<p>I know starting an essay with a definition or a quotation is bad, but what about dialogue? Is it different from a quotation even though it's just a series of quotations?</p>
<p>I don’t think this is an easy question to answer without seeing your essay. </p>
<p>it depends. i actually think starting with a quote/dialogue can work well and make your essay intriguing but like @ribbonroad224 we’d need to see your essay to see if it works or not </p>
<p>Seeing the essay would definitely help. I think it would be fine to start with dialogue, because it’s different, but I wouldn’t have it extend over a couple of lines. Sometimes dialogue isn’t necessary at all, and you could summarize or use description, but if you think it is, I don’t think there is anything wrong with using it.</p>
<p>On one of my college essays, I started out with dialogue. Well, it was more of thoughts that were going through my head. And that part is my favorite part of the essay. I feel like it will grab the college admissions officer’s attention and will hopefully help me get in to Stanford!</p>