We all know the struggles of applying for colleges. A major part of this process is our essays. Colleges hugely factor these in as they show how much you want to attend their particular university and display your attributes and who you really are. They don’t get to see any of this in your G.P.A, SAT or ACT scores, or transcript. They get to see who you are through your essays and how you exemplify your personality. The list below includes some tips that might help you become successful in your journey of applying to numerous colleges.
- Write about YOURSELF
Colleges and Universities alike want to know about who YOU really are. Don’t let your essay be consumed by your grades and extra-curriculars and make sure to include your aspirations, dreams, and your heart and soul in these essays. Admissions committees have been doing this for years and can tell when they find a typical, average, and boring essay versus someone who really wants to improve and learn.
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Answer the prompt
Writing about yourself and getting lost in the essay is great, but you have to make sure you’re answering the questions they’re giving you. This means for the essay to even be considered, the question itself has to be answered and given priority before anything else of value.
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Creativity
Again, I can’t stress enough that admission offices go through thousands of applications each day so you have to make your essay stand out. Don’t let your essay get boring or vague because these will be the first thing those offices dismiss. Make sure there is something personal that you can relate with and that the officers can relate with so something about your essay sticks.
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Review and Revise
This is huge because admissions officers notice every single detail and things like grammar mistakes show them that you’re careless and don’t pay attention to detail. Why would they want to enroll someone like that? You can review by error checking it, reading it aloud, and showing it to family and friends. These are all great ways to make sure your essays are the best they can be.
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Stay on Topic
Admissions Officers don’t want to hear about your snowboarding endeavors that you hated when you were admitted to be a medical science major. Write about things that you enjoy doing or things that you care about. That puts more of who you really are on display.
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Tell a Story
Stories are a way of enticing people and conveying more about yourself. Based on how enticing your story really is, you might be able to really leave an impact on the admissions officer as these can be really entertaining. Besides, no one wants to read another droning essay about how your grades are life and death anyways.
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Look for Inspiration EVERYWHERE
Your essay shouldn’t be just about your grades or extra-curriculars, you should be able to tell a story and elaborate on your ideals. So look for inspiration around you. Tell a funny story about you and your friend. Exemplify a painting around you if you want to become an artist. Things can come to you when you least expect it so take advantage, it’s part of the writing process.
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Avoid taking pressure
Pressure can be a huge reason for small mess-ups and simple errors. When you’re stressed it becomes harder to concentrate and you end up repeating things you’ve already explained. It can also put pressure on your family as well and will only end up delaying your writing.
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Don’t rush the process
These things take time and you will have to accept that. Don’t rush the process or your essay might end up being sloppy or lousily put together and that will leave a bad impression on the admissions office. I’m not telling you to procrastinate, but just to get a head start on things so you’re well prepared and have plenty of time to think things over.
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BE YOURSELF!
My last tip is just to be yourself in your essays. Don’t try to pretend like you’re someone else. For instance, if you don’t enjoy rock climbing, then don’t include a story about it because admissions officers can look right through your white lies and tell if you actually enjoy something. What do you like? What do you do? Who are you? That’s what they really want to know.
Whether you follow these tips is up to you. However, as simple as they seem, you don’t realize till you start writing how easy they are to forget. I recommend looking at these tips while you’re writing to make sure you wrote to the best of your ability. I wish you good luck on these essays. As intimidating as they seem, I’m sure you’ll be able to tackle them as long as you stay true to yourself.
