful community service project, make it come to life with specific examples. Give people names, describe places, and relate feelings. Any reference you make to literature, current events, historical events, must be absolutely accurate. AFTER WRITING PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, and PROOFREAD. Neatness, accurate spelling, and punctuation, are important. Limit the number of people that you ask to review your essay. Someone else can read your work for technical accuracy but too much revision removes your personality and creativity. Don’t count the words unless it is necessary to do so. If you have not engaged the curiosity of the reader after the first sentence, you are in trouble. Remember that you are actually engaging the reader in a one-way conversation. You are answering his question; write in a direct and personal manner. In addition to always answering the question, follow any other specific instructions. REMEMBER that everything you write, each essay or short answer will be read and evaluated. Your essays are your only true voice in the application process. The style and tone of a college essay are very different from most essays and research papers you write in school. For example, if you are asked to use ‘only the space provided do just that. If you are asked to limit your response to 300 or 500 words stay within these parameters. This is definitely not the time to take a risk. If possible, use ANECDOTES, or examples, when you write your essay. When you write about a person that influenced your life, tell a real story. These are your thoughts, your interests, and your experiences. The admissions committee is trying to get to know you through your own words. What you say as well as how you say it are both important. You can complete your application form in an hour or two. Writing your major essay and several auxiliary ones takes many hours. If your write a comical, ironical, or satirical essay, be sure that you show a serious or thoughtful side of yourself as well. Real people read your words, and your words must reflect a real person, not a dictionary. Don’t attempt to be funny when you have never written a funny essay in your life. TYPICAL ESSAYS REQUIRED MAJOR ESSAY , YOUR ACADEMIC INTEREST, YOUR MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITY, and WHY THIS UNIVERSITY THE BEST FOR YOU The most important element in each essay you write is YOU! It is YOU that the admission’s committee is trying to evaluate. Therefore, what better way to communicate the very essence of you than by writing an original and truly impressive college essay. GUIDELINES Take TIME … time to explore ideas, think about your many choices, and time to write and re-write. Create an essay that can be modified and used for several different schools. Think about the things your have read and enjoyed. Writing is usually interesting because of details, not generalities. Keep in mind the ‘why’ and ‘how’ as you write and don’t get lost in the ‘what, when and where’. Avoid political opinions, religious references, ethnic references or unacceptable language. The technical and grammatical aspect of every essay must be perfect. Grammar, spelling, usage, and vocabulary should be correct. You will be evaluated on whether or not you answer the question that is posed on that particular application. While it is good strategy to adapt your essay to fit several essays, be certain to answer the exact question asked.