<p>Do college essays need to be in the typical introduction, body, conclusion format?</p>
<p>Or are they more of stories with conclusions?</p>
<p>Don’t submit a formulaic essay with an intro, 3 paragraphs and a conclusion. Convey your message in the way that best suits the message. </p>
<p>Common advice is to start with a statement or image that grabs the reader’s attention, then take the reader somehow into your world. Don’t end the essay with a trite summary or simple moral conclusion. Let the reader understand your message from the whole essay rather than summing it up for them at the end.</p>
<p>Your application essay should be a narrative: it should tell a story about yourself. You could talk about one of your ECs in depth, or you could talk about something that cannot be conveyed through the application.
By the way, don’t use the traditional five paragraph essay format. You aren’t writing a persuasive essay.</p>