Admission & Application Essays

Admission & Application Essays You want your essay to stand out for other reasons than its bare-faced “ADMIT ME!!!! ” attitude, but your essay has to actually interest and engage the admissions committee to make them want to admit you. Before you prepare for your college admission essay get one thought straight out of your head altogether. Do not even bother plagiarizing essays downloaded from the internet. There are multiple software tools available even for free that will detect where you copied your essay in a matter of milliseconds. Plagiarism has zero tolerance in any educational institute of repute and if you are caught it means automatic disqualification. Could you add Acceptance or Admission to your title and sometimes in the first paragraph? It’s possible that schools will be glad to hear how their university has impacted your family. Now that I've pontificated about the value of humor in essays, let me illustrate -- once again, because it's one of my favorites from over the decades -- using a real-life example. Years ago, I worked with an amazing young man who came from a difficult upbringing. Your college admission essay is very important, so you don’t want to let any typos slip through. When your creativity is sparked and your writing for a college admission essay seems to simply flow out of you, it’s a great feeling . Unfortunately, this also leads to the danger of getting off topic. Granted, there are times when a serious tone is appropriate for your essays. In fact, trying to make light of a serious topic can sometimes backfire. There are some mistakes that consistently show up in college admission essays that should be avoided at all costs. Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Try your best to get the attention of the reader right off the bat. Admissions offices may be quick to stop paying attention if the essay is boring. Take the bold move and write something interesting. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we’re probably going to notice. This topic is too broad and too loaded, whether you want to write about God, your mom or best friend. “In a world”, or, “Once upon a time”, are not good openers. When I read college essay I was given a sense that it would be an essay for a class, not the admission essay. I think it would just help with clarification because I have always been told to assume the audience has no idea what you are talking about when you start. I would suggest using a stronger transition than “also” in your second paragraph. I’m not positive, but I don’t think College Essay needs to be capitalized, maybe you could do Common Application Essay. I also don’t think you need the subtitles while changing the topic, maybe just make them into a topic sentence. You probably already know not to use clichés in your college admission essay, but it’s important to realize that we sometimes slip into clichés in our writing without even realizing it. Also, by clichés I mean not only clichéd phrases, but also clichéd topics. Being too obviously aggressive in your essay can backfire. While you should definitely convey your enthusiasm, you don’t want the admissions committee to read the subtext of your essay as a really basic sales pitch. Having said that, the first line should be an indication of what the paper is about at large. The goal of the personal experiences described in your essay is to show that you’ve reached the level of maturity and competency to thrive in their school. If this is a legacy type of situation, where you have relatives that have gone to that school, you can mention that as well, in such a way that endears the school to your family.