Ah, the college essay. It must be the highlight of a high school student’s life. It’s right up there with exams, bullying, and pimples as one of the most enjoyable aspects of the school experience.
Let’s look at some tips to get that essay just right.
Table of Contents
Be Concise Writing an Essay
Your letter is not the only one that the application office people have to read. Chances are, they’ve got a pile higher than Bilbo Baggins on his tippy toes to read through and if they’ve got to spend more than 10 minutes on reading yours, that’s not going to make you very popular. So learn to say more with less. Even, if you have some difficulties with your essay, you can always consider using college essay writing help, and qualified writers will do it for you. Also, you can use helping apps to boost your writing skills.
Don’t Make Mistakes
Be they grammatical or otherwise. Don’t. It’s ridiculous in this time and age when there are so many tools available to help you avoid it. Take Grammarly for example. It’s free and will tell you almost any mistake you’re making.
Honestly, if you’re too lazy to copy and paste your text into it and figure out what you’re doing wrong, you don’t deserve to go to university.
Be Honest
It’s pretty straightforward. Don’t lie. If they find out, then you can kiss any chances you had for getting accepted goodbye. And if the university is competitive enough, you can be sure they’ll find out.
Be Individual
In the movie ‘the life of Brian’ there is a famous scene where everybody chants in unison ‘we’re all individual’ and ‘we’re all different.
Don’t be like them. Instead, be like that guy who says ‘I’m not’ as he’s the most distinct of the lot. Now go away and meditate on that for a while. And then go and find the biggest tree in the forest and cut it down with a herring.
Be Coherent
Your words should not be a train of thought, nor should you jump from one idea to another without carrying your audience along. Coherence is a vital aspect of any essay. The easiest way to be coherent is to know where you’re going to finish before you start. Perhaps consider writing out in bullet points what you’d like to discuss and then filling it in. If that sounds like too much work, at least decide on your conclusion before you begin. That way you can find the red thread that runs through your piece.
Use Experiences and Visuals
Visualization is one of the key elements of good communication. We feel far more engaged with texts when we can actually ‘see’ or ‘hear’ what’s going on. So use the senses when you communicate. The easiest way to do so is to recount a story from your past. Try to visualize it in your writing. If you do that then the person on the other end of your essay will be able to visualize it as well. And that will make for a far more interesting text.
Be Likable
It can be hard to both impress people with how amazing you are and not sound like an arrogant little turd. The trick is to show implicitly that you’re a pretty cool person without spelling it out explicitly. So, don’t say ‘I have 100 friends’ Instead, talk about how you and a whole lot of friends hung out on the weekend and had a great time.
Be Careful with Humor
Do you know how I’ve been using jokes and all that throughout this piece? Don’t do that. The only reason I’m using humor here is that my future does not depend on this writing piece. Your future does depend to an extent on that essay. And you can sell that future short if your humor falls flat.
Don’t just Talk about what You Do
Universities are about intellectual pursuits, so talk about what engages you mentally. That’s what they want to hear about. That’s, after all, what universities are about.
Don’t Sweat It
A great essay will help. An average essay won’t hinder you that much. The universities understand you’re under a lot of pressure and they’re asking some weird things. They just want to see if you can think outside the box (And then communicate those thoughts). So don’t freak out. The college essay is not the end of the world.