college application essay
On Writing the College Application Essay: The Key to Acceptance at the College of Your Choice
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Offers tips on how to write meaningful essays for college admission applications. Includes sample essays…. More >>
On Writing the College Application Essay: The Key to Acceptance at the College of Your Choice
Tags: acceptance, admission, application, choice, college, college admission applications, college application essay, DescriptionOffers, essay, Key, product, Sample, sample essays, writingRelated posts
Easy-To-Follow Steps in Crafting Your College Admission Essay
Scholastic records and entrance test results don’t provide any clue about an applicant’s personality or characteristics. A college admission essay is the only way for admission officers to get to know you outside the context of academic performance. In writing the draft of your college application essay, take note of the fact that you should begin first by telling the readers about the basics. Write something about your hobbies and interests and how you grew to love them. For instance, you can say you developed your interest in photography when you were on a family vacation to Europe and saw the picture-perfect historical destinations. You can also say something about the musical instrument you play in your Church’s music ministry. If you indicate that you are fond of teaching toddlers, support this by sharing something about your weekend volunteer stint in the neighborhood daycare center or orphanage. Always add supporting information that would further convince your readers that you really enjoy doing hobbies or interests included in your essay.
When you’re already done with the first guideline, proceed to writing something about your selling points. A college admission essay works like a very subtle promotional material. Although you should definitely avoid bloating your essay with self platitudes, you shouldn’t underplay good qualities, either. Make a rough list of qualities you know you possess and which were confirmed by reliable friends, family members, and superiors (teachers or previous work employers). From then, choose two to three best qualities you can elaborate. Cite instances wherein you were able to showcase a particular quality. Also tell the admissions officers something about how these qualities can be of help once they accept you in the university or college. It should not be mere repetitions of what was written in your resume or application form. As with the first step, supporting details are indispensable. This is the only way your essay would not read as superficial or too egoistic.
To prevent your college application essay from becoming extremely dry and boring, relate a good story with an impact. The story should not be overly dramatic or depressing. You can cite a story from your favorite book or movie which motivated or inspired you, in one way or another, to become the person you are now. Only state details enough to illustrate your point. If you are telling a story based from your own experience, make it short and sweet. You don’t want your audience to be exasperated and yawn in dismay. The key is to tell a story good enough for admissions officers to notice and read without cringing. Make sure your language and sentence structures are also interesting. You can probably drop a noteworthy story but still turn out to be a flop if your choice of words and style of narration are inappropriate. A college admission essay deserves meticulous planning and editing. You are not expected to come up with a perfect copy in your first try but it would certainly help if you follow the three simple steps mentioned in this article.
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Your College Application Essay – Managing the Feedback
Once you’ve completed your college application essay, it’s always a good idea to get feedback from other people. But who those people are, and how you manage their feedback, can often be the difference between a good essay and a great one. Here are six ways to manage that feedback, and use it to your greatest advantage.
1. Be sure you are reasonably happy with the essay before you show it to anyone. This doesn’t mean that you think it’s perfect and won’t be open to making changes. Instead, it assures that you will be able to analyze feedback from a position of strength, not insecurity, thus maximizing its benefits.
2. Be very careful about whose opinions you seek, Many people consider themselves accomplished writers or editors and, although their intentions may be good, they simply aren’t. Even worse, they don’t fully understand what makes a successful college application essay. This won’t stop them from offering an opinion if asked so please, choose wisely. Remember, not all opinions are equal.
If possible, ask for feedback from people familiar with the application process, teachers or tutors, professional writers, college students who are attending good schools, or someone whose perspective you highly respect. These readers will offer more perceptive, valuable, and ultimately more achievable input about your essay.
3. Get three opinions per draft. One is too few, more than three will only be confusing.
Generally, if all three of your readers, or two out three, give you similar feedback, then there is obviously an issue in your essay that needs to be addressed. Make your revisions, further polish the essay, then look for three different readers to comment on the next draft. Continue in this manner until the feedback is almost unanimously positive. That’s when you’ll know that your essay is almost finished.
4. Don’t be defensive. Listen carefully to everything your reader has to say, without rushing to defend why you used that turn of phrase or what you really meant in that paragraph. Stay objective about your work, as if you’re discussing someone else’s essay. This will allow you to truly hear what your reader is saying and to decide whether you agree with it, which is still your prerogative, or not.
5. Ask questions. If you think a particular bit of feedback is accurate and valuable, ask the reader why he or she feels that way, what is it in the essay that provoked that opinion? Sometimes a reader will have a feeling about the essay (”something is missing, I’m not sure what”) that he can’t quite articulate. By asking genuine questions, you can often pinpoint what the issue is, and fix it.
6. Trust yourself. Readers will sometimes suggest sweeping changes that are good, but not compatible with what you want to say. They might also be coming from a more adult, rather than a high school student, perspective. Remember that you worked hard to develop an essay topic that reflects your values and personality. While other ideas certainly exist, this is the one you’ve chosen – the one you believe in – and it’s okay to stick with it.
People who give feedback on your college application essay are clearly doing you a favor, and it’s important to be appreciative. At the same time, however, keep in mind that your ultimate commitment is to writing the most effective application essay possible and to do that, you’ve got to use that feedback wisely
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