<p>I don't want my essay to be too much of a standard, opening, body, conclusion type of essay, however I know it shouldn't be really over-the-top creative. There needs to be some structure. I'm struggling on the balance here. Any suggestions? PLEASE</p>
<p>bump...please help...any suggestions at all would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Truly, only you can answer that question. The specific combination of the standard and the creative that works for you, that fits your personality and experiences, may not be the combination that works for someone else.</p>
<p>Perhaps draft something quickly; come back to it in day or two; see how you like the mixture, and tweak accordingly.</p>
<p>The essay I ended up using for my personal statement was actually written in ten minutes. At least the first draft was... My advice would be to quiet the voices in your head telling you what you should and shouldn't be writing about, then sit down and just WRITE. I know that sounds cheesy, but even if you don't produce a top-notch essay, you may have gotten out of your system the anxiety that comes with trying to write the "right" essay. I know I did.</p>
<p>Do what the people who posted here previously told you. Try to imagine your essay as a story and just go with the flow of the plot. That's how I do all my essays and they work out pretty well. If you don't like it, you can always go back and tweak the structure. :)</p>
<p>I finally just got that moment of inspiration and went with it. It literally was written very quickly. It's only a first draft, and it needs some revisions, but I'm pretty happy with it so far. I'd like some people to read it and tell me honestly what they think, if anyone is interested, let me know!!!!</p>
<p>thank you so much! It feels SO good to at least have something on paper.</p>
<p>Be spontaneous and random. :) Think of what you like. You like cats? Then write about how you are like a cat. Or something like that.</p>
<p>Yessss sounds like you did exactly what you needed to :-) nice going. It's going to be so much better now that you've written something that feels right.</p>
<p>The essay should reflect who you are and the type of education you are seeking. If you are going for a degree in arts you should show your artistic and imaginative side if you are going for biz, sci or engineering you should show your industrious and report writing abuilities.</p>
<p>Make it creative in the way that you are. It is, after all, supposed to sound like you. If you're a follow-the-rules, I-like-standards kind of person, then heck yes, write an essay in the traditional format, just write it well.</p>
<p>If you're a more artsy kind of person, or someone with a poetic way with words, then write it so. For example, I write in a sort of old-fashioned way, with a lot of subordinate clauses and adjectives, and also with a lot of short paragraphs and semicolons. That's just the way I write. You write the way you write.</p>
<p>I think frutiaspice said is just perfect. Write the essay the way you would write your novel (heck, write it as a novel first!). Let your voice, your syntax and diction and all the stuff that you've studied in English, resonate through the piece. Let it be you.</p>
<p>Remember, show, don't tell ;-)</p>
<p>Well, yeah. But I hate that phrase, no matter how true it is.</p>
<p>Hahah trust me, I know. I should've hinted at that I suppose.</p>
<p>It does work, though. Kliches are Kool</p>
<p>Especially when you spell them with K's.</p>
<p>obviously, even kooler</p>
<p>would anyone like to read what i have and offer some constructive criticism?</p>
<p>I originally wrote some of mine in a really creative way, almost like a novel, as some suggested. It helped, but I cut a lot of that out in the end. Writing like that got the ball rolling, but the essays were (I think) better when they were more balanced.</p>