Dreading Writing Your College Application Essay? Tips From The Pros

Dreading Writing Your College Application Essay? Tips From The Pros But, if you feel like you don’t have anything to say, start here. Imagine an admissions counselor reading that in your college essay. While it seems like an interesting story, the excerpt above is a complete lie. The reader should never think about fact checking what you’ve written. Colleges have better things to do than to check the word counts of your essays for minor infractions. When it comes to the college essay, admissions committees have seen it all. The worst thing you can do is make up a story for your college essay. You are good enough the way you are, and there is definitely a topic out there that you can write about without having to lie. You don’t even need to tell a slightly exaggerated story. Your essay should be genuine and based on fact, not fiction. You don’t have to pull out all the stops to impress the reader, you just have to be authentic and creative. There should be no mention of how miraculous your life is and how profound you can be. I see no problem with parents doing a grammar/spelling check as well as offering suggestions on how an essay could be improved. Just be sure that it still reads like it was written by a 17 year old and it shares the story that is important to them and not just an important sounding topic that a parent thinks would be more impressive . Transizion donates a portion of profits to underserved students and veterans in of college prep and career development assistance. I know this is the touchiest of topics, but I always beg parents to believe in their child. And then they are pleasantly surprised when admissions officers write acceptance letters with personal notes about their child’s fabulous essays. I have seen too many essays where parents “helped” and as result, the essay lost the student’s voice. Too many words had been added that just did not reflect the student’s vocabulary or mode of writing. College admissions readers are bright and intuitive and can tell when an essay has been “helped” too much. In each of these essays, students were able to share stories from their everyday lives to reveal something about their character, values, and life that aligned with the culture and values at Hopkins. It may sound like a chore, and it will certainly take a substantial amount of work. But it's also a unique opportunity that can make a difference at decision time. Admissions committees put the most weight on your high school grades and your test scores . However, selective colleges receive applications from many worthy students with similar scores and gradesâ€"too many to admit. Learn how to select the perfect story to tell admissions and make yourself memorable through the art of personal branding. Through her writing, Callie allows the admissions committee to better understand her approach to learning new perspectives. I'm not as confident of that last assertion today. Most students applying to college would be appalled to learn how little time is spent reading their applications compared with how much time they spend preparing them. Parents can help their child brainstorm topics, encourage them to write multiple drafts, and help him or her meet deadlines. Some parents should not even read their kid’s essays as they want to change too many elements that make the essays lose their unique adolescent voice. You will also have to learn to bulk up the content of each paragraph. I dislike giving rules or formulas to students when it comes to college writing because nearly every rule or formula has both weaknesses and exceptions. But a general guideline for the paragraphs in your college essays is that they should be about 1/3 to 1/2 of a page. This essay highlights her personality and values and helps us imagine how she will collaborate with others throughout different spaces on campus in a diverse student body. By broadening her initial anecdote and having the majority of the essay focus on her reflections and takeaways, we were able to spend even more time learning about Callie. Below you’ll find selected examples of essays that “worked,” as nominated by our admissions committee. So they use your essay, along with your letters of recommendation and extracurricular activities , to find out what sets you apart from the other talented candidates. But admissions officers will enforce the spirit, not the letter of the law here. You need to follow directions, but as long as the college’s online application doesn’t cut you off, it’s fine to go over the word limit by words in a short essay, and maybe by a few sentences in a long essay.