The Best College Essay Length

The Best College Essay Length 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. 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. Selective institutions often employ supplemental essay prompts to sort the whimsically submitted applications from those that are more intentional. Each person has a different idea about what you “should” write, and before you know it, you’ve lost the heart of the essay. Students often come to our courses with a “topic” they think they should write about, as if they are writing an analytical essay in English class. Instead, you should explore specific moments that reveal your character in action. Your essay should consist of three parts - an introduction , body and a conclusion . Create an outline, decide where to include examples and write your first draft. They can clearly demonstrate the synergy that exists between themselves and the institutions in question. All are historical elements of your college applications. Well established over time, they determine your general competitiveness in the selective admission process. Students often show their essays to teachers, counselors, parents and friends. Admission committees will have just read through your application; the last thing they want to do is read another form of your information, achievements and extracurricular involvement. The essay is a supplement and it should act as such. Use it to add to your application by showcasing another side of yourself. In the event that there is something on your application that you do need to explain, your essay is the perfect place. If your transcript reflects a poor sophomore year â€" with improvement during your junior and senior years â€" talk about why you struggled that particular year.Be yourself. You guys aren’t essay robots able to churn out quality drafts on a strict schedule. This timeline wasn’t meant to be followed exactly. But that doesn’t mean that setting goals and putting pressure on yourself early on isn’t going to help you get the ball rolling. Trust me, a little work now will go a long way towards boosting your confidence and overall preparedness throughout this process. I don’t recommend a friend who is afraid to correct your mistakes, or a parent, if you can help it. A teacher or family friend would be a great choice. Don't worry about making it perfect; just let your ideas flow. You can fix mistakes and improve your writing in later drafts. Let the College Essay Guy take the stress out of writing your college admission essay. Packed with brainstorming activities, college personal statement samples and more, this book provides a clear, stress-free roadmap to writing your best admission essay. Once you have completed your application essay, be sure to find a couple of people you trust to look over your work before you submit it. Since you already know how it’s supposed to read, and you’re accustomed to reading it, it’s often easier for another person to catch your mistakes. You should also try reading the essay aloud to yourself. Also, I know that procrastination and writing fatigue are real obstacles in this process.