College Essay Tips
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McKenzie Mamayek
Writing a good college essay is crucial to having a complete, and unique college application. Students spend lots of time filling their resumes with various activities and hundreds of volunteer hours, but neglect writing their essay. This process can be extremely stressful and time consuming for students, which can cause them to procrastinate applying to colleges. However, your college essay can be the most important part of your application because it showcases your true self! Here are some important tips from the College Board and Harvard Summer School to help make the application process less stressful!
Be authentic.
When writing your essay, you want to choose a topic that others may not write about, but also something that showcases the real you. College admissions love to hear about what makes you you, and not about what you think they want to hear. Common essay topics can include sports, injuries, the death of a loved one, etc. So although these scenarios may be an important turning point in your lives, attempt to stay away from the common themes and choose a more unique topic.
Who is reading your essay?
The person reading your essay may not be able to relate to your experiences or interests, so details and imagery are extremely important! It can help make your topic clearer and allow you to relay more background knowledge to your reader to keep them informed and interested. Reading informative essays can become boring after a long period of time, so keep them interested and on their toes.
Edit, edit, edit!
This point more so goes without saying, but is an extremely important part of the process. Writing several drafts of your essay can be beneficial to you in the long run! You may catch mistakes you hadn’t seen before. Having multiple people proofread and revise your essay isn’t a bad idea as well, because they may see things in a different perspective.
Have a strong start and finish.
Emphasis on your introduction and conclusion paragraphs might be the most important part of your essay. Again, admissions officers tire from reading college essays all day, and they may begin to skim essays as they progress through applications. Having a strong and impactful introduction and conclusion can help you stand out!
Answer the prompt.
Although this tip may seem obvious, many students do not blatantly address the prompt in their essays. It is fairly easy to become distracted while writing your essay and focus on specific details rather than the overall point of your essay. While it is good to be descriptive and detailed as mentioned above, make sure to mainly focus on the overall topic of your essay.
Don't brag about your accomplishments and achievements.
Your personal essay is your opportunity to show the admissions officer who you really are. All your academic achievements and activities are already on your application, and they most likely have already skimmed it over and know that side of you. Ignoring your academics and focusing on your personality can help avoid repetition and bring some of your other traits to the table.
Applying to colleges should be an exciting new step in your life, so don’t worry about having the perfect application! Just focus on doing your best, and expressing who you are to the admissions committee. If you have fun with the essay, it can make the process a lot more enjoyable!
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