The college essay individualizes an applicant.
Your college entrance essay serves as your introduction to the admissions officers evaluating your application. The style of your answer to their essay question matters as much as the content. They want to discover the kind of person you are and student you could become. This enables you to present your collegiate potential apart from your grades and test scores, to attach a memorable image to those statistics.
Instructions
1. Select an essay topic that reflects your character without repeating information already covered by your transcript or list of extracurricular activities. For example, if you are applying to a college to study engineering and you want to demonstrate how your playful curiosity complements your interest in the principles of physics you will be studying, you could write about yo-yos because the toy demonstrates many basic concepts in physics. Writing about how you played with a yo-yo to think through a homework assignment or a project will illustrate your problem solving skills and passion for science in a way that personalizes you. Focus on a single person, activity or event that influenced or inspired your college aspirations.
2. Use descriptive details in your first draft that appeal to all five senses. Make the activity, event or person come alive on the page. For example, if you are writing about yo-yos, include how they sound when unfurled and how it feels holding the string with the plastic or wooden base twisting in the air. Focusing on sensation will help steer your essay away from too much abstraction, such as an entire essay on how important a college education is to you. Give the admissions committee something or someone specific to follow. Do not edit or censor yourself at this stage.
3. Consider the specific reasons you want to attend your school of choice as you write your first draft. Do not write one standard college essay to submit with every application you submit. Express the thought behind your applying to that particular college. State that you want to attend a particular college because of specific faculty members or research facilities. For example, if you want to study 20th century African American literature and the college has specific faculty and library resources that would help you accomplish that goal, mention it in your essay.
4. Edit the first draft of your essay by reading it aloud. Make sure that it "sounds like you" throughout, which means that it does not include words you had to look up in a thesaurus or dictionary. Follow the rules of grammar, but don't be needlessly stuffy. As you edit, narrow the focus of your topic as much as possible. Make sure you do not stray from its central theme with extraneous information. Remember that a short college essay offers no room for any preamble or extra details.
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