Sample College Application Essays

Sample College Application Essays Selective institutions often employ supplemental essay prompts to sort the whimsically submitted applications from those that are more intentional. They can clearly demonstrate the synergy that exists between themselves and the institutions in question. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. To identify key ingredients of a good college essay. Your passion about the topic will show through your writing and make your essay stronger. Your motivation to write will become stronger if you are excited about the topic. The essay is your opportunity to reveal that element of diversity that can be found uniquely within you. You’ll hear a lot from “experts” about taboo topics (sports, death, disease, divorce, pets, etc.) and generic essays on related topics are not a good idea. On the other hand, if you have experienced something intensely personal and profoundly meaningful within such a topic, help the reader to know how the experience affected you. Make a list of the keys to a good college essay, then list why they are important. College essays, though not the most important thing, are very important in the application process. Whether writing is a strength of yours or a struggle, it is imperative that you start early on the process of writing your essay. Writing a good essay can take a long time and require several drafts. No one ever gets a piece of writing perfect on his or her first draft. You will need to be patient with yourself and give yourself plenty of time to take breaks, ask advice, and edit your essay. You may not always have a choice of your essay topic. However, you will always have a choice on exactly what you write about within the topic guidelines. If you can make the reader laugh, say “I get that” or “me too”, you are on your way to a strong application. In addition, you are sharing something about yourself that is not anywhere else in your application. Finding a cure for cancer, saving the whales singlehandedly, or traveling abroad to build homes for orphans does not automatically make a great essay. Too often students get stuck on the choice of a prompt and never get to the essay itself. The Common App essay prompts are not requirements; they are ideas designed to stimulate a creative thought process. Focus instead on the key messages you want to convey and develop a storyline that illustrates them well. There is a very good chance an essay developed in this manner will meet at least one of the listed essay prompts. Discuss how your disability has made you the person you are today. Emphasize how it has made you stronger, think outside the box, or overcome adversity. Do not focus on the things you cannot do or highlight your weaknesses. Acceptance into college is dependent on your strengths and academic abilities. Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. Focus on ways you have internalized and personalized academic research and demonstrate how this will enhance the university’s academic community. Writing about hiking the Appalachian Trail or obsessively reading “To Kill A Mocking Bird” is noble but not memorable. Simply recanting facts will not distinguish you from other candidates with equal class rank, grades and test scores. Making your scholarly endeavors personal will pique curiosity and demonstrate your potential to contribute to an academic community. It’s all about the delivery, the reflection, the conversational tone, showing not telling that will make for a winning essay. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. Instead, take the reader between the lines to better understand you, as a thinking person. Colleges value diversity of thought in their classrooms.