2022-10-24 00:00:00-04:00
7 Effective Tips to Produce an Impressive Application Essay for College Admission
Students face a difficult choice in their last year in high school. They have to decide what colleges to apply to, how to go through the application process, and where to start. Once you have your school choice, it’s wise to start planning an admission essay. It’s a common practice for colleges to ask for personal essays from their future students. This way, schools can form the first impression of their candidates and learn about their lives and ambitions.
However, such papers come with a lot of pressure and stress for young people. They often feel lost about where to start and how to stand out in an essay. Here are seven tips you can try to perfect your application essay writing.
Choose the right prompt
First and foremost, each student needs to find the right prompt that will resonate with them on a personal level. So, think about what you have to say to the college admission board. What prompt can do the best job at showing who you really are and why you deserve a place in their school? Consider taking several completely different directions to find out what suits you better.
For example, an application essay can start with a reflection on your beliefs, ideas, and aspirations. Such a beginning will bring you to your life and how you support these visions with actions. On the other hand, you can start with a background, telling the story of your life and even your family. Some students also write about the obstacles they have overcome over the years and how such things made them stronger. Students can also choose a certain topic and break it down in an essay, showing their writing skills, personal stand on the topic, and ability to analyze and support their ideas.
Overall, any prompt will do. However, the concept of your admission essay should showcase your strong side, the best skills, and true motivation. Such a prompt should help reveal your true potential and sell it to the admission board. So, you better choose wisely and take your time in the process.
Read relative information
So, to write an admission essay well, you need to know what these things even look like. So, you better start by reading some published examples online. See how students choose their prompts, how they demonstrate their best qualities, and how they appeal to the board. Read plenty of examples to form a personal vision of such an essay. Remember, you don’t want to copy anyone directly. Rather, you choose little bits of inspiration from each work you’ve read.
Next, you should open your college site. Read the description of the school. See what they are most proud of, what values they encourage in students, how they view the school’s future, etc. Notice what a school expects from its students and try to deliver on those expectations in your essay.
Stay organized
Start by giving yourself plenty of time to write. You don’t want to rush through an admission essay. After all, it can be the most critical piece of writing in your life. So, create a schedule and track your progress. Next, keep your files, drafts, and notes in order. Lastly, keep your essay well-structured and organized, too.
An admission essay, just like any other academic form of writing, should have a clear, traditional structure. Hence, you need to divide your paper into three primary sections: introduction, main body, and conclusion. Also, these three sections should follow their unique structure and roles. Thus, you start by introducing the purpose of the paper. Proceed to the main body by elaborating on the general idea and delivering your message. End with a strong conclusion that summarizes everything you need to tell.
Be concise
You don’t have much room for an admission essay. Often, colleges limit the word count up to one or two pages. It’s not much. Hence, you better make every word count. You will learn much from Hemingway and his writing style here. Hemingway believed that each word should play a role in a story. Each sentence should help you get to the point. So, you won’t find any fillers, meaningless sentences, or long, wordy contemplations. Instead, each of his sentences is loaded with meaning and gets you closer to the story's core idea. That’s exactly what you should do with your essay.
Perhaps, consider reading some of Hemingway’s short stories to acquaint yourself with his style better. Then write a few drafts and compare your style to what you’ve just read. Start by getting rid of any transitional or empty sentences. Next, see where you can express your idea more precisely, using fewer words. Perhaps, you can replace three sentences with just one to deliver a message. By the way, such a style will also demonstrate your rich vocabulary and sophisticated writing techniques.
Be authentic
College admission boards receive thousands of essays each year. Do you know what papers they hate to read? Those are repeated essays with zero individuality. You must stand out with your first lines if you want to be noticed. Your writing voice should be a powerful tool for staying authentic and interesting throughout the letter. An admission board should feel like they know you by the end of the essay. They should have a clear image of you and see whether you can fit into their school.
A simple trick here is to avoid any cliches or repetitive phrases. Also, don’t try to impress the board. Instead, just show who you are and let them decide whether it’s enough to be impressed with you.
Edit, edit, and edit
Proofreading and editing will be a huge part of your writing experience. You will have to go through editing processes more than once or twice to make things perfect. So, buckle up. You are in for a long ride. Don’t let all your efforts go unnoticed due to poor editing skills. Catch all the errors, misspells, poor grammar choices, and missing punctuation. Any type will distract your readers from the point you are trying to make. Do several thorough readings of your text. Make a day break between such readings so that you can approach the task with a fresh pair of eyes.
Ask for professional opinion
Lastly, give an essay for evaluation before sending it straight to colleges. Find people whose opinions you value and trust. Ask them to be honest with you and show where you did well and where you may need some improvement. You have read and re-written this paper so many times you can’t notice little details anymore. Chances are, you already know the thing by heart. So, it prevents you from being unbiased and spotting potential flaws.
For instance, another person may notice errors in your flow of thought or feel lost in some transitions. Remember, your task is to deliver the idea in a way your readers can grasp it right away. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced writers often struggle with it. Another person’s opinions will show you where to add a bit more information or clarification to improve the delivery.
You should send your paper to several people, including your family, teachers, and maybe professional academic writers. Just follow this link https://globalhack.org/essaypro-com/ to see which writing service has proofreading and editing services. You will benefit from their professional, neutral review.