Tips For Writing Your College Essay

Tips For Writing Your College Essay “We definitely read the essays,” says Joie Jager-Hyman, president of College Prep 360 and former admissions officer at Dartmouth College. “You don’t do that job unless you enjoy reading the essays. At ScholarMatch, Watson uses freewriting exercises to help students start their essays. Students come to ScholarMatch workshops feeling nervous about the process. Anyone who completes an Outward Bound expeditioncould say that they were challenged, that they weren’t sure they could do it, but on looking back, they feel proud of what they’ve accomplished. The real questions to ask are, why was it challenging for you, personally? What about this makes you feel proud, and how will you carry this into the next part of your life? If you took the ACT with writing, an image of the essay you write may be available to the high school and colleges that receive your score report. This subreddit is for anyone looking for advice about undergraduate college admissions, including college essays, scholarships, SAT/ACT test prep, and anything related to college applications. Sharing that you participated in an Outward Bound program will help colleges understand how you’re spending your time outside the classroom. But you also have the opportunity to articulate to colleges why this experience is worth mentioning. I would encourage students to think about how participating in Outward Bound impacted them, specifically. Again, the number of readers for each essay would depend upon individual institutional practices. Many large schools don’t require essays at all because they don’t have the personnel resources to process the huge number of admission essays which would be submitted. Schools which require essays, however, use the essay input to form a more complete picture of the applicant, over and above the numbers, grades, lists, and so on, which are entered onto the application form. The essays may form the most deciding part of the application after the student has met basic application criteria â€" grades, standardized test scores, etc. Again, the number of readers for each essay would depend on individual institutional practices. My daughter worked with Michaela from Moon Prep on her college applications. She had a top ACT score and has always been strong in science and math , but was really struggling with writing all the essays. She must have rewritten the personal statement over five times. Whether you write about it in your essay, or just list it as one of your activities, sharing the influence it has had on you, personally, will be much more impactful. After working with thousands of students from all over the world on writing the dreaded college application essay for the last eight years, I’ve finally been able to boil down the process to three simple steps. Three former admissions officers I spoke to told me that, contrary to Steven’s observations, officers read every essay that comes across their desks. Focusing on someone you love, or worse yet, like “a lot,” is highly unlikely to show this side of you. In fact, it is more likely to paint you as the dreaded “typical teenager,” possibly one of the worst monikers in the college admissions industry. Most colleges require a college essay, sometimes called a personal statement, as part of their application process. Some of the demand for his services, he said, comes from families that have money, but who may feel that they don't have the cultural connections to know what a college admissions officer will want. This counselor charges a flat rate of $2,500 to help with a student's undergraduate essays. No matter how wonderful this person is, and no matter how good a writer you are, there is absolutely zero chance that this topic will present you in the best possible light to college admissions professionals. This is because one of the character traits most admissions professionals are looking for is a sense of maturity and self-understanding. Freewriting helps kids relax and simply write; it also usually helps elicit an essay topic. For the exercises, Watson asks students to write whatever comes into their minds. From the freewriting, he and other writing coaches help students identify points they can develop into an essay. One of the most challenging aspects of the essay-writing process is identifying a topic to write about. Many first-to-college applicants think their experiences and accomplishments aren’t impressive enough to wow college admissions officers, so they get discouraged before they even begin. But first-generation college applicants have typically overcome obstacles that other students haven’t â€" and it’s a story worth sharing. A college application essay may be as short as 150 words, but those words can mean the difference between a “maybe” and a “yes” when it comes to getting admitted. The essays tell the admissions committee how and why one student is different from all the others. Your girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other.Choosing this topic might be the biggest faux pas in the history of college essay writing. She helped her with brainstorming different topics and proofread everything. We initially prepare three different reports for each student who testsâ€"the Student Report, the High School Report, and the College Report.