As early as now, high school seniors are certainly worried about how to write an essay for college application next year. There is no formal set of clues or college essay rules as to how incoming freshmen should write an essay for college application, but knowing yourself is important – what you want, what you like, and where you stand. A good high school essay would get a high mark for its structure and grammar, not for its believability. In college you need to make absolute sense. A sensible approach on how you write an essay for college application is important because once you get admitted, you can use that on how to write a college essay paper.
It’s simple – don’t take the road commonly travelled. Admissions officers of the best colleges are very familiar with bad and unsuccessful college application essays. One of the most common characteristics of a bad college application essay is obviousness. It’s already assumed that you intend to go to that college to get your degree, so why repeat it in writing? Never enumerate the reasons why you aspire to attend that college and never write excessive praises for it. Admissions officers do not like that.
A good college application essay doesn’t focus on the obvious. Instead, it should reflect who you are as a person. So naturally, you must be familiar with the things that you believe in the most and those that frustrate, annoy, or even anger you. It doesn’t matter if they’re too shallow or too deep because they define you. Whether it’s starting a college essay with a quote from your favourite novel or a funny childhood experience, it’s your call. At first, it might be difficult for you to line up all those things, and it’s fine. Once you have them figured out and organized and after you’ve determined the flow that you’ll use, writing will come easy.
A college application essay that describes the things that you live for and those that you could live without is a good recipe. You are showing your own unique qualities, true colours, and authenticity. College admissions officers admire realistic and authentic essays.
- Can you start a college essay with a quote?
While there are many ways to start your essay introduction, one common but still unique and effective way of starting your college essay is the use of a quote. It could be from your favourite novel or your favourite author. A quote serves a few but important purposes. Firstly, it grabs the attention of the reader and stirs interest. Secondly, it provides the reader a glimpse of what to expect in your essay because the nature of the quote’s message and its impact should reflect in the remainder of the essay. Lastly, it’s for you. An appropriate and powerful quote guides you on how you will convey the message of your essay. It is instrumental to how you will construct your introduction, your thesis statement and your arguments, and your conclusion.
- How long should a college essay be in 2019?
There is no generally recognized length or word count requirement as to how long should a college essay be in 2018. But even if you are already fully prepared to write the essay, you must understand that college admissions officers always have mountains of college application essays to read and time is not on their side. An admissions officer usually spends only a few minutes for each essay so if your college application essay is 3 pages and 1000 words long, chances are he or she will not be eager to finish it because many others are still waiting to be read.
Tips on how to write an essay for college application also involve discipline. You don’t have to write about everything – leave out those things that you think are unnecessary. Write only about what you think is important. The ideal length of a college application essay is no less than 250-300 words – equivalent of one page. The best college essay examples are those that are only one page long. Why college essay samples? Because they are already proven to be successful. Surely, even if the things that you want to write about are different from the best college essay examples, you can still pick a thing or two from them. Once you have all your ideas drawn up but are still confused as to what stays and what gets omitted from the essay, you may seek the services of a college essay coach or a custom writing service.
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