How To Write A Winning College Application Essay

How To Write A Winning College Application Essay Why not take the final candidates and offer them a chance to write an essay or a paragraph when they arrive at an interview? This is similar to the on-the-spot assessments we as teachers often give our students to assess their comprehension of a particular unit. Change up the questions and allow the students to produce their work directly in front of you. This would ensure that the words were in fact their own. While strong academics and social curricula are essential to getting into a top school, for over 300 colleges it is the infamous personal essay that gets them into universities. A perceptive admissions counselor can always sense when something is bold, and when something is just plain reckless, or worse, made up. This is why a two-word essay is a poor choice, much like an essay on genuinely dangerous or illegal conduct. But humans take risks every day, and finding a space to reveal your own risk-taking, in your own words, will keep your application impactful and honest. English teachers often don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to college essays. And if you’re wondering why Queen Elizabeth appears, it’s because you shouldn’t be formal in college essays. It’s vital that your personal essay reflects who you are, not who you think admissions officers want you to be. They’ve been doing this job for years; they’ve seen thousands of essays. Consider setting a time limit for this part of the process, or a limit for the number of sample essays you will read, and then set the examples aside and move on to creating your own masterpiece. You’ve finished writing your essay, and you want to immediately submit it and be done with it. Before you check that box, read over what you wrote, and read over it slowly. The college essay is an important vehicle for telling the admissions committee about yourself, but the academic factors are far more important, even if the essay is worthy of a Pulitzer. When you start reading through past admission essays, one of the first things you will notice is that nearly all of them tell a story. The best ones tell a specific story about an incident or moment in time that provides an insight into who the author is and how they view the world. Admission counselors heavily weigh the heartstrings pulled when presented with a well-written story outlining the applicant’s young life. For many, this will make or break their acceptance to a top-tier school. In order to write a great college essay, you don't need a committee. Besides, trying to get all the members on the same page is a lot like herding cats. Many of the supplemental essay questions from colleges will ask the student why they are choosing to apply to that college in particular. That question can generate a lot of generic responses from students, said Sawyer of “College Essay Guy.” Don’t be generic, he said. If a university finds out you lied on an application or essay you will get rejected, almost guaranteed. Plagiarism is always wrong, and schools are getting better at detecting it. If you follow these steps, I believe you will be able to craft a college application essay that will give you an edge in the admissions game. That’s why I am excited to share a three-step method to create a winning college essay. This guest post comes from Janine Robinson, who created Essay Hell, a phenomenal blog that’s stuffed with advice about creating college admission essays. Colleen works with a student to craft the perfect college essay. If you can write several paragraphs on each of these topics, and present your essay in this general order, you will have a solid college application essay. These experiences might include taking care of younger siblings every day after school, for example, or picking up groceries for a grandparent, or working an after-school job to help the family cover rent. Such experiences demonstrate qualities that colleges are looking for, including courage, grit, responsibility, leadership, and resilience. The essay can â€" and should â€" help kids “come alive” for admissions officers, he says, and be more than a GPA and SAT score. The admissions committee is looking to learn about youâ€"your achievements, your obstacles, your goals, your passions, your personality, your values, and your character. If you are asked to write about an influential person, the college wants to know his or her influence on you. Whatever topic you choose to center your essay around, make sure you shine through.