When the admission committee receives information about a student, they will not be interested in grades only. They usually want to know what kind of person a student is. That is why an average requirement of a college is an admission essay. It is not long, but each word must bear some informational value. That is why a student must write it at the highest level to impress the committee and get approval. How to do that? An experienced team of academic experts from a college application essay writing service gives 7 tips that might be useful to cope with the task.
7 Tips for Writing College Application Essays
Tip 1. Start Strong
It is not a secret that outstanding writers attract their reader’s attention in two ways.
- create a hard-to-forget title and a book cover
- begin a story with something unusual and intriguing
A member of the admission committee at Princeton College says that essays that have a title and a unique beginning are always winning. They manifest a student’s ability to avoid clichés and standard thinking. The best option is to use allegory, allusion, metaphor, and titles that resemble fairy tales. For example, a person can use the heading “The Pianist”. It might be associated with the movie and the character that faced so many hardships but managed to get the desired result. Or, it might be a self-presentation that describes a student as a virtuoso whose melody can guide and inspire.
Speaking about the strong beginning, one should think of something that might evoke the reader’s desire to read the whole paper carefully not to miss a single detail. It can be a fact of one’s life, a quote, a question, etc.
Tip 2. No Prelude
Admission essays are brief, so it is a mistake to waste words on unnecessary prefaces. Students should remember the most significant event in their life or something that shook them to the core. They might recollect an episode when they were reading or watching something. For example, a person who wants to enter the medical institution can say something like, “I do not want to be powerless and have no weapon against the diseases that wipe small and big villages off the map. I want to show that persistent teamwork of smart people can change the course of history.”
Tip 3. Humor Can Make the Writing Spicy
Some students regard the committee as a team of old grumps who worship academic structure and grammar and hate experiments. Indeed, they get so many application essays that look similar and boring that a bit of humor might be in their favor. Sometimes, students introduce their essays as funny stories that mirror their individuality and merits. Such an approach to writing is good for those who know how to use humor without sharp and offensive sarcasm that is not acceptable.
If a person cannot differentiate between irony and sarcasm, one can use a joke to catch the reader’s eye but not more.
Tip 4. Be Concrete
Showing instead of telling is the basic point of each essay. When a person boasts, it will look miserable. So, one should tell real-life stories to show that.
Compare the following examples.
Bad sample. “I am kind, generous, and empathetic”.
Good sample. “I have initiated fundraising for orphans in our local children’s home.”
Representatives of a committee prefer reading students’ biography to their characteristics, like in resumes. Real examples are more valuable compared to mere ‘good, hard-working, etc.’
Tip 5. Mention Something That Makes You Unique
There are many candidates. It is pretty hard to stand out from others. That is why an admission essay must contain information that will make the committee remember a person and accept him or her. A student can mention hobbies and passions that might be unusual. For instance, you might participate in an amateur theater or create clothes out of leaves, grass, and flowers. The main thing is not to lie.
If students do not have unique hobbies, it will be better to mention something that takes their breath away. One can innumerate favorite singers and cite them to reflect the personal viewpoint or life position. Music, books, movies, and even favorite games reflect people as individuals and let the committee better understand candidates.
Tip 6. Do Not Try to Be Over Your Head
Sometimes students try to advertise themselves so hard that they overdo it. Their essay turns into science fiction full of exaggerated events and characteristics. A decent person is usually a bit shy and vulnerable. Everybody likes to see rich entrepreneurs in simple clothing and commuting in a subway together with other people. The same concerns candidates. Students are not to present themselves as geniuses who are too good to study in a college. The evaluation must be real.
It is a good idea to mention weaknesses that a person is sure to get rid of when being a student in the chosen college. “I have never dealt with the latest version of the app, but together with such a great team of experts, it will take me a couple of minutes to learn the basics and provide a creative presentation. If you need me to do it today, I will do my best to surprise you right here and right now.
Tip 7. Provide Connections
An essay should at least somehow connect with reality. Students may connect their experiences with cultural, economic, political, philosophical, or intellectual aspects. It will show that they are not indifferent and want to comprehend complex things and solve problems. One can use samples from literature or history to support the message.
Read More:
Besides, it is necessary to sound unique and avoid clichés. You are not the first or the last person who writes an application essay. Nevertheless, you can surpass all expectations by avoiding sentences and examples that students have used plenty of times before. To be ready to do that, one needs to broaden one’s scope and read, research, and discover new music to become emotionally rich. Art facilitates one’s imagination, creativity, and helps to understand oneself. Show what you are aware of to become an interesting and desired candidate.
