College Application Essay Coaching

College Application Essay Coaching If you want to write about a personal challenge, emphasize what you learned and how you grewâ€"if you dwell on the details, the essay will not achieve its purpose. The goal of your essay is to make an impression on an admissions officer, but you don’t have much time to do it. Look for a strong opening line that really grabs the reader’s attention. Be warned that some college essays demand more creativity than others. Consider the cultural identity of your prospective school as you formulate your topic. A student's narrative can help admissions officers understand how their storyline intersects with the institution's purpose. While many students stress over their essays, it's important to remember that this is just one component of the admissions process, and rarely the decisive factor. That doesn't mean that the essay is unimportant; it does give you an opportunity to directly make your case to the admissions committee. Just keep a healthy perspective on its relative importance as you write. For admissions officers sifting through thousands of essays, a dynamic introduction makes a lasting impression. A great introduction does not need to be outrageous or sensational, but it should give the admissions committee a good sense of your personality. Remember, don't just lop off the bottom section -- take time to craft a complete essay. Sometimes students neglect to copy over their entire essay into an application and only submit a portion of their work. When Warren was asked about haphazard mistakes students make, he recounted one college essay example. Your high school English teacher's reminder to use a good hook can help you get started. Remember that most universities receive thousands of applications; top colleges sometimes get more than 75,000 applications in a single year. Picking up your essay, the officer learns that you want to attend their school because it is “great” and “has a stellar reputation.” Yawns ensue. After being reminded for the 37th time today of their school’sU.S. News and World Reportranking, they take another sip of coffee and move on to the next file. After pouring their heart and soul into the Common App essay, students often run out of gas by the time they encounter any remaining supplemental essays. Some may embrace a tradition of creative thinking. In some instances, you can actually see this cultural identity reflected in an essay prompt. The Common Application, which is accepted by nearly 800 colleges and universities, is a single-serving college application that allows you to create one admissions package for submission to multiple schools. In 2017, Carolina Williams earned admission to Yale thanks in part to an application essay about her love of Papa John's pizza. Williams' essay brought widespread recognition from news outlets and social media, and demonstrated how admissions essays can help students add a personal touch to an otherwise faceless process. The piece highlighted her distinct literary style and fun personality, and it's a model that other applicants should emulate. One of the best opportunities that you have to introduce yourself to admissions counselors is through your college essays. Imagine an admissions officer, at the end of a long day’s work, getting ready to digest his or her 37th “why this college? Of course, your college application essay is just one part of your admissions package, along with your GPA, your class rank, and your extracurriculars. As a college essay coach at MEK Review, I encounter many students who have difficulty writing about their hardship effectively. I work with them closely to create an engaging essay that reveals the student’s core character traits and personal growth. While no lives are riding on your college application essays, this is a great time to revisit some of the rules of writing well. Many local students want to write about growing up in a diverse environment and how they have been enriched by that environment. While celebrating diversity is great, the problem is that these essays risk falling into truisms. Students write about the diversity of their schools or their city, but not enough about who they are. Essays on negative life events can be very tricky. Unless enough time has passed since the experience, the essay can be too personal, too much of a rant, or just too hard to read. One rep said the general rule of thumb was no essays on the Four Dsâ€"Drugs, dating, death, and divorceâ€"but you get the idea.