How To Write An Amazing College Essay

How To Write An Amazing College Essay Be genuine to your own voice and to your own experiences. There’s only one you out there and that’s who we want to learn more about. Have you effectively communicated who you are and what you value? The best way to tell is to have your parents or a friend give a draft of your essay to a colleague or individual who has never met you. Ask them to read the essay and then respond with three adjectives that describe you and a sentence that captures what they learned. Unless the quote was actually directed at you, your reader cares a lot more about what you have to say than they do about any famous person’s pithy words. Imagine you were telling a friend a story about life as a pitcher on the baseball team. Use your available space to give the necessary details. Kennedy once said…” is already on the wrong track. Write the story that you want to express and then choose the prompt with which it best aligns. If all else fails you can default to the last prompt, which is essentially topic of your choice. Does it reflect the message you hoped to convey? When you have finished a draft of your essay, read it over and ask yourself why you wrote it. If you cannot answer this question, you might not be going deep enough or painting a vivid picture of who you are and what is important to you. 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. But first, she needs to brainstorm topics for the supplemental essays to make sure no topics overlap. Rachel, a devoted dog-lover, has volunteered at rescue organizations in three different countries, andâ€"surprise, surpriseâ€"the family has ended up adopting three dogs. Rachel could write the story of adopting each dog and how important volunteering was to her, while throwing in colorful details that illustrate her familiarity with each country. Perhaps most important, this is an essay Rachel can’t wait to write. She decides against the “getting lost” story, as it happened when she was 8; although if she could find a metaphoric connection with feeling lost and found when moving to different countries, it could work. Likewise, she was 10 years old when Maroon Five came to the Dominican Republic, where her dad was the cultural attaché. The story’s tone feels too “privileged,” with no real lesson learned; and colleges prefer more recent experiences anyway. Get a jump start on a critical part of the college application process. Not what your college consultant has to say, not what your mom wants you to write, and not what you think we want to hear. Barnard wants 250 words, and she’ll expand the essay for Michigan. Because Rachel is still undecided about her major, she will also mention a few classes she’s excited about in subjects other than history. Your reader doesn’t need you to define words, they need you to tell a story that will help them learn all about you. If your essay is about persistence, explain how you personified that trait. 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. She has spent the past 20 years helping kids achieve their dreams & get into top tier colleges. Some essays may need only proofreading while others need to be coaxed from a blank pageâ€"your Senior Counselor will help with both and everything in between to create compelling essays. Opening with a definition, like “Persistence is defined as…,” will probably not be a strong start.