College Essay

College Essay The tone could be funny or sad, reflective or poignant, but you NEED that reader to like you, so that they would support your application in admissions. If your essay does not reveal some sense of your best personal qualities are i.e. maturity, leadership or compassion then it has failed. We help thousands of students gain admission to top-50 colleges every year. To the college essay admissions process I bring skills honed as a television writer, a screenwriter, and a journalist. It’s important that your essay be a solid reflection of you as a person and as a student, and that you follow the guidelines provided in terms of topic and word-count. A great college essay is one that makes your reader want to get to know you better, to engage in a conversation with you. It is an essay that makes your reader laugh or cry or think. Entering my ninth year, I have worked with nearly 400 bright, motivated, and exceptional applicants who each year are accepted to T10 colleges and universities. I love what I do and am immeasurably proud of every applicant I work with and their results. , any other graphic organizer, and/or pre-writing technique that works for you will help you to focus your ideas. You may want to try outlining your essay in multiple formats or the same format multiple times. The best college essays deal with specific examples from the writer’s life. They are not general or abstract, the more details the better. A more concrete reason for this prompt is that colleges want to have a high yield, the ratio of accepted students who end up attending. Yield factors into rankings in sources like U.S. News and World Report and contribute to the overall reputation of the school. This essay is one way for them to gauge how likely you are to attend and help them attain a high yield. If you seem genuinely passionate about the college, then they can assume you’re more likely to matriculate if offered a spot in the freshman class. The best essays are 20% about the “topic” (the “what”) and 80% about the writer. It is well-written with college bound vocabulary and style, but easy to read and somewhat unassuming. Like great works of fiction, these essays clearly paint a picture in the reader’s mind. It can be hard to choose what to talk about in your college essays. In addition to this, the schools that you’re applying to may have different prompts â€" which could mean having to write multiple essays. This is why we recommend sitting down and coming up with a few different topics to consider. No wonder people feel stressed out about their college essays! Prompt is the leading provider of college essay coaching and feedback. A great college essay gives the reader a glimpse of the person behind the page. Lots of counselors tell students to “tell a story only you can tell,” and I definitely agree with that. But sometimes students misinterpret this to mean â€" “tell me about a totally unique experience” â€" and they get totally stressed out because they don’t feel that they have any unique experiences. Telling a story “only you can tell” means that you tell the reader a story from your perspective. So you don’t need to have great exotic vacations or heartbreaking stories of community service in some far off land â€" you just need to reveal your point of view about a topic. You may do pre-writing for several different answers to a topic and then pick the best one to write the actual essay. You might want to plan to do one pre-writing essay, wait a few days, and then do another pre-writing exercise. As mentioned in step 2, writing a college essay takes time, but with enough pre-planning the actual essay writing will be easier. The ultimate point of a college essay is to engage and hopefully convince the reader that you would be an asset on that campus. You need the essay to wow them with your personal qualities while sharing an engaging story, perhaps- a snapshot of your life. When you can show the reader a slice of your genuine self â€" you are on your way to a great college essay. The uniqueness of an essay stems not from some external experience, but your internal responses. A great college essay combines creativity, excellent writing, and honesty.