Health & Fitness
What Colleges Look for in Successful Application Essays
A good college application essay can help a student stand out from the pack. Sounds like a big deal? It is.
Junior prom's come and gone and the end of school's almost here. That means beach, sports, fun and vacation - but it also means it's time to get cracking on those college application essays.
A good college application essay can help a student stand out from the pack. Sounds like a big deal? It is.
While a weak essay probably won't derail an application, a well-written essay can bump a marginal application into an acceptance.
What College Essays Are We Talking About? Several.
- The Common Application, which is accepted by almost 500 schools, requires one essay of between 250-650 words.
- Schools that don't accept the Common Application often have their own essays. (MIT required five essays last year.)
- Some colleges ask for supplemental essays.
- Writing Ability
- Organizational Ability
- What Makes A Student Special
- Learning or Growth Experience
1. Writing Ability
A good college application essay needs solid writing. The essay should be interesting to read and include proper grammar, well-chosen words and good sentence structure. Proofreading is essential.
2. Organizational Ability
The essay needs to flow logically from the introduction through the body of the essay and into a solid conclusion.
3. What Makes a Student Special
Every student is unique, and for the college essay figuring out what that means is key.
I tell my students to think about who they are and how their actions reflect their values. For instance, some people are leaders, some are thoughtful, others are resourceful and still others meet their fears head on.
This kind of self-reflection takes time, so allocating time to think as well as to write is important.
Once a student can identify the qualities that make him or her special, the essay becomes something that no one else can write. That's what colleges are looking for.
4. A Learning or Growth Experience
This is about perspective. If a student can show he has the maturity to look back on the experience and understand how it shaped him, that's one of the hallmarks of a good college application essay.
Here are three questions students can ask themselves:
- How am I different because of this experience?
- What did I learn?
- How did it shape my goals, values or dreams?"
- (Note: The discussion of a learning experience applies to the Common Application essay. For other essays make sure to read the prompts.)
helpful links:
2013 Common Application Prompts
Yale University: Advice on Putting Together Your Application
Sharon Epstein is owner of First Impressions College Consulting in Redding, Connecticut. She works with students everywhere: in-person, over the phone and by email. Visit her website. Connect on Google+
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