How To Write The Perfect College Admission Essay

How To Write The Perfect College Admission Essay Some of the best college application essays are written about small moments that are meaningful to the applicant. You’re the only person with your exact combination of personal qualities, beliefs, values, and experiences, so you don’t need to lie or exaggerate to make your essay unique. Nonetheless, admissions officers recognize that different students have different strengths. They aren't looking for a poetic magnum opus from someone who wants to be a math major. But what's really important isn't so much what you write about as how you write about it. You need to use your subject to show something deeper about yourself. Most colleges are pretty diverse, with students from a wide range of backgrounds. Most selective colleges require you to submit an essay or personal statement as part of your application. Many students want to call it a day after writing a first draft, but editing is a key part of writing a truly great essay. To be clear, editing doesn't mean just making a few minor wording tweaks and cleaning up typos; it means reading your essay carefully and objectively and thinking about how you could improve it. Colleges want to know if you struggled with a serious issue that affected your high school record, so make sure to indicate any relevant circumstances on your application. In addition to standardized test scores and transcripts, a personal statement or essay is a required part of many college applications. The personal statement can be one of the most stressful parts of the application process because it's the most open ended. Many students and parents begin the college prep process by comparing the ACT and SAT tests. Both ACT and SAT scores are used for college admissions decisions and awarding merit-based scholarships. The admissions team found the essay off-putting, and the student was rejected. Had he chosen a “safer” topic, he would have received an acceptance letter. The college application essay is your chance to help admissions officers get to know you. Most colleges do not prefer one test over the other. Different students tend to do better on one test over the other. The reason that teachers don’t assign a number of pages anymore is because it’s too easy to manipulate pages. When students used to write on typewriters, it was common for teachers to assign essays in number of pages. Essay questions about diversity are designed to help admissions committees understand how you interact with people who are different from you. For some students, the essay is also a chance to explain factors affecting their high school record. Did your grades drop sophomore year because you were dealing with a family emergency? Did you miss out on extracurriculars junior year because of an extended medical absence? ” or a more specific question about how a student plans to contribute to the campus, colleges are looking for detailed and well-researched responses. Additionally, these types of essays frequently present the student as some type of savior, who is privileged enough to spend the money to fly and participate in an activity overseas. This “savior” trope could irk the admissions officer. Remember, you want to sound genuine, not sanctimonious. Both students and parents tend to think that writing about overseas volunteering or charity trips is a sure-fire way to impress admissions officers. For the same reason, we recommend avoiding profanity and graphic language in your essays. Gail Berson, the dean of admissions at Wheaton College, shares a story about an applicant with excellent grades and test scores who wrote a graphic essay about a violent video game. With the adoption of computers in the classroom, teachers switched from pages to work count because it was too easy for the computers to manipulate the font size and page size. By assigning a word count, teachers get a more accurate length of essay than they would if they assigned homework by pages. If supplemental essays are good gauges for demonstrated interest, this particular type of essay is the most important. One of the most common supplemental essays that students will come across is the infamous “Why This College? It should capture your genuine personality, explaining who you are beyond a series of grades, test scores, and after-school activities. But that’s not nearly as scary as it seems, because you get to choose what to share and how to share it. What you write in your application essay or personal statement should not contradict any other part of your applicationâ€"nor should it repeat it. This isn't the place to list your awards or discuss your grades or test scores.