Tips on How to Write a College Essay

Kids spend hours poring over SAT books, cramming their heads with new, sophisticated words. They enroll in classes to solve difficult math problems. They pad their resumes with clubs, jobs and other extracurricular activities. Often enough the mandatory college essay falls by the wayside. Kids treat it like every other essay but it’s not. It’s not about the book you read in English class or economics during the Great Depression. The college essay is written by you about you. Here are some tips to make writing an impressive essay.

1. Choose your subject carefully. Don’t overreach and write about something you don’t know much about and for God’s sake don’t lie. I sort college essays into three categories. There is the “woe is me” essay where an applicant attempts to evoke pity and sympathy and leave it at that. Here are some harsh words: a hard childhood does not mean you deserve a place at an elite college. You might get in anyway but it’s always a gamble if the college admissions office will feel sorry for you. Then there is the “overcoming” essay. This starts out much like the “woe is me” essay but it takes a bad situation and portrays the author overcoming his limitation (ex. Learning how to walk again after a car accident or living in a motel because your father lost his job but still keeping a 4.0 GPA). The third essay is the “accomplishing” essay. This usually involves helping others or achieving something like publishing your first book while you are still in high school.

2. Think about how you want to come across to the admissions board. Strong? Determined? Generous? As you write keep in mind how you sound.

3. You don’t   have to go crazy dropping SAT words in every other sentence but try to use an elevated vocabulary. Avoid the word “very” in front of “good, nice, bad” and other descriptives. And don’t think more words necessarily make a sentence better. Sometimes a simple sentence can say it all.

4. The tone of your essay should be professional. This is not an intimate note, a text to a friend or a card to a relative. Think of it as applying for a job. 

5. Ask several  people to read your essay. Present it to a teacher and/or a parent and make sure it is free from grammatical and spelling errors. Read  it aloud to make sure (they are easier to catch that way). Take all criticism seriously. You may have worked really  hard on the essay but the fact is maybe you haven’t worked on  it enough. Put in the time and show it to the same teacher/ parent again. Maybe you disagree. Keep  in mind teachers see hundreds of essays per year. They might  have a point. 

   
   

6. At the end of the day, it is only one essay. If you are stressing or struggling, remind yourself that you are not the sum of one essay. I firmly believe that if you put in the effort, you can have an essay you are proud of.