Tips For Writing Your College Application Essay

Tips For Writing Your College Application Essay DO write an essay that only you could honestly write. If it’s possible that the reader will read anything similar from another applicant, you need to start another essay. Look on theUndergraduate Admissions website and locate the possible college essay topics. You may see one or two questions that seem easier for you to answer than others. 2.Narrow the list of possible topics.Which topics best reflect who you are and how you want to portray yourself to the colleges? If they’re willing, get one of your English teachers to read it. These people will point out things you never would have noticed on your own. 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. 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. On the flip side, abad essaycan overshadow all of your other accomplishments. If I had to assign the MVP of the college application essay, it would be the very first sentence. Combining your larger reasons with the specific details paints a clear picture of why this is the right college for you. Use the details to ground the bigger-picture aspects of your story. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. To identify key ingredients of a good college essay. The college application process is stressful, and the essay can seem like an insurmountable hurdle. Once you’ve proofread and edited the essay till you’re sick of it, let a few people you trust look over it. John Hopkins University has a page full of essays that worked; one in particular, entitled“Breaking Into Cars”, showcases what the writer learned from his experiences well. This second version isn’t going to win any awards, and it definitely needs more work, but the specificity is there. If the person reading this essay had no idea about marching band or music, this description would give them enough detail to empathize with the writer. It helps you get all the obvious stuff out of your head first. When you begin to write an essay, it’s normal to fall back on clichés. DON’T try to write an important or scholarly essay. A well-researched essay that shows off your knowledge of a particular academic subject tells the reader nothing about you. The reader will only suspect that your essay is a recycled term paper. Do not focus on the things you cannot do or highlight your weaknesses. Acceptance into college is dependent on your strengths and academic abilities. Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. That’s okay to start â€" it gets you in the flow of writing. But we want to get that stuff out of the way as quickly as possible so we can move on to the not so obvious. However, most people don’t have such novel experiences. Don’t think that your life is too “boring” to provide material for a great essay.With the right approach, you can still write an essay that wows. However, while it’s true that the essay isn’t the only thing that matters to college admissions officers, a great essay can actually compensate for less than stellar grades. 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. To that end, use the space to explore why you’re a mutual fit. It can be especially helpful to use a story or anecdote (just not, “I’ve had a Yale sweatshirt since I was 10”). Your motivation to write will become stronger if you are excited about the topic. Discuss how your disability has made you the person you are today. Emphasize how it has made you stronger, think outside the box, or overcome adversity.