How To Write The Best College Essay

How To Write The Best College Essay “It’s more about the voice than anything else,” Inzer says, noting an essay that is too clinical can mute a student’s personality. Experts say the essay should give the school a sample of his or her personality. Willamette University is offering high school seniors a more affordable way to kick start college. During a time of pain and healing, Katie Lee’s professors and classmates inspired her to make the most of her life. Your school may ask you “why us” but may not ask specifically about your goals. Use one or two sentences to tell them about your goals for college. Because if you don’t, how are you going to show that you are a good fit on campus? I first discovered this versatile building material as a seven-year-old visiting my father’s HVAC shop. While waiting for him to finish working one night, I wandered from the modestly finished space at the front of the building to the shop in back, which featured high ceilings and imposing stacks of shelves. I was fascinated by the dusty machines with tubes, knobs, and old cracked nozzles. The supplement is a short response but can still give us valuable insights into who you are, what you care about, and what you strive to be. Each year, our admissions staff puts a great deal of thought and effort into determining which questions to include in our writing supplement. How to create a college application list that doesn't suck. But be as specific as you can when it comes to your needs. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, you want to master leadership in college. If you underestimate how long it will take to write the essay properly, or don’t think it’s that important, it will show. Pay close attention to the essay prompts, try to achieve word economy and eliminate throwaway words like “that” to maximize the word count. Choose a topic that reflects you in a unique way and couldn’t be written by the majority of your peers. If you read back over your essay and find it doesn’t reflect your own story, reconsider the topic, Corner said. We talked about prioritizing extra-curricular activities, such as putting the things you care about most and have the most involvement with, first. People with dreams need help making their dreams come true. Your goal and your past experience dictate what you need from the school. I know, I know â€" you’re thinking, nah, that sounds too hard, or too expensive â€" I don’t want to Google-stalk a professor, or haunt an internet forum, or network on LinkedIn to meet alums from a school â€" I’m busy! What aspect of leadership are you looking to develop? By better defining your growth areas, you can focus more precisely on what the school has to offer you. The same thing applies to every discipline you wish to develop â€" precise thinking and precise language will set you apart. And you might fool your parents, or even a peer reviewer or two. But you won’t fool the experts, who have to read literally THOUSANDS of these things. They know their own programs, and if you think you can generalize your way around campus â€" sorry, no. Every early draft of a why school essay shares the same pernicious flaw â€" blanket statements made without evidence or context . Watch the following bland comment transform into a great point â€" through action. While an application may have eight, 10 or 30 lines for involvement, busy admission officers who speed read this section may only get to third on the list. Make them want to keep learning about you by telling them clearly and thoroughly what’s most important to you. The diversity of Washington’s schools and its communities is profoundly interesting â€" but use it as a backdrop to write about you. Make sure to use the short essay questions to talk about things we do not yet know about you. Writing about the same or a similar topic in one of your supplemental essays as your longer personal statement is a missed opportunity to tell us something new about you. The essay is the place to make a great first impression on the reader. They’ll be looking at that before the test scores. You don’t want to address your weaknesses, unless it’s a challenge you’ve overcome that reveals something powerful about your character.