How Not To Start Your College Essay

How Not To Start Your College Essay If your reader is one paragraph in and thinking, “I don’t have a clue what this student is talking about,” you’ve moved from arousing interest to creating confusion. It’s certainly possible and often effective to begin your essay with a description that piques interest without necessarily revealing exactly what the description is about. But while enticing and intriguing are good, bewildering and unintelligible are not. You may have a beautifully crafted essay or a wonderful story to tell, but if you don’t take the time to proofread, your essay may be overlooked and end up in the rejection pile. Careful proofreading shows the reader you care and you aren’t sloppy. Before you send your essay to colleges, have someone you trust read it and provide feedback. Usually, your English teacher will be happy to take a look. Your college essay gives you the chance to talk about your best assets. It was right there in the last sentence of the first paragraph of Mikey’s college essay. I was supposed to believe this typical high school senior, who had inhabited this planet for a slight 17 years, chose to use the word “henceforth.” Mikey was a good kid. College application essays can be an effective way for you to communicate your uniqueness to admissions officials. The college essay length requirements differ among universities. However, it ranges between 250 and 650 words in universities. Thus, you should be able to demonstrate your writing skills in such a short paper. Some students try so hard to be creative, or to entice the reader with a sense of intrigue, that they sacrifice clarity. Instead, use this opportunity to showcase an additional side/aspect of yourself. Secondly, you must recognize that schools don’t only view “big” achievements as a viable topic. You don’t need to have worked on a cure for AIDS or helped send a rocket into space to write a compelling essay. Don’t just say that volunteering in a soup kitchen allowed you to see the importance of helping others. Admissions committees really want you to speak to the experience and really explain the impact it had. Finally, you’ll need to be able to strike a balance between being self-effacing and being a braggart. Strong verbs, not adjectives and adverbs, will make your admissions essay come to life. The word limit is usually specified in the requirements. Either 250 or 650 words, that is quite a short essay. Sometimes a colorful aside or anecdote can help engage the reader and enhance the reading experience. The author is writing about her brother, a person who has had a major influence on her life. When an essay has two or three adjectives or adverbs in every sentence, the admissions folks will quickly feel like they are in the presence of an immature writer who is trying too hard to impress them. When writing your admissions essay, be careful to avoid overusing flowery language . Too many adjectives and adverbs can ruin the reading experience. Digression isn't always wrong in a college admissions essay. We serve students who have not yet begun the college application process, students who may already have a draft they want to polish, and students who are anywhere in-between. My College Options ® is an online college planning program that connects millions of high school students with colleges and universities. Before you begin to tackle this essay prompt, there are a few points of which you should be aware. First off, don’t reiterate information that can be found in other parts of your application. While your essay should convey your best qualities, you want to avoid bragging too much. If you write about an activity or an experience, focus not on how good you are or what you have accomplished, but instead on what the experience/activity means to you. Good essays are always quite personal without being sentimental.