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One of the most important parts of being admitted in college is to write a college admission essay. This is a chance for you to introduce yourself to the admissions board who will review your essay. Whatever you want to write in this essay must be unique enough to warrant a chance for an interview. The idea is to set yourself apart from other applicants who in this case are very any and have equal chances of getting that admission. Ensure that they do not eclipse you and you must try as hard to come out as unique as possible.
You have to be careful when brainstorming for ideas, drafting and editing your college admission essay. The idea is to write something that you will be proud of. Many students find it tricky to write this essay. This is why they need to be shown how to go about the process, what to avoid, include and how to improve essay writing skills. It is not a daunting task, as such, but the following pointers will provide an excellent insight into the process.
There is not a single essay that does not employ brainstorming of ideas. If you want to write a successful college admission essay, you need to think of the ideas that will set you apart from the rest of the applicants. You should consider going through some college admission essay examples so that you can get an idea of what is expected of you. Remember that this essay can only be unique to you. In other words, you cannot copy anyone’s work and present it as your own. You have thought on your own and formulate the best ideas if you want to write the best paper. While brainstorming, you need to:
A college admission essay can come with a prompt or a question that a student has to answer. He or she has to read the prompt carefully and then take some time to think about it. It is not ideal to go with the first idea that comes to your mind after reading that quick o question. You can enumerate a list of ideas that come to your mind after reading the question or prompt. After you have written the list, look at it and identify the topics or ideas that stand out you as something you could write about.
Some institutions of higher learning will give you several questions or prompts to choose from. They might also give you several questions or prompt to choose from or a chance for you to respond to more than one prompt. As such, you only need to choose the questions that you think you can answer effectively.
Every student needs to understand that when writing your college admission essay, you have to start from scratch. It is not advisable to use the essays that you have written for previous applications. Applying for colleges will have you write many essays, and as such, you need to resist this temptation to sing one template for all your applications. If you use one essay for all, you will not be answering the questions, and this will lead to the eventual dismissal of your application. However, if you have to write two essays from very similar prompts or questions, you can reuse the ideas or modify a previous draft that you have not sent anywhere. What you have to do is to ensure that the college admission essay that you write addresses whatever that has been asked in the prompt.
When you are brainstorming for ideas for your c ollege admission essay, you have to think of what makes you unique. Think about your strengths, personality traits, the compliments that you receive the most from your peers, teachers, and friends. You can base your college admission essay on these things. For instance, you can be a creative thinker or good problem-solving. Ensure you reiterate this on your college admission essay by showing them a time when those qualities assisted you in your daily life.
When you are thinking about the theme for your college admission essay, do not only list the extracurricular that you participated in while in high school. Any other students have the same, and these will not set you apart from other applicants. You have to use things that are unique to you. It is important you mention those extracurricular activities especially if they assist you in explaining or supporting some of the major points of your college admission essay. However, ensure that they are no the main focus of your essay. You can check college admission essay examples to see how different people have mentioned their extracurricular activities without overshadowing the primary intention of the essay.
You are not supposed to repeat some of the things that you have listed somewhere in the college admission essay. The admissions officer needs to learn something about you that he cannot learn from the paperwork that you have provided. You can expand on points that were mentioned in passing in your application. However, ensure that you are adding new information and present it in a manner that is engaging, creative and interesting. For instance, you can talk about how much you enjoy taking care of others as a way to let the admissions officer know why you want to do a pre-med major. You can also talk about how you faced and overcame a specific fear in your life.
If you can tell a story as a response to the prompt or question, feel free to do so. This will be more engaging or fascinating than just listing your reasons for joining college. Admission board is always on the lookout for students who can engage their audience, and most importantly, your college admission essay has to be the one that this admissions officer has to read. If it is interesting, the more he is likely to continue reading. You can also include a personal story in your college admission essay to help the reader connect with you on a personal level and learn something about your personality. If you are not are how to start this type of a college admission essay, you can look for college admission essay examples or college admission essay format that has included this aspect. You will get an idea of what you need to be shooting for.
Now that you have brainstormed ideas for your college admission essay, it is time now to come up with the first draft. This is how you do about the process:
After brainstorming a list of ideas for your college admission essay, you can select one as the theme of the essay. When you focus on one theme, you can keep your essay organized and to the point. Just like any other college essays, a college admission essay needs to have a solid thesis statement that summarizes your major ideas and presents the theme in an engaging manner.
For instance, you can focus on a situation in which you were questioning or challenging one or several or your own beliefs. Recount one incident in your life that when this happened and reflect on the experience that changed you completely. You can start with a few lines that introduce the topic of your college admission essay in a manner that is compelling and personal.
Remember that the admissions officer will be reading not one college admission essay but many of them. As such, getting his or her attention should be a priority for you. You can start with a quote, a piece of advice you once received or even a provocative way that you can set the theme of your college admission essay. For instance, if your college admission essay anchors on how you are pursuing biology since you have been interested in how things grew and survived in adverse conditions, you have to think of the best way to come up with a starting sentence. It can read, “Watching the grass grow is the most boring thing…”
Refrain from using someone’s tone in your college admission essay. Even though you might consult a few college admission essay examples, you need to remain true to your tone throughout the essay because it represents you. Writing in your voice makes it easy for you to avoid clichés. Using phrases that you have heard repeatedly will make your essay boring. Think of how you can spin them and put them in your own words. For instance, phrases like “dreams come true,” “long story short” and so on are some of the phrases commonly used repeatedly. Using them will only prevent you from using your own words to describe the experience and feeling that you are trying to convey.
After choosing your topic, you can now start writing your first draft. It does not have to be perfect, and you can write anything that you think about the topic. You can start with an outline as you list the major points that you want to cover.
It is very tempting to try and embellish or overstate the details of what you have achieved especially if you are trying to stand out from the rest of the applicants. Do not say you have been to somewhere you have not. Your college admission essay has to be as realistic as possible.
When you are writing your college admission essay, you might be tempted to humor the admissions officer. Even though humor is a great way to make friends or break the ice with someone, you should not rely on it when writing this essay. You have no idea of the admission officer’s sense of humor, and you do not want to risk your joke falling flat or offending someone.
College life can be difficult, and one of the things admissions officers is looking for is the evidence ha you have overcome obstacles and have worked your way through hard situations. When you use a positive toe in your college admission essay, it emphasizes your ability to get through and learn from tough situations.
You have to be ones about what getting into college means to you from a personal perspective. This creates a connection with the admissions officer with your story at a personal level. Eventually, your essay becomes unique. However, do not exaggerate, be sincere and honest.
You need to come up with a powerful closing statement for your college admission essay. Look for a way that you can connect the conclusion of your college admission essay and the themes that you presented from the onset. You can use a few sentences to make a point that underscores your major theme without repeating anything that you have said.
After the writing process is over, this is what you need to do:
After writing the draft, take a break before you can edit the college admission essay. Once you come back, you will have a fresh perspective and ability to identify what needs to be edited.
Read your college admission essay to ensure it is exactly what you want to be. Remove any grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors. You can also ask someone to read it for you and identify areas that you need to improve.
After proofreading and editing, you can write the final copy of your college admission essay ready for submission.
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