How to Write an Admission Essay – Imagine getting an opportunity to meet the admissions committee of your dream college abroad to tell them about yourself so that they get to know you more than just your test score. You could showcase more of your personality and explain why you are a perfect student to enter the university/college, right? College admission essay is one such gate pass. Expressing yourself in an essay as small as 650 words might be daunting, but if done right, you’ll leave an everlasting impression.

Many universities have gone test-blind, meaning your SAT and GRE scores are considered if you provide them, but they are not mandatory. College admission essays have always been a part of the admissions process, but recently, it has been given more weightage than just a part of the process. Now, this doesn’t mean you don’t have to take any exams like the SAT or GRE because not all colleges admit without these exam scores. Scoring well in these exams is always an added advantage

Why Write a College Admission Essay

Colleges, like companies, look for a perfect fit for their study environment. They want to know if you can absorb the best from the college and succeed at their institute as well as in your life.

Out of thousands of applicants, the institutions want to admit students who stand out and make an impression. They want to know more about you than your scores and achievements mentioned in the application form/resume.

Your application tells them you did an internship; tell them how it helped you shape your career, in this essay.

College admissions officers take hardly any time more than 5-6 minutes to read each essay that takes a long time for you to craft. Make sure you leave an impression through a diversity of thoughts

Outline of a College Admissions Essay

The alignment and outline of any essay influence the readability of the essay. This college admissions essay is one of the crucial essays you’ll ever write because it holds considerable weightage in your college admissions, so make sure you keep is perfectly aligned and coherent.

Introduction

• This part of the essay can make or break the reader’s interest in reading your essay further. So make sure to keep this interest and not too wordy.
• Introduce yourself and your thesis statement in short yet effective sentences.
• This must induce interest in the reader’s mind to know more about you.

Body

• Elaborate on the thesis statement using personal experiences, ideas, opinions and achievements.
• Have many short paragraphs, each expressing one aspect of your topic that you want to highlight and bring to the admissions committee’s attention
• Be sure to bring specific details through examples from your real-life experiences to strengthen your points.
• However, stay within the boundaries of the overall theme of your college admission essay

Conclusion

• This part of the essay is a place for reiteration. Remember, people mostly remember the starting and ending of anything they read, so make wise use of this part to stay in their mind
• Tell them how these experiences and learnings you have stated in the body of the essay make you a good fit for the institution.
• End with a killer quote or a thought-provoking question.

Feature of a Good College Admission Essay

Be the Authentic You

• Know that you are writing this admissions essay to show the admissions officer who you really are and what your personality is.
• Write as though you are talking to someone you value
• You could add a slight humour here and there if it resonates with you.
• Do not copy someone else’s style of writing or piece of work because that, most of the time, ends up backfiring. Officers can identify a forged or plagiarised essay.
• No one can represent you better than yourself, so put your heart and soul into the essay and show them who you really are.

Grab the Attention Right at the Beginning

• The admission officer has been reading many essays before reading yours, so make sure not to bore them more
• Start with the most exciting part of your essay.
• The first impression is the best impression. If your beginning doesn’t grab the attention, you’ll have to put in extra effort while trying to get their attention later on.

Go Beyond Facts and Figures

• The admission committee already has your numerical data. Now they want to know you more as a person
• Talk about your subjective opinions and unique perspectives
• Tell them about major life-changing events, decisions you made and their impact on your current place in life

Choose to Be Unique

• Either choose a topic that is chosen less by other students or choose a common topic and approach it from a different perspective.
• By saying what others already say, you are only following the crowd, so choose a topic where you can prove that you are different.
• If a common approach is to share one’s success story, you start with a failure story, explain how you overcame it, and how it has influenced your life in a positive way

Don’t Repeat

• Don’t repeat if you’ve mentioned an activity or story in another part of your application
• Keep every piece of information in the essay unique and not redundant
• Remember, you have a limited number of words to express your uniqueness to the admissions committee;
• do not waste that by repeating things that you have already mentioned unless you are summarizing and highlighting the critical points in the conclusion

Consider the Reader While Writing

• Put yourself in the shoes of the reader while editing your final draft and see if it is coherent, clear and interesting
• A writer’s perspective is different from the reader’s perspective. So, always read it out loud to find the clumsy places in the write-up
• Ask someone else to read it. They’ll be able to realise the errors and meaning of your paragraphs better from the reader’s point of view better than you doing it yourself.

Start early

• A 650-word essay might seem simple, but its prominence is immense!
• You might not get it all at once. There is always something better to include in your college admissions essay
• Start at least from the summer before the senior year/ final year of your course so you have enough time to decide on a topic, gather credible points to add and craft multiple drafts before coming up with the best one.

Know the CANs and CAN NOTs

• Recently, the US Supreme Court ordered a ban against the use of race/ ethnicity in college admissions, which caused a lot of dilemmas for students while writing a college admission essay
• Many students have stories and obstacles that made them who they are, linked to their race and race-based discrimination. Hence, it is okay to talk about your race as a part of your journey but not use it to influence the admission process.
• Keep your essay limited to 500-650 words. Despite no word limit restriction, staying in this safe zone is advisable.

Writing an amazing essay might not guarantee your selection and admission into your dream college. Still, it does increase the odds in your favour if the admissions committee considers another candidate with test scores and backgrounds similar to yours.

Place your best bet on the table while presenting yourself to the admissions committee, whether it be your SAT / GRE scores, GPA, college admissions essay, or any other requirements the institution may require.

Now that your College admissions essay is sorted, if you have any hiccups in reaching your dream college, feel free to contact us.

We provide complete assistance from choosing the right college, getting your Visa and admission offer and yeah! You can even get Guaranteed and Exclusive Scholarships!