If you’re in that list, then you’ve come to the right place: here is a four-phase guide to make your essay stand out!
Phase one: Pre-Essay Preparation.
You may think you can easily write your application essay because you have been writing academic essays all your life but you’re wrong. Academic essays include an introduction, a thesis statement followed by a few paragraphs of elaboration and evidence to support it, and then comes a conclusion to tie everything together. Admission essays are a completely different story.
They are personal, and involve a great deal of creativity. In order to be able to write naturally, practice writing before you start working on your essay.
- Write a paragraph a day – this will get the creative juices flowing and set the right flow for writing.
- Read sample essays before you write your own. This could be your friends’ application essays or online samples , but familiarize yourself with how you’re expected to write.
- Make notes from your samples. If you liked the way one started, jot that down. Write anything you like or notice, so later you can incorporate that in your essay.
Phase 2: Brainstorming.
This is the most important thing, second only to writing the essay itself. And it involves a lot more thinking than you may have imagined.
- Let the prompt sink in. All college essays generally ask you a question, or give you one or two main ideas to focus on. While they may not seem challenging, don’t trivialize them. It is easy for students to get lost and forget that their essay is supposed to revolve around the cues given. Your essay isn’t an autobiography.
- Read the prompt multiple times to make sure it is embedded deep in your brain and comes up every time you think about your application.
- Reflect. Next step is to think about what you’re going to write, and write down any and everything that comes to your mind. Don’t worry about what fits and what is causing conflicts, just write the points down for now. Give yourself a day or two for this. Take your time to seriously THINK about what you’re going to write.
- Narrow down what points you’re going to use from the ones you wrote down earlier. This prevents your essay from digressing.
Phase Three: Writing the essay.
Now that you’ve thought a great deal about your essay, it is time to finally write it down.
- Create a layout first. Your essay needs blueprints too! Have a strategic plan to organize all the information you have accumulated.
- Know which story to choose. Make sure the anecdote is fun to read and interesting, but also enables you to analyze in the end. The examiner is more interested in your self-reflection, rather than the story. Afterall the whole point of the essay is to make sure your examiner gets to know you. And that cannot be done by reading about an experience; it is done by what that experience made you feel.
- Be succinct. If you can write something in ten words, don’t beat about the bush and write it in fifty. Make your sentences short and effective.
- Do not digress! In your layout, decide a key idea to make your essay revolve around. Start with that key point, and stick to it. Don’t get lost in telling tales.
- Be yourself. Write as naturally as you can. Like how you would actually talk, except with better vocabulary perhaps.
Phase four: Proof read.
This step is not skippable. It is just as crucial as your essay and can make or break it.
- Let your essay sit for a while. Don’t just write it and then proof read. Walk away, and come back at least two hours later with a refreshed mind.
- Let your friends read it. Get other people’s opinions too. They may give you a new perspective that you hadn’t thought of. This will improve your essay.
- Check for consistency. See if the tone is the same throughout your essay. The tenses should not switch by the second half of your essay.
other valuable readings:
Conclusion
After reading all of this, one thing is crystal clear: good admission essays take time. They are an entire process, not just a mere assignment. You cannot write your essay one night before the deadline and send it in. Take your time and put in all the effort you need to, to nail your college application with this essay!
If you’re applying for college, you will have a couple of friends doing the same thing. Share these tips with your friends to help them out with their essays, so perhaps you can end up in the same university like you had always dreamed of!
Image Credit: Pixabay
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