10 College Application Essay Dos And Donts

10 College Application Essay Dos And Don'ts Don’t stress if you think that your essay isn’t THAT interestingâ€"it can be. For example, we had a student last year write about his height. Not a trip he took, not his extracurricular activities, not a totally transformative conversation. Coax better writing from your child by suggesting that they concentrate on improving their word choice. Hunt for what one high school English teacher I know calls “fugitives” â€" words that sneak into our prose and undermine its power. For instance, amazing might be a perfectly accurate description for that volunteering experience that changed your son’s life, but it’s such a common word, it actually makes the experience seem trivial. But astonishing still conveys the idea that your son’s mind was blown; ditto for the tamer but still pointed startling. Whatever topic you choose to center your essay around, make sure you shine through. So even if all the revising and nitpicking on the college essay may not help your kid get into college, it will almost certainly make him or her a better writer. Why not take the final candidates and offer them a chance to write an essay or a paragraph when they arrive at an interview? This is similar to the on-the-spot assessments we as teachers often give our students to assess their comprehension of a particular unit. Change up the questions and allow the students to produce their work directly in front of you. Enlist a friend or family member to read over it, too. It always helps to have someone else give you their feedback before your essay lands in the inboxes of admissions counselors. To get the ball rolling on writing your essay, start with something a bit easierâ€"make a list of what matters to you. When you start reading through past admission essays, one of the first things you will notice is that nearly all of them tell a story. The best ones tell a specific story about an incident or moment in time that provides an insight into who the author is and how they view the world. We believe that the best essays start right in the middle of some action . In short, if it’s possible to make somebody “intrigued squared,” that’s what Ms. Bluestone did to the reader with her essay opening. Good admissions essays take risks, but ones that remain in the control of their authors. A perceptive admissions counselor can always sense when something is bold, and when something is just plain reckless, or worse, made up. This is why a two-word essay is a poor choice, much like an essay on genuinely dangerous or illegal conduct. Plagiarism is always wrong, and schools are getting better at detecting it. The admissions committee is looking to learn about youâ€"your achievements, your obstacles, your goals, your passions, your personality, your values, and your character. If you are asked to write about an influential person, the college wants to know his or her influence on you. Still, going deep on finding a descriptive word to replace, say, three to five overused or otherwise mundane words is worth the extra effort. If a university finds out you lied on an application or essay you will get rejected, almost guaranteed. But humans take risks every day, and finding a space to reveal your own risk-taking, in your own words, will keep your application impactful and honest. It’s easy to identify essays that don’t work; ones that are unoriginal with cliché topics, ones that are boring and brag, or essays that are predictable. Little tiny changes can make all the difference. He’s tall, and it has affected how he experiences the world. You pore over the rest of the essay and absolutely eat it up. A lot of the admissions reader’s attitude about your essay is affected by the opening sentence and introduction. Because your essay is a story, think of the introduction as the beginning of your story. This would ensure that the words were in fact their own. You’ve finished writing your essay, and you want to immediately submit it and be done with it. Before you check that box, read over what you wrote, and read over it slowly. Notice any lines that might sound confusing to someone who doesn’t know you and rewrite them. Consider setting a time limit for this part of the process, or a limit for the number of sample essays you will read, and then set the examples aside and move on to creating your own masterpiece. There all kinds of ways to write a college essay and there is no perfect form as long as your piece is engaging, logical, revealing … and answers the prompt. These FAQs about the college application essay should help you tell your story with an end goal of making a good impression on a college admissions officer.