9 Tips For Crafting A Successful College Essay

9 Tips For Crafting A Successful College Essay I was skeptical that even the most appealing humanities class, AP Literature, would be anything but anticlimactic by comparison. 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. 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. 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. This video shows you how to write an effective college admissions essay. If you’re not a good writer and don’t have a huge vocabulary, don’t use fancy words. Your ideas can be profound and can show deep insight into your character, even if they are told in simple, unadorned phrases. That said, you should absolutely get someone to edit for typos and grammar. College application essays can be an effective way for you to communicate your uniqueness to admissions officials. Before you begin to tackle this essay prompt, there are a few points of which you should be aware. First off, don’t reiterate information that can be found in other parts of your application. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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? â€" and showed the reader a lot about who he is as a person. The other thing I caution about is the service trip. If you want to write about how you saved the word, you shouldn’t do it. “Origami isn’t a typical topic for a college essay, but, beyond that, she showed us rather than told us about her process of making objects that didn’t always turn out how she expected or wanted. It helps us to see her as someone who would be willing to jump into new experiences on our campus. What also stands out here is the imagery she uses to get her point across â€" I could picture the crumpled pieces of paper on her floor and the frustration that she felt. 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. Don’t just farm it out â€" learn from those writing lessons and use the essay to become more confident in your own voice. You can fix the writing and your thoughts will still be there.