A good paper starts with an outline. Then you can concentrate on all the important aspects, develop your own strategy and stick to a certain writing style. You need to plan out all of your writing stages so that it looks logical and consistent. The fact is that the college or university committee has clear quality standards that you must comply with.
This aspect is very important since you should fully concentrate on what goals this essay pursues. Typically, you will have to answer a question from the admissions committee for your purposes, think about how it might apply to you and describe why you are the ideal candidate.
Writing such a paper is quite complicated because you have to fit a certain amount of information into a small essay format. You should focus on a specific idea and follow your plan from start to finish. Also, be specific and avoid vague phrases that aren’t relevant to your essay’s topic. It’s best to just be yourself and tell an entirely original story without making up anything extra.
If you’re going to enter college or university, you should not forget about the admission essay. At first glance, this paper doesn’t seem so complicated, as many students imagine it to be.
Create an Outline
Be laconic and don’t use complex word constructions. The fact is that the admission committee will not appreciate it. You need to enter college or university. This is your top priority. If you’re not ready to do it yourself, then you need to ask yourself the question, “Who can help me and whether I can get a speedy paper discount code?”
It doesn’t need to be an incredibly long essay – just long enough to make a short description of what you have achieved and what you want to do when you go to college or university. Try to share something important that sets you apart from the rest. Or you can contact some writing services and tell them, “I need statistics homework help.”
You need to start with an introduction and add a thesis, providing a strong statement of future accomplishments. But it’s not always that simple. Here are some tips and tricks to help you write your truly impressive essay.
The fact is that when you have enough ideas, you can concentrate on the best one. You also need to narrow your options and choose those thoughts that will help you write a good essay and demonstrate you as a diligent student seeking knowledge.
Great writing is hard to achieve, but it’s possible if you’re smart about it. Anyone who works in journalism will tell you that you can catch any reader’s attention as long as you deliver a great introduction.
A college application essay is basically a glimpse into how your mind works and how you view the world. If you want your essay to be credible, you need to make sure everything you write supports that viewpoint. Spend some time figuring out how the essay question relates to your personal qualities and then write from a specific angle.
That means that every time you want to express an idea, you don’t simply state a fact, but you also include specific details and examples to develop your ideas. You can do that by offering examples from your personal experiences and writing about what truly motivates you and how you developed a certain belief.
Remember that there are thousands of others students applying to your desired university, and you need to distinguish yourself. Re-read your essay, delete all the sentences that sound like a cliché, and try to find a more original angle.
3. Use your inner voice
Creativity is an aspect very much appreciated in writing, but don’t assume that a creative essay is not also an organized one. Obviously, you don't want to write a bunch of words without meaning, so make sure you write about just one subject at a time.
After you’ve read through the instructions a few times and gathered your notes, you can start creating an outline to organize your essay and decide what message you want to send. Now you're ready to write your first draft.
You will have a maximum number of words, so the secret is not to try to cover everything in your essay. Create a plan before you actually start writing, organize your essay in three parts (introduction, body and conclusion), and decide on the main ideas you want to express.
This college essay tip is by Parke Muth, former associate dean of Admissions at the University of Virginia (28 years in the office) and member of the Jefferson Scholars selection committee.
If you are having trouble coming up with what it is you want to convey or finding the perfect story to convey who you are, use prompts such as:
2. Do not feel pressure to share every detail of challenging experiences, but also do not feel that you need to have a happy ending or solution.
This college essay tip is by Ken Anselment, Marquette University graduate and Vice President for Enrollment & Communication at Lawrence University.
College Essay Tips:
My brother's hot cocoa: Why hot cocoa? (Again, warmth.) And why “my brother’s” hot cocoa? Why not “mom’s lemonade”? How is the fact that her brother made it change the image? (It implies that her brother is engaged in the family activity.) Do you think she likes her brother? Would your brother make hot cocoa for you? And finally:
This college essay tip is by Janine Robinson, journalist, credentialed high school English teacher, and founder of Essay Hell, has spent the last decade coaching college-bound students on their college application essays.
This sentence is what I’d call “top heavy.” It has a lot of important information in the first half–so much, in fact, that I need a break before I can take in the bits at the end about “ancient history” and “etymology.” Two options for revising this:
Read them aloud again. Wash, rinse, repeat until the ideas flow together.
Challenge 1: She grows up surrounded by war, which is explicitly stated.
Boring personal statement: I want to be a doctor (common topic) because I’m empathetic and I love helping people (common connections) and I really want to make the world a better place (common language).
First, what is the college essay (i.e., the personal statement)?
More ways to find a thematic thread for your personal statement
Example: High-top tennis shoes, flip-flops, heels, cleats, bunny slippers
2-minute exercise: Start with the cliché version of your essay.
Raising the Stakes: The entire second and third paragraphs, which describe how living without a father meant money was tight. Things improved for a while after his mother remarried, but his stepdad’s chronic alcoholism (raise the stakes) plus a new little brother (raise the stakes again) made things even tougher. As if that weren’t enough, the author raises the stakes even further by revealing that his family was undocumented at the time.
Step 3: Underneath what you wrote down, name 5-6 values you could connect to this. These will serve as the beads of your essay. You can even draw a thread connecting your beads, if you want, like this:
It’s always wise to get another set of eyes on your college essays. In fact, several sets of eyes is even better! Other people can help you make sure your essay flows, you have enough detail, that everything is relevant, and that you sound as engaging and interesting as you really are! They can also help you catch typos and other minor errors—although you’ll want to double and triple-check for that yourself before submitting.
If you’re really stumped, consider asking your friends and family what they think could be good topics. They may help you figure out something memorable and interesting. But also, don’t feel like you have to write about a topic just because someone else thinks it would be great. You need to be genuinely interested in what you’re writing about to write an engaging essay!
Here’s a list of over 600 cliches. But for the most part, you won’t need a list
Your finished essay is like this duck: many pieces arranged into an amazing whole.
Tip #11: Be Prepared to Cut a Lot
How do you avoid the platitude problem? Try to keep what you’re saying specific to you. So instead of saying “And that’s how I learned that hard work pays off,” try, “This experience helped me to realize that when I put concentrated effort into something that’s important to me, I can accomplish it even when there are roadblocks.” Keep the focus on what you can and will do in your own life.
Whether you can reuse any essays: In general, you can reuse essays for prompts that are about your life, broadly similar in theme, and have a similar word count. You probably can’t reuse essays that are very specific to the college, like “Why This College” essays.
And, of course, the more essays you have to write, the earlier you should start!
- Get other people to look at your essay.
- Be prepared to change, cut, and rearrange a lot!