College Expert Advice

College Expert Advice With all the competition trying to get into the good schools, your essay could make the difference. The best essays are the ones that provide real insight into who you are and how you think. Your essay should definitely provide perspective on you that augments what is found in the rest of your application….perhaps highlighting an area of passion for you that may not otherwise be obvious. The essays that read best are the ones written authentically, and from the heart. Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? At almost all selective colleges however, every college essay will be read by multiple people. If a student is on the fence, not an early admit or deny, essays will probably be read multiple times by multiple people while an applicant is being discussed. If you were to take bets on the percentage of essays read by college admissions personnel, I’d guess that it would be in the high 90’s. An essay is an important part of sharing who you are with a school. With increased competition for admission, the essay has become an important factor in consideration of your admissibility to a school. You might wonder how a huge school would manage reading thousands of essays, but you can trust that they hire extra staff, if necessary, to make sure the entire application gets a close look. The number of readers depends on how “borderline” the applicant is, and the number of applicants being processed. Even colleges who say their essay is “optional,” you shoulod definitely write one. It can make all the difference in your admission decision. Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. Essays give admission officers real insight into the applicant. In all cases at least one admissions officer will look at your essay. If a school uses an admissions committee the number could jump to three or more. In any case, what YOU can control is how well your essay describes who you are and gives the admissions person a chance to see things in you that will be an asset to the school. We initially prepare three different reports for each student who testsâ€"the Student Report, the High School Report, and the College Report. If you took the ACT with writing, an image of the essay you write may be available to the high school and colleges that receive your score report. Further, if you have parents who know grammar and writing conventions and can recognize flaws, go ahead and ask parents to help. For many students, finding an objective evaluator who is not a relative to help edit the essay is the best bet. Having a degree in English and being a published writer of college planning articles, and having edited hundreds of essays for students, I would be happy to help you too. A great college essay gives the college an opportunity to see who you really are. Pick a meaningful experience and take the reader through your process of self-discovery. It is very easy for a rep to recognize an essay that has been coached someone other than the student. Unfortunately, too many cooks spoil the pot, so to speak…and kids easily get confused when parents, English teachers, their counselor, and their friends all have different advice. Students should familiarize themselves with the campuses to which they are applying , understand the prompt, and answer from the heart. When parents get involved in the nitty gritty of a college application, some families find conflict arises. If your situation is one where parents can offer opinions that are helpful and if you are the kind of student who is open to listening to suggestions, then surely parents can be good editors. So if a school requires an essay it is VERY likely to be read. If a school has a writing section in their supplement to the Common Application you can rest assured that ALL of that writing is evaluated by admissions officers. Do your best and assume that it WILL be read and that it WILL have a bearing on your admission chances. There is no way to determine a typical scenario regarding a college’s method for reviewing applications. A man that she adored but discovered that he was a cocaine addict. She took the reader through the stages of loving, hating, being disappointed, ashamed and finally acceptance, understanding and again loving while “Dad” was going through treatment. She allowed herself to be vulnerable which made the essay dynamite. Another student talked about the struggles of having learning disabilities and the pain that he experienced during his educational career. The essay really gives you an opportunity to be creative. Allow yourself time and don’t throw it together right at the end. You might think, “I don’t have anything like that.” All of us have experiences that have impacted our lives. Sit down with your folks and talk about your family and your “growing-up” years. Make sure when you write your essay that you don’t just ramble on and on. Follow the five-paragraph or a modified version of that format. You will need a catchy introduction where you pull in your reader, supportive examples, and then a wonderful conclusion where you pull everything together and leave the reader with a smile, a tear, or a wow.