Many of the larger universities require college admission essays as part of the application process. And quite frankly, the competition to get into some of the bigger schools is keen. However, if the word “essay” sends chills up your spine, relax.
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Writing a college admission essay need not be a daunting task as long as you follow these suggestions.
The purpose of a college admission essay is to showcase your personality– to let the reader see what’s inside you. You’ve already listed your achievements in your college application, so there is no need to expound upon these things in your essay.
Writing the Essay
A good essay requires good writing. By now I’m sure you’re well versed in how to write a good sentence. If not, have someone help you with some of the basics of good grammar. This is one document that people will be judging for good grammar as well as a good story.
Here is one circumstance where the old adage “show, don’t tell,” really comes into play. For example:
Tell: “I was really inspired by my second grade teacher who made sure I learned how to read.”
Show: “My second grade teacher, Mrs. Hurley, mesmerized me with her home spun stories of adventure and magic that she read out loud during story time. I’ve been an avid reader of fiction ever since.”
When you write your essay, write as if you’re speaking directly to a person (which you are!). Let your personality come out without being pretentious or silly. Try to really get into the story you’re telling. The point or moral of your story should be subtle, rather than obvious or “in your face.” Minimize the use of the word “I” in your essay.
Here are some more do’s and don’ts for the college admission essay.
Don’t
- Don’t assume spell check will catch every misspelled word; i.e, spell check won’t catch “form” if you meant to say “from.”
- Don’t use excessively long sentences or paragraphs. Better yet, vary the lengths of sentences from short to moderately long.
- Don’t brag about your accomplishments or about the greatness of your mentor. No one wants to hear a bragger. Besides, you want to show, not tell. It is better to say, “my mother, her body exhausted by years of coping with MS, never missed one of my soccer games,” than to say, “my mother was the toughest mom in the neighborhood!”
Do
- Choose a topic that passes the “so what?” test. If you give a brief summary of your topic to a friend and they start looking to see what text messages they’ve gotten, you’ve probably failed the test! Write something that is interesting. I’m sure if you think about it there is something that you have experienced in your life time that will intrigue another person.
- Narrow your focus. You should be able to summarize in a sentence what the topic is going to be about. Test your thesis out on someone who knows good writing. They’ll tell you if your focus is narrow enough. Here is an example of a narrow topic: “This story is about the lessons I learned while sharing a cabin with an autistic boy at summer camp.”
- Read your essay out loud after you’ve written your final draft. This will help you weed out any excess word usage and clarify your prose where needed. Better yet, have someone proofread your work. Even the best writers, including Steven King, have their work edited by another person before it is dropped in the mailbox or attached to an e-mail.
If you would like your application essay reviewed, contact Eric Anderson at eanderson (at) tampabay.rr.com. You will receive specific advice and suggested revisions to improve your essay and the impression that you make upon admissions officers. Eric reviews a small number of essays free of charge. If you would like a free review, please submit your essay to him with free university application essay review in the subject line.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 at 11:11 pm
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