College Essays

Getting into college these days doesn’t just require good grades and test scores—you also must demonstrate that you can think critically and express your ideas and opinions in an organized and professional manner.

Ah…college essays. The adversary of many high school students struggling to form an opinion of their own in a world encompassed by numerous views on different subjects, much less convey their thoughts in a well thought-out way.

Your college application packets should include what each individual university is looking for in an essay as well as topic choices. These topics could range from describing a humorous experience you’ve had to writing about a life experience that’s influenced you and changed your personal growth. The main purpose of the college essay is to demonstrate to an admissions committee what kind of person you are and share something of yourself not reflected in your academic records. It could be the deciding factor of your admissions decision.

The point is that you should not take these college essays lightly—some institutions view them as the second most important step in the college application process after the SAT. Your college essays should be something you take advantage of to promote yourself when applying to college. You have time to brainstorm, write, critique and rewrite many times.

Your college essay should be composed of three sections: the introduction, body and conclusion. Seems obvious, right? Not to everyone.

• The introduction should capture the reader’s attention. Tell a joke, reveal a surprising statistic-- whatever it takes to make the reader look twice. Try to avoid summarizing the essay in the introduction; the reader will have no incentive to read the rest of the paper.
• The body should communicate your ideas in an organized fashion. The key here is to make sure you have smooth transitions, which move your reader from paragraph to paragraph. Coming up with good transitions can be very difficult for some students, so be sure to spend some time tweaking these components.
• Lastly, the conclusion should reemphasize your views and leave a lasting impression on your reader. You want the admissions committee to remember you, not stack your essay with all the other uninteresting, boring college essays they have to peruse through.

Remember that you’re not necessarily writing a persuasive essay, and you don’t need to convince the reader to take your position. You should, however, be able to support your argument or opinion with valid statements or stories.

When writing your essay, be honest. You would be surprised how many students embellish or exaggerate on their college essays. They’re unbelievable and sound ridiculous. You want your college of choice to clearly see why you would make an exceptional addition to their student body and accept you for who you are.

Also, use specific examples for broad statements. For example, that’s great that you’ve proven yourself to be one of the most intelligently creative students on your high school campus, but how? What have you done? Tell the reader a story.

Most importantly, start writing your college essay early! Write several drafts and receive critiques from different sources. Remember, though, that you don’t want these sources to write your essay; you just want to make sure you’re not rambling on without organization.

For more information and examples about writing effective college essays, check out Accepted! 50 Successful College Admission Essays, The Best College Admission Essays and Writing a Successful College Application Essay.

If you are solely dedicated to making certain your college essay is the best it can be, contact a freelance proofreader today. College admissions committees have no interest in reading sloppy essays with poor grammar. Let a professional proofreader help you tweak your ideas and polish your college essays into being a sure thing when it comes to deciding admission to your school of choice.

Relevant Links

EssayEdge - named "the world's premier application essay editing service" by The New York Times Learning Network
College Essay Writing Tips - from the College Board