Writing Tips And Techniques For Your College Essay

Writing Tips And Techniques For Your College Essay There is no “best” or “right” essay topic that will automatically make your essay or application a success. Most students will ask their guidance counselor or college coach this exact question at some point. Rachel decides to write about her local and global communities of Third Culture Kids. To be able to tweak this essay for several colleges, Rachel will write about her most meaningful community in the first half of the essay, and then gear the second half to each college. Because UVA and Michigan request similar word counts, she will not have to adjust these for length. Rachel has won numerous awards and intends to play at the intramural level in college. Our suggestion is to start with a brief story of just a sentence or 2 to hook the reader. Then, respond to the question as succinctly as possible. 2018 survey of admissions professionals by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, essays were the third most important part of the admissions process after SAT/ACT scores and transcripts. In the end, Rachel doesn’t finish all her essays by the start of school. Remember that her list was ambitious, with quite a few supplementals, and her momentum was disrupted by vacation. As her schedule grows heavier, she ends up taking Michigan off her list. For your first draft, it is OK to go over the word count a bit and then trim your essay down as you revise. This will allow you to explore different approaches to the essay and see what works best for you. of the colleges that you are applying to with the Common App or Coalition Application. There should not be any college-specific information in your essayâ€"you can save that for supplemental essays. Now school is starting, and she hasn’t even begun the unique essay for William & Mary or the conversation with a historical woman for Barnard. She considers dropping her application to Barnard but has a flash of inspiration during a study hall, envisioning herself sitting at a Jerusalem café asking Golda Meir questions about the call of leadership. She now has a short draft of the “Why This College? ” essay for Barnard and a Community essay for UVA; if she has time, she’ll tweak them later for Michigan. Now, you may say, “I haven’t lived an extraordinary life! I haven’t done anything remarkable or experienced any significant challenge.” This is totally OK. Admissions officers report that an effective essay should discuss things that happen in your everyday life. That means everything you need to write a successful essay is in your head already. Unfortunately, as with most aspects of the admissions process, a one-size-fits-all solution does not exist. She doesn’t even start the basketball essay for Michigan now. But she does complete very rough drafts of the Catch-22 essays for UVA and George Mason. After returning from vacation, Rachel finds herself jet-lagged, distracted by friends and uninspired. Finally, she checks the Common App to make sure supplemental essay prompts have not changed, then gets to work. She plans to write each morning and see her friends in the afternoon only if she has made real progress on her essays that day. She decides that would make a better topic for Michigan’s “extracurricular activity” essay. Rachel takes a few days to relax after completing 11th grade before creating a spreadsheet listing her colleges. She then uses both the Common App and individual colleges’ websites to find guidelines, deadlines and essay prompts. If Rachel has established a relationship with a college admissions representative, she will ask if supplemental essay prompts for next season will change. If she hasn’t been in touch with a rep, she will use this year’s prompts as a guide.