Admission Essay Tips

Most colleges require students to include an admission essay along with their application materials. The admission essay has the ability to either make or break your acceptance to a college. Colleges receive thousands of applications. For this reason, you want to keep your essay on the shorter side; no more than three double-spaced, typed twelve point font pages. However, make sure that your essay is at least two hundred words long. A college wants potential students to demonstrate their ability to present and develop ideas, and an essay that is too short can be just as damaging to your application as one that is too long. The admission essay should also demonstrate a level of creativity. Colleges are looking for essays that pop and stand out from the thousands of other that they are assigned to read. Ask your English teacher for assistance if you find that your essay seems too generic. Make sure that your essay is one hundred percent error free. Colleges will see a typo as careless and even a tiny error will cause colleges to look down on you and your entire application. The admission essay is hugely important part of a college application, but it can also be your ticket to stacks of acceptance letters.

 I mentioned this in a blog post, but it's worth repeating: don't use inspirational quotes from famous people like Gandhi. I think it is one of the most overused methods in admission essays and as several people here have pointed out, you want to make your essay stand out. If you absolutely have to go with a quote, make it someone unconventional, like George Carlin. Another way to make yourself stand out is with humor. As Jessi pointed out, committees have been reading these for weeks at a time. If you give them something to laugh at, they will appreciate it.

Just be completely honest with them and make sure that they see who you really are.  There are tons of these that get read everyday by various admissions counselors.  They have to skim, but they are very effective at doing so.  It is important for you to be able to show who you are in a very succinct manner so that they want to bring you into their learning environment.  It is very important to be simple.  They don't need you telling them what they should do with their curiculum.  Tell them why you want to go there, why you are a good fit, and why you would make the university a better place.  These things will all but guarantee your acceptance.

Your college essay may be the most important writing you have done. Be sure to proofread and rewrite it. I had several professionals, such as my high school English teacher, read my essay and critique it.  I took their suggestions and incorporated their ideas into my own.  I was nervous about my essay because there was so much depending on it. I initially chose to apply to only one university, but since that first application I transferred to another college. I tailored my essay to meet the individual requirements of the institution while maintaining a true sense of my self.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when writing any sort of paper is to be yourself. I don't mean slop  off with your spelling and your grammar. I mean, try not to be something that you are not. It is very apparent in anyone's writing when they are reaching way out over their own heads to try to impress. Of course, you always need to be professional and try to keep your audience in mind. Another important thing is to stay true to yourself, try to hit on all of the finer points of YOU.

BeHereNow wrote: I like the advice about being true to yourself. Fakeness comes through, especially in writing. And while grammar and spelling are important to pay attention to, it's equally important to find your own voice. If I try to write in someone else's voice, it's going to read as someone trying too hard. But when I can find my own voice, and have that come through clearly, directly and still mind the general rules of writing- I find those end up being my best works. I would imagine the same is true for everyone. But it's usually easier said than done... I've been noticing a trend, both in high school students and in college students. Half of them has trouble writing about THEMSELVES. They are assigned with a paper such as, "What experiences do you have" or "What your opinion is," and they can't seem to do it. I've found several homework help websites, where students go and ask people to write one of these papers for them. I think to myself, "This is completely about you. If someone asks you what your favorite color is, do you have to ASK someone?" I find it very sad and pathetic, to say the very least. In my senior year, we were asked to write a letter to the judges of our portfolios. This was a one-page paper all about ourselves. The first think I hear from my classmates is, "This is really hard." I was shocked.

BeHereNow wrote: Yeah, that's pretty sad. The most ancient advice is to "know thyself."  Didn't it say that over the temple at Delphi? Don't quote me on the source, I could be wrong. Anyway, I guess these people find it intimidating to write about their personal experiences. Or maybe they have no clue about who they are, what they like or what they want out of life? I'd be pretty ashamed if I had to ask someone else to write a paper for me, but to ask someone to write a first-person essay ABOUT me? That's ridiculous. Maybe the act of writing itself intimidates people. I could understand if these people wanted to enlist the help of someone to help them with the writing of the paper, but it does kill me a little inside when they want the paper written for them. I don't think there is anyone to blame in this situation other than themselves. They can try to blame their teachers, or their parents, but it is their own shortcomings that would lead them to take this radical approach. I've noticed that a LOT of people will blame their teachers and their professors if they can't suck it up and work on an assignment. My brother has often done this when I am trying to help him do homework.

They eat you alive, these essays, the reviewers. They eat you alive and basically tell you straight with the point, whether or not you are one of the few and the valued. You get a lot of comments about standing out, and a lot of comments about being different. This is true, but I'm sure you're tired of reading that part, the thing you need to do is hook them; from line one, many people have difficulty doing this, hooking, reeling, catching, because they don't want to be different. Well, subconsciously, many people don't necessarily want to be different. You have read essays - college essays before - and found them interesting; you have seen how they're formatted, how the applicant tells it, so has everyone else. When you start typing, you fail to see that sometimes your essay starts following a similar trend to what you've read, mashed up with others, when you realize it, it becomes one of the most distressing things you come across.  Step back.  I'm going to tell you something you really don't want to do but probably should. Make your essay as boring as possible, list it out, state the facts, tackle the grammar and fix the spelling, fix the punctuation, and read it over making sure it's a flawless essay, then, talk. Weird as it sounds, start talking, start rephrasing, make this essay you, not sure what you sound like? No problem, that's why I'm telling you to start talking, start interpreting it, not everyone knows from the very beginning in an essay to the end how they sound.  If you cannot think of anything to put on the essay start being funny, I have five fingers, well don't put that on the essay but make a bullet point, I can move, I can walk, what have I done with my legs, run right? Eventually, you will make a list. You have things you have accomplished, picking from that, the incredible feats, there's an essay about you in your words, from your perspective. 

Sometimes, you have no choice other than to try to add a little bit of pizazz to your essay. I know that I have almost no community service under my belt. However, a lot of applications do not require you to have community service. You really do have to know how to hit on your strong points. If they ask for community service, and you don't really have any, explain things that you do around the home, and in your daily life that is just as important. Sometimes, colleges need to know that you know yourself, and that you are being the best that you can be.

There are a few very important things to consider when writing your college admissions essays. The first, and probably the most important, is to carefully read the prompt and answer exactly what it asks of you. It's very easy to get sidetracked and to write something that may seem like it flows well, but even if it's the most fantastic essay in the world, if it doesn't answer the prompt, it's no good. Make sure to be specific and clear as to how your topic ties back to the prompt so as to demonstrate that you know exactly what you're doing. The second most important thing to do when writing your college admissions essays is to make sure they are proofread by as many people as possible. When I wrote my essays, I went in to my AP Literature and Composition teacher every day after class and had her go through the latest version of my essay and highlight any mistakes she could find. In addition, I went to other English teachers and had them proofread it as well so I could compare notes to see what changes I should and shouldn't make. And on top of that, I printed out about ten copies of my essay and passed it around a few of my classes to have some classmates weigh in their opinions. They weren't as detailed or valuable as those of my professors, but they still helped! Don't be shy about showing your essays to anyone who can help; even if it's not your best work, your teachers and friends are there to help you polish your work so you can send in the best work possible!

First thing is to start jotting down things about yourself because later when the essay has to look neat and more professional before presenting to your college it won't take long for the final essay to be completed.  Of course one should have a couple of people read it out loud and help with your grammar, organization of your paper and punctuation if this isn't your area of expertise.  Not being too fancy on your essay should not come into play, keeping it simple and flowing should do the trick. Make sure you understand from your perspective college what they are expecting to see in your essay, you need to know when the essay is due and try to get it submitted at least a day before the due day, that will impress those individuals that have to look at many essays coming across their desks.  Always make sure you're clear about the instructions, that will show you know how to follow them.  Communicate with your college about the essay because this shows interest and it will be noted as the review process of your essay begins.  Staying focused and writing from your heart along with showing you have some writing skills will be a plus for you and goes a long way.  Don't make writing your essay a chore but definitely get it done in a timely manner so start jotting down information about yourself because when it come time to sit down and write it out you don't want to leave out anything just refer back to your notes. Denia

The essay should also take care to explain and convey why the applicant is well-suited to the university and vice versa. If someone is high in intelligence but greatly lacking in socialization, they will likely excel in the classes but contribute little to the broader campus environment, benefiting only the university's statistics rather than the actual university (though, to be sure, any number of highly intelligent students can make significant contributions through this alone, it is far preferable to most universities to combine this skill and its beneficial effects with other skills and their own related positive effects). Someone highly skilled at socialization but low in intelligence would present similar problems to the admissions committee, and deciding whether to admit this person would largely depend on whether they're willing to sacrifice the average intelligence of the university, and all that implies, for the social benefit of the university--the inverse of the choice presented by the highly intelligent yet socially inept applicant. The same sorts of analysis can be done on the other types of experience, and can reach the same conclusion--the presentation of multiple forms of experience is probably the most important segment of the essay, since combining two or more creates an individual who seems much more likely to contribute across a variety of domains (like admitting two or more students for the "price" of one). 

Honesty is of course important, probably the most important component of the essay. But because of this, honesty is mostly in the background--admissions officials will probably assume the essays are all honest and, for the most part, unembellished in ways which significantly change the content of the essay. Someone isn't going to write about how they skydived into a volcano, for example. But the most important thing past honesty to do is to write something which communicates your value to the university, so you should be communicating your readiness for all the duties and opportunities your college can offer to you and to other students. For example, if your school has an academic focus, you should be writing something which communicates your readiness for that particular segment of academics your school focuses on, either by distinguishing yourself from the other applicants who are all similar in personality or by showing your unique or strong readiness for the programs which everyone must engage in or which most people generally choose and which the college generally expects people to choose (and so expects and chooses people based on their readiness for the program). The same thing is true for schools with a service orientation, and so on. 

There is a certain truth in simplicity--after all, what could someone possibly be hiding behind plain language?--and simplicity is a potent strategy for writing essays. There are, however, linguistic turns which can better communicate the plain and simple truth--memories can be complicated and nuanced, and being straightforward with admissions officers involves telling a story as simply as possible, and no simpler. A story about an experience you had, for example, should communicate all the realities of the experience--how you felt, what you experienced, the thought process following the event, or even during and leading up to the event if that information would better contextualize the event, your response, and how it changed you. A story about a series of experiences, or an arc which results in a realization of who you've become, for example, should fully explain each of the nuances of each event, but not dwell too long on any individual event at the risk of losing the sense of progression and wholeness of the entire story and arc. At the very most, you should pare down the truth and nuance to non-redundant elements in terms of understanding the story--two realizations a moment apart could understandably be condensed into one or the other, so long as the story focuses on the end result rather than the granular parts of the story. 

It is generally difficult to write about yourself, in any context. Writing about yourself means accessing memories you thought private your entire life, and weaving them into a consistent and compelling narrative. Unearthing these memories can prove difficult in itself, but the real problem can be when assessing which memories to use, and which are important in the context of the admissions officers' priorities and modes of thought about applicants. This presents the second problem, which is the sense of exposure students can feel and even confront when writing about themselves for the purpose of others' evaluation. In this sense, the writing process becomes about more than accessing long-dormant memories, and begins to reflect the concept of exposing one's own thoughts and very self to a distant, strange admissions committee. From the point of view of a student who's only ever experienced self-exposure in their religion, their community, or to a journal, this can be quite intimidating and the prospect of writing about himself or herself becomes less and less important in light of the fact that others, who hold the student's future in their hands, will be evaluating their every word and determining whether his or her personal life and experiences are sufficient, or in the perspective of the student, "good enough."