In this video, James Maroney of AdmissionHook.com interviews Matt Beirne, Director of Admission at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, about the college admission essay. The cover tips on how to write the essay as well as some examples of Matt’s favorite essays over the past couple of years.
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You have everything that you need: clean notepads, pencils, pens, and your computer. You’re ready to write yourcollege application essay. Just open Microsoft Word and let your ideas flow.
It’s too bad that writing a college application essay isn’t actually that easy. However, with a few tips, you’ll be able to pick a good topic and smooth-out the process.
Have you ever felt egocentric? If not, you soon will. Your college admission essay should focus on only one person: you. It can, and probably should, include other characters, but the core of the essay must describe you – your feelings, what you’ve learned, how you view yourself, how you see yourself fitting in the world. Three primary sorts of you-based topics exist: events, routines, and descriptions. Events constitute life-altering experiences. When listing events, don’t think of things that happened during your life; think of those that happened in your life. They should be things that affected you and your future. Routines and descriptions are a bit more complicated. In a routine-type essay, the author writes about a routine or aspect thereof in the same way as he or she would write about an event, describing his or her qualities and values in the process. In a description-type essay, the writer describes an important person or object and uses metaphor to relate it to him or her self.
After you’ve thought about the significant events, relevant routines, and important figures in your life, you can begin to narrow your list of potential topics. First, think about your best qualities, the ones that you want to feature in your application, and select the topics that would best feature them. Next, consider the uniqueness of your topics. Each college admissions officer will read hundreds of essays throughout the spring and will only be able to remember the most interesting few (if you think that it’s easy to remember essays, try to read every entry on this page then summarize them, in order, without peeking). Make especially sure to avoid cliché topics and those conducive to platitudes. Of course, you should stay away from potentially controversial issues unless they truly intersect with your core values. Finally, remember that colleges don’t admit students retroactively. That is, they don’t really want to read about your past unless it has some bearing on the present or future.
If you still have a long list of potential topics, simply begin to write. Finish a few rough drafts, read through them, and figure out which one best represents your qualities and values. Sometimes you just can’t determine how good a topic is until you actually write a draft of the essay.
Wading through the plethora of potential essay topics may seem impossible; however, with a few pointers, anyone can pick a good one.
This article was contributed by Dakota Meyers, who just completed his freshman year at Yale University and is a regular contributor to the CollegeTreasure.comandAdmissionHook.com blogs. He is a 2009 graduate of Hoisington High School in Hoisington, KS. At Hoisington High, he won varsity letters in debate, speech, scholars’ bowl, and band. He won the 2009 3A Kansas State Championship in extemporaneous speech.
At Yale, Dakota intends to major in Economics and Mathematics. He writes for the campus publication Business Sphere and is an active member of the Yale chapter of Nourish International. He also participates in the Yale Political Union as a member of the Independent Party.
As a current college student, Dakota has recent first-hand experience with the college admission process.
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The essay is the most difficult part of a scholarship application, and it’s often the only thing that separates winners from the rest of the applicant pool. Even the best writers struggle with the scholarship essay because it differs so greatly from academic essays. Scholarship evaluators generally don’t read essays from a technical standpoint (unless, of course, the paper
is riddled with simple, lazy errors); rather, they read in order to get a better idea of the applicant’s personal history, qualities, and aspirations. The essay is meant to give applicants a chance to convey ideas that cannot be expressed in SAT scores or lists of accomplishments. Everyone has unique characteristics, and with a few simple tips anyone can write a successful scholarship essay that showcases these qualities.
The first step in beginning the writing process is, quite simply, to begin the writing process. Gather information and construct a rough draft several weeks, maybe a month… or two, before you intend to submit the application. To make choosing a topic easier, write down a list of the personal qualities and goals that you want to emphasize to the scholarship’s evaluators then choose something (probably a personal story) that clearly displays these characteristics. Don’t just write empty, aimless prose and try to fill it in with useful information. It’s usually best to make an outline before starting the rough draft, but this is not absolutely necessary. Some find it easier to just begin writing, especially when recounting a true story. However, if you choose the latter method, make sure that you have a specific story and well-defined points of emphasis in mind; again, don’t write aimlessly. Work on the essay a little bit each day. This gives you a chance to review the essay with a clear mind (if you write and revise it all at once, your ideas tend to blend together). After you’ve written a rough draft, begin to revise with an eye toward content. Don’t worry about grammar or prose quality until the final weeks because these errors are easily correctable. Finally, make sure to use your resources throughout the process; these could include English teachers, tutors, your family, and your friends.
Essays can make the scholarship application process difficult. However, no scholarship that’s worth having comes easily, and if you follow the advice above any scholarship essay is doable.
Students often think that they have little help writing their college admission
essays because the sample essays and essay examples offered by books and websites don’t seem to assist applicants in developing original, personal stories. However, with proper planning, students can use examples to greatly improve their own essays.
Here are a few tips:
1. Don’t start reading sample essays yet! First, brainstorm about the personal qualities that you want to emphasize to admission officials. Think of your best characteristics, those that make you stand out from the droves of other applicants. These should be deep personal traits, not generalities like “I am nice” or “I play sports.” Next, move on to brainstorming about past personal experiences, and pick one that both showcases your qualities and fits the essay prompt. The best experiences are those in which you learned a lesson or faced a deep personal challenge and prevailed.
2. Now you should peruse through a few sample essays. Don’t let these examples change the story that you picked! Simply use them to get a feel for proper organization; also, take note of how the authors cast themselves, not too flamboyantly (“I am the most qualified applicant you will ever see”) and not too modestly (“I’ll probably don’t deserve to get into this school”).
3. You’re finally ready to write a rough draft of your essay. Make sure to write entirely in your own voice; don’t go out of your way to write like you think admission officers will want you to write. Your essay should be fluid, interesting, and easy to read. SAT and ACT scores will show admission officers how well you can write academic papers. The application essay is a chance for you to catch their attention with your story.
4. Revise this essay multiple times and then compare it to more sample works, taking note of organization and how you portray yourself. Learn from these examples, but do not just copy their style or format.
5. Now you’re in the home stretch. At this point, you should stop and reevaluate the personal characteristics featured in your essay. Do you want to add anything else to the piece? Does it showcase your best, most unique qualities? Set the essay aside, and brainstorm about your personal characteristics again. Are the things that you brainstormed featured in your essay? If not, make necessary changes.
6. Revise the essay several more times (set aside a month or more to do this), enlisting the help of English teachers and counselors. Finally, submit your application.
By following the steps listed above, you can effectively use sample college admission essays to improve your own work.
Congratulations! The fact that you are looking up tips on college essays indicates your desire to write a successful essay. Research is always the best way to start when it comes to targeting your audience. Just think about people in sales jobs – what better way to make that sale than to know what your potential customer wants? It is no different for you as a college applicant. You need to sell your college admissions audience on your potential as a member of their academic community. One of the best ways to do this is to write an interesting and convincing essay.
Five Important Tips for Writing Your College Essay