An excellent college admission essay grants students a solid opportunity to impress the admissions board. And writing one isn’t as daunting a task as it may seem. Knowing, understanding, and following some straightforward essay-writing steps can help students put together a winning college admissions essay.
Given how competitive the admission process has become, making a good first impression is imperative to ensure that a student gets into their dream college. So, here is an all-inclusive guide to simplify the task.
Why a College Essay Is All Important
An effective essay for college applications, like any good piece of writing, gives useful insights about the person who has written it. From analytical abilities to critical thinking skills, such an essay gives students an opportunity to articulate their thoughts and present opinions in a way that piques the interest of admissions officers.
There’s a good reason why an essay can make or break a college application. It gives the admissions officers an opportunity to understand whether or not the applicant is a good fit for the college.
Steps to Write a Good College Essay
Writing a college admission essay is not the Herculean task that it seems to be. By following the step-by-step process listed below, it is possible to craft a stellar college essay.
Step 1: The Preparatory Phase
From choosing an essay topic to coming up with the essay outline, the preparatory phase can make the actual writing process a lot easier.
Picking the essay topic
If the admissions committee has not specified a topic, then students can choose one that highlights their intent of admission. Be it overcoming a persistent obstacle/personal challenge or highlighting one’s passions and interests, choosing a topic that portrays one’s strengths always works in their favor.
Research
After finalizing the essay topic, the next step is to research it. Thorough research is necessary to understand what should and should not be included in the essay. Further, all the essential details that back up the claims that will be made in the piece should be written down at this point. Reference to any sources should also be noted in order to ensure that they are properly cited later.
Preparing the essay outline
Once there is enough information to begin writing, students ought to prepare an outline of their college admission essay. Most colleges expect applicants to submit their piece in the standard five-paragraph format. If there is any specification pertaining to the essay format, then applicants would be better off adhering to those guidelines.
Step 2: The Writing Phase
Once the essay outline is ready, the next step is to begin writing. Most students feel paralyzed during the writing phase because they want the first draft to be flawless, which is hardly the case.
Drafting the essay
It is important to remember that the first draft of the college admission essay is a rough draft and by no means will be perfect. The best thing to do during the writing phase is to write. Once the initial draft is ready, it can always be improved while editing.
Keeping it to the point
It is best to resist the urge to exaggerate while writing the essay. Keeping the college essay real will help make it more relatable. This can be achieved by avoiding cliches, redundancies, and vagueness. The college admission essay should be crisp and convey a clear message. Also, since admissions committees need to look through thousands of application essays, they would surely appreciate a concise piece that is easy to skim through.
Making it appealing
An admission essay should not just be a series of sentences strung together. It must be made as appealing as possible with supporting facts and real-world examples. The piece can also be made more effective by asking rhetorical questions or providing statistical data to strengthen claims. All in all, for a college essay to be engaging, it has to be relevant, coherent, and logical.
Step 3: The Editing Phase
From grammatical mistakes to logical fallacies, there are several aspects that should be looked at while editing an essay.
Proofreading
One of the easiest ways to identify errors, especially grammatical ones, is through proofreading. Be it punctuation, spelling, or formatting mistakes, proofreading helps recognize and fix minor issues, which in turn makes a piece of writing consistent and accurate.
Getting someone else to read it
The admission essay may still have errors that may have slipped through after the applicant’s review. Therefore, having someone who is familiar with the rules of essay writing go through the piece before submitting it can help refine the college essay further.
Finishing the essay
Once the essay has been proofread, reviewed, and revised, it is time to wrap up. At this point, the applicant must ensure that all sources have been appropriately cited so that there is no inadvertent plagiarism of any sort.
Step 4: Submitting the Essay
Once the final draft of the college application essay is ready, there are a few more steps that need to be followed before submitting it.
Formatting the final college essay draft
If the college has specified a particular file format in which the admission essay has to be submitted, then students must submit the essay in that format. Oftentimes, students are asked to submit their essay in the form of a Word document, a Rich Text File, a PDF file, and other such file formats. Once the final draft is ready, it should be formatted as necessary.
Following the submission guidelines
Besides formatting guidelines, one must also check the submission guidelines and make sure that the essay is submitted before the deadline. Also, if there are any other guidelines specific to the college, those should be followed too. To avoid any last minute rush and confusion, it is better to finish the essay with a few days still in hand.
Submitting the college admission essay
Once the essay is ready and adheres to all the guidelines, it is time to submit the essay. Different colleges provide different options for submitting college admission essays. From copying and pasting the entire essay into a text box to submitting a PDF file, students should double check the accepted way of submitting their college essay and make the final submission.
In conclusion, taking a step-by-step approach, like the one mentioned in this article, to write a college admission essay can make the writing process less stressful and daunting.
