WRITING ESSAYS

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WRITING ESSAYS

• TIPS FOR WRITING ESSAYS FOR COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
  AND SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS

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College Essays

• Major universities received at least 25,000
  applications last year many required 2 essays
  per application The admissions officers read at
  least 54,000 essays!

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Why should you care?

• As you can imagine, they like the ones that take
  them out of the office for 5 minutes
• Their findings
• Last year I think students were playing it safe.
  This is the generation of seatbelts and bike
  helmets!
• Their advise Take a bit of a risk!

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What admissions officers are looking for

• Honesty
• First person
• Insight into your personality
• Any subject as long as you answer the question
• Apply the writing skills you already know
  coherent, thoughtful, carefully organized,
  concise, mechanically sound
• Write for impact

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The Best Essay

• Never really answers the essay topic directly but
  answers it implicitly

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Admissions representatives recommend

• Make it your own. Dont write what you think the
  evaluators want to read, but write from your
  heart!

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Dos

• Use details give specifics, examples, dig deep
• Be technically PERFECT
• Focus your essay Have one or two points
• Have a catch Make an impact from the first
  sentence

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Dos

• Do think small and write about something that
  you know about
• Do reveal yourself in your writing
• Do show rather than tell. By giving examples and
  illustrating your topic, you help bring it to
  life
• Do write in your own voice and style

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Selecting a topic

• Coming up with an idea to write about is
  difficult and requires time. Without a topic you
  feel passionate about, without one that brings
  out the defining aspects of your personality, you
  risk falling into the trap of sounding like the
  90 of applicants who will write boring
  admissions essays.

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Ask someone you trust to proof read it for
spelling grammar errors.

• Editors could ask What is the best part of the
  essay? What is memorable? Whats the worst part
  of the essay? What parts need elaboration or are
  unclear?
• DONT have 4 or 5 people read your work if you
  incorporate everyones ideas, the writing will
  sound like the work of a committee- it will no
  longer capture YOU.

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Be honest Be yourself

• What distinguishes YOU as an individual
  candidate?
• What has been YOUR experience?
• What are YOUR ideas about the topic?

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Write in a voice that is natural and clear

• Write in a voice that is natural, vivid and
  clear. By the same token, dont be overly
  informal. Youre writing for a committee of
  adults, not your best friend.
• Write to convey your ideas clearly and easily
  dont write to impress
• Write about whats specific to you not what you
  think they want to hear
• Express yourself Could your parents pick out
  your essay from a pile of 50 others?

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It is all about YOU

• The person writing the essay should be the only
  person in the world who could ever possibly write
  the essay!
• Tell a story only you could possibly tell.

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This IS a Competition!

• You MUST sell yourself!
• You want to let them know how you can enrich the
  campus contribute to the freshman class
• Package Yourself
• This is your only chance to reveal your true
  personality.
• What is it about YOU that you want to be sure
  this college knows?

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Start your essay NOW

• Apply to your college(s) EARLYthat means start
  your essay EARLY!
• Write it in Wordread itread it again seek
  opinionsrewritethink about it for a day or
  tworewrite it again! Finally, cut paste onto
  the college(s) application.
• Revise, Revise, Revise

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What admissions officers shun

• Stiff, artificial writing or pretension
• Slick essays that sound like you paid for it
• Essays that tell rather than show
• The social problem of the year essay
• Cynicism
• Overly self centered essays

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Other Essay Errors to Avoid

• Blah Beginning
• Dribble Ending
• Bad spelling and, especially grammar
  (inexcusable)
• Typos, sloppiness
• Stilted vocabulary
• Not answering the question
• Showcasing privilege affluence
• Discussing personal problems that are either too
  personal or not sufficiently problematical
• Darting in different directions
• Wrong level of formality
• Tell-all essay

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Dont

• Dont exaggerate or write to impress
• Dont use flowery, inflated, or pretensious
  words/style (Dont Thesaurize)
• Dont neglect the technical part of your essay
  (grammar, spelling, sentence structure)
• Dont ramble say what you have to say and
  conclude

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Do Not

• Do not use profanity
• Do not be general
• Do not use overblown or pompous words
• Do not use clichés or overused phrases (I
  learned a lot or it was interesting or really
  meaningful)
• Be careful with quotes!
• Do not write a controversial essay

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What NOT to do when selecting an essay topic

• If the topic seems common, it probably is
• After reading 1,000s of essay, they all start to
  sound alike unless you personalize it!

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Examples

• The Big Game, Big Band Concert, etc.
• Pet Death
• Religious epiphanies
• Trials Tribulations of Travel
• My grandparent what I learned from their
  old-fashioned values
• Achieving World Peace through mutual
  understanding

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Dont put into your essay what is already on your
application

• Do not list your accomplishments extra
  curricular activities if you put this on your
  application
• Dont mention GPA and SAT scores
• If you DO write about this, make sure the
  emphasis is on HOW THAT ACTIVITY OR EVENT
  AFFECTED YOU OR IMPACTED YOUR LIFE

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Dont get sidetracked and off topic

• If you are given a specific question to answer,
  be sure you address that topic or answer the
  question!
• This is not a stream of consciousness. You need
  a beginning, middle and end with support.

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Remember

• If you come across in your essay as who you are,
  you will end up where you want to be!
• Essays are YOU on a piece of paper!

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Hints to save time

• Review the essays and short answer questions
  required by colleges scholarships. Figure out
  how you can fulfill the different requirements
  using the same 2-3 essays. Reusing the same
  essays (with minor changes) allows more time to
  write and rewrite so that those 2-3 essays can
  reflect who you are.

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Comprehensive Online Help

• www.essayedge.com
• Free Admissions Essay Help Course The course
  includes brainstorming exercises, examples of
  different types of introductions conclusions,
  sample essay structures, editing checklist, and
  more!

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How do colleges know the student really wrote the
essay?

• Mediocrity
• No voice
• When a college reads the same essay twice, they
  have the Dean call you about the issue
• There is a fine line between legitimate
  consultation illegitimate misrepresentationmany
  admissions officers have finely honed readers to
  detect ghost-written essays.

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Remember, essays are important to all students
(even in the top 10)

• Essays are reviewed for scholarship opportunities
  at the university
• Essays are reviewed to get into the major of your
  choice
• Essays are reviewed to get into Honors Programs

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Ask yourself

• Is the essence of your essay enjoyable to read?

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You may be tired of writing (and rewriting) your
essay

• But imagine how tired the evaluators are of
  reading them when they arent good.
• You have ONE CHANCE to WOW themmake sure your
  essay does that!

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One admissions representative said, If I could
sum it up on a bumper sticker it would say

• LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK