The college essay is perhaps one of the most important pieces of your application because it’s an opportunity to reveal an aspect about you that isn’t revealed in a transcript or a test score. Therefore, it’s critical, that you put a lot of time and effort into it. To help you out with getting started, here are 5 tips on how to write your best college essays.
1.Take Charge and Start Early. This is so important. When I started writing my college essays, I started at around the beginning of July. People are going to call you crazy for starting so early instead of doing other things over your summer vacation, but don’t listen, you’ll thank yourself later.
Also, at my high school, a lot of people waited until the start of the school year to get started because they heard that our senior year English teacher would pretty much give us essay ideas, edit them, and hold our hands through the entire process. But once the school year started and we got into material, that never happened. So don’t wait or depend on anyone to do the heavy lifting for you, do it yourself.
- You need to do some research! Look up successful college essays and read a lot of them. All of the big publications like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal all have articles discussing successful college essays that got students into good schools, so look at those. This will get you in the right mindset to write your college essay. It will get you thinking about possible experiences you can write about, and how to format and structure your essay to be successful.
- After absorbing all of this information, it’s time to brainstorm ideas for your own essay. Think about your life and all of the experiences, qualities, and attributes that make you and your story unique. Start from day one. Think about your background, your parents’ backgrounds, your upbringing, your culture, your identity, any hardships you faced, how you overcame those hardships, what did you learn about yourself after those hard times, what activities do you like to do, why do you like them, why are you applying to college, why are you applying to a certain school? The options are endless here. Be creative and write your heart out!
- While writing your essays, be bold and think big! When you are applying to college and putting yourself out there, this isn’t the time to lower yourself. Keep in mind, these schools are looking to admit people who have big dreams and want to make a huge impact, in their communities, in society, and in the world. For instance, when writing your essay, don’t merely say you want to join a club. Say you want to be a leader, say you want to be the president or founder of a club, say how you are going to positively impact student life on campus. Steve Jobs once said that those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are often times the ones that do, so write all about your big plans.
- Edit and proofread your essays extensively! Nothing will hurt your chances more than a silly spelling or grammatical error on your college essays. These essays might arguably be the most important works you ever write in your life, so they better be as perfect as they can be.
Also, when it comes to letting others read and advise you on your essay, keep in mind who you’re taking advice from. Ask people who’ve helped students get into really selective schools or got into these schools themselves. Depending on your budget, you might also want to consider hiring a professional college consultant to look over your essay. It helps a lot, but make sure you find someone who has a proven history of success and has many years of experience doing this.