TIP OF THE WEEK - October 5

Essay Writing Tips

Gaining entrance to just about any college continues to get harder as more and more applicants are applying for a limited number of spaces. How can you improve your chances to being admitted to the college or university of your choice? By writing a stellar personal essay as part of your college application.

It may be only 500 words, but the admissions essay(s) portion of a college application can mean the difference between acceptance and rejection. Developing your ideas and expressing them clearly will help to show the admissions committee why you are different from everybody else. It also provides information about you that test scores, grades, and extracurricular pursuits cannot.

You can use the essay to describe a favorite activity, to tell a story about yourself or a friend, even a story about your dog. It should capture the reader’s attention and make you stand out.

So how do you write a college application essay? Writing the college application essay can be one of the most daunting parts of applying to college. To get started just remember 3 important parts to developing your thoughts.

Step One: Brainstorming The goal of brainstorming is the development of ideas. Pick 1 or 2 topics that you feel comfortable writing about.

Step Two: Selecting An Essay Topic After brainstorming develop the rough ideas that you would like to include in your application essay; including your goals, important life experiences, research experience, spectacular nonacademic accomplishments, etc. You should also now have an idea of what impression you want to make on the admissions officers.

Step Three: Writing the Essay, Tips for Success In writing the essay you must bear in mind your two goals: to persuade the admissions officer that you are extremely worthy of admission and to make the admissions officer aware that you are more than a GPA and a standardized score, that you are a real-life, intriguing personality. Remember to be original in your thoughts.